ALBERT

Description: A recent observation from the Ginga satellite of the quasar PKS0558 - 504 is reported during which the X-ray flux increased by 67 percent in the space of only three minutes. There was no significant change in the spectrum. Comprehensive analysis of the data strongly indicates that this was a genuine X-ray flare originating in the quasar. The implied rate of change in luminosity in the 2-10 keV range, assuming a Hubble constant of 70 km/s/Mpc, and a cosmological deceleration parameter q0 = 0.5, is 3.2 x 10 to the 42nd erg/sq s, the highest value measured for a quasar. When photon scattering is considered, this is about 16 times greater than could be produced, with a three-minute rise time, in an isotropically emitting plasma. It is argued that the apparent luminosity must be enhanced by relativistic beaming. This is the first indication of beaming in an 'ordinary' unpolarized quasar.

Description: The paper presents results derived from UBV photometric observations of the 5.2 X-ray binary 4U 2129+47 which were made on 11 nights between 1978 October and 1979 August. The light curves observed during this period are relatively stable in shape and amplitude (Delta B = 1.5 mag) and are a surprisingly close match to the time-averaged light curves observed for HZ Her. There is a significant asymmetry in their shape which is independent of color and varies in amplitude by a factor of approximately 2. The UBV colors at minimum light suggest a considerably earlier spectral type (G or earlier) than is inferred by assuming that the star fills its Roche lobe (late K or early M). Optical pulsations were studied, and a 3 sigma limit of 0.5% was set on the fraction of the flux which is pulsed for periods between 60 ms and 300 s. Assuming that the optical companion is a normal main-sequence star filling its Roche lobe, its mass is approximately 0.65 solar mass. Assuming also that the compact object has a mass of 1.3 solar masses and that the orbital inclination of the system is approximately 90 deg, it is found that the orbital separation is approximately 1.9 solar radii and K-opt is approximately 300 km/s.

Description: Spectral data for C49 in the globular cluster NGC 6712 are examined with reference to evolutionary models for low-mass stars that are contracting into white dwarfs. The spectrum of this star is found to be almost identical to that of the first sdO star found in a globular cluster, star A in NGC 6397. Analysis of the spectral data using nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium models gives surface parameters T not less than 50,000 K, log g = 5.5 plus or minus 0.5, and N(He)/N(H) approximately equal to 0.1. The results are consistent with the models considered.

Description: Spectrophotometry of the nucleus of the X-ray galaxy NGC2110 shows a typical Seyfert Type 2 spectrum with a strong galactic continuum. The widths of the forbidden lines are about 360 km/s (FWHM), H-beta being somewhat broader. The moderate Balmer decrement implies that the interstellar reddening is approximately 2.1 mag. The average electron density and temperature in the line-emitting region are approximately 300 per cu cm and 35,000 K, respectively. From measurements of the nebulium line, it is found that the extent of the nucleus measured along the major axis of the galaxy is about 10 arcsec (2100 pc) and the full range of gas velocities is about 700 km/s. A direct plate is discussed which shows faint spirallike features in NGC2110, a galaxy currently classified as elliptical. NGC2110 is a member of a new class (about 5 members) of very nearby (cz less than 2500 km/s) X-ray galaxies. Bradt et al. (1978) tentatively concluded that they are Seyfert Type 2 galaxies. This conclusion is supported, and it is shown that this is not inconsistent with the narrowness (less than 500 km/s FWHM) of their emission line.

Description: In general, the dips are observed to occur near superior conjunctions of the X-ray source, but one pair of 2-minute dips occurs when the X-ray source is closer to the observer than is the supergiant companion. The dips are analyzed spectrally with the aid of seven energy channels in the range 1.2-50 keV. Essentially, there is no change in the spectral index during the dips. Reductions in the count rates are observed at energies exceeding 6 keV for some of the dips, but the dip amplitude is always significantly greater in the 1.2-3 keV band. It is believed that absorption by partially ionized gas may best explain these results, since the observations of Pravdo et al. (1980) rule out absorption by unionized material. Estimates for the intervening gas density, extent, and distance from the X-ray source are presented. Attention is also given to the problems confronting the models for the injection of gas through the line of sight, believed to be inclined by approximately 30 deg from the binary pole.

Description: Some conflicting models have been proposed for Cyg X-2: a degenerate dwarf model which predicts a distance of 250 + or 50 pc; and a neutron star model which implies a distance of about 8000 pc. Based on a reddening study, it is found that the distance to Cyg X-2 is greater than 1100 pc, which rules strongly against the degenerate dwarf model. This conclusion is based on observations of the 2200 A feature in the spectrum of Cyg X-2 made with the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), and UBV and spectroscopic observations of 38 field stars. For the reddening of Cyg X-2 values of E(B-V) = 0.40 + or - 0.07 (1 sigma) are found and are consistent with the reddening to infinity in that direction inferred from radio data. Consequently, Cyg X-2 may be located in the halo at about 8 kpc as proposed in 1979 by Cowley, Crampton, and Hutchings.

Description: A deeply eclipsing cataclysmic variable, with an orbital period of 4.75 hr, has been discovered in the southern Edinburgh-Cape Blue Object Survey. The star, EC 19314 - 5915, lies close to the positional constraints of a previously unidentified HEAO-1 hard X-ray source, 1H1930 - 5989. Its optical spectrum is unusual in that it shows, apart from the emission lines characteristic of a novalike, or dwarf nova cataclysmic variable (Balmer, He I and He II), metallic absorption lines typical of a late-G star. The individual time-resolved spectra, with the tertiary absorption lines removed, show absorption reversals in the Balmer emission lines, increasing in strength for the higher series. The Balmer emission radial velocities are therefore severely distorted in comparison to the He II 4686-A emission and He I 4471-A absorption radial velocity curves. An independent distance estimate of about 600 pc is derived for EC19314 - 5915, from the spectroscopic parallax of the third star.

Description: The evolution of the emission-line Star S-154, between February and December 1988, from a low-excitation 'Fe II star' into a high-excitation state that resembles symbiotic stars, is traced. It is inferred that the spectral type of central stars do not always dominate the physical conditions in the circumstellar material and thereby determine the nebular classification. The membership of S-154 in the LMC was confirmed with a radial velocity measurement of +274 km/s. The historical light curve (1880-1990) obtained from 346 photograph plates of the Harvard Plate Library exhibits about 4 mag of variations, with an MB range of -6 to -2. No evidence was found for coherent modulations that would represent the orbital period of a symbiotic binary.

Description: HB9 is a 2-deg-diameter radio shell with X-ray emission from a broad diffuse band in the interior. Within this band, a weak unresolved X-ray source coincides with the radio source 4C 46.09. To identify this source CCD I and V band pictures and a spectrum were obtained. The source is a galaxy at redshift 0.195, and is therefore only accidentally aligned with HB9. The galaxy is large and bright and has the characteristics of a cD galaxy, often found at the center of clusters. If the galaxy is centered in a cluster, some of the surrounding diffuse X-rays may also be extragalactic.

Description: We present the results of an optical search for ionized gaseous nebulae surrounding luminous, 'supersoft' X-ray sources in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. This relatively new and mysterious X-ray class has characteristic luminosities approximately 10(exp 37)-10(exp 38) ergs/s with effective temperatures in the range of 2-6 x 10(exp 5) K. The presence of a large flux of UV and soft X-ray photons from these objects has led to predictions of bright optical emission lines from the local interstellar medium. One such object, CAL 83 in the LMC, was known to have an associated nebula, and we quantify here the asymmetry and luminosity of this remarkable nebula. Deep images were made using narowband filters to isolate the emission lines of H alpha and (O III) (lambda 5007). In these emission lines, the nebula is detected out to distances as far as 25 pc from the central object, and the integrated luminositu in each line is of order approximately 100 solar luminosity. Model calculations of such nebulae for chemical abundances characteristic of the LMC indicate that approximately 1% of the X-ray luminosity of the central source is reprocessed into the nebular H-alpha and (O III) lambda 5007 emission lines, from which we conclude that the time-averaged X-ray luminosity of the central source, CAL 83, is greater than 3 x 10(exp 37) ergs/s. The bright inner nebula contains approximately 150 solar mass within 7.5 pc of CAL 83, which clearly indicates that the nebular material has its origin in the interstelar medium. In sharp contrast, there were null detections for nebulae associated with nine other luminous, supersoft X-ray sources in the LMC and SMC, with upper limits for the (O III) luminosity that are a factor of approximately 10 below that for CAL 83. For eight of these latter sources, we conclude that either their time-averaged luminosity is substantially below that of CAL 83, or that the local interstellar medium is much less dense. The latter effect may be enhanced by expansion of the ionized nebula during the last several million years.