Related papers: New Observing Techniques
In this article we present an overview of the ESA Gaia mission and of the unprecedented impact that Gaia will have on the field of variable star research. We summarise the contents and impact of the first Gaia data release on the…
After decades of efforts, optical long-baseline interferometry has become a mainstream observational technique in terms of operation robustness and user friendliness. Interferometry has opened a new observational window, enabling…
Time-resolved ground-based surveys in general, and photometric ones in particular, have played a crucial role in building up our knowledge of the properties, physical nature, and the very existence of the many different classes of variable…
Long-period variables (LPVs) are evolved red giant and supergiant stars whose pulsations provide unique insights into late stages of stellar evolution and serve as essential tools in modern astrophysics. Their period-luminosity and…
We summarize some of the compelling new scientific opportunities for understanding stars and stellar systems that can be enabled by sub-milliarcsec (sub-mas) angular resolution, UV-Optical spectral imaging observations, which can reveal the…
There has been tremendous progress in observing oscillations in solar-type stars. In a few short years we have moved from ambiguous detections to firm measurements. We briefly review the recent results, most of which have come from…
There has been tremendous progress in observing oscillations in solar-type stars. In a few short years we have moved from ambiguous detections to firm measurements. We review the recent results, most of which have come from high-precision…
The CoRoT and Kepler satellites were the first space platforms designed to perform high-precision photometry for a large number of stars. Multiple systems display a wide variety of photometric variability, making them natural benefactors of…
Nearly continuous, densely sampled, space-based photometry allows us to recover the finest details in the light variations of stars. The number of such light curves have been increasing rapidly in the last few years thanks to the extended…
The second data release of ESA's Gaia satellite (Gaia DR2) revolutionised astronomy by providing accurate distances, proper motions, apparent magnitudes, and in many cases temperatures and radial velocities for an unprecedented number of…
Over the last decade, thanks to the successful space missions launched to detect stellar pulsations, Asteroseismology has produced an extraordinary revolution in astrophysics, unveiling a wealth of results on structural properties of stars…
Over the past decade, sky surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey have proven the power of large data sets for answering fundamental astrophysical questions. This observational progress, based on a synergy of advances in telescope…
Radio pulsars have been responsible for many astonishing astrophysical and fundamental physics breakthroughs since their discovery 50 years ago. In this review I will discuss many of the highlights, most of which were only possible because…
The exoplanet detection is the most exciting and challenging field of astronomy. The discovery of many exoplanets has revolutionized our understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary systems and has showed new ways to search for…
The measurement of the positions, distances, motions and luminosities of stars represents the foundations of modern astronomical knowledge. Launched at the end of the eighties, the ESA Hipparcos satellite was the first space mission…
A description is given of the activities of an international working group created with the aim of obtaining both photometric and astrometric observations of visual double and multiple stars with angular separations in the range of one to…
Long-period variables are bright, evolved red giant stars showing periodic photometric changes due to stellar pulsation. They follow one or more period-luminosity and period-age relations, which make them highly promising distance…
Continuous, high-precision photometry from space revolutionized many fields of stellar astrophysics, and that extends to the well-studied families of RR Lyrae and Cepheid variable stars as well. After the pioneering work of MOST, the CoRoT…
Our understanding of extra-solar planet systems is highly driven by advances in observations in the past decade. Thanks to high precision spectrograph, we are able to reveal unseen companions to stars with the radial velocity method. High…
The Kepler spacecraft is providing photometric time series with micro-magnitude precision for thousands of variable stars. The continuous time-series of unprecedented time span open up opportunities to study the pulsational variability in…