The discovery of the Sgr dwarf galaxy shows that the Galactic halo contains large clumps which are not full viralized. This may change implications of observed microlensing events towards the LMC. If more than one such systems are hidden in the Galactic halo, then given their enormous angular size, there is a significant chance for any line of sight, say the LMC direction, to intersect one of t...

Recently, radial velocities have been measured for a large sample of M giants from the 2MASS catalog, selected to be part of the Sgr dwarf leading and trailing streams. Here we present a comparison of their kinematics to models of the Sgr dwarf debris orbiting Galactic potentials, with halo components of varying degrees of flattening and elongation. This comparison shows that the portion of the...

The optical photometric evolution of the final helium flash object V4334 Sgr from 1994 to 2000 is described. The rise to optical maximum (1994 – 1996) is characterized by a continuous increase of color indices, indicating a slowly expanding, cooling pseudo-photosphere. This photosphere became stationary in 1997. In the following years, the object underwent brightness declines of increasing stre...

the date of receipt and acceptance should be inserted later Abstract. Using 2.5 Ms of data obtained by the INTEGRAL satellite in 2003-2004, we discovered persistent hard X-ray emission from the soft gamma-ray repeater SGR 1900+14. Its 20-100 keV spectrum is well described by a steep power law with photon index Γ=3.1±0.5 and flux 1.5×10 −11 erg cm −2 s −1. Contrary to SGR 1806–20, the only other...

We present Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) observations of OH and OH toward Sgr B2 with a spectral resolution of ∼35 km s. The OH J=5/2→3/2 and J=3/2→1/2 rotational lines of the 2Π1/2 ladder are seen in emission while the cross-ladder transitions (from the 2Π3/2 J=3/2 to the J=1/2, 3/2 and 5/2 levels of the 2Π1/2 ladder), and the 2Π3/2 J=5/2←3/2 and J=7/2←5/2 lines are detected in absorption. ...

OBJECTIVE The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of tumor growth rate, calculated from tumor size measurements by US, on breast cancer patients' outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS Breast cancer patients who received at least two serial breast ultrasonographies (US) in our institution during preoperative period and were surgically treated between 2002 and 2010 were reviewed. Tumor growth r...

It was suggested that some of the short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are giant flares of soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) in nearby galaxies. To test this hypothesis, I have constructed a sample of 47 short GRBs, detected by the Interplanetary Network (IPN), for which the position is constrained by at least one annulus on the celestial sphere. For each burst, I have checked whether its IPN 3...

We have monitored the pulse frequencies of the two soft gamma repeaters SGR 1806−20 and SGR 1900+14 through the beginning of year 2001 using primarily Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Proportional Counter Array observations. In both sources, we observe large changes in the spin-down torque up to a factor of ∼4, which persist for several months. Using long baseline phase-connected timing solutions as...

The presence of OH (1720 MHz) masers, and the absence of counterparts at 1665/1667 MHz has proved to be a clear diagnostic of shocked molecular gas associated with Galactic supernova remnants. This suggests that shocked molecular gas should be associated with the OH (1720 MHz) masers that have been detected in the circumnuclear disk (CND) and Sgr A East at the Galactic center. In order to test ...

The perturbations of satellite galaxies, in particular the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), have been repeatedly proposed and discounted as the cause of the Milky Way warp. While the LMC may excite a wake in the Galactic dark matter halo that could provide sufficient torque to excite a warp of the observed magnitude, its orbit may be incompatible with the orientation of the warp’s line of nodes. T...