NEWS AND PICTURES FROM THE OBSERVATORIES

First results from IRCAM3/ALICE at UKIRT

M1-16

Image of the proto-planetray nebula M1-16. Narrow band filter 1-0 S(1) 120 sec per exposure. Background limited 3 x 3 mosaic with 20 arcsec jitter, repeated twice. Test of background noise limited operation with narrow band filters. Considerable structure in the S(1) emission is seen, delineating shock regions and probably the NW and SE walls of a cavity (faint curved arcs). Data taken at the request of Colin Aspin. Courtesy of Phil Puxley.

Very deep K image of lensed QSO

0.3 arcsec/pixel K filter mosaic (3 x 3 grid, 8 arcsec centres) with 60 sec integration time per position, total 10,680 sec on-source integration (observing efficiency = ratio of exposed to elapsed time = 80%). One sigma K = 25.1 mag. Individual 9-frame mosaics were shifted to the QSO centroids before stacking. Several previously low S/N and/or invisible objects are clearly seen. In particular there is a K = 21 mag source 5 arcsec E of the QSO pair and roughly central, and perhaps a fainter object almost between the pair (very slightly E). Several possible enhancements are (i) do a fractional pixel shift rather than the integer pixel shift used; (ii) deconvolution of the images. There is also some slight flat field structure (e.g. depressed `ghost' images of the QSO pair offest by the 9 arcsec jitter). These are probably due to the very low level residual images (a few electrons) seen with this detector which will be imprinted on the flat field. It should be possible to remove their effect. Data reduced by Colin Aspin. Taken at the request of Richard Ellis/Alfonso Aragon-Salamanca/RIXOS team. Courtesy of Phil Puxley.

K mosaic of GGD27 IRS

0.3 arcsec/pixel, K filter exposure. 30 images of 3 x 8 sec. Total time for mosaic 15 min. A large-scale mosaic image of the star formation region GGD27 IRS in Sagitaurius. The dark cloud in which the young bipolar CO outflow source is forming is seen extending from the right-centre to the left of the image. The dense background Galaxy stellar population is seen relatively unobscured at the right edge. Seeing was around 1 arcsec and stars as faint as K = 18 can be seen. Courtesy of Phil Puxley.