We analyse the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey light curves of 835 spectroscopically confirmed white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with g 19, in search of new eclipsing systems. We identify 29 eclipsing systems, 12 of which were previously unknown. This brings the total number of eclipsing white

We present high-resolution (R ~ 15 000) VLT/UVES optical spectra of two planetary nebulae (PNe; Tc 1 and M 1-20) where C60 (and C70) fullerenes have already been found. These spectra are of high quality (S/N > 300) for PN Tc 1, which permits us to search for the expected electronic transitions of neutral C60 and diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs)

Context. To derive space velocities of stars along the line of sight from wavelength shifts in stellar spectra requires accounting for a number of second-order effects. For most stars, gravitational redshifts, convective blueshifts, and transverse stellar motion are the dominant contributors. Aims: We provide theoretical corrections for the net

Context. Stellar activity cycles are the manifestation of dynamo process running in the stellar interiors. They have been observed from years to decades thanks to the measurement of stellar magnetic proxies on the surface of the stars, such as the chromospheric and X-ray emissions, and to the measurement of the magnetic field with

The accretion of minor satellites is currently proposed as the most likely mechanism to explain the significant size evolution of the massive galaxies during the last ˜10 Gyr. In this paper, we investigate the rest-frame colours and the average stellar ages of satellites found around massive galaxies (Mstar ˜ 1011 M&sun;) since z ˜ 2. We find that

We present a study of the host bulge properties and their relations with the black hole mass for a sample of 10 intermediate-type active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Our sample consists mainly of early-type spirals, four of them hosting a bar. For 70+10 –17% of the galaxies, we have been able to determine the type of the bulge, and find that these