Related papers: HD188112: Supernova Ia progenitor?
The masses of compact objects like white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes are fundamental to astrophysics, but very difficult to measure. We present the results of an analysis of subluminous B (sdB) stars in close binary systems with…
We use a combination of X-shooter spectroscopy, ULTRACAM high-speed photometry and SOFI near-infrared photometry to measure the masses and radii of both components of the eclipsing post common envelope binaries SDSS J1212-0123 and GK Vir.…
The progenitor system of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is expected to be a close binary system of a carbon/oxygen white dwarf (WD) and a non-degenerate star or another WD. Here, we present results from a high-cadence monitoring observation of…
We present multiband optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of an unusual Type II supernova, SN 2018hfm, which exploded in the nearby (d = 34.67 Mpc) dwarf galaxy PGC 1297331 with a very low star-formation rate (0.0270 M yr-1)…
We present high-speed ULTRACAM and SOFI photometry and X-shooter spectroscopy of the recently discovered 94 minute orbital period eclipsing white dwarf / main-sequence binary SDSS J085746.18+034255.3 (CSS 03170) and use these observations…
The project Massive Unseen Companions to Hot Faint Underluminous Stars from SDSS (MUCHFUSS) aims at finding hot subdwarf stars with massive compact companions (white dwarfs with masses $M>1.0 {\rm M_{\odot}}$, neutron stars or black holes).…
We report the discovery of five white dwarf + ultracool dwarf systems identified as common proper motion wide binaries in the Gaia Catalogue of Nearby Stars. The discoveries include a white dwarf + L subdwarf binary, VVV 1256-62AB, a…
We report on the results we obtained with XMM-Newton observations of HD49798 and BD+37 442, the only two sdO stars for which X-ray emission has been observed so far. HD is a single-lined spectroscopic binary with orbital period of 1.5 days.…
The nearby Sun-like star HD 114174 exhibits a strong and persistent Doppler acceleration indicating the presence of an unseen distant companion. We have acquired high-contrast imaging observations of this star using NIRC2 at Keck and report…
We present optical high-speed photometry of three millisecond pulsars with low-mass ($< 0.3 M_{\odot}$) white dwarf companions, bringing the total number of such systems with follow-up time-series photometry to five. We confirm the…
If recurrent novae are progenitors of Type Ia supernovae, their white dwarfs must have masses close to the Chandrasekhar limit. The most reliable means of determining white dwarf masses in recurrent novae is dynamically, via radial-velocity…
We present the results of an HST snapshot program to search for very-low-mass stellar companions to nearby M subdwarfs. None of our nine targetted metal-poor primaries have companions more massive than the hydrogen burning limit, implying…
We report the discovery of a nearby massive white dwarf with He-H atmosphere. The white dwarf is located at a distance of $74.5\pm0.9$ pc. Its radius, mass, effective temperature, H/He ratio and age are $R=2500\pm100$ km, $M=1.33\pm0.01$…
We initiated long-term optical interferometry monitoring of the diameters of unstable yellow hypergiants (YHG) with the goal of detecting both the long-term evolution of their radius and shorter term formation related to large mass-loss…
We report the discovery of one possible neutron star binary ($P_{\rm orb} =$ 0.8666 day) by using the LAMOST low-resolution spectroscopic data. The visible companion is a late A-type dwarf ($T_{\rm eff} = 7900 \pm 200$ K; log$g$ $=$…
We report precise Doppler measurements of HD 142022 obtained during the past six years with the CORALIE echelle spectrograph at La Silla Observatory together with a few additional observations made recently with the HARPS echelle…
Pulsars in close, eccentric binary systems are usually assumed to have another neutron star as a companion. These double neutron star binaries have proven to be the best laboratories for experimental General Relativity and are the most…
We report the discovery of a nearby, old, halo white dwarf candidate from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. SDSS J110217.48+411315.4 has a proper motion of 1.75 arcsec/year and redder optical colors than all other known featureless (type DC)…
We report the discovery of a bright, brown dwarf companion to the star HIP 64892, imaged with VLT/SPHERE during the SHINE exoplanet survey. The host is a B9.5V member of the Lower-Centaurus-Crux subgroup of the Scorpius Centaurus OB…
The nature of progenitors of Type Ia supernovae has long been debated, primarily due to the elusiveness of the progenitor systems to traditional electromagnetic observation methods. We argue that gravitational wave observations with the…