The role of neutron star mergers in the chemical evolution of the Galactic halo (2015)
Journal Article
Hirschi. (2015). The role of neutron star mergers in the chemical evolution of the Galactic halo. Astronomy & Astrophysics, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201525698

Context. The dominant astrophysical production site of the r-process elements has not yet been unambiguously identified. The suggested main r-process sites are core-collapse supernovae and merging neutron stars.

Aims. We explore the problem of the... Read More about The role of neutron star mergers in the chemical evolution of the Galactic halo.

Stellar parameters of early-M dwarfs from ratios of spectral features at optical wavelengths (2015)
Journal Article
Maldonado, J., Affer, L., Micela, G., Scandariato, G., Damasso, M., Stelzer, B., …Suárez Mascareño, A. (2015). Stellar parameters of early-M dwarfs from ratios of spectral features at optical wavelengths. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 577, Article A132. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201525797

Context. Low-mass stars have been recognised as promising targets in the search for rocky, small planets with the potential of supporting life. As a consequence, Doppler search programmes using high-resolution spectrographs like HARPS or HARPS-N are... Read More about Stellar parameters of early-M dwarfs from ratios of spectral features at optical wavelengths.

A comparison of gyrochronological and isochronal age estimates for transiting exoplanet host stars (2015)
Journal Article
Maxted, P., Serenelli, A., & Southworth, J. (2015). A comparison of gyrochronological and isochronal age estimates for transiting exoplanet host stars. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 577, Article A90. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201525774

Previous studies suggest that tidal interactions may be responsible for discrepancies between the ages of exoplanet host stars estimated using stellar models (isochronal ages) and age estimates based on the stars' rotation periods (gyrochronological... Read More about A comparison of gyrochronological and isochronal age estimates for transiting exoplanet host stars.

THE MULTI-LAYER VARIABLE ABSORBERS IN NGC 1365 REVEALED BY XMM-NEWTON AND NuSTAR (2015)
Journal Article
(2015). THE MULTI-LAYER VARIABLE ABSORBERS IN NGC 1365 REVEALED BY XMM-NEWTON AND NuSTAR. Astrophysical Journal, https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/107

Between 2012 July and 2013 February, NuSTAR and XMM-Newton performed four long-look joint observations of the type 1.8 Seyfert, NGC 1365. We have analyzed the variable absorption seen in these observations in order to characterize the geometry of the... Read More about THE MULTI-LAYER VARIABLE ABSORBERS IN NGC 1365 REVEALED BY XMM-NEWTON AND NuSTAR.

OBSERVATIONS OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA 2014J WITH FLITECAM ON SOFIA (2015)
Journal Article
(2015). OBSERVATIONS OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA 2014J WITH FLITECAM ON SOFIA. Astrophysical Journal, https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/804/1/66

We present medium-resolution near-infrared (NIR) spectra, covering 1.1–3.4 µm, of the normal Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) SN 2014J in M82 obtained with the FLITECAM instrument on board Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) between 17... Read More about OBSERVATIONS OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA 2014J WITH FLITECAM ON SOFIA.

Physical properties of the HAT-P-23 and WASP-48 planetary systems from multi-colour photometry (2015)
Journal Article
Ciceri, S., Mancini, L., Southworth, J., Bruni, I., Nikolov, N., D’Ago, G., …Th. Henning. (2015). Physical properties of the HAT-P-23 and WASP-48 planetary systems from multi-colour photometry. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 577, Article A54. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425449

Context. Accurate and repeated photometric follow-up observations of planetary transit events are important to precisely characterize the physical properties of exoplanets. A good knowledge of the main characteristics of the exoplanets is fundamental... Read More about Physical properties of the HAT-P-23 and WASP-48 planetary systems from multi-colour photometry.

The VMC survey - XIV. First results on the look-back time star formation rate tomography of the Small Magellanic Cloud (2015)
Journal Article
Van Loon. (2015). The VMC survey - XIV. First results on the look-back time star formation rate tomography of the Small Magellanic Cloud. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 639 -661. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv141

We analyse deep images from the VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds in the YJKs filters, covering 14 deg2 (10 tiles), split into 120 subregions, and comprising the main body and Wing of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We apply a colour–magnitude... Read More about The VMC survey - XIV. First results on the look-back time star formation rate tomography of the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Transits and starspots in the WASP-6 planetary system (2015)
Journal Article
Tregloan-Reed, J., Southworth, J., Burgdorf, M., Calchi Novati, S., Dominik, M., Finet, F., …Surdej, J. (2015). Transits and starspots in the WASP-6 planetary system. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 450(2), 1760 -1769. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv730

We present updates to PRISM, a photometric transit-starspot model, and GEMC, a hybrid optimization code combining MCMC and a genetic algorithm. We then present high-precision photometry of four transits in the WASP-6 planetary system, two of which co... Read More about Transits and starspots in the WASP-6 planetary system.

OGLE-2011-BLG-0265Lb: A JOVIAN MICROLENSING PLANET ORBITING AN M DWARF (2015)
Journal Article
Skowron, J., Shin, I., Udalski, A., Han, C., Sumi, T., Shvartzvald, Y., …Wertz, O. (2015). OGLE-2011-BLG-0265Lb: A JOVIAN MICROLENSING PLANET ORBITING AN M DWARF. Astrophysical Journal, 804(1), Article 33. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/804/1/33

We report the discovery of a Jupiter-mass planet orbiting an M-dwarf star that gave rise to the microlensing event OGLE-2011-BLG-0265. Such a system is very rare among known planetary systems and thus the discovery is important for theoretical studie... Read More about OGLE-2011-BLG-0265Lb: A JOVIAN MICROLENSING PLANET ORBITING AN M DWARF.

The stellar populations in the low-luminosity, early-type galaxy NGC 59 (2015)
Journal Article
Van Loon. (2015). The stellar populations in the low-luminosity, early-type galaxy NGC 59. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1338 - 1348. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv690

Low-luminosity galaxies may be the building blocks of more luminous systems. Southern African Large Telescope observations of the low-luminosity, early-type galaxy NGC 59 are obtained and analysed. These data are used to measure the stellar populatio... Read More about The stellar populations in the low-luminosity, early-type galaxy NGC 59.

PATHWAY TO THE GALACTIC DISTRIBUTION OF PLANETS: COMBINED SPITZER AND GROUND-BASED MICROLENS PARALLAX MEASUREMENTS OF 21 SINGLE-LENS EVENTS (2015)
Journal Article
Calchi Novati, S., Gould, A., Udalski, A., Menzies, J., Bond, I., Shvartzvald, Y., …DePoy, D. (2015). PATHWAY TO THE GALACTIC DISTRIBUTION OF PLANETS: COMBINED SPITZER AND GROUND-BASED MICROLENS PARALLAX MEASUREMENTS OF 21 SINGLE-LENS EVENTS. Astrophysical Journal, 804(1), Article 20. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/804/1/20

We present microlens parallax measurements for 21 (apparently) isolated lenses observed toward the Galactic bulge that were imaged simultaneously from Earth and Spitzer, which was ~1 AU west of Earth in projection. We combine these measurements with... Read More about PATHWAY TO THE GALACTIC DISTRIBUTION OF PLANETS: COMBINED SPITZER AND GROUND-BASED MICROLENS PARALLAX MEASUREMENTS OF 21 SINGLE-LENS EVENTS.

The catalogue of radial velocity variable hot subluminous stars from the MUCHFUSS project (2015)
Journal Article
Maxted. (2015). The catalogue of radial velocity variable hot subluminous stars from the MUCHFUSS project. Astronomy & Astrophysics, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201525666

The project Massive Unseen Companions to Hot Faint Underluminous Stars from SDSS (MUCHFUSS) aims to find sdBs with compact companions such as massive white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes. Here we provide classifications, atmospheric parameters... Read More about The catalogue of radial velocity variable hot subluminous stars from the MUCHFUSS project.

Revealing a hard X-ray spectral component that reverberates within one light hour of the central supermassive black hole in Ark 564 (2015)
Journal Article
(2015). Revealing a hard X-ray spectral component that reverberates within one light hour of the central supermassive black hole in Ark 564. Astronomy & Astrophysics, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425280

Context. Arakelian 564 (Ark 564, z = 0.0247) is an X-ray-bright narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy. By using advanced X-ray timing techniques, an excess of “delayed” emission in the hard X-ray band (4-7.5 keV) following about 1000 s after “flaring” light i... Read More about Revealing a hard X-ray spectral component that reverberates within one light hour of the central supermassive black hole in Ark 564.

[5.3] The 10 Strangest Planets in Space That Defy All Logic (2015)
Digital Artefact
Hellier. (2015). [5.3] The 10 Strangest Planets in Space That Defy All Logic

Impact REF21; video of supporting impact WASP

Wind from the black-hole accretion disk driving a molecular outflow in an active galaxy (2015)
Journal Article
(2015). Wind from the black-hole accretion disk driving a molecular outflow in an active galaxy. Nature, 436 -438. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14261

Powerful winds driven by active galactic nuclei are often thought to affect the evolution of both supermassive black holes and their host galaxies, quenching star formation and explaining the close relationship between black holes and galaxies. Recen... Read More about Wind from the black-hole accretion disk driving a molecular outflow in an active galaxy.

The Massive Star Population of Cygnus OB2 (2015)
Journal Article
Wright. (2015). The Massive Star Population of Cygnus OB2. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 741-760. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv323

We have compiled a significantly updated and comprehensive census of massive stars in the nearby Cygnus OB2 association by gathering and homogenizing data from across the literature. The census contains 169 primary OB stars, including 52 O-type stars... Read More about The Massive Star Population of Cygnus OB2.

SPECTROSCOPIC ORBITAL PERIODS FOR 29 CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY (2015)
Journal Article
Thorstensen, J. R., Taylor, C. J., Peters, C. S., Skinner, J. N., Southworth, J., & Gänsicke, B. T. (2015). SPECTROSCOPIC ORBITAL PERIODS FOR 29 CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY. Astronomical Journal, 149(4), 128. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/149/4/128

We report follow-up spectroscopy of 29 cataclysmic variables from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), 22 of which were discovered by SDSS and seven of which are previously known systems that were recovered in SDSS. The periods for 16 of these object... Read More about SPECTROSCOPIC ORBITAL PERIODS FOR 29 CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY.

The UK Infrared Telescope M33 monitoring project - IV. Variable red giant stars across the galactic disc (2015)
Journal Article
Van Loon. (2015). The UK Infrared Telescope M33 monitoring project - IV. Variable red giant stars across the galactic disc. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 3973 -3991. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu2637

We have conducted a near-infrared monitoring campaign at the UK InfraRed Telescope, of the Local Group spiral galaxy M33 (Triangulum). The main aim was to identify stars in the very final stage of their evolution, and for which the luminosity is more... Read More about The UK Infrared Telescope M33 monitoring project - IV. Variable red giant stars across the galactic disc.

The GAPS programme with HARPS-N at TNG V. A comprehensive analysis of the XO-2 stellar and planetary systems (2015)
Journal Article
Damasso, M., Biazzo, K., Bonomo, A., Desidera, S., Lanza, A., Nascimbeni, V., …Southworth, J. (2015). The GAPS programme with HARPS-N at TNG V. A comprehensive analysis of the XO-2 stellar and planetary systems. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 575, Article A111. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425332

Aims. XO-2 is the first confirmed wide stellar binary system where the almost twin components XO-2N and XO-2S have planets, and it is a peculiar laboratory in which to investigate the diversity of planetary systems. This stimulated a detailed charact... Read More about The GAPS programme with HARPS-N at TNG V. A comprehensive analysis of the XO-2 stellar and planetary systems.

The GAPS programme with HARPS-N at TNG VI. The curious case of TrES-4b (2015)
Journal Article
Sozzetti, A., Bonomo, A., Biazzo, K., Mancini, L., Damasso, M., Desidera, S., …Southworth, J. (2015). The GAPS programme with HARPS-N at TNG VI. The curious case of TrES-4b. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 575, Article L15. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425570

We update the TrES-4 system parameters using high-precision HARPS-N radial-velocity measurements and new photometric light curves. A combined spectroscopic and photometric analysis allows us to determine a spectroscopic orbit with a semi-amplitude K... Read More about The GAPS programme with HARPS-N at TNG VI. The curious case of TrES-4b.