Exploiting the data of the Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS), we characterize the spatial distribution of star formation in 76 highly active star-forming galaxies in 10 clusters at 0.3 < z < 0.7. All of these galaxies are likely restricted to first infall. In a companion paper, we contrast the properties of field and cluster galaxies, whereas here we correlate the properties of H alpha emitters to a number of tracers of the cluster environment to investigate its role in driving galaxy transformations. H alpha emitters are found in the clusters out to 0.5 virial radii, the maximum radius covered by GLASS. The peak of the H alpha emission is offset with respect to the peak of the UV continuum. We decompose these offsets into a radial and a tangential component. The radial component points away from the cluster center in 60% of the cases, with 95% confidence. The decompositions agree with cosmological simulations; that is, the H alpha emission offset correlates with galaxy velocity and ram-pressure stripping signatures. Trends between H alpha emitter properties and surface mass density distributions and X-ray emissions emerge only for unrelaxed clusters. The lack of strong correlations with the global environment does not allow us to identify a unique environmental effect originating from the cluster center. In contrast, correlations between H alpha morphology and local number density emerge. We conclude that local effects, uncorrelated to the cluster-centric radius, play a more important role in shaping galaxy properties.

We reexamine the properties of local galaxy populations using published surveys of star formation, structure, and gas content. After recalibrating star formation measures, we are able to reliably measure specific star formation rates well below that of the so-called "main sequence" of star formation versus mass. We find an unexpectedly large population of quiescent galaxies with star formation rates intermediate between the main sequence and passive populations and with disproportionately high star formation rates. We demonstrate that a tight main sequence is a natural outcome of most histories of star formation and has little astrophysical significance but that the quiescent population requires additional astrophysics to explain its properties. Using a simple model for disk evolution based on the observed dependence of star formation on gas content in local galaxies, and assuming simple histories of cold gas inflow, we show that the evolution of galaxies away from the main sequence can be attributed to the depletion of gas due to star formation after a cutoff of gas inflow. The quiescent population is composed of galaxies in which the density of disk gas has fallen below a threshold for star formation probably set by disk stability. The evolution of galaxies beyond the quiescent state to gas exhaustion and the end of star formation requires another process, probably wind-driven mass loss. The environmental dependence of the three galaxy populations is consistent with recent numerical modeling, which indicates that cold gas inflows into galaxies are truncated at earlier epochs in denser environments.

The GLASS-JWST Early Release Science (hereafter GLASS-JWST-ERS) Program will obtain and make publicly available the deepest extragalactic data of the ERS campaign. It is primarily designed to address two key science questions, namely, "what sources ionized the universe and when?" and "how do baryons cycle through galaxies?", while also enabling a broad variety of first look scientific investigations. In primary mode, it will obtain NIRISS and NIRSpec spectroscopy of galaxies lensed by the foreground Hubble Frontier Field cluster, Abell 2744. In parallel, it will use NIRCam to observe two fields that are offset from the cluster center, where lensing magnification is negligible, and which can thus be effectively considered blank fields. In order to prepare the community for access to this unprecedented data, we describe the scientific rationale, the survey design (including target selection and observational setups), and present pre-commissioning estimates of the expected sensitivity. In addition, we describe the planned public releases of high-level data products, for use by the wider astronomical community.

We report results of a spectrophotometric survey of novae in M 31. The observations were carried out using the TNG at La Palma and the 1.82 m telescope of the INAF/OAPD at Asiago observatory. Low resolution spectra of the novae, obtained mainly in the early decline phase, allow us to classify the objects following the Tololo scheme (Williams 1992) (C) 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Nuclear activity and star formation processes represent two key elements in the evolution of galaxies across the cosmic ages. In spite of very different physical backgrounds, several arguments suggest that they should be closely connected. On the basis of simple theoretical considerations, the transport of appreciable amounts of fuel to the AGN scale is very likely to trigger star formation in the gas. Young stellar populations, in their turn, are expected to affect the properties of the interstellar medium, leading to a complex balance of interactions among nuclear activity and star formation. This scenario is also supported by the observation of super-massive black holes and host galaxy properties, which strongly suggest a common evolutionary track. However, despite several years of extensive investigation, the relationship among the two processes still has to be properly explained. Here we provide a review of some of the most important observations, which are relevant to the issue of the connection among AGN and starburst events. Based on a wide sample of observations, we present an analysis of the spectral signatures connected with AGN and star formation activity. Expanding the concept of the distinction among star forming galaxies and the true active nuclei, we provide systematic evidence for a role of recent starburst events in the circum-nuclear regions of active galaxies and discuss the possibility of its influence onto the AGN environment. We also analyze the age, mass and metallicity properties of star-forming and active galaxies, illustrating that they are arranged in a sequence that is consistent with the identified relation.

During the last 10 years the Galileo 1.2-m telescope has been completely refurbished in its optical, mechanical and electronic parts. This successful result opened suddenly the way to new scientific programs involving observations of Galactic and extragalactic sources. It gave the chance to participate efficiently in international campaigns of spectroscopic monitoring of variable sources like AGNs, supernovae, novae, dwarf novae, etc.

We revisited the spectroscopic characteristics of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) by analysing a homogeneous sample of 296 NLS1s at redshift between 0.028 and 0.345, extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR7) public archive. We confirm that NLS1s are mostly characterized by Balmer lines with Lorentzian profiles, lower black hole masses and higher Eddington ratios than classic broad-line Seyfert 1 (BLS1s), but they also appear to be active galactic nuclei (AGNs) contiguous with BLS1s and sharing with them common properties. Strong Fe II emission does not seem to be a distinctive property of NLS1s, as low values of Fe II/H beta are equally observed in these AGNs. Our data indicate that Fe II and Ca II kinematics are consistent with the one of H beta. On the contrary, OI lambda 8446 seems to be systematically narrower and it is likely emitted by gas of the broad-line region more distant from the ionizing source and showing different physical properties. Finally, almost all NLS1s of our sample show radial motions of the narrow-line region highly ionized gas. The mechanism responsible for this effect is not yet clear, but there are hints that very fast outflows require high continuum luminosities (>10(44) erg s(-1)) or high Eddington ratios (log (L-bol/L-Edd) > -0.1).

The [O III] lambda lambda 4959, 5007 lines are a useful proxy to test the kinematic of the narrow-line region (NLR) in active galactic nuclei (AGN). In AGN, and particularly in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) these lines often show few peculiar features, such as blue wings, often interpreted as outflowing component, and a shift typically toward lower wavelengths of the whole spectroscopic feature in some exceptional sources, the so-called blue outliers, which are often associated to strong winds. We investigated the incidence of these peculiarities in two samples of radio-emitting NLS1s, one radio-loud and one radio-quiet. We also studied a few correlations between the observational properties of the [O III] lines and those of the AGN. Our aim was to understand the difference between radio-quiet and radio-loud NLS1s, which may in turn provide useful information on the jet formation mechanism. We find that the NLR gas is much more perturbed in radio-loud than in radio-quiet NLS1s. In particular the NLR dynamics in gamma-ray emitting NLS1s appears to be highly disturbed, and this might be a consequence of interaction with the relativistic jet. The less frequently perturbed NLR in radio-quiet NLS1s suggests instead that these sources likely do not harbor a fully developed relativistic jet. Nonetheless blue-outliers in radio-quiet NLS1s are observed, and we interpret them as a product of strong winds.

We studied the properties of the gas of the extended narrow-line region (ENLR) of two Seyfert 2 galaxies: IC 5063 and NGC 7212. We analysed high-resolution spectra to investigate how the main properties of this region depend on the gas velocity. We divided the emission lines in velocity bins and we calculated several line ratios. Diagnostic diagrams and SUMA composite models (photoionization + shocks) show that in both galaxies there might be evidence of shocks significantly contributing in the gas ionization at high vertical bar V vertical bar, even though photoionization from the active nucleus remains the main ionization mechanism. In IC 5063, the ionization parameter depends on V and its trend might be explained assuming an hollow bi-conical shape for the ENLR, with one of the edges aligned with the galaxy disc. On the other hand, NGC 7212 does not show any kind of dependence. The models show that solar O/H relative abundances reproduce the observed spectra in all the analysed regions. They also revealed an high fragmentation of the gas clouds, suggesting that the complex kinematics observed in these two objects might be caused by interaction between the interstellar medium and high-velocity components, such as jets.

Eleven hours after the detection of gravitational wave source GW170817 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and Virgo Interferometers, an associated optical transient, SSS17a, was identified in the galaxy NGC 4993. Although the gravitational wave data indicate that GW170817 is consistent with the merger of two compact objects, the electromagnetic observations provide independent constraints on the nature of that system. We synthesize the optical to near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy of SSS17a collected by the One-Meter Two-Hemisphere collaboration, finding that SSS17a is unlike other known transients. The source is best described by theoretical models of a kilonova consisting of radioactive elements produced by rapid neutron capture (the r-process). We conclude that SSS17a was the result of a binary neutron star merger, reinforcing the gravitational wave result.