Search Publications
The near-infrared detection of PSR B0540-69 and its nebula
De Luca, A.; Mignani, R. P.; Kanbach, G. +4 more
Context. The ~1700 year old PSR B0540-69 in the Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC) is considered the twin of the Crab pulsar because of its similar spin parameters, magnetic field, and energetics. PSR B0540-69 (V ~ 22.5) is also one of the very few pulsars for which both optical pulsations and polarised emission have been measured. Its optical spectrum…
Planetary transit candidates in the CoRoT LRa01 field
Mazeh, T.; Aigrain, S.; Alapini, A. +70 more
Context. CoRoT is a pioneering space mission whose primary goals are stellar seismology and extrasolar planets search. Its surveys of large stellar fields generate numerous planetary candidates whose lightcurves have transit-like features. An extensive analytical and observational follow-up effort is undertaken to classify these candidates.
A…
Solar-like oscillations in the G9.5 subgiant β Aquilae
Grundahl, F.; Kjeldsen, H.; Leccia, S. +3 more
Context. An interesting asteroseismic target is the G9.5 IV solar-like star β Aql. This is an ideal target for asteroseismic investigations, because precise astrometric measurements are available from Hipparcos that greatly help in constraining the theoretical interpretation of the results. The star was observed during six nights in August 2009 by…
Distance to northern high-latitude HI shells
Lallement, R.; Puspitarini, L.
Context. A detailed three-dimensional (3D) distribution of interstellar matter in the solar neighborhood is increasingly necessary. It would allow a more realistic computation of photons and cosmic rays propagation, which is of prime importance for microwave and gamma-ray background emission interpretation, as well as a better understanding of the…
The hypergiant HR 8752 evolving through the yellow evolutionary void
Meynet, G.; Lobel, A.; Kolka, I. +5 more
Context. We study the time history of the yellow hypergiant HR 8752 based on high-resolution spectra (1973-2005), the observed MK spectral classification data, B - V- and V-observations (1918-1996) and yet earlier V-observations (1840-1918).
Aims: Our local thermal equilibrium analysis of the spectra yields accurate values of the effective te…
Ultraviolet extinction toward a quiescent molecular cloud in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Maíz Apellániz, J.; Rubio, M.
Context. The mean UV extinction law for the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is usually taken as a template for low-metallicity galaxies. However, its current derivation is based on only five stars, which renders its universality questionable. More targets with measured extinction laws in the SMC are necessary to determine its possible dependence on p…
Constraining the parameters of globular cluster NGC 1904 from its variable star population
Arellano Ferro, A.; Kains, N.; Bramich, D. M. +3 more
Aims: We present the analysis of 11 nights of V and I time-series observations of the globular cluster NGC 1904 (M 79). Using this we searched for variable stars in this cluster and attempted to refine the periods of known variables, making use of a time baseline spanning almost 8 years. We use our data to derive the metallicity and distance …
[C ii] 158 µm line detection of the warm ionized medium in the Scutum-Crux spiral arm tangency
Goldsmith, P. F.; Langer, W. D.; Pineda, J. L. +1 more
Context. The Herschel HIFI GOT C+ Galactic plane [C ii] spectral survey has detected strong emission at the spiral arm tangencies.
Aims: We use the unique viewing geometry of the Scutum-Crux (S-C) tangency nearl = 30° to detect the warm ionized medium (WIM) component traced by [CII] and to study the effects of spiral density waves on Interste…
Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission. XXI. CoRoT-19b: a low density planet orbiting an old inactive F9V-star
Mazeh, T.; Aigrain, S.; Alonso, R. +51 more
Context. Observations of transiting extrasolar planets are of key importance to our understanding of planets because their mass, radius, and mass density can be determined. These measurements indicate that planets of similar mass can have very different radii. For low-density planets, it is generally assumed that they are inflated owing to their p…
X-ray pulsations from the region of the supergiant fast X-ray transient IGR J17544-2619
Hill, A. B.; Bird, A. J.; McBride, V. A. +5 more
Phase-targeted RXTE observations have allowed us to detect a transient 71.49 ± 0.02 s signal that is most likely to be originating from the supergiant fast X-ray transient IGR J17544-2619. The phase-folded light curve shows a possible double-peaked structure with a pulsed flux of ~4.8 × 10-12 erg cm-2 s-1 (3-10 keV…