Related papers: The yellow hypergiant - B[e] supergiant connection
The non-spherically symmetric winds of B[e] supergiants are investigated. An empirical density distribution is chosen that accounts for the density concentrations and ratios derived from observations, and our model winds are assumed to…
Yellow hypergiants represent a short-lived evolutionary episode experienced by massive stars as they transit to and from a red supergiant phase. As such, their properties provide a critical test of stellar evolutionary theory. The galactic…
From 1994 to 1997 we monitored the optical spectrum of RXJ0019.8+2156. This supersoft X-ray source is one of only two accreting white dwarfs in the Galaxy thought to be burning hydrogen on their surface as a consequence of a high rate of…
High resolution spectra with iSHELL on IRTF in the K and M band of the young, heavily accreting B 1.5e star MWC297 show numerous double-peaked CO lines. These CO lines originate in an inclined gaseous disk in Keplerian rotation. MWC297 is…
We explore the hypothesis that a passing satellite or dark matter subhalo has excited coherent oscillations of the Milky Way's stellar disk in the direction perpendicular to the Galactic midplane. This work is motivated by recent…
There is a class of binary post-AGB stars (binary system including a post-AGB star) that are surrounded by Keplerian disks and outflows resulting from gas escaping from the disk. To date, there are seven sources that have been studied in…
Yellow hypergiants (YHGs) are often presumed to represent a transitional post-red supergiant (RSG) phase for stars $\sim$30-40 \msun. Here we present visual-wavelength echelle spectra of six YHG candidates in the Galactic cluster Westerlund…
Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is one of the best studied young Galactic supernova remnants. While providing a rare opportunity to study in detail the remnant of a Type IIb supernova, questions remain regarding the nature of its progenitor, its…
Observing the stars in our night sky tells us that giant, supergiant and hypergiant stars hold an unique importance in the understanding of stellar populations. Theoretical stellar models predict a rich tapestry of evolved stars. These…
We present high-angular resolution observations of the circumstellar disk around the massive Herbig Be star R Mon (M~8 Msun) in the continuum at 2.7mm and 1.3mm and the CO 1->0 and 2->1 rotational lines. Based on the new 1.3mm continuum…
Using data from the Galactic All-Sky Survey, we have compared the properties and distribution of HI clouds in the disk-halo transition at the tangent points in mirror-symmetric regions of the first quadrant (QI) and fourth quadrant (QIV) of…
We present results on gas flows in the halo of a Milky Way-like galaxy at z=0.413 based on high-resolution spectroscopy of a background galaxy. This is the first study of circumgalactic gas at high spectral resolution towards an extended…
Rapidly rotating giant stars are relatively rare and may represent important stages of stellar evolution, resulting from stellar coalescence of close binary systems or accretion of sub-stellar companions by their hosting stars. In the…
Massive BA-type supergiants are among the visually brightest stars in galaxies with active star formation. As such they are versatile tools for studies of stellar and galactochemical evolution. Moreover, they can act as distance indicators…
We describe the results of a search for galaxies with large (> 350 km/s) velocity dispersions. The largest systems we have found appear to be the extremes of the early-type galaxy population: compared to other galaxies with similar…
We have applied a powerful numerical approach to compute, with a high resolution, the structure of dusty circumstellar disks with embedded planets. We emphasize some testable implications of our simulations which would verify the presence…
There is a class of binary post-AGB stars with a remarkable near-infrared excess that are surrounded by Keplerian or quasi-Keplerian disks and extended outflows composed of gas escaping from the disk. The Keplerian dynamics had been well…
Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) are mostly found in X-ray transients, a subclass of X-ray binaries that exhibit violent outbursts. None of the 50 Galactic BHs known show eclipses, which is surprising for a random distribution of…
A theory is developed for the dynamics of eccentric perturbations $[\propto \exp(\pm i\phi)]$ of a disk galaxy residing in a spherical dark matter halo and including a spherical bulge component. The disk is represented as a large number $N$…
We present an abundance analysis of seven super-star clusters in the disk of M83. The near-infrared spectra of these clusters are dominated by Red Supergiants, and the spectral similarity in the J-band of such stars at uniform metallicity…