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Massive stars that end their lives with helium cores in the range of 35 to 65 Msun are known to produce repeated thermonuclear outbursts due to a recurring pair-instability. In some of these events, solar masses of material are ejected in…

Despite indications that classical cataclysmic variable (CV) stars are rare in globular clusters in general, and in the cluster NGC 6624 in particular, we have serendipitously discovered such a star ~6'' from the cluster center. A Hubble…

We discuss five blue stellar systems in the direction of the Virgo cluster, analogous to the enigmatic object SECCO 1 (AGC 226067). These objects were identified based on their optical and UV morphology and followed up with HI observations…

There have been several surprising developments in our understanding of symbiotic binary stars and nova eruptions over the last decade or so based on multiwavelength data. For example, symbiotic stars without shell burning on their white…

We report new HST NICMOS and WFPC2 imaging of emission-line nebulae in the central galaxies of 3 clusters of galaxies purported to host massive cooling flows, NGC1275, A2597, and PKS0745. The spectral signature of vibrationally- excited…

We present nebular spectra of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) SN 2019yvq, which had a bright flash of blue and ultraviolet light after exploding, followed by a rise similar to other SNe Ia. Although SN 2019yvq displayed several other rare…

High resolution ALMA observations of the recent (2.52 yrs old) shell of Nova V5668 Sgr (2015) show a highly structured ionised gas distribution with small (10$^{15}$ cm) clumps. These are the smallest structures ever observed in the remnant…

Context. We report the discovery of VVV-CL160, a new nearby globular cluster (GC) with extreme kinematics, located in the Galactic plane at $l = 10.1477$ deg, $b = 0.2999$ deg. Aims. We aim to characterize the physical properties of this…

The Milky Way's (MW) inner stellar halo contains an [Fe/H]-rich component with highly eccentric orbits, often referred to as the "last major merger." Hypotheses for the origin of this component include Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus (GSE), where…

Classical nova explosions and type I X-ray bursts are the most frequent types of thermonuclear stellar explosions in the Galaxy. Both phenomena arise from thermonuclear ignition in the envelopes of accreting compact objects in close binary…

V838 Mon is a stellar merger remnant that erupted in 2002 in a luminous red novae event. Although it is well studied in the optical, near infrared and submillimeter regimes, its structure in the mid-infrared wavelengths remains elusive. We…

Supernova 2006gy in the galaxy NGC 1260 is the most luminous one recorded \cite{2006CBET..644....1Q, 2006CBET..647....1H, 2006CBET..648....1P, 2006CBET..695....1F}. Its progenitor might have been a very massive ($>100$ \msun) star…

During their infancy, stars are well known to expel matter violently in the form of well-defined, collimated outflows. A fairly unique exception is found in the Orion BN/KL star-forming region where a poorly collimated and somewhat…

X-ray observations have unveiled the existence of enigmatic point-like sources at the center of young (a few kyrs) supernova remnants. These sources, known as Central Compact Objects (CCOs), are thought to be neutron stars produced by the…

The discovery of supernovae associated with long-duration gamma ray burst observations is primary evidence that the progenitors of these outbursts are massive stars. One of the principle mysteries in understanding these progenitors has been…

We present narrow-band Hubble Space Telescope images of the young planetary nebula GL 618. These images have allowed us to study the detailed morphology of shock-excited emission present in the bipolar lobes of this object. These images…

We present a new formation scenario for NGC2419, which is one of the most luminous,one of the most distant, and as well one of the most extended globular clusters of the Milky Way. We propose that NGC2419 is the remnant of a merged star…

Stellar mergers are estimated to be common events in the Galaxy. The best studied stellar merger case to date is V1309 Sco (= Nova Scorpii 2008) which was originally misclassified as a Nova event. Later identified as the merger of the…

Despite decades-old predictions of the expected presence of dozens of cataclysmic variables in the cores of globular clusters, the number of irrefutable, out-bursting candidates is still barely a handful. Using multi-wavelength, multi-epoch…

Spectra of planetary nebulae (PNe) are characterised by strong forbidden emission lines and often also by an infrared (IR) excess. A few PNe show dust obscuration events and/or harbour long-period binaries. Some post-asymptotic giant branch…