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We perform an asteroseismic investigation of giant stars in the field of NGC 6791 with previous indications of atypical evolution. The analysis makes use of observations from Kepler and Gaia in combination with ground-based photometry, a…
Red supergiants have been confirmed as the progenitor stars of the majority of hydrogen-rich type II supernovae. However, while such stars are observed with masses >25M$_\odot$, detections of >18M$_\odot$ progenitors remain elusive. Red…
On 2017 August 17 the merger of two compact objects with masses consistent with two neutron stars was discovered through gravitational-wave (GW170817), gamma-ray (GRB 170817A), and optical (SSS17a/AT 2017gfo) observations. The optical…
We have selected pre-main-sequence stars in 12 groups of notional ages ranging from 1 Myr to 35 Myrs, using heterogeneous membership criteria. Using these members we have constructed empirical isochrones in V, V-I colour magnitude diagrams…
The yellow supergiant content of nearby galaxies provides a critical test of massive star evolutionary theory. While these stars are the brightest in a galaxy, they are difficult to identify because a large number of foreground Milky Way…
The majority of stars more massive than the Sun is found in binary or multiple star systems and many of them will interact during their evolution. Specific interactions, where progenitors and post-mass transfer (MT) systems are clearly…
Even though SN 2012cg is one of the best-studied Type Ia Supernovae to date, the nature of its progenitor system has been debated in numerous studies. Specifically, it is difficult to reconcile recent claims of the detection of a $\sim 6…
Reconstructions of the paleoclimate indicate that ancient climatic fluctuations on Earth are often correlated with variations in its orbital elements. However, the chaos inherent in the solar system's orbital evolution prevents numerical…
Context. Many efforts are being made to characterize extrasolar planetary systems and unveil the fundamental mechanisms of planet formation. An important aspect of the problem, which remains largely unknown, is to understand how the planet…
The determination of age is a critical component in the study of a population of stellar clusters. In this letter we present a new absolute age indicator for young massive star clusters based on J-H colour. This novel method identifies…
Connecting galaxies with their descendants (or progenitors) at different redshifts can yield strong constraints on galaxy evolution. Observational studies have historically selected samples of galaxies using a physical quantity, such as…
From October 1999 to August 2002, 45 transient X-ray sources were detected in M31 by Chandra and XMM-Newton. We have performed spectral analysis of all XMM-Newton and Chandra ACIS detections of these sources, as well as flux measurements of…
We have studied the properties of the stellar populations in the field of the NGC 346 cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud, using the results of a novel self-consistent method that provides a reliable identification of pre-main sequence…
I will show that photometry -- if extending over a reasonable choice of passbands -- can give fairly precise information about young star clusters and their evolutionary state. Optical colors alone are known to leave severe ambiguities due…
In this paper we address two major questions raised by recent James Webb Space Telescope observations of the young Universe, namely: 1) what are the seed initial masses, and how rapidly have supermassive black holes (BHs) with masses of…
We present the results of optical, near-infrared, and mid-infrared observations of M101 OT2015-1 (PSN J14021678+5426205), a luminous red transient in the Pinwheel galaxy (M101), spanning a total of 16 years. The lightcurve showed two…
Transient astronomical sources are typically powered by compact objects and usually signify highly explosive or dynamic events. While radio astronomy has an impressive record of obtaining high time resolution observations, usually it is…
Luminous Red Novae (LRNe) are astrophysical transients associated with the partial ejection of a binary system's common envelope (CE) shortly before its merger. Here we present the results of our photometric and spectroscopic follow-up…
The massive star origins for Type IIP supernovae (SNe) have been established through direct detection of their red supergiants progenitors in pre-explosion observations; however, there has been limited success in the detection of the…
Deep HST/ACS photometry of the young cluster NGC 602, located in the remote low density "wing" of the Small Magellanic Cloud, reveals numerous pre-main sequence stars as well as young stars on the main sequence. The resolved stellar content…