Related papers: Mean Angular Diameters and Angular Diameter Amplit…
We examine the properties of 17 long period (80-180 days) and very luminous (median absolute magnitude of M_I= -7.93 and M_V= -7.03) Cepheids to see if they can serve as an useful distance indicator. We find that these Ultra Long Period…
We present the first high spatial and spectral observations of the circumstellar envelope (CSE) of a B[e] supergiant (CPD$-57 2874$), performed with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Spectra, visibilities, and closure phase,…
Optical interferometry is the only technique giving access to milli-arcsecond (mas) resolution at infrared wavelengths. For Cepheids, this is a powerful and unique tool to detect the orbiting companions and the circumstellar envelopes…
The largest possible average diameter of a bounded cell of a simple hyperplane arrangement is conjectured to be not greater than the dimension. We prove that this conjecture holds in dimension 2, and is asymptotically tight in fixed…
We compare the first direct angular diameter measurements obtained on our closest stellar neighbour, Alpha Centauri, to recent model diameters constrained by asteroseismic observations. Using the VINCI instrument installed at ESO's VLT…
We have measured angular dimensions of 312 planetary nebulae from their images obtained in Halpha (or Halpha + [NII]). We have applied three methods of measurements: direct measurements at the 10% level of the peak surface brightness,…
Our survey of long-baseline infrared and optical interferometry measurements is producing considerable numbers of directly determined stellar angular sizes. We use our sample of 124 high-precision (5\%) angular stellar diameter values and…
The cosmological distance ladder crucially depends on classical Cepheids (with P=3-80 days), which are primary distance indicators up to 33 Mpc. Within this volume, very few SNe Ia have been calibrated through classical Cepheids, with…
We present the results of long-baseline optical interferometry observations using the Precision Astronomical Visual Observations (PAVO) beam combiner at the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array to measure the angular…
The orbital diameter of a primitive permutation group is the maximal diameter of its orbital graphs. There has been a lot of interest in bounds for the orbital diameter. In this paper we provide explicit bounds on the diameters of groups of…
We have used long-baseline near-IR interferometry to resolve the peculiar eruptive variable V838 Mon and to provide the first direct measurement of its angular size. Assuming a uniform disk model for the emission we derive an apparent…
The MACHO variables of LMC Field 77 that lie in the vicinity of the Cepheid instability strip are reexamined. Among the 144 variables that we identify as Cepheids we find 14 that have Fourier amplitudes <0.05 mag in the MACHO red band, of…
We are conducting a long-term photometric survey of the nearby galaxy M33 to discover Cepheids, eclipsing binaries, and long-period variables. The dataset combines previously-obtained optical images from the DIRECT project with new…
Surface brightness-colour relations (SBCRs) are widely used to determine the angular diameters of stars. They are in particular used in the Baade-Wesselink (BW) method of distance determination of Cepheids. However, the impact of the SBCR…
We present revised and improved mid-infrared Period-Luminosity (PL) relations for Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids based on double-epoch data of 70 Cepheids observed by Spitzer at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0um. The observed scatter at all…
Optical-infrared interferometry can provide direct geometrical measurements of the radii of Cepheids and/or reveal unknown binary companions of these stars. Such information is of great importance for a proper calibration of…
The bright, well-known K5 giant Aldebaran, alpha Tau, is probably the star with the largest number of direct angular diameter determinations, achieved over a long time by several authors using various techniques. In spite of this wealth of…
The interferometric observations of dwarf stars in the solar neighbourhood, combined with Hipparcos parallaxes provide very precise values of their linear diameters. In this paper, we report the direct measurement of the angular diameter of…
The propagation of light through a Universe of (a) isothermal mass spheres amidst (b) a homogeneous matter component, is considered. We demonstrate by an analytical proof that as long as a small light bundle passes {\it through} sufficient…
Classical Cepheid variable stars have been important indicators of extragalactic distance and Galactic evolution for over a century. The Spitzer Space Telescope has opened the possibility of extending the study of Cepheids into the mid- and…