Related papers: Wind structure and luminosity variations in the WR…
We characterise the variability in the physical properties of the luminous blue variable AFGL2298 between 1989-2008. In conjunction with published data from 1989-2001, we have undertaken a long term (2001-2008) near-IR spectroscopic and…
We analyse spectroscopic observations of the B[e] star HD 50138 (MWC 158, V743 Mon, or IRAS 06491-0654), a member of the FS CMa group, obtained over the last twenty years. Four different epochs are identified in the observational data,…
High-resolution Halpha monitoring of Cyg X-1, HD226868 was carried out during 1996-2002 and the resultant spectra analysed in conjunction with 1.5-12 keV X-ray monitoring. We demonstrate that the Halpha line-profiles have complex…
Luminous blue variables are an intermediate stage in the evolution of high-mass stars characterized by extreme mass loss and substantial variability. The stars show large irregular episodic variations on timescales of years to decades in…
An X-ray study of a deeply embedded Wolf-Rayet star WR 121a has been carried out using long-term (spanning over ~12 years) archival observations from Chandra and XMM-Newton. For the first time, a periodic variation with a period of 4.1 days…
BAT99 126 is a multiple system in the Large Magellanic Cloud containing a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star, which has a reported spectroscopic (orbital) period of 25.5 days and a photometric (orbital) period of 1.55 days, and hence is potentially one…
We investigate the structure of the O-type binary system HD 48099 by measuring linear polarization that arises due to light scattering process. Linear polarization measurements of HD 48099 in the B, V and R passbands with the high-precision…
Some binary evolution scenarios to Type Ia supernovae include long-period binaries that evolve to symbiotic supersoft X-ray sources in their late stage of evolution. However, symbiotic stars with steady hydrogen burning on the white dwarf's…
Variable B supergiants (BSGs) constitute a heterogeneous group of stars with complex photometric and spectroscopic behaviours. They exhibit mass-loss variations and experience different types of oscillation modes, and there is growing…
We performed optical spectroscopic monitoring of the BL Lac object AO 0235+164 (z=0.94) with the VLT and TNG telescopes from Aug. 2003 to Dec. 2004, during an extended WEBT campaign. The flux of this source is both contaminated and absorbed…
We report on the results of an I-band photometric variability survey of eighteen L dwarfs. We find that seven exhibit statistically significant variations above the 95.4% confidence level with root-mean-square scatter (including photometric…
Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are massive stars that are likely to be a transitionary phase between O stars and hydrogen-free classical Wolf-Rayet stars. The variability of these stars has been an area of study for both professional and…
We present high-resolution infrared (2--18 micron) images of the archetypal periodic dust-making Wolf-Rayet binary system WR140 (HD 193793) taken between 2001 and 2005, and multi-colour (J -- [19.5]) photometry observed between 1989 and…
The Wolf-Rayet star WR 46 is known to exhibit a very complex variability pattern on relatively short time scales of a few hours. Periodic but intermittent radial velocity shifts of optical lines as well as multiple photometric periods have…
Towards the end of their evolution hot massive stars develop strong stellar winds and appear as emission line stars, such as WR stars or LBVs. The quantitative description of the mass loss in these important pre-SN phases is hampered by…
Dust formation in the winds of hot stars is inextricably linked to the classic eruptive state of luminous blue variables (LBVs) because it requires very high mass loss rates, Mdot>10^(-2.5) Msun/year, for grains to grow and for the non-dust…
The purpose of this work is to present an extensive grid of dynamical atmosphere and wind models for M-type AGB stars, covering a wide range of relevant stellar parameters. We used the DARWIN code, which includes frequency-dependent…
We report the first-ever discovery of a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star in the Large Magellanic Cloud via detection of a circular shell with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Follow-up observations with Gemini-South resolved the central star of the shell…
We present results of multi-wavelength (MWL) observations of the high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae (HBL) object 1ES 0806+524 (z=0.138). Triggered by a high optical state, very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) observations were carried out…
We present a variability study of 4646 massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) with known spectral types from the catalog of Bonanos et al. (2010) using the light curves from the OGLE-III database. The goal is to exploit the time…