Search

We present the first results of a study of the morphology, kinematics and ionization structure of infrared (IR) mergers/quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) with galactic winds. This study is based mainly on integral two-dimensional (2D) fibre spectroscopy [obtained on the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT), La Palma] combined with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations. Clear evidence of outflow (OF) from the nucleus of the luminous infrared merger NGC 2623 is reported. Specifically: (i) the integral 2D Hα, [N ii] and [S ii] emission line maps depict a cone-shaped extended nebula that emerges from the nucleus, with an aperture angle θ= 100°± 5° and reaching a distance of ∼3.2 kpc from the nucleus; (ii) inside the nebula and in the central region, all the emission-line WHT spectra show low velocity blue/OF components, with 〈VOF〉= (−405 ± 35) km s−1; and (iii) in the OF nebula, the emission line ratios are consistent with ionization by a dusty nuclear starburst plus shock heating. These results are consistent with a galactic wind process powered mainly by a nuclear starburst. The integral 2D Hα and [N ii]λ6583 velocity field (VF) maps for the main body of NGC 2623 (16.4 × 12.3 arcsec2; ∼5.9 × 4.4 kpc2) show outflow motion in the nuclear and the Hα+[N ii] nebular regions superposed on a general circular motion. This circular motion prevails inside r∼ 1.5 kpc, and for larger radii we detected non-circular motions. In the central region, the average observed rotation curve was fitted with a model corresponding to a single-component Plummer spherical potential. After the subtraction of the Plummer and an axisymmetric polynomial model, the residues of the VF in both cases indicate ejection as the origin of the cone nebula. The fitted Plummer model implies a total mass of MT= 1.5 × 1010 M⊙ and a spherical distribution of matter in the central region. The high-resolution HST WFPC2 F555W (∼V) and F814W (∼I) broad-band images display a strongly obscured nucleus in the apex of a small nuclear cone, an asymmetrical clumpy spiral arm located to the east of the nucleus, a ring plus an arc to the west and several large-scale filaments of dust. A good r1/4-law fit to the HST WFPC2 I band luminosity profile was found. In 85 per cent of the integral 2D field we measure very high values (>1) of the [N ii]λ6583/Hα and [S ii]λ6717 + 31/Hα ratios, suggesting that shocks are important on large scales (in almost all the main body). Furthermore, the 2D full width at half maximum FWHM–[N ii] and VF residual maps show a good spatial correlation, suggesting that the OF shocks ionize the gas and broaden the emission lines. However, close to the nucleus, the OF nebula shows low values of the [N ii]λ6583/Hα ratio (in the range 0.1–0.4), indicating that photoionization by a dusty nuclear starburst also plays a significant role in the excitation of the nebula. The characteristics of the nucleus of NGC 2623 could be associated with a starburst-related LINER. The properties found in IR mergers/QSOs with galactic winds mainly underline the importance of studying the possible link between IR mergers with starburst + galactic wind IR QSOs with composite nature + galactic wind, and elliptical galaxies.

We use optical integral-field spectroscopic (IFS) data from 103 nearby galaxies at different stages of the merging event, from close pairs to merger remnants provided by the CALIFA survey, to study the impact of the interaction in the specific star formation and oxygen abundance on different galactic scales. To disentangle the effect of the interaction and merger from internal processes, we compared our results with a control sample of 80 non-interacting galaxies. We confirm the moderate enhancement (x 2-3 times) of specific star formation for interacting galaxies in central regions as reported by previous studies; however, the specific star formation is comparable when observed in extended regions. We find that control and interacting star-forming galaxies have similar oxygen abundances in their central regions, when normalized to their stellar masses. Oxygen abundances of these interacting galaxies seem to decrease compared to the control objects at the large aperture sizes measured in effective radius. Although the enhancement in central star formation and lower metallicities for interacting galaxies have been attributed to tidally induced inflows, our results suggest that other processes such as stellar feedback can contribute to the metal enrichment in interacting galaxies.

We present results from a detailed spectrophotometric analysis of the blue compact dwarf galaxy (BCD) Mrk 370, based on deep UBVRI broad-band and Halpha narrow-band observations, and long-slit and two-dimensional spectroscopy of its brightest knots. The spectroscopic data are used to derive the internal extinction, and to compute metallicities, electronic density and temperature in the knots. By subtracting the contribution of the underlying older stellar population, modeled by an exponential function, removing the contribution from emission lines, and correcting for extinction, we can measure the true colors of the young star-forming knots. We show that the colors obtained this way differ significantly from those derived without the above corrections, and lead to different estimates of the ages and star-forming history of the knots. Using predictions of evolutionary synthesis models, we estimate the ages of both the starburst regions and the underlying stellar component. We found that we can reproduce the colors of all the knots with an instantaneous burst of star formation and the Salpeter initial mass function with an upper mass limit of 100 solar masses. The resulting ages range between 3 and 6 Myrs. The colors of the low surface brightness component are consistent with ages larger than 5 Gyr. The kinematic results suggest ordered motion around the major axis of the galaxy., Comment: 26 pages with 14 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ

We determine the extinction curve in the z_l=0.83 lens galaxy of the gravitational lens SBS0909+532 from the wavelength dependence of the flux ratio between the lensed quasar images (z_s=1.38) from 3400 to 9200\AA. It is the first measurement of an extinction curve at a cosmological distance of comparable quality to those obtained within the Galaxy. The extinction curve has a strong 2175\AA feature, a noteworthy fact because it has been weak or non-existent in most estimates of extinction curves outside the Galaxy. The extinction curve is fitted well by a standard $R_V=2.1\pm0.9$ Galactic extinction curve. If we assume standard Galactic extinction laws, the estimated dust redshift of $z=0.88\pm0.02$ is in good agreement with the spectroscopic redshift of the lens galaxy. The widespread assumption that SMC extinction curves are more appropriate models for cosmological dust may be incorrect., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures. ApJ Accepted (Apr 4)

HARMONI is a visible and near-infrared (0.47 to 2.45 μm) integral field spectrometer, providing the E-ELT's core spectroscopic capability, over a range of resolving powers from R (≡λ/Δλ)~500 to R~20000. The instrument provides simultaneous spectra of ~32000 spaxels at visible and near-IR wavelengths, arranged in a √2:1 aspect ratio contiguous field. HARMONI is conceived as a workhorse instrument, addressing many of the E-ELT’s key science cases, and will exploit the E-ELT's scientific potential in its early years, starting at first light. HARMONI provides a range of spatial pixel (spaxel) scales and spectral resolving powers, which permit the user to optimally configure the instrument for a wide range of science programs; from ultra-sensitive to diffraction limited, spatially resolved, physical (via morphology), chemical (via abundances and line ratios) and kinematic (via line-of-sight velocities) studies of astrophysical sources. Recently, the HARMONI design has undergone substantial changes due to significant modifications to the interface with the telescope and the architecture of the E-ELT Nasmyth platform. We present an overview of the capabilities of HARMONI, and of its design from a functional and performance viewpoint.

Integral eld spectroscopy in the central 16 00 12 00 (2.4 kpc 1.8 kpc, if H0 =7 5 km s 1 Mpc 1 )o f the Seyfert 1.9 galaxy NGC 2992 has been obtained using the bre system INTEGRAL. The data are mainly used to study the stellar and ionized gas kinematics. In spite of the photometric disruptions in the outer parts ( r> 6 kpc) produced by the interaction with its close companion (NGC 2993), the present stellar velocity eld shows regular rotation. The ionized gas presents several kinematically distinct components. Apart from the outflowing component already reported by other authors, we found an additional (high ionization) kinematic component which seems to be associated with the boundaries of the gure-of-eight-shaped emission detected in the 6 cm radio map. We locate the hidden nucleus in the apex of the biconical structure dened by the (O iii) emission, coincident with the outflow origin and with the center of the dust lane. We do not nd any clear evidence of direct influence of the interaction in the kinematics of the stars or the ionized gas in the circumnuclear region of NGC 2992.

We present the preliminary results obtained from two-dimensional spectroscopy with optical fibres of the circumnuclear region of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 2992. The inner region of NGC 2992 seems not to be perturbed by the interaction with its companion, NGC 2993.

We summarize the main conclusions derived from integral field spectroscopy, with optical fibres, of six Seyfert galaxies. More than 95 spectra around the active nucleus have been obtained showing asymmetric emission-line profiles at different positions. Continuum and emission-line intensity maps and ionized gas velocity fields have been derived for these six galaxies. We also present the stellar velocity field for NGC 1068, NGC 3516 and NGC 985.

Two-dimensional spectroscopy of the central 24'' × 20'' of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 has been obtained using a fiber-optic system (2D-FIS). The homogeneity, spectral coverage (~4170-5749 and 6250-9469 A), and spatial (~09) and spectral resolution (~1.53 A pixel-1 and 2.73 A pixel-1) of the data make them a useful database with which to study in detail the kinematics and physical properties of the circumnuclear region of this galaxy, as well as the active nucleus and host galaxy connection. The data are presented as an atlas containing 570 spectra, which include over 15 emission lines and several stellar features. We have carried out a preliminary analysis of the data, deriving continua at different wavelengths and emission-line intensity maps directly from the observed spectra. We have also derived the ionized velocity field from different emission lines, and the stellar velocity field. Velocity dispersions of the stellar component have also been estimated.

The basic concepts for determining the effect of differential atmospheric refraction on integral-field (two-dimensional) spectroscopic observations are presented, and a method for correcting the spectra from this effect is given. The method is demonstrated with real data.

We present two-dimensional optical spectroscopy of the central region (94×122) of the Seyfert 1 ring galaxy NGC 985 obtained with an optical fiber system (two-dimensional Fiber ISIS System). The 95 spectra presented here include the Hβ-[O III] λλ4959, 5007 emission lines and the Mg I b absorption lines, which permit the study of the distribution and kinematics of the ionized gas and the stars in two dimensions. In agreement with the results of other authors, the continuum maps show the presence of two maxima: the bright Seyfert 1 nucleus and a second nucleus located about 37 to the northwest. These observations confirm that this second nucleus is an extragalactic object at the same redshift as that of NGC 985. These observations indicate an anisotropic distribution of the ionized gas around the Seyfert nucleus. Despite this, the velocity field of the ionized gas shows a rather regular pattern, its general kinematic properties being similar to those found in other unperturbed spiral Seyfert galaxies. Many of the spectra in the region between the Seyfert and the secondary nucleus have asymmetric and relatively broad [O III] emission-line profiles. The kinematic center of the stellar velocity field is located in the neighborhood of the Seyfert nucleus, suggesting that this nucleus is related to the main stellar component. Therefore, these observations support the hypothesis that NGC 985 is the result of a two-galaxy collision in which the intruder (elliptical or spheroidal) galaxy would be what is now the secondary nucleus, while the Seyfert activity is associated with the nucleus of the primary disk galaxy. In spite of the strong disruption that defines the large-scale morphology of NGC 985, the stellar and ionized gas kinematics do not appear significantly perturbed in the circumnuclear region.

We have combined observations of the Antennae galaxies from the radio interferometer ALMA and from the optical interferometer GHαFaS (Galaxy Hα Fabry-Perot System). The two sets of observations have comparable angular and spectral resolutions, enabling us to identify 142 giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and 303 Hii regions. We have measured, and compared, their basic physical properties (radius, velocity dispersion, luminosity). We study the mass functions of Hii regions and GMCs, where a double population of Hii regions due to a double population of GMCs is found. Using the velocity dispersion measurements, we claim that the difference between the regimes is the nature of the dominant binding force. For the regions in the lower mass range, the dominant force is the external pressure, while in the higher mass range it is the internal gravity of the clouds. We have applied the same method to similar observations (GHαFaS & ALMA) of Arp 236 and NGC 1614 finding similar results.

Astronomy and Astrophysics 561 (2014): A129 reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics, Context. Over the past decade, 3D optical spectroscopy has become the preferred tool for understanding the properties of galaxies and is now increasingly used to carry out galaxy surveys. Low redshift surveys include SAURON, DiskMass, ATLAS3D, PINGS, and VENGA. At redshifts above 0.7, surveys such as MASSIV, SINS, GLACE, and IMAGES have targeted the most luminous galaxies to study mainly their kinematic properties. The on-going CALIFA survey (z ~ 0.02) is the first of a series of upcoming integral field spectroscopy (IFS) surveys with large samples representative of the entire population of galaxies. Others include SAMI and MaNGA at lower redshift and the upcoming KMOS surveys at higher redshift. Given the importance of spatial scales in IFS surveys, the study of the effects of spatial resolution on the recovered parameters becomes important. Aims. We explore the capability of the CALIFA survey and a hypothetical higher redshift survey to reproduce the properties of a sample of objects observed with better spatial resolution at lower redshift. Methods. Using a sample of PINGS galaxies, we simulated observations at different redshifts. We then studied the behaviour of different parameters as the spatial resolution degrades with increasing redshift. Results. We show that at the CALIFA resolution, we are able to measure and map common observables in a galaxy study: the number and distribution of H ii regions (Hα flux structure), the gas metallicity (using the O3N2 method), the gas ionization properties (through the [N ii]/Hα and [O iii]/Hβ line ratios), and the age of the underlying stellar population (using the D4000 index). This supports the aim of the survey to characterise the observable properties of galaxies in the Local Universe. Our analysis of simulated IFS data cubes at higher redshifts highlights the importance of the projected spatial scale per spaxel as the most important figure of merit in the design of an integral field survey., Financial support from the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) under the programme Estancias Posdoctorales y Sabáticas al Extranjero para la Consolidación de Grupos de Investigación, 2010-2012. I.M. financial support from the Spanish MINECO grant AYA 2010-15169, and from Junta de Andalucía TIC114 and Proyecto de Excelencia P08-TIC-03531; J.F.-B. from the Ramón y Cajal Program, grants AYA2010-21322-C03-02 and AIB-2010-DE-00227 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), as well as from the FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission, via the Initial Training Network DAGAL under REA grant agreement na 289313. Support through the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant 303912. Support from the Spanish Programa Nacional de Astronomía y Astrofísica under grant AYA2010-21322-C03-02. This work has been partially funded by the Spanish PNAYA, project AYA2010-21887 of the Spanish MINECO. R.A. Marino was also funded by the Spanish Programme of International Campus of Excellence Moncloa (CEI).

V. Wild et al., We present optical integral field spectroscopy (IFS) observations of the Mice, a major merger between two massive (≥ 1011 M ·) gas-rich spirals NGC 4676A and B, observed between first passage and final coalescence. The spectra provide stellar and gas kinematics, ionised gas properties, and stellar population diagnostics, over the full optical extent of both galaxies with ∼1.6 kpc spatial resolution. The Mice galaxies provide a perfect case study that highlights the importance of IFS data for improving our understanding of local galaxies. The impact of first passage on the kinematics of the stars and gas has been significant, with strong bars most likely induced in both galaxies. The barred spiral NGC 4676B exhibits a strong twist in both its stellar and ionised gas disk. The edge-on disk galaxy NGC 4676A appears to be bulge free, with a strong bar causing its >boxy> light profile. On the other hand, the impact of the merger on the stellar populations has been minimal thus far. By combining the IFS data with archival multiwavelength observations we show that star formation induced by the recent close passage has not contributed significantly to the total star formation rate or stellar mass of the galaxies. Both galaxies show bicones of high ionisation gas extending along their minor axes. In NGC 4676A the high gas velocity dispersion and Seyfert-like line ratios at large scaleheight indicate a powerful outflow. Fast shocks (vs ∼ 350 km s-1) extend to ∼6.6 kpc above the disk plane. The measured ram pressure (P/k = 4.8 × 106 K cm-3) and mass outflow rate (∼8-20 M· yr-1) are similar to superwinds from local ultra-luminous infrared galaxies, although NGC 4676A only has a moderate infrared luminosity of 3 × 1010 L·. Energy beyond what is provided by the mechanical energy of the starburst appears to be required to drive the outflow. Finally, we compare the observations to mock kinematic and stellar population maps extracted from a hydrodynamical merger simulation. The models show little enhancement in star formation during and following first passage, in agreement with the observations. We highlight areas where IFS data could help further constrain the models. © ESO, 2014., Funding and financial support acknowledgements: V.W. from the European Research Council Starting Grant (P.I. Wild SEDmorph), European Research Council Advanced Grant (P.I. J. Dunlop) and Marie Curie Career Reintegration Grant (P.I.Wild Phiz-ev); J.M. A. from the European Research Council Starting Grant (P.I.Wild SEDmorph); F. F. R. O. from the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT); A. G. from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n. 267251. The Dark Cosmology Centre is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation. P. H. J. from the Research Funds of the University of Helsinki; J. F. B. from the Ramón y Cajal Programme, grants AYA2010-21322-C03-02 and AIB-2010-DE- 00227 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), as well as from the FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission, via the Initial Training Network DAGAL under REA grant agreement no. 289313; R. G. D. and R. G. B. from the Spanish project AYA2010-15081; A. M.-I. from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche through the STILISM project (ANR-12- BS05-0016-02) and from BMBF through the Erasmus-F project (grant number 05 A12BA1). R. A. M. from the Spanish programme of International Campus of Excellence Moncloa (CEI); K. J. from the Emmy Noether-Programme of the German Science Foundation (DFG) under grant Ja 1114/3-2; P. P., & J. M. G. from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under project FCOMP- 01-0124-FEDER-029170 (Reference FCT PTDC/FIS-AST/3214/2012), funded by FCT-MEC (PIDDAC) and FEDER (COMPETE). I. M. P. from Spanish grant AYA2010-15169 and the Junta de Andalucia through TIC-114 and the Excellence Project P08-TIC-03531; C. J. W. from the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant 303912; J. I. P. and J. V. M. from the Spanish MINECO under grant AYA2010-21887-C04-01, and from Junta de Andalucía Excellence Project PEX2011-FQM7058; E. M. Q. from the European Research Council via the award of a Consolidator Grant (PI McLure); M. P. from the Marie Curie Career Reintegration Grant (P.I. Wild Phiz-ev).This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHYS-1066293 and the hospitality of the Aspen Center for Physics.

We present bidimensional spectroscopy of the central region (94 × 122) of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3516 in the two spectral ranges 4186-5839 A and 6110-7890 A. The data (95 × 2 spectra) were simultaneously obtained with an optical fibre system (2D-FIS). The two-dimensional velocity map of the stellar component was obtained from the Mg I b absorption lines. The kinematic axes of this stellar velocity field agree very well with the geometrical axes determined from the outer isophotes. In consequence, despite the existence of an outer ring and a bar, the stars in the circumnuclear region rotate regularly. New accurate value for the systemic velocity (2593 ± 15 km s-1), the orientation of the line of nodes (53° ± 5°), and the amplitude of the velocity field (~80 km s-1) are presented. The center of rotation has also been determined and could be spatially displaced with respect to the active nucleus. We have performed an emission-line profile decomposition and identified several components. In addition to the component responsible for the Z-shaped morphology of the line-emission region, gaseous systems showing large widths (FWHM ~ 10-20 A) and extreme blueshift (-900 km s-1) have been found. The comparison between the stellar and ionized-gas velocity maps favors the precessing twin-jet model over the bent-outflow hypothesis to explain the Z-shaped morphology and two-dimensional kinematics of the line-emission region.

We present simultaneous two-dimensional spectroscopy of the circumnuclear region (12'' × 9'') of the galaxy NGC 7331, obtained with an optical fiber system coupled to the ISIS double spectrograph of the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope. The system allows simultaneous observation of 125 regions of this galaxy in two spectral ranges: 4590-5400 A at high resolution (1.5 A) and 6400-9620 A at low resolution (5 A). These spectra are mainly used to study the stellar and gas kinematics in the innermost region of this galaxy. The stellar velocity fields inferred from the Mg I b and Ca II absorption lines are in good agreement. They show a solid-body rotational pattern with the line of nodes along the position angle of the apparent major axis of the galaxy. The relatively large local stellar velocity dispersion suggests that we are observing the bulge rather than the disk kinematics. The two-dimensional kinematic data agree with previous one-dimensional studies that found no evidence for a massive black hole in NGC 7331. The [O III] emission lines are split into three components. One is distributed around the systemic velocity, another is systematically blueshifted, and the last is systematically redshifted. We propose that these arise from two distinct gaseous systems: a warped disk of irregular rotational pattern with the kinematic axes shifted by about 30° with respect to those of the stars, and a shell of gas flowing radially. Although alternative interpretations in terms of inflow driven by a central bar or outflow produced by a galactic wind are possible, the latter seems preferable. In NGC 7331 the ionized gas and stars are kinematically decoupled, the velocity dispersion of the ionized gas being substantially lower than that of the stars. This last result differs from what is generally found in Seyfert galaxies. However, NGC 7331 and M31 show a large degree of similarity, and the type of LINERs that they harbor are probably produced by the same type of phenomenon.

We have obtained simultaneous two-dimensional spectroscopy of the Ca II triplet lines in the central 24'' × 20'' of NGC 1068, using an optical fiber system. The stellar velocity field derived from these data shows a kinematic off-centering between the inner (r 5'') regions, indicative of a nonsymmetric gravitational potential. Both regions exhibit kinematic minor axes aligned with PA ~ 0° and could have similar systemic velocities. However, their kinematic centers are displaced by ~25. We propose that two kinematically different stellar systems rotating around parallel but shifted axes are present in NGC 1068. The origin of this peculiarity is discussed in relation to the gravitational potential of the galaxy and the hypothesis of a minor merger event.

We discuss the multi-Gaussian decomposition of the [O III] λλ 4959,5007 emission line profiles from 2-D spectroscopy. We found that a model based on five main gaseous components can reproduce the observed line profiles consistently. The morphology of the intensity maps of some of these gaseous subsystems seems bipolar. This is in better agreement with current ideas about the alignment of the ionization in AGNs than the relatively amorphous morphology seen in filter images. The centre of the inter-pole region is sited ~ 2″ NE of the optical nucleus, close to the origin of the strong outflow of ionized gas recently reported (Arribas et al. 1996). This suggests that the putative hidden nucleus of NGC 1068 could be sited near to this point.

We present the velocity field of the stars in the central 25″ × 22″ of NGC 1068 derived from 2-D spectroscopy of the Ca II triplet. A preliminary analysis provides evidence for two distinct stellar systems in the centre of NGC 1068. In the outer regions (say r > 10″), the mean stellar velocity field seems coupled to those of the ionized and molecular gas, indicating aproximately regular rotation with the kinematic minor axis at PA ~ 0°. However, in the inner region, the stars are rotating, whereas the ionized gas is outflowing in the NE-SW direction probably due to the effects of the nuclear activity, and the molecular gas is responding to the bar potential.

Astronomy and Astrophysics 559 (2013): A114 reproduced with permission from Astronomy and Astrophysics, The use of integral field spectroscopy is since recently allowing to measure the emission line fluxes of an increasingly large number of star-forming galaxies, both locally and at high redshift. Many studies have used these fluxes to derive the gas-phase metallicity of the galaxies by applying the so-called strong-line methods. However, the metallicity indicators that these datasets use were empirically calibrated using few direct abundance data points (Te-based measurements). Furthermore, a precise determination of the prediction intervals of these indicators is commonly lacking in these calibrations. Such limitations might lead to systematic errors in determining the gas-phase metallicity, especially at high redshift, which might have a strong impact on our understanding of the chemical evolution of the Universe. The main goal of this study is to review the most widely used empirical oxygen calibrations, O3N2 and N2, by using newdirect abundance measurements. We pay special attention to (1) the expected uncertainty of these calibrations as a function of the index value or abundance derived and (2) the presence of possible systematic offsets. This is possible thanks to the analysis of the most ambitious compilation of Te-based H ii regions to date. This new dataset compiles the Te-based abundances of 603 H ii regions extracted from the literature but also includes new measurements from the CALIFA survey. Besides providing new and improved empirical calibrations for the gas abundance, we also present a comparison between our revisited calibrations with a total of 3423 additional CALIFA H ii complexes with abundances derived using the ONS calibration from the literature. The combined analysis of T e-based and ONS abundances allows us to derive their most accurate calibration to date for both the O3N2 and N2 single-ratio indicators, in terms of all statistical significance, quality, and coverage of the parameters space. In particular, we infer that these indicators show shallower abundance dependencies and statistically significant offsets compared to others'. The O3N2 and N2 indicators can be empirically applied to derive oxygen abundances calibrations from either direct abundance determinations with random errors of 0.18 and 0.16, respectively, or from indirect ones (but based on a large amount of data), reaching an average precision of 0.08 and 0.09 dex (random) and 0.02 and 0.08 dex (systematic; compared to the direct estimations), respectively, R.A. Marino is funded by the Spanish program of International Campus of Excellence Moncloa (CEI). D. Mast thank the Plan Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo funding programs, AYA2012-31935 of the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, for the support given to this project. S.F.S thanks the the Ramón y Cajal project RyC-2011-07590 of the spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, for the support giving to this project. F.F.R.O. acknowledges the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) for financial support under the program Estancias Postdoctorales y Sabáticas al Extranjero para la Consolidación de Grupos de Investigación, 2010-2012. We acknowledge financial support for the ESTALLIDOS collaboration by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under grant AYA2010- 21887-C04-03. BG-L also acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under grant AYA2012- 39408-C02-02. J.F.-B. acknowledges financial support from the Ramón y Cajal Program and grant AYA2010-21322-C03-02 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), as well as to the DAGAL network from the People’s Program (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant agreement number PITN-GA-2011-289313. CK has been funded by project AYA2010-21887 from the Spanish PNAYA. P.P. acknowledges support by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-029170 (Reference FCT PTDC/FIS-AST/3214/2012), funded by FCT-MEC (PIDDAC) and FEDER (COMPETE). R.M.G.D. and R.G.B. also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under grant AyA2010-15081. V.S., L.G., and A.M.M. acknowledge financial support from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under program Ciência 2008 and the research grant PTDC/CTE-AST/112582/2009

We have observed the Arp 270 system (NGC 3395 & NGC 3396) in H{\alpha} emission using the GH{\alpha}FaS Fabry-Perot spectrometer on the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope (La Palma). In NGC 3396, which is edge-on to us, we detect gas inflow towards the centre, and also axially confined opposed outflows, characteristic of galactic superwinds, and we go on to examine the possibility that there is a shrouded AGN in the nucleus. The combination of surface brightness, velocity and velocity dispersion information enabled us to measure the radii, FWHM, and the masses of 108 HII regions in both galaxies. We find two distinct modes of physical behaviour, for high and lower luminosity regions. We note that the most luminous regions show especially high values for their velocity dispersions and hypothesize that these occur because the higher luminosity regions form from higher mass, gravitationally bound clouds while those at lower luminosity HII regions form within molecular clouds of lower mass, which are pressure confined., Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables. Published in MNRAS

Husemann, B. et. al., We present the first public data release (DR1) of the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. It consists of science-grade optical datacubes for the first 100 of eventually 600 nearby (0.005 < z < 0.03) galaxies, obtained with the integral-field spectrograph PMAS/PPak mounted on the 3.5 m telescope at the Calar Alto observatory. The galaxies in DR1 already cover a wide range of properties in color-magnitude space, morphological type, stellar mass, and gas ionization conditions. This offers the potential to tackle a variety of open questions in galaxy evolution using spatially resolved spectroscopy. Two different spectral setups are available for each galaxy, (i) a low-resolution V500 setup covering the nominal wavelength range 3745-7500 Å with a spectral resolution of 6.0 Å (FWHM), and (ii) a medium-resolution V1200 setup covering the nominal wavelength range 3650-4840 Å with a spectral resolution of 2.3 Å (FWHM). We present the characteristics and data structure of the CALIFA datasets that should be taken into account for scientific exploitation of the data, in particular the effects of vignetting, bad pixels and spatially correlated noise. The data quality test for all 100 galaxies showed that we reach a median limiting continuum sensitivity of 1.0 × 10-18 erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1 arcsec-2 at 5635 Å and 2.2 × 10 -18 erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1 arcsec-2 at 4500 Å for the V500 and V1200 setup respectively, which corresponds to limiting r and g band surface brightnesses of 23.6 mag arcsec-2 and 23.4 mag arcsec-2, or an unresolved emission-line flux detection limit of roughly 1 × 10-17 erg s-1 cm-2 arcsec-2 and 0.6 × 10 -17 erg s-1 cm-2 arcsec-2, respectively. The median spatial resolution is 3-7, and the absolute spectrophotometric calibration is better than 15% (1σ). We also describe the available interfaces and tools that allow easy access to this first publicCALIFA data at http://califa.caha.es/DR1. © 2013 ESO.

Measurements of ground displacement through classical Differential Interferometric SAR (DInSAR) and advanced DInSAR techniques have been carried out over the entire actively volcanic island of Tenerife, Canary Islands. However, a detailed analysis of the effect of tropospheric water vapour on DInSAR at Tenerife should be carried out to evaluate its influence, including correction models that might improve the accuracy of DInSAR derived deformation signals. Unlike water vapour correction models that are based on space platforms (e.g. MODIS and MERIS), we present an alternative approach that is based on precise water vapour estimations derived from mesoscale numerical meteorological models, in particular the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The application of this approach to a set of DInSAR observations of the island of Tenerife shows encouraging results., This work was partially funded by the Canarian ACIISI projects SOLSUBC200801000243 and proID20100121. Research by JF and PJG has been supported by the Spanish MICINN projects: GEOMOD (CGL2005-05500-C02), PEL2G (CGL2008-06426-C01-01/BTE) and CGL2010-21366-C04-01, and has been also done in the frame of the Moncloa Campus of International Excellence (UCM-UPM, CSIC). PJG was partially funded by a UCM PhD Thesis Research Fellowship. The authors thank the University of La Laguna, the Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) for partial support (Proyectos estructurantes de la ULL).

Acknowledgements. We thank the referee Eric Emsellem for his detailed comments which helped to improve the content and presentation of the article. We thank the director of CEFCA, Dr. M. Moles, for his sincere support to this project. We thank the Viabilidad, Diseno, Acceso y Mejora funding program, ICTS-2009-10, and the Plan Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo funding program, AYA2010-22111-C03-03, of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, for the support given to this project. I.M. and J.M. acknowledge financial support from the Spanish grant AYA2010-15169 and Junta de Andalucía TIC114 and Excellence Project P08-TIC-03531. C.K., as a Humboldt Fellow, acknowledges support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. B. Jungwiert acknowledges support by the grants AV0Z10030501 (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) and LC06014 (Center for Theoretical Astrophysics, Czech Ministry of Education). T. Bartáková acknowledges support by the grants No. 205/08/H005 (Czech Science Foundation) and MUNI/A/0968/2009 (Masaryk University in Brno). Polychronis Papaderos is supported by a Ciencia 2008 contract, funded by FCT/MCTES (Portugal) and POPH/FSE (EC). This paper makes use of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data. Funding for the SDSS and SDSS-II has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The SDSS Web Site is http://www.sdss.org/. The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions. The Participating Institutions are the American Museum of Natural History, Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, University of Basel, University of Cambridge, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, Drexel University, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, the Korean Scientist Group, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST), Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-PlanckInstitute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington., The final product of galaxy evolution through cosmic time is the population of galaxies in the local universe. These galaxies are also those that can be studied in most detail, thus providing a stringent benchmark for our understanding of galaxy evolution. Through the huge success of spectroscopic single-fiber, statistical surveys of the Local Universe in the last decade, it has become clear, however, that an authoritative observational description of galaxies will involve measuring their spatially resolved properties over their full optical extent for a statistically significant sample. We present here the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey, which has been designed to provide a first step in this direction. We summarize the survey goals and design, including sample selection and observational strategy. We also showcase the data taken during the first observing runs (June/July 2010) and outline the reduction pipeline, quality control schemes and general characteristics of the reduced data. This survey is obtaining spatially resolved spectroscopic information of a diameter selected sample of ~600 galaxies in the Local Universe (0.005 < z < 0.03). CALIFA has been designed to allow the building of two-dimensional maps of the following quantities: (a) stellar populations: ages and metallicities; (b) ionized gas: distribution, excitation mechanism and chemical abundances; and (c) kinematic properties: both from stellar and ionized gas components. CALIFA uses the PPAK integral field unit (IFU), with a hexagonal field-of-view of ~1.3⎕′, with a 100% covering factor by adopting a three-pointing dithering scheme. The optical wavelength range is covered from 3700 to 7000 Å, using two overlapping setups (V500 and V1200), with different resolutions: R ~ 850 and R ~ 1650, respectively. CALIFA is a legacy survey, intended for the community. The reduced data will be released, once the quality has been guaranteed. The analyzed data fulfillthe expectations of the original observing proposal, on the basis of a set of quality checks and exploratory analysis: (i) the final datacubes reach a 3σ limiting surface brightness depth of ~23.0 mag/arcsec2 for the V500 grating data (~22.8 mag/arcsec2 for V1200); (ii) about ~70% of the covered field-of-view is above this 3σ limit; (iii) the data have a blue-to-red relative flux calibration within a few percent in most of the wavelength range; (iv) the absolute flux calibration is accurate within ~8%with respect to SDSS; (v) the measured spectral resolution is ~85 km s-1 for V1200 (~150 km s-1 for V500); (vi) the estimated accuracy of the wavelength calibration is ~5 km s-1 for the V1200 data (~10 km s-1 for the V500 data); (vii) the aperture matched CALIFA and SDSS spectra are qualitatively and quantitatively similar. Finally, we show that we are able to carry out all measurements indicated above, recovering the properties of the stellar populations, the ionized gas andthe kinematics of both components. The associated maps illustrate the spatial variation of these parameters across the field, reemphasizing the redshift dependence of single aperture spectroscopic measurements. We conclude from this first look at the data that CALIFA will be an important resource for archaeological studies of galaxies in the Local Universe., CEFCA, Viabilidad, Diseno, Acceso y Mejora ICTS-2009-10, Instituto de Salud Carlos III Spanish Government AYA2010-22111-C03-03, Spanish grant AYA2010-15169, Junta de Andalucia TIC114, Excellence Project P08-TIC-03531, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Czech Academy of Sciences AV0Z10030501, Center for Theoretical Astrophysics, Czech Ministry of Education LC06014, Grant Agency of the Czech Republic 205/08/H005, Masaryk University in Brno MUNI/A/0968/2009, Ciencia 2008 contract, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, European Commission Joint Research Centre, European Social Fund (ESF), Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation (NSF), United States Department of Energy (DOE), National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT), Max Planck Society Foundation CELLEX, Higher Education Funding Council for England, Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) ST/H00243X/1 ST/J001538/1 ST/H004912/1

Blue Compact Dwarf (BCD) galaxies are metal-poor and gas-rich systems undergoing intense, spatially extended star-forming activity. These galaxies offer a unique opportunity to investigate dwarf galaxy formation and evolution, and probe violent star formation and its implications on the chemical, dynamical and structural properties of low-mass extragalactic systems near and far. Several fundamental questions in BCD research, such as their star formation histories and the mechanisms that control their cyclic starburst activity, are still far from well understood. In order to improve our understanding on BCD evolution, we are carrying out a comprehensive Integral Field Spectroscopic (IFS) survey of a large sample of BCDs. Integral Field Unit (IFU) spectroscopy provides simultaneously spectral and spatial information, allowing, in just one shot, to study the morphology and evolutionary status of the stellar component, and the physical properties of the warm interstellar medium (e.g., extinction, chemical abundances, kinematics). This ongoing IFS survey will supply much needed local templates that will ease the interpretation of IFS data for intermediate and high-redshift star-forming galaxies.

Modern optical and infrared astronomical sites are getting used to a flexible way of operation, namely queue modes, allowing astronomical observations in the most appropriate weather conditions for each specific observing scientific program. The forecast of weather conditions is then a mandatory issue to plan in advance the observations queue for each night in order to exploit efficiently the astronomical facilities with the largest high quality data output for scientific exploitation. The precipitable water vapour is the parameter accounting for the infrared (IR) quality of an astronomical site. The temporal fluctuation of this parameter drastically affects the quality of the IR data recorded at ground telescopes. An optical/IR telescope needs the forecasting of the precipitable water vapour for a proper queue scheduling of IR observations. The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) on the island of La Palma (Spain) presents an abrupt topography which difficult the forecasting at this astronomical site. We discuss the performance of a mesoscale numerical weather model (WRF, Weather Research and Forecasting) applied to ORM region including the comparison with local precipitable water vapour estimations from GPS (Global Positioning System).

The atmospheric water vapor content above the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) obtained from Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is presented. GPS measurements have been evaluated by comparison with 940nm-radiometer observations. Statistical analysis of GPS measurements points to ORM as an observing site with suitable conditions for infrared (IR) observations, with a median column of precipitable water vapor (PWV) of 3.8 mm. PWV presents a clear seasonal behavior, being Winter and Spring the best seasons for IR observations. The percentage of nighttime showing PWV values smaller than 3 mm is over 60% in February, March and April. We have also estimated the temporal variability of water vapor content at the ORM. A summary of PWV statistical results at different astronomical sites is presented, recalling that these values are not directly comparable as a result of the differences in the techniques used to recorded the data.

The requirements for current large and future extremely large telescopes as well as the quick development of IR instrumentation demand a proper characterization of precipitable water vapour (PWV) above astronomical sites. A comparison of PWV estimations from a photometer and a GPS (Global Positioning System) above the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain) was carried out and it was found a linear relation between both measurements. Such relationship will allow the calibration of the GPS measurements recorded at ORM for the period June 2001- December 2008. These large time series of PWV estimations from GPS were used to perform a statistical analysis of water vapour content above this astronomical site. Average annual value of night-time PWV of 4.86 mm was found. It was also found a clear seasonal behavior of the PWV above ORM, with smaller water-vapour columns during winter nights (average 3.36 mm). The largest values of PWV are reached in the summer nights (average 6.75 mm). The data indicate that a significant percentage of nights (~38%) are well suited for thermal infrared observations (with PWV < 3 mm), and 71% of nights present a "fair" or better IR observation opportunity at ORM.

Future large and extremely large ground-based telescopes will demand stable geological settings.Remote sensing could be an unvaluable tool to analyse the impact of geological activity at selected astronomical sites, namely the observatories of El Teide (Tenerife, Canary Islands), Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma, Canary Islands), Mauna Kea (Hawaii) and Paranal (Chile) and the candidate site of Cerro Ventarrones (Chile). In this sense, the extent of lava flows, eruptive clouds or ground deformation associated to seismic and/or volcanic activity could be analysed and characterised through remote sensing.

The development of adaptive optics systems for projects related to large telescopes demands a proper knowledge of the atmospheric turbulence. Due to the lack of long-term information on optical turbulence, high-altitude winds (in particular winds at the 200-mbar pressure level) were adopted as a parameter for estimating the total turbulence at a particular site, since there are large wind databases spanning for several decades. On-site measurements of C N 2 (h) profiles (more than 20200 turbulence profiles) from G-SCIDAR observations and wind vertical profiles from balloons have been used tocalculate the seeing, the isoplanatic angle and the coherence time for the Teide Observatory (Canary Islands, Spain). The connection of these parameters to wind speeds at ground and 200-mbar pressure level have been studied and discussed.

The requirements for excellent image quality of current large and future very large telescopes demand a proper knowledge of atmospheric turbulence. Thus several projects are already pursuing this aim. The precise characterization of the turbulence above a particular site requires long-term monitoring. In this sense, due to the lack of long-term information on turbulence, high-altitude winds (in particular winds at the 200-mbar pressure level, V200) have been proposed (Sarazin & Tokovinin 2002,1 S&T02 hereafter) as a parameter for estimating the total turbulence at a particular site, because records of this parameter exist from several sources. This choice is based on the idea that the greatest source for turbulence generation is related to the highest peak in the vertical wind profile, which is located at the 200-mbar pressure level globally. Moreover, S&T02 found a good correlation between the average velocity of the turbulence, V0, and V200 of the form: V0= 0.4*V200 at the Cerro Pachon and Paranal Observatories in Chile. A linear relationship between V0 and V200 was also found in San Pedro Martir (Mexico) (Masciadri & Egner 2006,2 M&E06 hereafter). We study here the possible connection between V0 and V200 at the Teide Observatory (Spain).

From a study of BAL + IR + Fe II QSOs (using deep Gemini GMOS-IFU spectroscopy) new results are presented: for IRAS 04505-2958. Specifically, we have studied in detail the out flow (OF) process and their associated structures, mainly at two large galactic scales: (i) two blobs/shells (S1, S2) at radius r = 1.1 and 2.2 kpc; and (ii) an external hypergiant shell (S3) at r = 11 kpc. In addition, the presence of two very extended hypergiant shells (S4, S5) at r = 80 kpc is discussed. From this GMOS study the following main results were obtained: (i) For the external hypergiant shell S3 the kinematics GMOS maps of the ionized gas show very similar features to those observed for the prototype of exploding external supergiant shell: in NGC 5514. (ii) The main knots K1, K2 and K3 -of this hypergiant shell S3- show a stellar population and emission line ratios associated with the presence of a starburst + OF/shocks. (iii) The internal shells S1 and S2 show structures, OF components and properties very similar to those detected in the nuclear shells of Mrk 231. (iv) The shells S1+S2 and S3 are aligned at PA = 131: i.e. suggesting that the OF process is in the blow-out phase with bipolar structure. In addition, the shells S4 and S5 (at 80-100 kpc scale) are aligned at PA = 40, i.e.: a bipolar OF perpendicular to the internal OF. Finally, the generation of UHE cosmic rays and neutrino/ dark-matter -associated with HyNe in BAL + IR + Fe II QSOs- is discussed., Submitted MNRAS, 81 pages, 25 Figures

Current projects for large telescopes demand a proper knowledge of atmospheric turbulence to design efficient adaptive optics systems in order to reach large Strehl ratios. However, the proper characterization of the turbulence above a particular site requires long-term monitoring. Due to the lack of long-term information on turbulence, high-altitude winds (in particular winds at the 200 mbar pressure level) were proposed as a parameter for estimating the total turbulence at a particular site, with the advantage of records of winds going back several decades. We present the first complete study of atmospheric adaptive optics parameters above the Teide Observatory (Canary Islands, Spain) in relation to wind speed. On-site measurements of CN2(h) profiles (more than 20200 turbulence profiles) from G-SCIDAR observations and wind vertical profiles from balloons have been used to calculate the seeing, the isoplanatic angle and the coherence time. The connection of these parameters to wind speeds at ground and 200 mbar pressure level are shown and discussed. Our results confirm the well-known high quality of the Canary Islands astronomical observatories., Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables with daily AO parameters (100 nights). Submitted to MNRAS

Measurements of ground displacement have been carried out on the entire active volcanic island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, by means of classical and advanced DInSAR techniques. The main limiting factor on the accuracy of DInSAR measurements is the distribution of the water vapour in the lower troposphere. Hence, it is yet necessary to perform a detailed spatial and temporal characterization of water vapour to understand, and to be able to carry out a direct computation of, the effect of the tropospheric delay on DInSAR results. In this sense, satellite and balloon data have been analysed to infer the variability in the distribution of water vapour and hence, the robustness of DInSAR results on the island of Tenerife.

HH 262 is a group of emitting knots displaying an "hour-glass" morphology in the Halpha and [SII] lines, located 3.5' to the northeast of the young stellar object L1551-IRS5, in Taurus. We present new results of the kinematics and physical conditions of HH 262 based on Integral Field Spectroscopy covering a field of 1.5'x3', which includes all the bright knots in HH 262. These data show complex kinematics and significant variations in physical conditions over the mapped region of HH 262 on a spatial scale of, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Seismicity induces ground vertical and horizontal displacements that could affect the image quality obtained by telescopes in a similar fashion than atmospheric turbulence. In this work, we study the effect of local seismicity relative to atmospheric turbulence upon the image quality of astronomical observations at El Teide observatory, Canary Islands. Three different aspects of seismicity are studied, namely regional seismicity (that is compared with other astronomical sites), seismic noise and possible resonances between seismic noise and the structure of telescopes.

We present in this paper the new cute-SCIDAR instrument, entirely developed by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), delivered recently at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Paranal Observatory (Chile). This instrument, supported by the European Community (Framework Programme 6, Extremely Large Telescope Design Study), carries out the generalized SCIntillation Detection And Ranging (g-SCIDAR) technique to obtain the temporal evolution of turbulence profiles C N2 with height. A new design was made in order to fit the VLT Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) interfaces and control requirements. Also, a new software arch itecture allows a full remote control, and a data analysis pipeline provides turbulence profiles in real-time, which is the main achievement of this new cute-SCIDAR. Details of its design and results of its excellent performance are included. Keywords: atmospheric optical turbulence, site testi ng, site characterization, instrumentation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The SCIDAR technique SCIDAR has proved to be the most efficient and reliable technique to measure with accuracy the optical vertical structure of the atmospheric turbulence strength obtained from ground level. The concept (Vernin & Roddier, 1973

We present EDiFiSE, a prototype instrument for the observation of high-contrast systems, combining an adaptive optics (AO) system and an equalized integral field unit (EIFU). The design of the AO system takes into account the statistical behaviour of the atmospheric turbulence structure at the Canary Islands (Spain) astronomical observatories: Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) on the island of La Palma and Teide observatory (OT) in Tenerife. The AO will have the capability of adapting to the prevailing turbulence conditions; in this sense, the EDiFiSE AO unit will be an 'adaptable' adaptive optics system. The corrected beam feeds an hexagonal integral field unit formed by 331 micro-lenslets, which focus the intensity distribution at the focal plane into 331 optical fibers. The central seven fibers of the bundle include variable attenuators for the equalization of these fibers output intensities, matching them to the dynamical range of the detector and reducing the optical cross talk inside the spectrograph. This technique, called equalized integral field spectroscopy (Arribas, Mediavilla & Fuensalida 19981), permits to obtain spectral and spatial information of the equalized object and its surroundings as well as accurate relative photometry and astrometry.

We have been testing at laboratory commercial variable attenuators commonly used in telecommunication applications for their used in astronomy. Such variable attenuators are going to be included in the central fibers of the integral field unit (IFU) of the prototype instrument EDiFiSE (Equalized and Diffraction-limited Field Spectrograph Experiment). The EDiFiSE IFU is conformed by a lenslet array of 331 lenses, 331 fibers and seven variable attenuators (inserted in the seven central fibers of the bundle). We present here the characterization of the attenuator devices tested for their use in astronomy and, in particular, to their application in the observation of object of large dynamic range using equalized integral field spectroscopy. We also present the optical tests we have carried out to characterize the performances of two lenslet arrays acquired in the framework of the EDiFiSE project.

The characterization of the vertical turbulence distribution on an astronomical site should be based on statistical behaviour, as it is required for other parameters in site testing. We present the statistical results of the optical-turbulence profiles at the Roque de los Muchachos and Teide observatories at the Canary Islands (Spain). The data were obtained using the generalized scintillation detection and ranging technique at the 1m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope and 1.5m Carlos Sanchez Telescope. Statistical results are based on 68 nights in 2004 and 38 nights in 2005 of measurements at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory (La Palma) and 27 nights of observations at Teide Observatory (23 in 2004 and 4 in 2005). Statistically, most of the turbulence is concentrated close the ground level (2400 m above sea level) with no more than two relative intense turbulent layers at higher altitudes. The temporal evolution of the monthly statistical turbulence profiles indicates that the turbulence is concentrated at low altitude layers in winter.

In order to characterized the vertical atmospheric structure at the Teide Observatory (Tenerife, Spain), we are using two different remote sensing technics: SODAR (SOund Detection And Ranging) and SCIDAR (SCIncitillation Detection And Ranging) at this astronomical site. We present in this work the preliminar results on the comparison of the simultaneous data from four consecutive nights in March 2007 using both technics. We have analized the SCIDAR C 2 N profiles as well as an estimation of the structure constante of temperature function,C 2 T , provided by SODAR. Such C 2 T were compared to the simultaneous C 2 N profiles from SCIDAR, determining a calibration factor between the measurements provided by SCIDAR and SODAR. As it was expected, our preliminary results indicate that this calibration factor is very sensitive to the variations of weather conditions.

We have developed an algorithm to eliminate the dome seeing contribution to turbulence profiles derived from G-SCIDAR data. The algorithm, based on the parity of functions, is completely automated and it takes only a few seconds to process a full night of G-SCIDAR data. Seeing measurements obtained from turbulence profiles derived from G-SCIDAR observations and removing the dome contribution with our algorithm are in good agreement with seeing data obtained using Differential Image Motion Monitors (DIMMs). An important advantage of the proposed procedure is that it permits an automated reduction during the calculation process and it could be implemented to work in real time. The formulation to identify the shape of the dome seeing could be extended to other problems of shape recognition whenever it is even.

The determination of turbulent-layers wind speed observed through Generalized SCIDAR technique (G-SCIDAR) requires an efficient and contrasted code. We have developed a fully automated algorithm based on wavelet transforms to derive the velocity magnitude and direction of atmospheric turbulent layers from G-SCIDAR measurements. The algorithm makes use of five cross-correlations of a series of scintillation patterns separated by lapses of Δt, 2Δt, 3Δt, 4Δt and 5Δt. The wavelet analysis of such cross-correlation images provides the position, direction and altitude of the different turbulent layers detected in each image. The comparison and consistency of results in consecutive cross-correlations allows the determination of the turbulence layers velocities and avoids misidentifications associated with noise and/or overlapping layers. The software includes the correction due to the projection effects on the observing direction of the actual velocity vector of turbulence layers. The algorithm has been applied to simulated data with excellent results, as well as to actual G-SCIDAR observations. For the validation of velocities derived for real G-SCIDAR data we have compared them to the velocities provided by balloon measurements. The software has been designed to analyze huge amounts of G-SCIDAR measurements.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) at La Palma (Canary Islands) is one of the two top sites selected for hosting the future European Large Telescope (ELT) (http://www.eso.org/projects/e-elt/), the other being Paranal (in Chile). Meteorological and seeing conditions are crucial for the site selection. New concepts related to geophysical properties (seismicity and microsismicity), local climate variability, the presence of aerosols, atmospheric conditions related to the optical turbulence (tropospheric and ground wind regimes) have recently been introduced for selecting sites for a new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (Munoz-Tunon 2002, Munoz-Tunon et al. 2003 a, 2003 b; Varela et al., 2002; Varela & Munoz-Tunon, 2004; Varela et al., 2004 a, 2004 b) and also for telescope design and feasibility studies for adaptive optics. Wind speed at 200 mbar is one of the key parameters proposed for characterizing atmospheric turbulence above the Observatory (Sarazin & Tokovinin, 2002, Garcia-Lorenzo et al., 2005). A lower average 200 mbar wind speed is obtained at the ORM in comparison with other astronomical sites; furthermore, the ORM ranks first in in suitability for adaptive optics suitability (Garcia-Lorenzo et al., 2005). The usefulness of this value might be conditional on the continuity of the wind value and wind direction from the upper troposphere to the ground level. With this motivation we are undertaking a study of tropospheric and ground winds at several observing sites.

Adaptive optics devices in astronomy compensate the distortions introduced by the atmosphere in the quality and resolution of images taken by ground-based telescopes. The proper knowledge of the spatial and temporal behaviour of the atmospheric turbulence is crutial for optimizing the design of multiconjugate adaptive optics systems to satisfy the excellent image quality requirements of the new generation of large and extremelly large telescopes. Atmospheric turbulence monitoring is being carried out at astronomical sites using different techniques, being generalized SCIDAR one of the most popular. Generalized SCIDAR technique provides enough information to derive the vertical structure of the atmospheric turbulence (C2N(h)) as well as the velocity of the turbulent layers (Vtur (h)). In this work, we present a new and automatic method to derive Vtur (h) from generalized SCIDAR data based on wavelet analysis.© (2006) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Satellite data measuring aerosols over the Canary Islands need to be correctly interpreted in accordance with the spatial resolution and spectroscopic channels used. In situ data are still a necessary reference for calibrating and interpreting the aerosol index provided by different spectrometers onboard satellites. A comparison of both techniques (in situ and remote) is discussed in this paper, showing there is no linear correlation between the aerosol index and the extinction coefficient. Here, we present an interpretation of different situations arising and discuss critically the correct interpretation of the aerosol index and images provided by the TOMS in accordance with the dust presence over the Observatories. The aerosol index measured at sectors centered at both Observatories (Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos -ORM-, on La Palma and Observatorio del Teide -OT-, on Tenerife) is also compared.

Climate diagnostic studies combine data from different sources (radiosoundes, satellites, meteorological masts, etc) and meteorological models to predict the climate conditions and evolution at a particular site or globally. Products from climate diagnosis are archived in long-term databases that may constitute a useful tool for site characterization. However, a rigorous control of data quality, analysis and cross-comparison to in-situ meteorological measurements need to be performed before the method becomes extensively used for site characterization. We present a statistical analysis for wind vertical profiles, an important parameter for site characterization, using data from a climate diagnostic archive and in-situ measurements (ground-level and balloon data).