[en] Quantitative seeing measurements have been provided at the Canarian Observatories since 1990 by differential image motion monitors (DIMMs). Image quality needs to be studied in long term (routine) measurements. This is important, for instance, in deciding on the siting of large telescopes or in the development of adaptive optics programmes, not to mention the development and design of new instruments. On the other hand, the continuous real time monitoring is essential in the day-to-day operation of telescopes.These routine measurements have to be carried out by standard, easy-to-operate and cross- calibrated instruments that required to be be operational with minimum intervention over many years. The DIMMA (Automatic Differential Image Motion Monitor) is the next step, a fully automated seeing monitor that is capable of providing data without manual operation and in remote locations. Currently, the IAC has two DIMMs working at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) and Teide Observatory (OT). They are robotic and require an operator to start and initialize the program, focus the telescope, change the star when needed and turn off at the end of the night, all of which is done remotely. With a view to automation, we have designed a code for monitoring image quality (avoiding spurious data) and a program for autofocus, which is presented here. The data quality control protocol is also given. (paper)

[en] The recent spatial and temporal coincidence of the blazar TXS 0506+056 with the IceCube-detected neutrino event IC-170922A has opened up a realm of multimessenger astronomy with blazar jets as a plausible site of cosmic-ray acceleration. After TXS 0506+056, a second blazar, BZB J0955+3551, was recently found to be spatially coincident with the IceCube-detected neutrino event IC-200107A and undergoing its brightest X-ray flare measured so far. Here we present the results of our multifrequency campaign to study this peculiar event that includes observations with the NuSTAR, Swift, Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), and 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The optical spectroscopic observation from GTC secured its redshift as $z={0.55703}_{-<!--\; ???\; -->0.00021}^{+0.00033}$ and the central black hole mass as ${10}^{8.90\pm <!--\; ??\; -->0.16}$ $M_{\odot <!--\; ???\; -->}$. Both NuSTAR and NICER data reveal a rapid flux variability, albeit at low significance ($\lesssim <!--\; ???\; -->3.5\mathrm{\sigma <!--\; ??\; -->}$). We explore the origin of the target photon field needed for the photopion production using analytical calculations and considering the observed optical-to-X-ray flux level. We conclude that seed photons may originate from outside the jet, similar to that reported for TXS 0506+056, although a scenario invoking a comoving target photon field (e.g., electron synchrotron) cannot be ruled out. The electromagnetic output from the neutrino-producing photohadronic processes are likely to make only a subdominant contribution to the observed spectral energy distribution, suggesting that the X-ray flaring event may not be directly connected with IC-200107A.

[en] The extremely metal-poor (XMP) galaxies analyzed in a previous paper have large star-forming regions with a metallicity lower than the rest of the galaxy. Such a chemical inhomogeneity reveals the external origin of the metal-poor gas fueling star formation, possibly indicating accretion from the cosmic web. This paper studies the kinematic properties of the ionized gas in these galaxies. Most XMPs have a rotation velocity around a few tens of km s⁻¹. The star-forming regions appear to move coherently. The velocity is constant within each region, and the velocity dispersion sometimes increases within the star-forming clump toward the galaxy midpoint, suggesting inspiral motion toward the galaxy center. Other regions present a local maximum in velocity dispersion at their center, suggesting a moderate global expansion. The H α line wings show a number of faint emission features with amplitudes around a few per cent of the main H α component, and wavelength shifts between 100 and 400 km s⁻¹. The components are often paired, so that red and blue emission features with similar amplitudes and shifts appear simultaneously. Assuming the faint emission to be produced by expanding shell-like structures, the inferred mass loading factor (mass loss rate divided by star formation rate) exceeds 10. Since the expansion velocity far exceeds the rotational and turbulent velocities, the gas may eventually escape from the galaxy disk. The observed motions involve energies consistent with the kinetic energy released by individual core-collapse supernovae. Alternative explanations for the faint emission have been considered and discarded.

[en] We present a catalog of central engine properties, i.e., black hole mass (M _BH) and accretion luminosity (L _disk), for a sample of 1077 blazars detected with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This includes broad emission-line systems and blazars whose optical spectra lack emission lines but are dominated by the absorption features arising from the host galaxy. The average M _BH for the sample is $⟨<!--\; ???\; -->\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}{M}_{\mathrm{B}\mathrm{H},\mathrm{a}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{l}{M}_{\odot <!--\; ???\; -->}}⟩<!--\; ???\; -->=8.60$, and there is evidence suggesting the association of more massive black holes with absorption-line systems. Our results indicate a bimodality of L _disk in Eddington units (L _disk/L _Edd) with broad-line objects tend to have a higher accretion rate (L _disk/L _Edd > 0.01). We have found that L _disk/L _Edd and Compton dominance (CD; the ratio of the inverse Compton to synchrotron peak luminosities) are positively correlated at the >5σ confidence level, suggesting that the latter can be used to reveal the state of accretion in blazars. Based on this result, we propose a CD-based classification scheme. Sources with CD > 1 can be classified as high-Compton-dominated or HCD blazars, whereas those with CD ≲ 1 are low-Compton-dominated (LCD) objects. This scheme is analogous to that based on the mass accretion rate proposed in the literature; however, it overcomes the limitation imposed by the difficulty in measuring L _disk and M _BH for objects with quasi-featureless spectra. We conclude that the overall physical properties of Fermi blazars are likely to be controlled by the accretion rate in Eddington units. The catalog is made public at http://www.ucm.es/blazars/engines and Zenodo.