Related papers: Miras around the Galactic Center

Using 25 years of data from uninterrupted monitoring of stellar orbits in the Galactic Center, we present an update of the main results from this unique data set: A measurement of mass of and distance to SgrA*. Our progress is not only due…

A survey of CO(3-2) emission from optically visible oxygen-rich Mira variable stars within 500 pc of the sun was conducted. A molecular envelope was detected surrounding 36 of the 66 stars examined. Some of these stars have lower outflow…

We present new and accurate near-infrared (NIR) J, K-band time series data for the Galactic globular cluster (GC) M5 = NGC5904. Data were collected with SOFI at the NTT (71 J + 120 K images) and with NICS at the TNG (25 J + 22 K images) and…

We present near-infrared H-, K-, L- and M-band photometry of the Galactic Center from images obtained at the ESO VLT in May and August 2002, using the NAOS/CONICA (H and K) and the ISAAC (L and M) instruments. The large field of view (70" x…

We present an absolute parallax and relative proper motion for the fundamental distance scale calibrator, RR Lyr. We obtain these with astrometric data from FGS 3, a white-light interferometer on HST. We find $\pi_{abs} = 3.82 \pm 0.2$ mas.…

The Galactic bulge and bar are critical to our understanding of the Milky Way. However, due to the lack of reliable stellar distances, the structure and kinematics of the bulge/bar beyond the Galactic center have remained largely…

We measured the mid-infrared (MIR) extinction using Spitzer photometry and spectroscopy (3.6--37 micron) for a sample of Milky Way sightlines (mostly) having measured ultraviolet extinction curves. We used the pair method to determine the…

We present the first cross-identifications of sources in the near-infrared DENIS survey and in the micro-lensing EROS survey in a field of about 0.5 square degrees around the optical center (OC) of the Large Magellanic Cloud. We analyze the…

We present a comprehensive photometric study of RR Lyrae stars in the M3 globular cluster, utilising a vast dataset of 3140 optical ($UBVRI$) CCD images spanning 35 years from astronomical data archives. We have successfully identified…

We report here CCD $I$-band time-series photometry of a young (2$-$5 Myr) cluster NGC 2282 to identify and understand the variability of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars. The $I$-band photometry, down to $\sim$ 20.5 mag, enables us to probe…

We present the discovery of 1847 Mira candidates in the Local Group galaxy M33 using a novel semi-parametric periodogram technique coupled with a Random Forest classifier. The algorithms were applied to ~2.4x10^5 I-band light curves…

By combining the photometric, spectroscopic, and astrometric information of the stars in the sightline of SNRs, the distances to and the extinctions of 32 Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) are investigated. The stellar atmospheric…

We report on the succesful search for CO (2-1) and (3-2) emission associated with OH/IR stars in the Galactic Bulge. We observed a sample of eight extremely red AGB stars with the APEX telescope and detected seven. The sources were selected…

We report a result of our near-infrared repeated observations of Mira variables in the globular clusters NGC 6388 and 6441. These two clusters are known as peculiar clusters with blue horizontal branch stars and RR Lyr variables which are…

We determine 37 differential extinctions in 23 gravitational lens galaxies over the range 0 < z_l < 1. Only 7 of the 23 systems have spectral differences consistent with no differential extinction. The median differential extinction for the…

We use observations from the CASTLES survey of gravitational lenses to study extinction in 23 lens galaxies with $0 < z_l < 1$. The median differential extinction between lensed images is $\Delta E(\bv) = 0.05$ mag, and the directly…

Abridged: We have used the well-selected sample of ~1750 embedded, young, massive stars identified by the RMS survey to investigate the Galactic distribution of recent massive star formation. We describe the various methods used to assign…

Previous studies on the stellar content of the two nearby dwarf galaxies NGC147 and NGC185 reveal a rich population of late-type giants in both systems, including a large number of carbon-rich objects. These stars are known to show…

We present the first spatially resolved observations of a sample of 23 Mira stars simultaneously measured in the near-infrared J, H and K' bands. The technique used was optical long baseline interferometry, and we present for each star…

A sample of 33 eclipsing binaries observed in a field of the SMC with FLAMES@VLT is presented. The radial velocity curves obtained, together with existing OGLE light curves, allowed the determination of all stellar and orbital parameters of…