Related papers: A barium-rich binary central star in Abell 70
EGB 6 is an ancient, low-surface-brightness planetary nebula. The central star, also cataloged as PG 0950+139, is a very hot DAOZ white dwarf (WD) with an apparent M dwarf companion, unresolved from the ground but detected initially through…
The southern emission-line star HD 144432 has received considerable attention due to its relative brightness (V ~ 8.17), its late spectral type (late A-type or perhaps early F) and its relative isolation from a bona-fide active star…
AIMS: The object W Aql is an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star with a faint companion. By determining more carefully the properties of the companion, we hope to better constrain the properties of the AGB star. METHODS: We present new…
NGC 7582 is an SB(s)ab galaxy which displays evidences of simultaneous nuclear activity and star formation in its centre. Previous optical observations revealed, besides the H II regions, an ionization cone and a gas disc in its central…
We present the results of XMM-Newton X-ray observations of the Mira AB binary system, which consists of a pulsating, asymptotic giant branch primary and nearby (~0.6'' separation) secondary of uncertain nature. The EPIC CCD (MOS and pn)…
The Galactic Center (GC) is dominated by the gravity of a super-massive black hole (SMBH), Sagittarius A$^*$, and is suspected to contain a sizable population of binary stars. Such binaries form hierarchical triples with the SMBH,…
The Galactic Center region, including the nuclear disk, has until recently been largely avoided in chemical census studies because of extreme extinction and stellar crowding. Making use of the latest APOGEE data release (DR16), we are able…
We obtained high-resolution near-IR spectra of 45 AGB stars located in the Galactic bulge. The aim of the project is to determine key elemental abundances in these stars to help constrain the formation history of the bulge. A further aim is…
We present a new approach to study planetary nebulae using integral field spectroscopy. VLT@VIMOS datacube of the planetary nebula Abell 14 is analysed in three different ways by extracting: (i) the integrated spectrum, (ii) 1-dimensional…
We report the first discovery of argon in hot evolved stars and white dwarfs. We have identified the ArVII 1063.55A line in some of the hottest known (Teff=95000-110000 K) central stars of planetary nebulae and (pre-) white dwarfs of…
In this chapter the focus is on the properties of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (post-AGB) stars in binary systems. Their Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) are very characteristic: they show a near-infrared excess, indicative of the…
Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars comprise a large percentage of stars at the lowest metallicities. The stars in the CEMP-no subcategory do not show any s-process enhancement and therefore cannot easily be explained by transfer of…
We present new observations of the central binary inside the Red Rectangle nebula. The detection of zinc in the optical spectrum confirms that the peculiar photospheric abundances are due to accretion of circumstellar gas. Grey brightness…
A consensus has been reached in recent years that binarity plays an important role in the formation and evolution of a significant fraction of planetary nebulae (PNe). Utilizing the archived photometric data from the Zwicky Transient…
The eclipsing and double-lined spectroscopic binary system V453 Cygni consists of two early B-type stars, one of which is nearing the terminal age main sequence and one which is roughly halfway through its main sequence lifetime. Accurate…
We present the main results derived from a chemical analysis carried out on a large sample of galactic O-rich AGB stars using high resolution optical spectroscopy (R~40,000-50,000) with the intention of studying their lithium abundances…
The post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star HR4049 is in an eccentric binary system with a relatively short period probably surrounded by a dusty circumbinary disk. Extremely anomalous oxygen isotopic ratios, O16/O17 ~ O16/O18 ~ 7, have…
Integral field spectroscopy of the central parsec of the Galactic Center was obtained at 2.06 microns using BEAR, an imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer, at a spectral resolution of 74 km/s. Sixteen stars were confirmed as helium stars…
The detailed chemical composition of most metal-poor halo stars has been found to be highly uniform, but a minority of stars exhibit dramatic enhancements in their abundances of heavy neutron-capture elements and/or of carbon. The key…
X-ray and gamma-ray binaries are systems consisting of a compact object and normally a non-degenerate companion star. Most of these sources have been shown to emit radiation in a broad frequency range, from radio up to X-rays and sometimes…