0000000000200798
AUTHOR
I. Eglitis
ON THE FON ASTROPLATE PROJECT ACCOMPLISHMENT
The plan of the photographic survey of thenorthern sky (FON) was proposed in 1976 in Golosiiv ob-servatory (now MAO NAS of Ukraine) by I. Kolchinskyand A. Onegina. The final project of the Compiled FONACcatalog (FON Astrographic Catalog) is based on the digitaldata of photographic plates exposed at four observatories.They are MAO NAS of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine), Kitabastronomical observatory (Tashkent, Uzbekistan), Hissarastronomical observatory (Dushanbe, Tajikistan), and Bal-done observatory (Latvia)). The total amount of plates is5700. The result is expected to be the catalog of positionsand B-magnitudes of stars covered the declination areafrom -20 to 90 degrees. The estimated mean epoch…
ASTEROID SEARCH RESULTS FOR DIGITIZED ASTROPLATES OF 1.2m TELESCOPE IN BALDONE
The work on the mass search for asteroids on astroplate images and the determination of their coordi- nates was begun in 2016. The basis for current search was the processing results of digitized photographic plates and films obtained at the observatory in Baldone in 1967-1993. Observations with a single exposure in different spectral bands were carried out using the 1.2m Schmidt telescope in Baldone. We used all observations in the U Johnson's spec- tral band (on plates) and significant part of them in V band (on films). Photometric band U was realized by combining emulsion ORWO Zu1 (Zu2 or Zu21 or Kodak 103aO or IIaO) with UG1 filter. For films with A600 emulsion and filter ZS17 a photome…
INVESTIGATION OF NEO ASTEROIDS 2006 VB14 AND 1986 DA
566 positions and photometric observa- tions of NEO objects 2006 VB14 = Y5705 = 345705 and 1986 DA were obtained with Baldone Schmidt telescope in 2018 and 2019, to detecting rotation period and other physical characteristics. A Fourier transform was applied to determine the rotation period for asteroid 1986 DA=6178. Value 3.12 ± 0.02h was obtained. Observations confirm the previously obtained rotation period P = 3.25h for 2006 VB14.
ASTEROIDS SEARCH RESULTS IN LARGE PHOTOGRAPHIC SKY SURVEYS
Photographic observations of XX century contained numerous and varied information about all objects and events of the Universe fixed on plates. The original and interesting observations of small bodies of the Solar system in previous years can be selected and used for various scientific tasks. Existing databases and online services can help make such selection easily and quickly. The observations of chronologically earlier ppositions, photometric evaluation of brightness for long periods of time allow refining the orbits of asteroids and identifying various non-stationaries. Photographic observations of Northern Sky Survey project and observations of clusters …
DISTRIBUTION OF CARBON STARS IN THE GALAXY
A search for new faint carbon (C) stars in the Polar region δ > 55o has been accomplished by obtaining objective prism spectra in the near infrared 550 -- 900 nm on images of CCD camera of Baldone Schmidt telescope of Astrophysical observatory. The positions of stars having color indices (J – K) > 1.3 mag in Two Micron All Sky Infrared Survey (2MASS) were selected to pick out suspicious carbon stars.Our survey is limited in brightness by J < 10 mag. 24 new carbon stars were found and their characteristics obtained. The correlative relation between Teff and spectral gradient [757 – 685] was confirmed. Such characteristics as Teff, distance from the Sun, absolute Mk were obtained…
BALDONE SCHMIDT (LATVIA) TELESCOPE ASTROPHOTOS ARCHIVE
From 1967 to 2005, many astrophotos have been taken with the Baldone Schmidt telescope (80cmx120cmx240cm). These photos have being archived in theInstituteofAstronomyof theUniversityofLatvia(IAU code 069, longitude 24.4041 E, latitude 56.7734 N, altitude103 m). There are over 22000 direct and 2300 spectral photos of different regions of the sky in this archive. There are also information on the photo materials type as well as the types of color filters used for phographiing the sky fields and objects. The home page of theInstituteofAstronomy’s Baldone observatory (www.baldoneobservatory.lu.lv) has the archive’s description. Part of the description has also being published (Alksnis, et al., …
BALDONE 1.2M TELESCOPE PLATE ARCHIVE - HIDDEN RESERVES OF THE FON PROJECT
The plate archive of the 1.2 m Baldone telescope (Latvia) has approximately 780 and 4660 astronegatives exposed in 1967-1993 in the U (ZU21 + UG1 filter plates) and V (A600N + ZS17 filter films) closed to Johnson system U and V passbands. Digitization of astronegatives is carried out using the Epson Expression 10000XL scanner, the scanning mode is 1200 or 2400 dpi, each field covers 19 square degrees of sky. The plates and films are scanned at the Baldone Observatory, processing of digitized scans is carried out by the observers in Baldone, at the Research Institute "Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory" and at the Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. …
OBTAINING POSITIONS OF ASTEROIDS FROM DIGITIZED PROCESSING OF PHOTOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS IN BALDONE OBSERVATORY (CODE 069)
Digital processing of photographic plates of star fields allows to determine with high accuracy the coordinates and stellar magnitudes for all registered objects on these plates. The processing results can be used for a broad search for images of small bodies of the Solar system and determination of their coordinates. From the observations of earlier epoch, we can extract information about the locations of these bodies well before discovering them. Modern approach to processing early photographic observations with new technologies can be an effective instrument for rediscovery of asteroids and correction their orbits. We analyzed the results of digital processing of observations of clusters…
ON THE CONCEPT OF THE ENHANCED FON CATALOG COMPILATION
We suppose to compile the enhanced version of FON (Photographic Survey of the Northern Sky) catalog of stellar positions and B-magnitudes in the sky region from -20 to 90 degrees on declination. The photographic base of the project comprises about 5,700 plates obtained at three observatories of the former SU MAO NAS of Ukraine, Kitab observatoryof Uzbekistan and Gissar observatory of Tajikistan. The mean epoch of the catalog is around 1988. The expected limited stellar magnitude is 17.5m. More than 5,400 plates are processed to support the photometric part of the catalog. The plates were shot on the 1.2 m Schmidt telescope in Baldone, Latvia, in the U and V bands. Color data provide the pos…
NEW ASTROMETRIC REDUCTION OF THE SUPERCOSMOS PLATE ARCHIVE: FIRST RESULTS
The arrivals of the new more accuracy reference catalogues and also development of new meth- ods and approaches for reduction astrometric data give the new life for photographic plates archives. Gaia DR2 is not only a giant step in the astrometric accuracy allowing to measure new objects also provides plates archives ob- served in the past with modern accuracy. In this work we present the first results of astrometric reduction in the sys- tem of Gaia DR2 for some photographic plates that were obtained by UK Schmidt telescope (UKST) and digitized by the SuperCOSMOS scanning machine. The UKST is a classical Schmidt with the following parameters: mirror diameter 1.83m; focal length 3.07m; phot…
ON THE “SOLAR SYSTEM SMALL BODIES” ASTROPLATE PROJECT OF THE UKRAINIAN VIRTUAL OBSERVATORY
The UkrVO Joint Digital Archive of astro- plates and the newest digitized data processing services al- lowed us to form a new approach for the creation of catalogs of astrometric and photometric characteristics of the Solar System bodies. Given this, the main goal of this approach was not only to complete the processing with the best possi- ble accuracy of high-quality and unprocessed earlier photo- graphic observations of the Solar System bodies but also to find new original data from these observations. As a result, more than 6,500 new astrometric positions and stellar magnitudes of asteroids, and 3,036 positions of outer planets (Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter) and their satelli…
UV-PHOTOMETRY WITH THE 1.2 M SCHMIDT TELESCOPE IN BALDONE
TheUniversityofLatvia's Institute of astronomy possesses a collection of 22 thousand photographic plates taken by the1.2 mSchmidt telescope located at the Baldone observatory. Among others, there are 767 astronegatives in this collection obtained in 314 sky areas using the Johnson U-filter. The field of view of each negative covers 19 square degrees. The plate scale is 72”/mm. The digitizing of the UV-collection has started in June 2016 with EPSON EXPRESSION 10000XL flatbed scanner. The general aim of the digitizing is to obtain UV-magnitudes and positions of all objects registered on the plates. Up to date near a half of the UV-collection is digitized. 24 digitized MEGA program plates of t…
PHOTOMETRY OF STARS FOR ASTRONEGATIVES WITH A SINGLE EXPOSURE
The paper discusses the construction of characteristic curves for various astronegatives with a single exposure. Particular attention is paid to the question of extrapolation of the characteristic curve for the region of the weakest stars in the absence of standards. A new method for constructing an individual characteristic curve for digitized films and plates in the UBVR system has been proposed and implemented. The processing of frames of digitized plates and films with sky areas is car- ried out using LINUX/MIDAS/ROMAFOT software tools. ROMAFOT application allows us to extract astro- metric rectangular coordinates X,Y and photometric char- acteristics such as instrumental photometric ma…
BALDONE OBSERVATORY IN THE CIRCLES OF TIME
1957 – The first laboratory building, known as the White House, was built near Baldone on the Riekstu hill, in the territory of the next Observatory. 01.01.1958 – The Astronomy Sector was separated from the Institute of Physics and commenced independent activi- ty as the Laboratory of Astrophysics at the Latvian Acade- my of Sciences (LAS). In 1967, with the decision of the Presidium of the Latvian SSR LAS the Laboratory of As- trophysics was transformed into the Radioastrophysic Ob- servatory at LAS. Under the leadership of the first director, Janis Ikaunieks, an instrumental observation base develops – a 1.2m Schmidt telescope was installed in 1966 for opti- cal observations. The project …