Related papers: Timing variations in the secondary eclipse of NN S…
We present results from our ongoing follow-up observations of double white dwarf binaries detected in the ESO SN Ia Progenitor SurveY (SPY). We discuss our observing strategy and data analysis and present the orbital solutions of five close…
The majority of binary stars do not eclipse. Current searches for transiting circumbinary planets concentrate on eclipsing binaries, and are therefore restricted to a small fraction of potential hosts. We investigate the concept of finding…
During post-main-sequence evolution, radial expansion of the primary star, accompanied by intense winds, can significantly alter the binary orbit via tidal dissipation and mass loss. The fate of a given binary system is determined by the…
Context: New eclipse minimum timings of the M4.5/M4.5 binary CM Dra were obtained between the years 2000 and 2007. In combination with published timings going back to 1977, a clear non-linearity in observed-minus-calculated (O-C) times has…
We present preliminary results of long-term monitoring of the peculiar cataclysmic variable FS Aurigae conducted during the 2010-2011 observational season. The multicolor observations revealed, for the first time in photometric data, the…
We report the ${\it Kepler}$ photometry of KIC 11401845 displaying multiperiodic pulsations, superimposed on binary effects. Light-curve synthesis represents that the binary star is a short-period detached system with a very low mass ratio…
Compact binaries with orbital periods shorter than about 7 days show an absence of transiting planets, a feature known as the ``circumbinary planet desert". The physical mechanism behind this desert remains unclear. We investigate its…
Transiting circumbinary planets discovered by Kepler provide unique insight into binary star and planet formation. Several features of this new found population, for example the apparent pile-up of planets near the innermost stable orbit,…
Few observational constraints exist for the tidal synchronization rate of late-type stars, despite its fundamental role in binary evolution. We visually inspected the light curves of 2278 eclipsing binaries (EBs) from the Kepler Eclipsing…
In 2009, the discovery of two planets orbiting the evolved binary star system HW Virginis was announced, based on systematic variations in the timing of eclipses between the two stars. The planets invoked in that work were significantly…
From optical photometry we show that SDSSJ121258.25-012310.1 is a new eclipsing, post common-envelope binary with an orbital period of 8.06 hours and an eclipse length of 23 minutes. We observed the object over 11 nights in different bands…
Apsidal motion is the precession of the line of apsides in the orbit of a binary star due to perturbations from General Relativity (GR), tides, or third-body interactions. The rate of precession due to tidal effects depends on the interior…
We present the orbital and physical parameters of a newly discovered low-mass detached eclipsing binary from the All-Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) database: ASAS J011328-3821.1 A - a member of a visual binary system with the secondary…
We report 18 new primary minima timing observations of the short-period eclipsing binary system NY Virginis. We combined these minima with previously published primary minima to update circumbinary exoplanet models in this system based on…
With more than 80 transits observed in the CoRoT light curve with a cadence of 32 s, CoRoT-Exo-2b provides an excellent case to search for the secondary eclipse of the planet, with an expected signal of less than 10^-4 in relative flux. The…
We present a catalog of precise eclipse times and analysis of third body signals among 1279 close binaries in the latest Kepler Eclipsing Binary Catalog. For these short period binaries, Kepler's 30 minute exposure time causes significant…
We have discovered a new, near-equal mass, eclipsing M dwarf binary from the Next Generation Transit Survey. This system is only one of 3 field age ($>$ 1 Gyr), late M dwarf eclipsing binaries known, and has a period of 1.74774 days,…
Bipolar planetary nebulae (PNe) are thought to result from binary star interactions and, indeed, tens of binary central stars of PNe have been found, in particular using photometric time-series that allow detecting post-common envelope…
We make predictions for the rate of discovery of eclipsing white dwarf-main sequence (WD-MS) binaries in terrestrial-planet transit searches, taking the planned Kepler and Eddington missions as examples. We use a population synthesis model…
One notable example of exoplanet diversity is the population of circumbinary planets, which orbit around both stars of a binary star system. There are so far only 16 known circumbinary exoplanets, all of which lie in the same orbital plane…