Is GW190521 the merger of black holes from the first stellar generations? (2020)
Journal Article
Farrell, E., Groh, J. H., Hirschi, R., Murphy, L., Kaiser, E., Ekström, S., …Meynet, G. (2021). Is GW190521 the merger of black holes from the first stellar generations?. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502(1), L40-L44. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slaa196

GW190521 challenges our understanding of the late-stage evolution of massive stars and the effects of the pair-instability in particular. We discuss the possibility that stars at low or zero metallicity could retain most of their hydrogen envelope un... Read More about Is GW190521 the merger of black holes from the first stellar generations?.

A ß?Cephei pulsator and a changing orbital inclination in the high-mass eclipsing binary system VV?Orionis (2020)
Journal Article
Southworth, J., Bowman, D. M., & Pavlovski, K. (2021). A ß?Cephei pulsator and a changing orbital inclination in the high-mass eclipsing binary system VV?Orionis. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 501(1), L65 - L70. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slaa197

We present an analysis of the high-mass eclipsing binary system VV?Ori based on photometry from the TESS satellite. The primary star (B1?V, 9.5?M??) shows ß?Cephei pulsations and the secondary (B7?V, 3.8?M??) is possibly a slowly pulsating B star. We... Read More about A ß?Cephei pulsator and a changing orbital inclination in the high-mass eclipsing binary system VV?Orionis.

The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs: LP 714-47 b (TOI 442.01): populating the Neptune desert (2020)
Journal Article
Hellier. (2020). The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs: LP 714-47 b (TOI 442.01): populating the Neptune desert. Astronomy and Astrophysics, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202038016

We report the discovery of a Neptune-like planet (LP 714-47 b, P = 4.05204 d, mb = 30.8 ± 1.5M?, Rb = 4.7 ± 0.3 R?) located in the “hot Neptune desert”. Confirmation of the TESS Object of Interest (TOI 442.01) was achieved with radial-velocity follow... Read More about The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs: LP 714-47 b (TOI 442.01): populating the Neptune desert.

Grids of stellar models with rotation: V. Models from 1.7 to 120 Msun at zero metallicity (2020)
Journal Article
Murphy, L. J., Groh, J. H., Ekström, S., Meynet, G., Pezzotti, C., Georgy, C., …Martinet, S. (2021). Grids of stellar models with rotation: V. Models from 1.7 to 120 Msun at zero metallicity. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501(2), 2745-2763. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3803

Understanding the nature of the first stars is key to understanding the early universe. With new facilities such as JWST we may soon have the first observations of the earliest stellar populations, but to understand these observations we require deta... Read More about Grids of stellar models with rotation: V. Models from 1.7 to 120 Msun at zero metallicity.

Two Young Planetary Systems around Field Stars with Ages between 20 and 320 Myr from TESS (2020)
Journal Article
Hellier. (2020). Two Young Planetary Systems around Field Stars with Ages between 20 and 320 Myr from TESS. Astronomical Journal, 2 - 2. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/abba22

Planets around young stars trace the early evolution of planetary systems. We report the discovery and validation of two planetary systems with ages ?300 Myr from observations by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The Myr old G star TO... Read More about Two Young Planetary Systems around Field Stars with Ages between 20 and 320 Myr from TESS.

Rediscussion Of Eclipsing Binaries. Paper I: The Totally-eclipsing B-type System Zeta Phoenicis (2020)
Journal Article
Taylor. (2020). Rediscussion Of Eclipsing Binaries. Paper I: The Totally-eclipsing B-type System Zeta Phoenicis. Observatory, 140, 247 -262

zeta Phe is a bright binary system containing B6 V and B8 V stars. It has deep total and annular eclipses, a slightly eccentric orbit with a period of I-d.669, apsidal motion, and a third body on a wider orbit. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satelli... Read More about Rediscussion Of Eclipsing Binaries. Paper I: The Totally-eclipsing B-type System Zeta Phoenicis.

Infrared spectroscopy of CK Vulpeculae: revealing a remarkably powerful blast from the past (2020)
Journal Article
(2020). Infrared spectroscopy of CK Vulpeculae: revealing a remarkably powerful blast from the past. Astrophysical Journal Letters, https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/abc885

CK Vulpeculae (CK Vul), which erupted in AD 1670-71, was long considered to be a nova outburst; however, recent observations have required that alternative scenarios be considered. Long-slit infrared spectroscopy of a forbidden line of iron reported... Read More about Infrared spectroscopy of CK Vulpeculae: revealing a remarkably powerful blast from the past.

Statistical Signatures of Nanoflare Activity. II. A Nanoflare Explanation for Periodic Brightenings in Flare Stars Observed by NGTS (2020)
Journal Article
(2020). Statistical Signatures of Nanoflare Activity. II. A Nanoflare Explanation for Periodic Brightenings in Flare Stars Observed by NGTS. Astrophysical Journal, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abbfa8

Several studies have documented periodic and quasi-periodic signals from the time series of dMe flare stars and other stellar sources. Such periodic signals, observed within quiescent phases (i.e., devoid of larger-scale microflare or flare activity)... Read More about Statistical Signatures of Nanoflare Activity. II. A Nanoflare Explanation for Periodic Brightenings in Flare Stars Observed by NGTS.

Orbital and physical parameters of eclipsing binaries from the ASAS catalogue – XI. CHIRON investigation of long-period binaries* (2020)
Journal Article
Hellier. (2020). Orbital and physical parameters of eclipsing binaries from the ASAS catalogue – XI. CHIRON investigation of long-period binaries*. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3488

We present the results of a spectroscopic campaign on eclipsing binaries with long orbital period (P = 20 - 75 d) carried out with the CHIRON spectrograph. Physical and orbital solutions for seven systems were derived from the V-band, and I-band ASAS... Read More about Orbital and physical parameters of eclipsing binaries from the ASAS catalogue – XI. CHIRON investigation of long-period binaries*.

The hot dayside and asymmetric transit of WASP-189 b seen by CHEOPS (2020)
Journal Article
Maxted. (2020). The hot dayside and asymmetric transit of WASP-189 b seen by CHEOPS. Astronomy and Astrophysics, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202038677

The CHEOPS space mission dedicated to exoplanet follow-up was launched in December 2019, equipped with the capacity to perform photometric measurements at the 20 ppm level. As CHEOPS carries out its observations in a broad optical passband, it can pr... Read More about The hot dayside and asymmetric transit of WASP-189 b seen by CHEOPS.

The CHEOPS mission (2020)
Journal Article
Maxted. (2020). The CHEOPS mission. Experimental Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-020-09679-4

The CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) was selected on October 19, 2012, as the first small mission (S-mission) in the ESA Science Programme and successfully launched on December 18, 2019, as a secondary passenger on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket fr... Read More about The CHEOPS mission.

OB associations and their origins (2020)
Journal Article
Wright. (2020). OB associations and their origins. New Astronomy Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newar.2020.101549

OB associations are unbound groups of young stars made prominent by their bright OB members, and have long been thought to be the expanded remnants of dense star clusters. They have been important in astrophysics for over a century thanks to their lu... Read More about OB associations and their origins.

Combining asteroseismic and s-process nucleosynthesis observations to constrain the evolution of rotating low-mass stars (2020)
Thesis
den Hartogh, J. W. (2020). Combining asteroseismic and s-process nucleosynthesis observations to constrain the evolution of rotating low-mass stars. (Thesis). Keele University

In this thesis, I study the evolution of low-mass (around 2 M?) solar-metallicity stars including the effect of rotation and magnetic fields. These stars produce a significant amount of elements heavier than iron via the so-called s process and thus... Read More about Combining asteroseismic and s-process nucleosynthesis observations to constrain the evolution of rotating low-mass stars.

The effects of rotation on the lithium depletion of G- and K-dwarfs in Messier 35 (2020)
Journal Article
Jeffries, R. D., Jackson, R. J., Sun, Q., & Deliyannis, C. P. (2021). The effects of rotation on the lithium depletion of G- and K-dwarfs in Messier 35. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 500(1), 1158-1177. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3141

New fibre spectroscopy and radial velocities from the WIYN telescope are used to measure photospheric lithium in 242 high-probability, zero-age-main-sequence (ZAMS) F- to K-type members of the rich cluster M35. Combining these with published rotation... Read More about The effects of rotation on the lithium depletion of G- and K-dwarfs in Messier 35.

The TESS light curve of the eccentric eclipsing binary 1SWASP J011351.29+314909.7 – no evidence for a very hot M-dwarf companion (2020)
Journal Article
Maxted. (2020). The TESS light curve of the eccentric eclipsing binary 1SWASP J011351.29+314909.7 – no evidence for a very hot M-dwarf companion. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 15-19. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slaa122

A 2014 study of the eclipsing binary star 1SWASPJ011351.29+314909.7 (J0113+31) reported an unexpectedly high effective temperature for the M-dwarf companion to the 0.95-M? primary star. The effective temperature inferred from the secondary eclipse de... Read More about The TESS light curve of the eccentric eclipsing binary 1SWASP J011351.29+314909.7 – no evidence for a very hot M-dwarf companion.

NGTS-12b: A sub-Saturn mass transiting exoplanet in a 7.53 day orbit (2020)
Journal Article
(2020). NGTS-12b: A sub-Saturn mass transiting exoplanet in a 7.53 day orbit. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 3139 - 3148. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2976

We report the discovery of the transiting exoplanet NGTS-12b by the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). The host star, NGTS-12, is a V = 12.38?mag star with an effective temperature of Teff = 5690 ± 130?K. NGTS-12b orbits with a period of P = 7.53... Read More about NGTS-12b: A sub-Saturn mass transiting exoplanet in a 7.53 day orbit.

WASP-186 and WASP-187: two hot Jupiters discovered by SuperWASP and SOPHIE with additional observations by TESS (2020)
Journal Article
Smalley, Hellier, & Maxted. (2020). WASP-186 and WASP-187: two hot Jupiters discovered by SuperWASP and SOPHIE with additional observations by TESS. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 428-440. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2848

We present the discovery of two new hot Jupiters identified from the WASP survey, WASP-186b and WASP-187b (TOI-1494.01 and TOI-1493.01). Their planetary nature was established from SOPHIE spectroscopic observations, and additional photometry was obta... Read More about WASP-186 and WASP-187: two hot Jupiters discovered by SuperWASP and SOPHIE with additional observations by TESS.

The VMC survey XXXVIII. Proper motion of the Magellanic Bridge (2020)
Journal Article
Van Loon, & Oliveira. (2020). The VMC survey XXXVIII. Proper motion of the Magellanic Bridge. Astronomy & Astrophysics, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202037478

Context. The Magellanic Clouds are a nearby pair of interacting dwarf galaxies and satellites of the Milky Way. Studying their kinematic properties is essential to understanding their origin and dynamical evolution. They have prominent tidal features... Read More about The VMC survey XXXVIII. Proper motion of the Magellanic Bridge.

The intrinsic reddening of the Magellanic Clouds as traced by background galaxies – II. The Small Magellanic Cloud (2020)
Journal Article
Bell, C. P. M., Cioni, M. L., Wright, A. H., Rubele, S., Nidever, D. L., Tatton, B. L., …Vivas, A. K. (2020). The intrinsic reddening of the Magellanic Clouds as traced by background galaxies – II. The Small Magellanic Cloud. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 499(1), 993 -1004. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2786

We present a map of the total intrinsic reddening across ? 34 deg2 of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) derived using optical (ugriz) and near-infrared (IR; YJKs) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of background galaxies. The reddening map is create... Read More about The intrinsic reddening of the Magellanic Clouds as traced by background galaxies – II. The Small Magellanic Cloud.

TIC 278825952: a triply eclipsing hierarchical triple system with the most intrinsically circular outer orbit (2020)
Journal Article
Maxted. (2020). TIC 278825952: a triply eclipsing hierarchical triple system with the most intrinsically circular outer orbit. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 6034-6043. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2762

We report the discovery of a compact triply eclipsing triple star system in the southern continuous viewing zone of the TESS space telescope. TIC 278825952 is a previously unstudied, circular eclipsing binary with a period of 4.781 days with a tertia... Read More about TIC 278825952: a triply eclipsing hierarchical triple system with the most intrinsically circular outer orbit.