The AGN unified scenario suggests that the Seyfert 2 galaxies are the
obscured counterparts of Seyfert 1 galaxies where the difference is
caused only by the orientation of the object. Optical microvariability
is supposed to arise from the regions which are closer to the
supermassive black hole at the center of the AGN. The search for
microvariability is an important test for the AGN unified scenario,
since we assume that the variability of obscured AGNs should be
happening on long time scales (compared to the unobscured AGNs). We
present first results from the microvariability campaign…
We report on the spectroscopic observations of the 2011 outburst of the
Recurrent Nova T Pyx. The observations were obtained over the first two
months of the outburst and they were made using two different high
resolution echelle spectrographs: VLT-XSHOOTER and TNG-SARG. The first
observation was obtained one day after the discovery of the outburst, so
that we were able to follow the evolution of the nova from the very
early emission before the maximum luminosity of the nova. Such early
observation allowed us to detect the transition of the nova spectral
emission from a He-N to a Fe II…
Lo scorso 15 dicembre sono stati festeggiati i 30 anni di vita dell'Associazione Romana Astrofili. Per l'occasione il presidente Calabresi ha ripercorso la storia dell'ARA raccontandone i momenti salienti.
Il nostro segretario, Manlio Ercolino, ci ha regalato questa poesia, mentre di seguito sono pubblicate alcune foto della serata.
30° AB ARACONDITA
Il tutto ebbe inizio in un infausto giorno,
quando alcuni alienati si strinsero attorno
presso il Pincio con l’intenzione ben chiara
di dare tosto vita alla costituzione dell’ARA.
Nell’ottobre dell’ottantadue l’atto…
