The contact phase expected to precede the coalescence of two massive stars is poorly characterized due to the paucity of observational constraints. Here we report on the discovery of VFTS 352, an O-type binary in the 30 Doradus region, as the most massive and earliest spectral type overcontact system known to date. We derived the 3D geometry of the

Using the High Resolution Camera on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we have measured an accurate position for the bright persistent neutron star X-ray binary and atoll source GX 3+1. At a location that is consistent with this new position, we have discovered the near-infrared (NIR) counterpart to GX 3+1 in images taken with the PANIC and

The optical transient of the faint gamma-ray burst GRB 990308 was detected by the QUEST camera on the Venezuelan 1 m Schmidt telescope starting 3.28 hr after the burst. Our photometry gives V=18.32+/-0.07, R=18.14+/-0.06, B=18.65+/-0.23, and R=18.22+/-0.05 for times ranging from 3.28 to 3.47 hr after the burst. The colors correspond to a spectral

During a 50 ks monitoring observation of the Galactic bulge performed in September 1999 by the Wide Field Cameras on board the BeppoSAX satellite, an X-ray burst was detected from a sky position ~ 3degr off the Galactic centre. No previously known X-ray sources are located within the position error circle of the observed burst. The new burster, SAX

The MAGIC Collaboration reports the detection of the blazar S5 0716+714 (z = 0.31 ± 0.08) in very high energy gamma rays. The observations were performed in 2007 November and in 2008 April, and were triggered by the Kungliga Vetenskapliga Akademi telescope due to the high optical state of the object. An overall significance of the signal accounts

We present the discovery by optical and near-infrared imaging of an extremely red, low-luminosity population of isolated objects in the young, nearby stellar cluster around the multiple, massive star σ Orionis. The proximity (352 parsecs), youth (1 million to 5 million years), and low internal extinction make this cluster an ideal site to explore