Related papers: Finding RR Lyrae Stars with SkyMapper: an Observat…
We isolate samples of 733 bright (g < 18) and 437 faint (g > 18) high-Galactic latitude blue horizontal branch stars with photometry and spectroscopy in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Comparison of independent photometric and…
Context. Globular clusters (GCs) are witnesses of the past accretion events onto the Milky Way (MW). In particular, the GCs of the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy are important probes of an on-going merger. Aims. Our main goal is to search…
We present time-series $BVI$ photometry for the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6402 (M14). The data consists of $\sim$137 images per filter, obtained using the 0.9m and 1.0m SMARTS telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.…
RR Lyrae pulsating stars have been extensively used as tracers of old stellar populations for the purpose of determining the ages of galaxies, and as tools to measure distances to nearby galaxies. There was accordingly considerable interest…
RR Lyrae (RRL) variable stars are cornerstone distance indicators. In particular, double-mode RR Lyrae (RRd) stars enable period--luminosity relations (PLRs) that are less sensitive to metallicity, reducing systematic biases in distance…
We present a kinematical study of the outer halo (r_GC approximately 60 to 160 kpc) of the Milky Way based on spectroscopy of 55 RR Lyrae stars obtained with the ESI instrument on the Keck II telescope. Our spectroscopic targets were…
Recent surveys have detected RR Lyrae stars in M33, the Triangulum Galaxy. These variable stars are excellent tracers of ancient stellar populations. The RR Lyrae stars have been used to estimate metallicities at various locations within…
We analyzed photometry for the up-to-date collection of the first-overtone RR Lyrae stars (RRc; 11415 stars) and double-mode RR Lyrae stars (RRd; 148 stars) towards the Galactic bulge from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. We…
A search for RR Lyrae stars has been conducted in the publicly available data of the Northern Sky Variability Survey (NSVS). Candidates have been selected by the statistical properties of their variation; the standard deviation, skewness…
We describe a major survey of the Milky Way halo designed to test for kinematic substructure caused by destruction of accreted satellites. We use the Washington photometric system to identify halo stars efficiently for spectroscopic…
We present a comprehensive catalog of 2824 RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) residing in 115 Galactic globular clusters (GCs). Our catalog includes 1594 fundamental-mode (RRab), 824 first-overtone (RRc), and 28 double-mode (RRd) RRLs, as well as 378…
The properties of RR Lyrae variables make them excellent probes of the formation and evolution of a stellar population. The mere presence of such stars necessitates an age greater than ~10 Gyr while their periods and amplitudes can be used…
High reddening near the Galactic plane hampers observations and proper characterization of the globular clusters (GCs) located toward the inner regions of the Milky Way. The VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey observed the…
Using the 2dF multi-fibre instrument at the AAT, we have carried out a spectroscopic survey of over 1500 stars brighter than B=16.6 mag, which have been confirmed by the proper motion study of van Leeuwen et al. (2000) to be members of the…
The serendipitous discovery by Preston and colleagues of the neutron-capture-enhanced RR Lyrae variable star TY Gru (a.k.a. CS 22881-071 in the "HK" survey of very metal-poor halo stars) has resulted in a growing set of initiatives on the…
The results of nonlinear, convective models of RR Lyrae pulsators with metal content Z=0.0001 to 0.006 are discussed and several predicted relations connecting pulsational (period and amplitude of pulsation) and evolutionary parameters…
Many applications in transient science, gravitational wave follow-up, and galaxy population studies require all-sky galaxy catalogs with reliable distances, extents, and stellar masses. However, existing catalogs often lack completeness…
We used extra-tidal RR Lyrae stars to study the dynamics of Galactic globular clusters and know how effects like dynamical friction and tidal disruption affect these clusters. The Gaia DR2 catalog for RR Lyrae stars (Clementini et al. 2018)…
RR Lyrae stars (RRLS) belong to population II and are generally used as a tracer of the host galaxy halo. The surface as well as vertical distribution of RRLS in the inner Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are studied to understand whether these…
The properties of RR Lyrae variables make them excellent probes of the formation and evolution of a stellar population. The mere presence of such stars necessitates an age greater than ~10 Gyr while their periods and amplitudes can be used…