Related papers: Pulsations, eruptions, and evolution of four yello…
The {\it Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer} ({\it FUSE}) has allowed precise determinations of the column densities of molecular hydrogen ($\Hmol$) in Galactic lines of sight with a wide range of pathlengths and extinction properties.…
Almost all massive stars explode as supernovae and form a black hole or neutron star. The remnant mass and the impact of the chemical yield on subsequent star formation and galactic evolution strongly depend on the internal physics of the…
Red supergiant stars (RSGs) and yellow hypergiant stars (YHGs) are believed to be the high-mass counterparts of stars in the AGB and early post-AGB phases. We study the mass-loss in the post main-sequence evolution of massive stars, through…
We study the ``jump'' in the blue horizontal--branch (BHB) distribution first detected by Grundahl et al. (1998) in the Galactic globular cluster (GC) M13. On the basis of Stromgren photometry for a sample of fourteen GC's we show that: 1)…
Recent pieces of evidence have revealed that most, and possibly all, globular star clusters are composed of groups of stars that formed in multiple episodes with different chemical compositions. In this sense, it has also been argued that…
We aim to combine asteroseismology, spectroscopy, and evolutionary models to establish a comprehensive picture of the evolution of Galactic blue supergiant stars (BSG). To start such an investigation, we selected three BSG candidates for…
Blue large-amplitude pulsators (BLAPs) make up a rare class of hot pulsating stars with effective temperatures of $\approx$30,000 K and surface gravities of 4.0 - 5.0 dex (cgs). The evolutionary origin and current status of BLAPs is not…
Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are hot, very luminous massive stars displaying large quasi-periodic variations in brightness, radius,and photospheric temperature, on timescales of years to decades. The physical origin of this variability,…
An increasing number of non-terminal eruptions are being found in the numerous surveys for optical transients. Very little is known about these giant eruptions, their progenitors and their evolutionary state. A greatly improved census of…
In recent years several hypervelocity stars (HVSs) have been observed in the halo of our Galaxy. Such stars are thought to be ejected through dynamical interactions near the massive black hole (MBH) in the Galactic center. Three scenarios…
New optical spectra of Ca II and Na I toward HD 72127AB provide additional evidence for both spatial and temporal variations in the complex interstellar absorption along the two sight lines; archival UV spectra yield information on the…
(Abridged) Stars more massive than $20-30M_{\odot}$ are so luminous that the radiation force on the cooler, more opaque outer layers can balance or exceed the force of gravity. These near or super-Eddington outer envelopes represent a long…
Characterizing the physical properties of cool supergiants allows us to probe the final stages of a massive star's evolution before it undergoes core collapse. Despite their importance, the fundamental properties for these stars -- $T_{\rm…
Context: The metal-rich bulge globular cluster NGC6388 shows a blue horizontal branch (HB). Helium (He) enrichment, which is correlated with changes in other light elements, might explain this feature. The hot HB stars in the metal-poor…
Hot subdwarf variables (sdBVs) that display large-amplitude ($>$1%), short-period variability, as a result of radial-mode pulsations, have recently become objects of interest as they show unique properties among the sdBV classes. Since the…
We present an investigation of three chemically peculiar (CP) stars and one CP star candidate which exhibit photometric periods below 12 hours. New spectroscopic observations have been acquired which confirm the peculiar nature of all…
The strong mass loss of Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) is thought to play a critical role in massive-star evolution, but their place in the evolutionary sequence remains debated. A key to understanding their peculiar instability is their…
We present a dedicated search for new pulsating helium-atmosphere (DBV) white dwarfs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using the McDonald 2.1m Otto Struve Telescope. In total we observed 55 DB and DBA white dwarfs with spectroscopic…
The initial conditions for the mass loss during the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase are set in their extended atmospheres, where, among others, convection and pulsation driven shocks determine the physical conditions. High resolution…
The observations and comprehensive study of intermediate initial mass stars at the late stages of evolution, and after the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) in particular, are of crucial importance to identify the common properties for the…