We present the first study of the variable star populations in the isolated dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) Cetus and Tucana. Based on Hubble Space Telescope images obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys in the F475W and F814W bands, we identified 180 and 371 variables in Cetus and Tucana, respectively. The vast majority are RR Lyrae stars

Post Main Sequence (post MS) stars keep a trace of their past main sequence history. Typically, the presence or not of an Intermediate Convective Zone (ICZ) above the H-burning shell of massive stars critically depends on the details of the Main Sequence (MS) phase modeling (convection criterion, mass loss,~...). We show here how the excitation of

We present a new luminosity-colour relation based on trigonometric parallaxes for thin-disc main-sequence stars in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry. We matched stars from the newly reduced Hipparcos catalogue with the ones taken from Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) All-Sky Catalogue of Point Sources, and applied a series of constraints

The accretion of matter onto a massive black hole is believed to feed the relativistic plasma jets found in many active galactic nuclei (AGN). Although some AGN accelerate particles to energies exceeding 1012 electron volts and are bright sources of very-high-energy (VHE) γ-ray emission, it is not yet known where the VHE emission originates. Here

We present high time-resolution spectroscopy of the eclipsing cataclysmic variable SDSSJ143317.78+101123.3 obtained with QUCAM2, a high-speed/low-noise electron-multiplying CCD camera. Littlefair et al. measured the mass of the secondary star in SDSSJ143317.78+101123.3 using a light-curve fitting technique and obtained a value of M2 = 0.060 +/- 0

Context: In the last 8 Gyr of cosmic time the global star formation rate (SFR) has declined by roughly an order of magnitude, and most of this activity has been progressively confined to ever less massive galaxies (“downsizing”). Previous studies show that the main drivers of the decline in the global SFR are the spiral galaxies. However, we still