L. Morales-Rueda
We present time-resolved spectrophotometry of GK Per taken on the rise to outburst maximum, in which we detect 5000 s QPOs in the optical emission lines. We use this opportunity to provide a kinematically-resolved analysis of the…
Atmospheric parameters and helium abundances of 44 bright subdwarf B stars have been determined. More than half of our sample consists of newly discovered stars from the Edinburgh Cape survey. We showed that effective temperatures and…
About 50% of all known hot subdwarf B stars (sdBs) reside in close (short period) binaries, for which common envelope ejection is the most likely formation mechanism. However, Han et al. 2003 predict that the majority of sdBs should form…
Subdwarf B (sdB) stars are hot, sub-luminous stars which are thought to be core-helium burning with thin hydrogen envelopes. The mechanism by which these stars lose their envelopes has been controversial but it has been argued that binary…
Substellar objects, like planets and brown dwarfs orbiting stars, are by-products of the star formation process. The evolution of their host stars may have an enourmous impact on these small companions. Vice versa a planet might also…
The UV-Excess Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane images a 10x185 degree wide band, centered on the Galactic Equator using the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope in four bands (U,g,r,HeI5875) down to ~21st-22nd magnitude (~20th in HeI5875). The…
It has been suggested that besides stellar companions, substellar objects in close orbits may be able to trigger mass loss in a common envelope phase and form hot subdwarfs. In an ongoing project we search for close substellar companions…
We measured projected rotational velocities of more than a hundred apparently single sdBs. A comparison is made with sdB stars in binary systems with orbits so wide, that tidal interaction becomes negligible. All of these stars are slow…
Helium abundances and atmospheric parameters have been determined from high resolution spectra for a new sample of 46 bright hot subdwarf B (sdB) stars. The helium abundances have been measured with high accuracy. We confirm the correlation…
Nova V458 Vul erupted on 2007 August 8th and reached a visual magnitude of 8.1 a few days later. H$\alpha$ images obtained six weeks before the outburst as part of the IPHAS galactic plane survey reveal an 18th magnitude progenitor…
GD 552 is a high proper motion star with the strong, double-peaked emission lines characteristic of the dwarf nova class of cataclysmic variable star, and yet no outburst has been detected during the past 12 years of monitoring. We present…
The INT/WFC Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS) is an imaging survey being carried out in H-alpha, r' and i' filters, with the Wide Field Camera (WFC) on the 2.5-metre Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) to a depth of…
We present absolute parallaxes and relative proper motions for five AM CVn stars, which we obtained using the Fine Guidance Sensors on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Our parallax measurements translate into distances d(AM CVn)=606+135-93…
We present the V band variability analysis of the point sources in the Faint Sky Variability Survey on time scales from 24 minutes to tens of days. We find that about one percent of the point sources down to V = 24 are variables. We discuss…
We report on the properties of 71 known cataclysmic variables (CVs) in photometric Halpha emission line surveys. Our study is motivated by the fact that the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) Photometric Halpha Survey of the northern galactic…
U Gem is unique in having a direct measurement of K1 = 107 +- 2 km/s, Long et al. 1999). We present high-resolution optical spectra of the dwarf nova U Gem in quiescence taken to test the accuracy to which the HST value can be recovered…
We report the analysis of time-resolved spectroscopy of IP Pegasi in outburst with eclipse mapping techniques to investigate the location and geometry of the observed spiral structures. We were able to obtain an improved view of the spiral…
We report the first results from a new search for cataclysmic variables (CVs) using a combined X-ray (ROSAT) / infrared (2MASS) target selection that discriminates against background AGN. Identification spectra were obtained at the Isaac…
We determine the orbits of four double degenerate systems (DDs), composed of two white dwarfs, and of two white dwarf -- M dwarf binaries. The four DDs, WD1022+050, WD1428+373, WD1824+040, and WD2032+188, show orbital periods of 1.157155(5)…
WD1953-011 is an isolated, cool (7920 +/- 200K, Bergeron, Legget & Ruiz, 2001) magnetic white dwarf (MWD) with a low average field strength (~70kG, Maxted et al. 2000) and a higher than average mass (~0.74 M_sun, Bergeron et al. 2001).…