Related papers: Kinematic Insights Into Luminous Blue Variables an…

We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of two luminous blue variable (LBV) stars in two extremely metal-deficient blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies, DDO 68 with 12+logO/H = 7.15 and PHL 293B with 12+logO/H = 7.72. These two…

There has been mounting observational evidence in favour of Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) being the direct progenitors of supernovae. Here we present possibly the most convincing evidence yet for such progenitors. We find multiple…

The favored progenitor model for Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) with Supernova (SN) association is the core collapse of massive stars. One possible outcome of such a collapse is a rapidly spinning, strongly magnetized neutron star ("magnetar"). We…

Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stars are evolved massive objects, previous to core-collapse supernova. LBVs are characterized by photometric and spectroscopic variability, produced by strong and dense winds, mass-loss events and very intense…

Classification of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been a long-standing puzzle in high-energy astrophysics. Recent observations challenge the traditional short vs. long viewpoint, where long GRBs are thought to originate from the collapse of…

We review the various techniques through which wind properties of massive stars - O stars, AB supergiants, Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs), Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars and cool supergiants - are derived. The wind momentum-luminosity relation (e.g.…

Observations indicate that most massive stars in the Galaxy appear in groups, called OB associations, where their strong wind activity generates large structures known as superbubbles, inside which the subsequent supernovae (SNe) explode,…

B[e] supergiants (B[e]SGs) are emission-line objects, presumably in a short-lived phase in the post-main sequence evolution of massive stars. Their intense infrared excess emission indicates large amounts of warm circumstellar dust, and the…

The near-maximum spectra of most superluminous supernovae that are not dominated by interaction with a H-rich CSM (SLSN-I) are characterised by a blue spectral peak and a series of absorption lines which have been identified as OII.…

Three Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are located in and near the Quintuplet Cluster at the Galactic Center: the Pistol star, G0.120-0.048, and qF362. We present imaging at 19, 25, 31, and 37 {\mu}m of the region containing these three LBVs,…

The population of Be/X-ray binaries shows strong evidence of bimodality, especially in the spin period of neutron stars. Several physical mechanisms may produce this bimodality. The most favored candidate mechanisms are two distinct…

Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are known to come in two duration classes, separated at ~2 s. Long bursts originate from star forming regions in galaxies, have accompanying supernovae (SNe) when near enough to observe and are likely caused by…

We search for runaway stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) by computing the space velocities of the visually brightest stars in the LMC that are included in the Gaia TGAS proper motion catalog. We compare with predictions from stellar…

LBVs are massive evolved stars that suffer sporadic and violent mass-loss events. They have been proposed as the progenitors of some core-collapse SNe, but this idea is still debated due to the lack of direct evidence. Since SNRs can carry…

Hypervelocity stars (HVS) move so fast that they are unbound to the Galaxy. When they were first discovered in 2005, dynamical ejection from the supermassive black hole (SMBH) in the Galactic Centre (GC) was suggested as their origin. The…

The spatial and temporal coincidence between the gamma-ray burst (GRB) 980425 and supernova (SN) 1998bw has prompted speculation that there exists a class of GRBs produced by SNe (``S-GRBs''). Robust arguments for the existence of a…

OB stars powering stellar bowshock nebulae (SBNe) have been presumed to have large peculiar velocities. We measured peculiar velocities of SBN central stars to assess their kinematics relative to the general O star population using $Gaia$…

Blue supergiants of spectral types B and A are the visually brightest stars in spiral and irregular galaxies, with their most luminous members (at M_V=-10) outshining entire dwarf galaxies. This characteristic allows us to use them as…

Merging binary systems consisting of two collapsed objects are among the most promising sources of high frequency gravitational wave, GW, signals for ground based interferometers. Double neutron star or black hole/neutron star mergers are…

Radial velocity curves for 15 bright subdwarf B binary systems have been measured using high precision radial velocity measurements from high S/N optical high-resolution spectra. In addition, two bright sdB stars are discovered to be radial…