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This study aims to assess the properties and classification of 40 variable stars in Sagittarius, little studied since their discovery and reported in the Information Bulletin on Variable Stars (IBVS) 985 and update. Using data from previous…
Astrometry measures shifts in a star's photocentre and can be used to detect reflex motion due to orbiting exoplanets. Brightness asymmetries (e.g. starspots) rotating in and out of view can also cause apparent motion of the photocenter,…
Here, we study the microlensing of radially pulsating stars. Discerning and characterizing the properties of distant, faint pulsating stars is achievable through high-cadence microlensing observations. Combining stellar variability period…
We present the results of a study of different statistical methods currently used in the literature to analyse the (micro)variability of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from ground-based optical observations. In particular, we focus on the…
Star clusters are good tracers for formation and evolution of galaxies. We compared different fitting methods by using spectra (or by combining photometry) to determine the physical parameters. We choose a sample of 17 star clusters in M33,…
Near-infrared (NIR) detectors -- which use non-destructive readouts to measure time-series counts-per-pixel -- play a crucial role in modern astrophysics. Standard NIR flux extraction techniques were developed for space-based observations…
The number of satellites on low orbit has dramatically increased over the past years, raising concerns among the astronomical community about their impact on observations. Spectroscopic observations represent a large fraction of…
We investigate blending, binarity and photometric biases in crowded-field CCD imaging. For this, we consider random blend losses, which correspond to the total number of stars left undetected in unresolved blends. We present a simple…
Obtaining accurate photometry of bright stars from the ground remains tricky because of the danger of overexposure of the target and/or lack of suitable nearby comparison star. The century-old method of the objective wire mesh used to…
Integrated spectrophotometric properties of stellar systems are intrinsically dispersed due to the stochastic nature of the small numbers of bright stars they contain. Among clusters, only the most massive ones can be used individually for…
Variability is a defining characteristic of young stellar systems, and optical variability has been heavily studied to select and characterize the photospheric properties of young stars. In recent years, multi-epoch observations sampling a…
A cross-dispersed spectrophotometer with CCD detector and its automated 0.5-m telescope at the Fairborn Observatory, now under construction, should begin observations in 6 to 9 months. The Citadel ASTRA Telescope will be able to observe…
Variability in the sky has been known for centuries, even millennia, but our knowledge of it is very incomplete even at the bright end. Current technology makes it possible to built small, robotic optical instruments, to record images and…
Light from `point sources' such as supernovae is observed with a beam width of order of the sources' size - typically less than 1 AU. Such a beam probes matter and curvature distributions that are very different from coarse-grained…
CONTEXT: Spectral-line asymmetries and wavelength shifts are signatures of hydrodynamics in solar and stellar atmospheres. Theory may precisely predict idealized lines, but observed spectra are limited by blends, too few suitable lines,…
The diameter of a star is a major observable that serves to test the validity of stellar structure theories. It is also a difficult observable that is mostly obtained with indirect methods since the stars are so remote. Today only ~600…
Variability amplitudes larger than 1 magnitude over time-scales of a few tens of minutes have recently been reported in the optical light-curves of several blazars. In order to independently verify the real occurrence of such extremely…
Ground-based optical surveys such as PanSTARRS, DES, and LSST, will produce large catalogs to limiting magnitudes of r > 24. Star-galaxy separation poses a major challenge to such surveys because galaxies---even very compact…
Phase curves, or the change in observed illumination of the planet as it orbits around its host star, help us to characterize their atmospheres. However, the variability of the host star can make their detection challenging: the presence of…
Fitting spectral distributions of total fluxes or image intensities are two standard methods for estimating the masses of starless cores and protostellar envelopes. These mass estimates, which are the main source and basis of our knowledge…