Search

The Galactic B[e] supergiant MWC 137 is surrounded by a large-scale optical nebula. To shed light on the physical conditions and kinematics of the nebula, we analyze the optical forbidden emission lines [NII] 6548,6583 and [SII] 6716,6731 in long-slit spectra taken with ALFOSC at the Nordic Optical Telescope. The radial velocities display a complex behavior but, in general, the northern nebular features are predominantly approaching while the southern ones are mostly receding. The electron density shows strong variations across the nebula with values spreading from about zero to ~800 cm$^{-3}$. Higher densities are found closer to MWC~137 and in regions of intense emission, whereas in regions with high radial velocities the density decreases significantly. We also observe the entire nebula in the two [SII] lines with the scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer attached to the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory. These data reveal a new bow-shaped feature at PA = 225-245 and a distance 80" from MWC 137. A new H$\alpha$ image has been taken with the Danish 1.54-m telescope on La Silla. No expansion or changes in the nebular morphology appear within 18.1 years. We derive a mass of 37 (+9/-5) solar masses and an age of $4.7\pm0.8$ Myr for MWC 137. Furthermore, we detect a period of 1.93 d in the time series photometry collected with the TESS satellite, which could suggest stellar pulsations. Other, low-frequency variability is seen as well. Whether these signals are caused by internal gravity waves in the early-type star or by variability in the wind and circumstellar matter currently cannot be distinguished., Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, Table 1 is only available in electronic form, submitted to AJ

High-redshift binary quasars provide key insights into mergers and quasar activity, and are useful tools for probing the spatial kinematics and chemistry of galaxies along the line-of-sight. However, only three sub-10-kpc binaries have been confirmed above $z=1$. Gravitational lensing would provide a way to easily resolve such binaries, study them in higher resolution, and provide more sightlines, though the required alignment with a massive foreground galaxy is rare. Through image deconvolution of StanCam Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) monitoring data, we reveal two further point sources in the known, $z \approx 2.38$, quadruply lensed quasar (quad), J1721+8842. An ALFOSC/NOT long-slit spectrum shows that the brighter of these two sources is a quasar with $z = 2.369 \pm 0.007$ based on the C III] line, while the C III] redshift of the quad is $z = 2.364 \pm 0.003$. Lens modelling using point source positions rules out a single source model, favouring an isothermal lens mass profile with two quasar sources separated by $\sim6.0$ kpc (0.73$^{\prime \prime}$) in projection. Given the resolving ability from lensing and current lensed quasar statistics, this discovery suggests a large population of undiscovered, unlensed sub-10-kpc binaries. We also analyse spectra of two images of the quad, showing narrow Ly$\alpha$ emission within the trough of a proximate damped Ly$\alpha$ absorber (PDLA). An apparent mismatch between the continuum and narrow line flux ratios provides a new potential tool for simultaneously studying microlensing and the quasar host galaxy. Signs of the PDLA are also seen in the second source, however a deeper spectrum is still required to confirm this. Thanks to the multiple lines-of-sight from lensing and two quasar sources, this system offers simultaneous sub-parsec and kpc-scale probes of a PDLA., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, submitted to A&A

Acknowledgements. We thank the anonymous referee for useful comments. We thank Marco Fiaschi for carrying out some of the Asiago observations. EK is supported by the Turku Collegium of Science, Medicine and Technology. EK also acknowledge support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC; ST/P000312/1). ECK acknowledges support from the G.R.E.A.T. research environment and support from The Wenner-Gren Foundations. MF is supported by a Royal Society – Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship. EC, LT, AP, and MT are partially supported by the PRIN-INAF 2017 with the project “Towards the SKA and CTA era: discovery, localization, and physics of transient objects”. HK was funded by the Academy of Finland projects 324504 and 328898. TWC acknowledges the EU Funding under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 842471. LG was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 839090. This work has been partially supported by the Spanish grant PGC2018-095317-B-C21 within the European Funds for Regional Development (FEDER). MG is supported by the Polish NCN MAESTRO grant 2014/14/A/ST9/00121. KM acknowledges support from EU H2020 ERC grant no. 758638. TMB was funded by the CONICYT PFCHA / DOCTORADOBECAS CHILE/2017-72180113. MN is supported by a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellowship. Based on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere under ESO programmes 67.D-0438, 60.A-9475, 199.D-0143, and 1103.D-0328. Some of the observations reported in this paper were obtained with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) under programme 2018-1-DDT-003 (PI: Kankare). Polish participation in SALT is funded by grant No. MNiSW DIR/WK/2016/07. Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated by the Nordic Optical Telescope Scientific Association at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. The data presented here were obtained in part with ALFOSC, which is provided by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (IAA) under a joint agreement with the University of Copenhagen and NOTSA. This work is partly based on the NUTS2 programme carried out at the NOT. NUTS2 is funded in part by the Instrument Center for Danish Astrophysics (IDA). The Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. This paper is also based on observations collected at the Copernico 1.82 m and Schmidt 67/92 Telescopes operated by INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova at Asiago, Italy. Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva (Argentina), and Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brazil). Observations were carried out under programme GS-2017A-C-1. This project used data obtained with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which was constructed by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration. Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the DOE and NSF (USA), MISE (Spain), STFC (UK), HEFCE (UK), NCSA (UIUC), KICP (U. Chicago), CCAPP (Ohio State), MIFPA (Texas A&M University), CNPQ, FAPERJ, FINEP (Brazil), MINECO (Spain), DFG (Germany) and the collaborating institutions in the Dark Energy Survey, which are Argonne Lab, UC Santa Cruz, University of Cambridge, CIEMAT-Madrid, University of Chicago, University College London, DES-Brazil Consortium, University of Edinburgh, ETH Zürich, Fermilab, University of Illinois, ICE (IEEC-CSIC), IFAE Barcelona, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, LMU München and the associated Excellence Cluster Universe, University of Michigan, NOAO, University of Nottingham, Ohio State University, OzDES Membership Consortium, University of Pennsylvania, University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Lab, Stanford University, University of Sussex, and Texas A&M University. Based on observations obtained with the Samuel Oschin 48-inch Telescope at the Palomar Observatory as part of the Zwicky Transient Facility project. ZTF is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-1440341 and a collaboration including Caltech, IPAC, the Weizmann Institute for Science, the Oskar Klein Center at Stockholm University, the University of Maryland, the University of Washington, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron and Humboldt University, Los Alamos National Laboratories, the TANGO Consortium of Taiwan, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. Operations are conducted by COO, IPAC, and UW. Based on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO Prop. ID 2017A-0260; and PI: Soares-Santos), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen’s University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Some of the data presented in this paper were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. This work is based in part on archival data obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. This research has made use of NED which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We have made use of the Weizmann Interactive Supernova Data Repository (Yaron & Gal-Yam 2012, https://wiserep.weizmann.ac.il)., 1 iraf is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation., The fraction of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) occurring in the central regions of galaxies is not well constrained at present. This is partly because large-scale transient surveys operate at optical wavelengths, making it challenging to detect transient sources that occur in regions susceptible to high extinction factors. Here we present the discovery and follow-up observations of two CCSNe that occurred in the luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG) NGC 3256. The first, SN 2018ec, was discovered using the ESO HAWK-I/GRAAL adaptive optics seeing enhancer, and was classified as a Type Ic with a host galaxy extinction of AV = 2.1−0.1+0.3 mag. The second, AT 2018cux, was discovered during the course of follow-up observations of SN 2018ec, and is consistent with a subluminous Type IIP classification with an AV = 2.1 ± 0.4 mag of host extinction. A third CCSN, PSN J10275082−4354034 in NGC 3256, was previously reported in 2014, and we recovered the source in late-time archival Hubble Space Telescope imaging. Based on template light curve fitting, we favour a Type IIn classification for it with modest host galaxy extinction of AV = 0.3−0.3+0.4 mag. We also extend our study with follow-up data of the recent Type IIb SN 2019lqo and Type Ib SN 2020fkb that occurred in the LIRG system Arp 299 with host extinctions of AV = 2.1−0.3+0.1 and AV = 0.4−0.2+0.1 mag, respectively. Motivated by the above, we inspected, for the first time, a sample of 29 CCSNe located within a projected distance of 2.5 kpc from the host galaxy nuclei in a sample of 16 LIRGs. We find, if star formation within these galaxies is modelled assuming a global starburst episode and normal IMF, that there is evidence of a correlation between the starburst age and the CCSN subtype. We infer that the two subgroups of 14 H-poor (Type IIb/Ib/Ic/Ibn) and 15 H-rich (Type II/IIn) CCSNe have different underlying progenitor age distributions, with the H-poor progenitors being younger at 3σ significance. However, we note that the currently available sample sizes of CCSNe and host LIRGs are small, and the statistical comparisons between subgroups do not take into account possible systematic or model errors related to the estimated starburst ages., DOCTORADOBECAS CHILE/2017-72180113, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron and Humboldt University, EU H2020 ERC 758638, IFAE Barcelona, IPAC, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, KICP, MIFPA, Marie Skłodowska-Curie 839090,PGC2018-095317-B-C21, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, NOAO, National Central University of Taiwan, National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Science Foundation Ireland University, Turku Collegium of Science, Medicine and Technology, Weizmann Institute for Science, National Science Foundation NSF, U.S. Department of Energy USDOE, National Aeronautics and Space Administration AST-1238877,NNX08AR22G NASA, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation NAS5-26555 GBMF, Merck Institute for Science Education MISE, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign UIUC, Stanford University SU, Argonne National Laboratory ANL, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 2017A-0260 LBNL, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Ohio State University OSU, California Institute of Technology CIT, University of Chicago, University of Michigan U-M, University of Washington UW, Johns Hopkins University JHU, Texas A and M University TAMU, University of Maryland UMD, University of Hawai'i UH, Los Alamos National Laboratory LANL, University of Portsmouth, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory SAO, National Centre for Supercomputing Applications NCSA, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory SLAC, National Research Council NRC, Space Telescope Science Institute STScI, Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Ohio State University CCAPP, Wenner-Gren Stiftelserna, Science and Technology Facilities Council ST/P000312/1 STFC, Royal Society, Royal Astronomical Society MNiSW DIR/WK/2016/07 RAS, University College London UCL, European Commission 842471 EC, University of Nottingham, University of Sussex AST-1440341, University of Edinburgh ED, Queen's University Belfast QUB, Durham University, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG, Suomen Akatemia 324504,328898, Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica CONICYT, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva MINCyT, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MINECO, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação MCTI, Liverpool John Moores University LJMU, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft MPG, Narodowe Centrum Nauki 2014/14/A/ST9/00121 NCN, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro FAPERJ, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos FINEP, European Regional Development Fund ERDF, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem ELTE

We present high-resolution optical images from the Hubble Space Telescope, X-ray images from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and optical spectra from the Nordic Optical Telescope for a newly-discovered galaxy cluster, CHIPS1911+4455, at z=0.485+/-0.005. CHIPS1911+4455 was discovered in the Clusters Hiding in Plain Sight (CHiPS) survey, which sought to discover galaxy clusters with extreme central galaxies that were misidentified as isolated X-ray point sources in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. With new Chandra X-ray observations, we find the core (r=10 kpc) entropy to be 17+2-9 keV cm^2, suggesting a strong cool core, which are typically found at the centers of relaxed clusters. However, the large-scale morphology of CHIPS1911+4455 is highly asymmetric, pointing to a more dynamically active and turbulent cluster. Furthermore, the Hubble images reveal a massive, filamentary starburst near the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). We measure the star formation rate for the BCG to be 140--190 Msun/yr, which is one of the highest rates measured in a central cluster galaxy to date. One possible scenario for CHIPS1911+4455 is that the cool core was displaced during a major merger and rapidly cooled, with cool, star-forming gas raining back toward the core. This unique system is an excellent case study for high-redshift clusters, where such phenomena are proving to be more common. Further studies of such systems will drastically improve our understanding of the relation between cluster mergers and cooling, and how these fit in the bigger picture of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure. Accepted for publication in ApJL

We thank the anonymous referee for the comments and suggestions that have helped to improve the paper. We are grateful to Peter Jonker who enabled the WHT observation of this target during his program W19AN003. We thank Peter Brown its contribution with data from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. CPG and MS acknowledge support from EU/FP7-ERC grant No. [615929]. MO acknowledges support from UNRN PI2018 40B696 grant. GP acknowledges support by ANID – Millennium Science Initiative – ICN12_009. NER acknowledges support from MIUR, PRIN 2017 (grant 20179ZF5KS). MF is supported by a Royal Society - Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship. MS is supported by generous grants from VILLUM FONDEN (13261, 28021) and by a project grant (8021-00170B) from the Independent Research Fund Denmark. LG was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 839090. JB, DH, DAH, and CP were supported by NSF grant AST-1911225. TMB was funded by the CONICYT PFCHA / DOCTORADOBECAS CHILE/2017-72180113. This work has been partially supported by the Spanish grant PGC2018-095317-B-C21 within the European Funds for Regional Development (FEDER). Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, owned in collaboration by theUniversity of Turku and Aarhus University, and operated jointly by Aarhus University, the University of Turku and the University of Oslo, representing Denmark, Finland and Norway, the University of Iceland and Stockholm University at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. Observations from the NOT were obtained through the NUTS and NUTS2 collaboration which are supported in part by the Instrument Centre for Danish Astrophysics (IDA). The data presented here were obtained in part with ALFOSC, which is provided by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (IAA) under a joint agreement with the University of Copenhagen and NOTSA. Based on observations made with the GTC telescope, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, under Director’s Discretionary Time. This work has made use of data from the Asteroid Terrestrialimpact Last Alert System (ATLAS) project. ATLAS is primarily funded to search for near earth asteroids through NASA grants NN12AR55G, 80NSSC18K0284, and 80NSSC18K1575; by products of the NEO search include images and catalogues from the survey area. The ATLAS science products have been made possible through the contributions of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, the Queen’s University Belfast, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and the South African Astronomical Observatory. The Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. This work makes use of data from the Las Cumbres Observatory network., We present the photometric and spectroscopic evolution of supernova (SN) 2019cad during the first similar to 100 d from explosion. Based on the light-curve morphology, we find that SN 2019cad resembles the double-peaked Type Ib/c SN 2005bf and the Type Ic PTF11mnb. Unlike those two objects, SN 2019cad also shows the initial peak in the redder bands. Inspection of the g-band light curve indicates the initial peak is reached in similar to 8 d, while the r-band peak occurred similar to 15 d post-explosion. A second and more prominent peak is reached in all bands at similar to 45 d past explosion, followed by a fast decline from similar to 60 d. During the first 30 d, the spectra of SN 2019cad show the typical features of a Type Ic SN, however, after 40 d, a blue continuum with prominent lines of Si II lambda 6355 and C II lambda 6580 is observed again. Comparing the bolometric light curve to hydrodynamical models, we find that SN 2019cad is consistent with a pre-SN mass of 11 M-circle dot, and an explosion energy of 3.5 x 10(51) erg. The light-curve morphology can be reproduced either by a double-peaked Ni-56 distribution with an external component of 0.041 M-circle dot, and an internal component of 0.3 M-circle dot or a double-peaked Ni-56 distribution plus magnetar model (P similar to 11 ms and B similar to 26 x 10(14) G). If SN 2019cad were to suffer from significant host reddening (which cannot be ruled out), the Ni-56 model would require extreme values, while the magnetar model would still be feasible., European Commission 615929, UNRN PI2018 40B696, Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR), Research Projects of National Relevance (PRIN) 20179ZF5KS, Science Foundation Ireland, Magnus Ehrnrooth foundation, Vilho, Yrjo and Kalle Vaisala Foundation of the Finnish academy of Science and Letters, VILLUM FONDEN 13261 28021, Independent Research Fund Denmark - European Union'sHorizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant 839090, National Science Foundation (NSF) AST-1911225, CONICYT PFCHA/DOCTORADOBECAS CHILE/2017-72180113, Spanish grant within the European Funds for Regional Development (FEDER) PGC2018-095317-B-C21, Instrument Centre for Danish Astrophysics (IDA), National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) NN12AR55G 80NSSC18K0284 80NSSC18K1575, UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC), ANID -Millennium Science Initiative ICN12 009, Jenny and AnttiWihuri foundation, ANID BECAS/DOCTORADO NACIONAL 21202412 W19AN003

We present a detailed analysis of the new planetary nebula (PN) IPHASX J193718.6+202102 using deep imaging and intermediate- and high-resolution spectroscopy that are interpreted through morpho-kinematic and photoionization modelling. The physical structure of the nebula consists of a fragmented torus and an extremely faint orthogonal bipolar outflow, contrary to the pinched waist PN morphology suggested by its optical image. Our kinematic analysis indicates that the torus is expanding at 25 ± 5 km s-1 and is gradually breaking up. At an estimated distance of 7.1-0.3+0.8 kpc, the corresponding kinematic age of ∼26 000 yr is consistent with a faint and disintegrating PN. The intermediate-resolution spectra reveal an excited PN with chemical abundances typical of Type II PNe. Based on the latter, we also estimate an initial mass for the progenitor in the range 2-3 M⊙ and a central star (CSPN) mass MCSPN ∼0.61 M⊙. The Spitzer MIPS 24 μm emission that closely follows the fragmented torus could be attributed to the emission of [O iv] at 25.9 μm rather than to dust emission. All the results coherently point towards an evolved moderately massive bipolar Type II PN on the brink of dissolving into the interstellar medium. © 2020 The Author(s)., The authors are thankful to the referees for their comments that improved this paper. LS acknowledges support from UNAM DGAPA PAPIIT project IN101819 (Mexico). MAG acknowledges support from grant AYA PGC2018-102184-B-I00 co-funded with FEDER funds. SZ works under the collaboration agreement ‘UNAM-TecNM 43310-3020-30-IX-15’. JAT and MAG are funded by UNAM DGAPA PAPIIT project IA100720. GRL acknowledges support from CONACYT (grant 263373) and PRODEP (Mexico). This work is partially based on observations collected at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional at San Pedro Mártir, B.C., Mexico and we thank the daytime and night support staff at the OAN-SPM for facilitating and helping obtain our observations. Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated by the Nordic Optical Telescope Scientific Association, and the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), both installed in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in La Palma, Spain. This paper makes use of data obtained as part of the INT Photometric H α Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS, www.iphas.org) carried out at the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT). The INT is operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. All IPHAS data are processed by the Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit, at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. The bandmerged DR2 catalogue was assembled at the Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, supported by STFC grant ST/J001333/1. The OSN director is acknowledged for awarding observations through a DDT programme and the telescope operator Alfredo Sota for conducting the observations. This work is based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. In memoriam of Johannes Andersen, director of the NOT from 2002 to 2013.

We demonstrate that the previously identified L/T transition brown dwarf SDSS J213154.43-011939.3 (SDSS 2131-0119) is a widely separated (82.3'', $\sim$3830 au) common proper motion companion to the low-mass star NLTT 51469, which we reveal to be a close binary itself, separated by 0.64''$\pm$0.01'' ($\sim$30 au). We find the proper motion of SDSS 2131-0119 of $\mu_{\alpha}\cos\delta=-100\pm20$, $\mu_{\delta}=-230\pm20$ mas/yr consistent with the proper motion of the primary provided by Gaia DR2: $\mu_{\alpha}\cos\delta=-95.49\pm0.96$, $\mu_{\delta}=-239.38\pm0.96$ mas/yr. Based on optical and near-infrared spectroscopy we classify NLTT 51469A as a M3$\pm$1 dwarf, estimate photometrically the spectral type of its close companion NLTT 51469B at $\sim$M6 and confirm the spectral type of the brown dwarf to be L9$\pm$1. Using radial velocity, proper motion and parallax we derived the $UVW$ space velocities of NLTT 51469A, showing that the system does not belong to any known young stellar moving group. The high $V, W$ velocities, lack of 670.8 nm Li I absorption line, and absence of H$\alpha$ emission, detected X-rays or UV excess, indicate that the system is likely a member of the thin disk population and is older than 1 Gyr. For the parallactic distance of $46.6\pm1.6$ pc from Gaia DR2 we determined luminosities of $-1.50^{+0.02}_{-0.04}$ and $-4.4\pm0.1$ dex of the M3 and L9, respectively. Considering the spectrophotometric estimation which yields a slightly lower distance of $34^{+10}_{-13}$ pc the obtained luminosities are $-1.78^{+0.02}_{-0.04}$ and $-4.7^{+0.3}_{-0.5}$ dex. We also estimated their effective temperatures and masses, and obtained 3410$^{+140}_{-210}$ K and $0.42\pm0.02 M_{\odot}$ for the primary, and 1400-1650 K and $0.05-0.07 M_{\odot}$ for the wide companion. For the $\sim$M6 component we estimated $T_{eff}=2850\pm200 K$ and $m=0.10^{+0.06}_{-0.01} M_{\odot}$., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Context. Studying the spots of late-type stars is crucial for distinguishing between the various proposed dynamo mechanisms believed to be the main cause of starspot activity. For this research it is important to collect observation time series that are long enough to unravel both long- and short-term spot evolution. Doppler imaging is a very efficient method for studying spots of stars that cannot be angularly resolved. Aims. High-resolution spectral observations during 1994-2017 are analysed in order to reveal long- and short-term changes in the spot activity of the FK Comae-type subgiant HD 199178. Methods. Most of the observations were collected with the Nordic Optical Telescope. The Doppler imaging temperature maps were calculated using an inversion technique based on Tikhonov regularisation and utilising multiple spectral lines. Results. We present a unique series of 41 temperature maps spanning more than 23 years. All reliable images show a large cool spot region centred near the visible rotation pole. Some lower latitude cool features are also recovered, although the reliability of these is questionable. There is an expected anti-correlation between the mean surface temperature and the spot coverage. Using the Doppler images, we construct the equivalent of a solar butterfly diagram for HD 199178. Conclusions. HD 199178 clearly has a long-term large and cool spot structure at the rotational pole. This spot structure dominated the spot activity during the years 1994-2017. The size and position of the structure has evolved with time, with a gradual increase during the last years. The lack of lower latitude features prevents the determination of a possible differential rotation., 11 pages, 7 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics, parallel version of published article

Narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) are a class of active galactic nuclei (AGN) which are known to be one of the few sources of $\gamma$ rays, which originate in a relativistic beamed jet. Becuase of their relatively large distance, a poorly investigated aspect of these jetted NLS1s is their environment, and in particular their host galaxy. In this work we present the results of a morphological analysis of the host galaxy of the jetted NLS1 IRAS 20181-2244 observed with the 6.5m Baade Telescope of the Las Campanas Observatory. The GALFIT analysis ran on the Ks image, along with additional spectroscopic observations performed with the Nordic Optical Telescope, clearly revealed the presence of an interacting system of two galaxies. The data suggest that this NLS1 is hosted by a late-type galaxy, although the result is not conclusive. This analysis, along with other results in the literature, might suggest that two populations of jetted NLS1 exist. Further morphological studies are needed to confirm or disprove this hypothesis., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication by AJ

The ultraviolet (UV) extinction feature at 2175 Å is ubiquitously observed in the Galaxy but is rarely detected at high redshifts. Here we report the spectroscopic detection of the 2175 Å bump on the sightline to the γ-ray burst (GRB) afterglow GRB 180325A at z = 2.2486, the only unambiguous detection over the past 10 years of GRB follow-up, at four different epochs with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT)/X-shooter. Additional photometric observations of the afterglow are obtained with the Gamma-Ray burst Optical and Near-Infrared Detector (GROND). We construct the near-infrared to X-ray spectral energy distributions (SEDs) at four spectroscopic epochs. The SEDs are well described by a single power law and an extinction law with R V ≈ 4.4, A V ≈ 1.5, and the 2175 Å extinction feature. The bump strength and extinction curve are shallower than the average Galactic extinction curve. We determine a metallicity of [Zn/H] > −0.98 from the VLT/X-shooter spectrum. We detect strong neutral carbon associated with the GRB with equivalent width of W r(λ 1656) = 0.85 ± 0.05. We also detect optical emission lines from the host galaxy. Based on the Hα emission-line flux, the derived dust-corrected star formation rate is ~46 ± 4 M ⊙ yr−1 and the predicted stellar mass is log M */M ⊙ ~ 9.3 ± 0.4, suggesting that the host galaxy is among the main-sequence star-forming galaxies., Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated by the Nordic Optical Telescope Scientific Association at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. Based on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere under ESO program 0100.D-0649(A), PI: N.R. Tanvir. This work made use of data supplied by the UK Swift Science Data Centre at the University of Leicester. We acknowledge the use of public data from the Swift data archive. D.A.K. acknowledges support from the Spanish research project AYA 2014-58381-P, and from Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion fellowship IJCI-2015-26153. R.L.C.S. acknowledges support from STFC. K.E.H. and P.J. acknowledge support by a Project Grant (162948-051) from The Icelandic Research Fund. The Cosmic Dawn Center is funded by the DNRF. L.C. is supported by DFF-4090-00079. S.C., P.D.A., and B.S. acknowledge support from the ASI grant I/004/11/3. Ad.U.P. acknowledges support from a Ramon y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09975 and the Spanish research project AYA 2014-58381-P.

The evolution of lithium abundance over a star's lifetime is indicative of transport processes operating in the stellar interior. We revisit the relationship between lithium content and rotation rate previously reported for cool dwarfs in the Pleiades cluster. We derive new LiI 670.8 nm equivalent width measurements from high-resolution spectra obtained for low-mass Pleiades members. We combine these new measurements with previously published ones, and use the Kepler/K2 rotational periods recently derived for Pleiades cool dwarfs to investigate the lithium-rotation connection in this 125 Myr-old cluster. The new data confirm the correlation between lithium equivalent width and stellar spin rate for a sample of 51 early K-type members of the cluster, where fast rotating stars are systematically lithium-rich compared to slowly rotating ones. The correlation is valid for all stars over the (J-Ks) color range 0.50-0.70 mag, corresponding to a mass range from about 0.75 to 0.90 solar mass, and may extend down to lower masses. We argue that the dispersion in lithium equivalent widths observed for cool dwarfs in the Pleiades cluster reflects an intrinsic scatter in lithium abundances, and suggest that the physical origin of the lithium dispersion pattern is to be found in the pre-main sequence rotational history of solar-type stars., 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We have analysed high-resolution spectra of 28 A and 22 F stars in the Kepler field, observed with the FIES spectrograph at the Nordic Optical Telescope. We provide spectral types, atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances for 50 stars. Balmer, Fe I, and Fe II lines were used to derive effective temperatures, surface gravities, and microturbulent velocities. We determined chemical abundances and projected rotational velocities using a spectrum synthesis technique. Effective temperatures calculated by spectral energy distribution fitting are in good agreement with those determined from the spectral line analysis. The stars analysed include chemically peculiar stars of the Am and Lambda Boo types, as well as stars with approximately solar chemical abundances. The wide distribution of projected rotational velocity, Vsini, is typical for A and F stars. The microturbulence velocities obtained are typical for stars in the observed temperature and surface gravity ranges. Moreover, we affirm the results of Niemczura et al., that Am stars do not have systematically higher microturbulent velocities than normal stars of the same temperature., 21 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables

Astronomical spectroscopic observations from ground-based telescopes contain background emission lines from the terrestrial atmosphere's airglow. In the near infrared, this background is composed mainly of emission from Meinel bands of hydroxyl (OH), which is produced in highly excited vibrational states by reduction of ozone near 90 km. This emission contains a wealth of information on the chemical and dynamical state of the Earth's atmosphere. However, observation strategies and data reduction processes are usually optimized to minimize the influence of these features on the astronomical spectrum. Here we discuss a measurement technique to optimize the extraction of the OH airglow signal itself from routine J-, H-, and K-band long-slit astronomical spectroscopic observations. As an example, we use data recorded from a point-source observation by the Nordic Optical Telescope's intermediate-resolution spectrograph, which has a spatial resolution of approximately 100 m at the airglow layer. Emission spectra from the OH vibrational manifold from v′ = 9 down to v′ = 3, with signal-to-noise ratios up to 280, have been extracted from 10.8 s integrations. Rotational temperatures representative of the background atmospheric temperature near 90 km, the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region, can be fitted to the OH rotational lines with an accuracy of around 0.7 K. Using this measurement and analysis technique, we derive a rotational temperature distribution with v′ that agrees with atmospheric model conditions and the preponderance of previous work. We discuss the derived rotational temperatures from the different vibrational bands and highlight the potential for both the archived and future observations, which are at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions, to contribute toward the resolution of long-standing problems in atmospheric physics. © Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

RS Ophiuchi is a symbiotic variable and a recurrent nova. We have monitored it with the Nordic Optical Telescope and obtained 30 high resolution (R=46 000) optical spectra over one orbital cycle during quiescence. To our knowledge this is the best-sampled high resolution spectroscopic dataset of RS Oph over one orbital period. We do not detect any direct signatures of an accretion disc such as double peaked emission lines, but many line profiles are complex consisting of superimposed emission and absorption components. We measure the spin of the red giant and conclude that it is tidally locked to the binary orbit. We observe Na I absorption features, probably arising from the circumbinary medium, that has been shaped by previous recurrent nova outbursts. We do not detect any intrinsic polarisation in the optical wavelengths., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures + Appendix with trailed spectrograms. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The detailed composition of most metal-poor halo stars has been found to be very uniform. However, a fraction of 20-70% (increasing with decreasing metallicity) exhibit dramatic enhancements in their abundances of carbon - the so-called carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars. A key question for Galactic chemical evolution models is whether this non-standard composition reflects that of the stellar natal clouds, or is due to local, post-birth mass transfer of chemically processed material from a binary companion; CEMP stars should then all be members of binary systems. Our aim is to determine the frequency and orbital parameters of binaries among CEMP stars with and without over-abundances of neutron-capture elements - CEMP-s and CEMP-no stars, respectively - as a test of this local mass-transfer scenario. This paper discusses a sample of 24 CEMP-no stars, while a subsequent paper will consider a similar sample of CEMP-s stars. Most programme stars exhibit no statistically significant radial-velocit variation over this period and appear to be single, while four are found to be binaries with orbital periods of 300-2,000 days and normal eccentricity; the binary frequency for the sample is 17+-9%. The single stars mostly belong to the recently-identified ``low-C band'', while the binaries have higher absolute carbon abundances. We conclude that the nucleosynthetic process responsible for the strong carbon excess in these ancient stars is unrelated to their binary status; the carbon was imprinted on their natal molecular clouds in the early Galactic ISM by an even earlier, external source, strongly indicating that the CEMP-no stars are likely bona fide second-generation stars. We discuss potential production sites for carbon and its transfer across interstellar distances in the early ISM, and implications for the composition of high-redshift DLA systems. Abridged., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We present a ground-based near-infrared search for lensed supernovae behind the massive cluster Abell 1689 at z=0.18, one of the most powerful gravitational telescopes that nature provides. Our survey was based on multi-epoch $J$-band observations with the HAWK-I instrument on VLT, with supporting optical data from the Nordic Optical Telescope. Our search resulted in the discovery of five high-redshift, $0.671, Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures

Photospheric parameters and chemical composition are determined for the single-lined chromospherically active RS CVn-type star 29 Draconis (HD 160538). From the high resolution spectra obtained on the Nordic Optical Telescope, abundances of 22 chemical elements, including the key elements such as 12C, 13C, N and O, were investigated. The differential line analysis with the MARCS model atmospheres gives Teff = 4720 K, log g = 2:5, [Fe/H] = -0:20, [C/Fe] = -0:14, [N/Fe] = 0:08, [O/Fe] = -0:04, C/N = 2:40, 12C/13C = 16. The low value of the 12C/13C ratio gives a hint that extra mixing processes in low-mass chromospherically active stars may start earlier than the theory of stellar evolution predicts.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous explosions in the universe, yet the nature and physical properties of their energy sources are far from understood. Very important clues, however, can be inferred by studying the afterglows of these events. We present optical and X-ray observations of GRB 130831A obtained by Swift, Chandra, Skynet, RATIR, Maidanak, ISON, NOT, LT and GTC. This burst shows a steep drop in the X-ray light-curve at $\simeq 10^5$ s after the trigger, with a power-law decay index of $\alpha \sim 6$. Such a rare behaviour cannot be explained by the standard forward shock (FS) model and indicates that the emission, up to the fast decay at $10^5$ s, must be of "internal origin", produced by a dissipation process within an ultrarelativistic outflow. We propose that the source of such an outflow, which must produce the X-ray flux for $\simeq 1$ day in the cosmological rest frame, is a newly born magnetar or black hole. After the drop, the faint X-ray afterglow continues with a much shallower decay. The optical emission, on the other hand, shows no break across the X-ray steep decrease, and the late-time decays of both the X-ray and optical are consistent. Using both the X-ray and optical data, we show that the emission after $\simeq 10^5$ s can be explained well by the FS model. We model our data to derive the kinetic energy of the ejecta and thus measure the efficiency of the central engine of a GRB with emission of internal origin visible for a long time. Furthermore, we break down the energy budget of this GRB into the prompt emission, the late internal dissipation, the kinetic energy of the relativistic ejecta, and compare it with the energy of the associated supernova, SN 2013fu., Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS. 21 pages, 3 figures, 8 tables. Extra table with magnitudes in the source

Context. Some circumstellar-interacting (CSI) supernovae (SNe) are produced by the explosions of massive stars that have lost mass shortly before the SN explosion. There is evidence that the precursors of some SNe IIn were luminous blue variable (LBV) stars. For a small number of CSI SNe, outbursts have been observed before the SN explosion. Eruptive events of massive stars are named as SN impostors (SN IMs) and whether they herald a forthcoming SN or not is still unclear. The large variety of observational properties of CSI SNe suggests the existence of other progenitors, such as red supergiant (RSG) stars with superwinds. Furthermore, the role of metallicity in the mass loss of CSI SN progenitors is still largely unexplored. Aims. Our goal is to gain insight on the nature of the progenitor stars of CSI SNe by studying their environments, in particular the metallicity at their locations. Methods. We obtain metallicity measurements at the location of 60 transients (including SNe IIn, SNe Ibn, and SN IMs), via emission-line diagnostic on optical spectra obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope and through public archives. Metallicity values from the literature complement our sample. We compare the metallicity distributions among the different CSI SN subtypes and to those of other core-collapse SN types. We also search for possible correlations between metallicity and CSI SN observational properties. Results. We find that SN IMs tend to occur in environments with lower metallicity than those of SNe IIn. Among SNe IIn, SN IIn-L(1998S-like) SNe show higher metallicities, similar to those of SNe IIL/P, whereas long-lasting SNe IIn (1988Z-like) show lower metallicities, similar to those of SN IMs. The metallicity distribution of SNe IIn can be reproduced by combining the metallicity distributions of SN IMs (that may be produced by major outbursts of massive stars like LBVs) and SNe IIP (produced by RSGs). The same applies to the distributions of the Normalized Cumulative Rank (NCR) values, which quantifies the SN association to H II regions. For SNe IIn, we find larger mass-loss rates and higher CSM velocities at higher metallicities. The luminosity increment in the optical bands during SN IM outbursts tend to be larger at higher metallicity, whereas the SN IM quiescent optical luminosities tend to be lower. Conclusions. The difference in metallicity between SNe IIn and SN IMs suggests that LBVs are only one of the progenitor channels for SNe IIn, with 1988Z-like and 1998S-like SNe possibly arising from LBVs and RSGs, respectively. Finally, even though linedriven winds likely do not primarily drive the late mass-loss of CSI SN progenitors, metallicity has some impact on the observational properties of these transients. Key words. supernovae: general - stars: evolution - galaxies: abundances, Comment: Submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics on 28/02/2015; submitted to arXiv after the 1st referee report

Aims: We aimed to monitor the optical linear polarimetric signal of the magnetized, rapidly rotating M8.5 dwarf TVLM 513$-$46546. Methods: $R$- and $I$-band linear polarimetry images were collected with the ALFOSC instrument of the 2.56-m Nordic Optical Telescope on two consecutive nights covering about 0.5 and 4 rotation cycles in the $R$ and $I$ filters, respectively. We also obtained simultaneous intensity curves by means of differential photometry. The typical precision of the data is $\pm$0.46\% ($R$), $\pm$0.35\% ($I$) in the linear polarization degree and $\pm$9 mmag ($R$), $\pm$1.6 mmag ($I$) in the differential intensity curves. Results: Strong and variable linear polarization is detected in the $R$ and $I$ filters, with values of maximum polarization ($p^{*}$ = 1.30$\pm$0.35 \%) similar for both bands. The intensity and the polarimetric curves present a sinusoid-like pattern with a periodicity of $\sim$1.98 h, which we ascribe to structures in TVLM 513$-$46's surface synchronized with rotation. We found that the peaks of the intensity and polarimetric curves occur with a phase difference of 0.18$\pm$0.01, and that the maximum of the linear polarization happens nearly half a period (0.59$\pm$0.03) after the radio pulse. We discussed different scenarios to account for the observed properties of the light curves., Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We report the spectroscopic confirmation of the Kepler object of interest KOI-183.01 (Kepler-423b), a half-Jupiter mass planet transiting an old solar-like star every 2.7 days. Our analysis is the first to combine the full Kepler photometry (quarters 1-17) with high-precision radial velocity measurements taken with the FIES spectrograph at the Nordic Optical Telescope. We simultaneously modelled the photometric and spectroscopic data-sets using Bayesian approach coupled with Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. We found that the Kepler pre-search data conditioned (PDC) light curve of KOI-183 exhibits quarter-to-quarter systematic variations of the transit depth, with a peak-to-peak amplitude of about 4.3 % and seasonal trends reoccurring every four quarters. We attributed these systematics to an incorrect assessment of the quarterly variation of the crowding metric. The host star KOI-183 is a G4 dwarf with $M_\star=0.85\pm0.04$ M$_\rm{Sun}$, $R_\star=0.95\pm0.04$ R$_\rm{Sun}$, $T_\mathrm{eff}=5560\pm80$ K, $[M/H]=-0.10\pm0.05$ dex, and with an age of $11\pm2$ Gyr. The planet KOI-183b has a mass of $M_\mathrm{p}=0.595\pm0.081$ M$_\mathrm{Jup}$ and a radius of $R_\mathrm{p}=1.192\pm0.052$ R$_\mathrm{Jup}$, yielding a planetary bulk density of $\rho_\mathrm{p}=0.459\pm0.083$ g/cm$^{3}$. The radius of KOI-183b is consistent with both theoretical models for irradiated coreless giant planets and expectations based on empirical laws. The inclination of the stellar spin axis suggests that the system is aligned along the line of sight. We detected a tentative secondary eclipse of the planet at a 2-$\sigma$ confidence level ($\Delta F_{\mathrm{ec}}=14.2\pm6.6$ ppm) and found that the orbit might have a small non-zero eccentricity of $e=0.019^{+0.028}_{-0.014}$. With a Bond albedo of $A_\mathrm{B}=0.037\pm0.019$, KOI-183b is one of the gas-giant planets with the lowest albedo known so far., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A. Planet designation changed from KOI-183b to Kepler-423b

We aim to characterize the broadband emission from 2FGL J2001.1+4352, which has been associated with the unknown-redshift blazar MG4 J200112+4352. Based on its gamma-ray spectral properties, it was identified as a potential very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emitter. The source was observed with MAGIC first in 2009 and later in 2010 within a multi-instrument observation campaign. The MAGIC observations yielded 14.8 hours of good quality stereoscopic data. The object was monitored at radio, optical and gamma-ray energies during the years 2010 and 2011. The source, named MAGIC J2001+439, is detected for the first time at VHE with MAGIC at a statistical significance of 6.3 {\sigma} (E > 70 GeV) during a 1.3-hour long observation on 2010 July 16. The multi-instrument observations show variability in all energy bands with the highest amplitude of variability in the X-ray and VHE bands. We also organized deep imaging optical observations with the Nordic Optical Telescope in 2013 to determine the source redshift. We determine for the first time the redshift of this BL Lac object through the measurement of its host galaxy during low blazar activity. Using the observational evidence that the luminosities of BL Lac host galaxies are confined to a relatively narrow range, we obtain z = 0.18 +/- 0.04. Additionally, we use the Fermi-LAT and MAGIC gamma-ray spectra to provide an independent redshift estimation, z = 0.17 +/- 0.10. Using the former (more accurate) redshift value, we adequately describe the broadband emission with a one-zone SSC model for different activity states and interpret the few-day timescale variability as produced by changes in the high-energy component of the electron energy distribution., Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A

Aims: We present a polarimetric and spectroscopic study of the persistent ultra compact X-ray binary 4U 0614+091 aimed at searching for the emission of a relativistic particle jet and at unveiling the orbital period of the system. Methods: We obtained r-band polarimetric observations with the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) equipped with the PAOLO polarimeter and with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) equipped with the ALFOSC instrument, covering ~ 2 hours and ~ 0.5 hours observations, respectively. We carried out low resolution spectroscopy of the system using the ESO Very Large Telescope equipped with FORS1 for ~ 1.5 hours (16 spectra covering the range 430-800 nm). Results: The polarimetric analysis performed starting from the TNG dataset revealed a polarisation degree in the r-band of 3 % +/- 1 %. From the NOT dataset, due to the lower S/N ratio, we could obtain only a 3 sigma upper limit of 3.4 %. From the joining of a spectroscopic and photometric analysis, through the study of the equivalent width variations of the CII 724 nm line and the r-band light curve, we could find a hint of a ~ 45 min periodicity. Conclusions: A polarisation degree P of ~ 3 % in the r-band is consistent with the emission of a relativistic particle jet, which is supposed to emit intrinsically linearly polarised synchrotron radiation. Since no variations of P with time have been detected, and the accretion disc of the system does not contain ionised hydrogen, scattering by free electrons in the accretion disc has been rejected. The period of ~ 45 min obtained through the analysis of the system light curve and of the equivalent width variations of the selected spectral line is probably linked to the presence of a hot spot or a superhump in the accretion disc, and lead to an orbital period > 1 hour for the binary system., 8 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (Section 7)

Hot Jupiter systems provide unique observational constraints for migration models in multiple systems and binaries. We report on the discovery of the Kepler-424 (KOI-214) two-planet system, which consists of a transiting hot Jupiter (Kepler-424b) in a 3.31-d orbit accompanied by a more massive outer companion in an eccentric (e=0.3) 223-d orbit. The outer giant planet, Kepler-424c, is not detected to transit the host star. The masses of both planets and the orbital parameters for the second planet were determined using precise radial velocity (RV) measurements from the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) and its High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS). In stark contrast to smaller planets, hot Jupiters are predominantly found to be lacking any nearby additional planets, the appear to be "lonely" (e.g. Steffen et al.~2012). This might be a consequence of a highly dynamical past of these systems. The Kepler-424 planetary system is a system with a hot Jupiter in a multiple system, similar to upsilon Andromedae. We also present our results for Kepler-422 (KOI-22), Kepler-77 (KOI-127; Gandolfi et al.~2013), Kepler-43 (KOI-135; Bonomo et al.~2012), and Kepler-423 (KOI-183). These results are based on spectroscopic data collected with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), the Keck 1 telescope and HET. For all systems we rule out false positives based on various follow-up observations, confirming the planetary nature of these companions. We performed a comparison with planetary evolutionary models which indicate that these five hot Jupiters have a heavy elements content between 20 and 120 M_Earth., 41 Pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Spectrophotometric monitoring of distant comet C/2002 VQ94 (LINEAR) was performed with the 6-m telescope of SAO RAS and with the 2.5-m Nordic Optical Telescope between 2008 and 2013. During this period the comet was on the outbound segment of its orbit, between heliocentric distances of 8.36 au and 16.84 au. Analysis of the spectra revealed the presence of the CO$^+$ and N$_2^+$ emissions in the cometary coma at a distance of 8.36 au from the Sun. This distance is larger than ionic emissions have been detected in any previous objects. Only continuum, with no traces of emissions, was detected in the spectrum obtained in 2009 when the comet was at a distance of 9.86 au. From the spectra obtained in 2008, average column densities of 2.04$\times$10$^9$ mol cm$^{-2}$ for N$_2^+$ and 3.26$\times$10$^{10}$ mol cm$^{-2}$ for CO$^+$ were measured in the cometary coma. The derived values correspond to N$_2^+$/CO$^+$=0.06 within the projected slit. The parameter, which is used as an indicator of cometary activity, was measured as 2000 cm in 2008, and 800 cm in 2009 and 2011. The values correspond to dust production rates between 10-20 kg s$^{-1}$, 4-6 kg s$^{-1}$ and 3-5 kg s$^{-1}$ at 8.36, 9.86, and 13.40 au respectively. There is an obvious correlation between the decrease of the dust production rate of the nucleus and the disappearance of the emissions in the spectrum of C/2002 VQ94 (LINEAR) at heliocentric distances greater than 9 au. The colors and size of the nucleus of C/2002 VQ94 (LINEAR) were estimated from the images obtained during the late stage at a heliocentric distance of 16.84 au, when the activity had probable ceased. The B-V and V-R colors were estimated to be 1.07$\pm$0.05 and 0.54$\pm$0.03 respectively. The effective nucleus radius of 48$\pm$2 km is in agreement with the previously published results, obtained from the observations of the comet during its early inactive stage., Comment: Accepted for publication in Icarus; 19 pages, 4 tables, 9 figures

We report the discovery of a unique gravitational lens system, SDSSJ2222+2745, producing five spectroscopically confirmed images of a z_s=2.82 quasar lensed by a foreground galaxy cluster at z_l=0.49. We also present photometric and spectroscopic evidence for a sixth lensed image of the same quasar. The maximum separation between the quasar images is 15.1". Both the large image separations and the high image multiplicity of the lensed quasar are in themselves exceptionally rare, and observing the combination of these two factors is an exceptionally unlikely occurrence in present datasets. This is only the third known case of a quasar lensed by a cluster, and the only one with six images. The lens system was discovered in the course of the Sloan Giant Arcs Survey, in which we identify candidate lenses in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and target these for follow up and verification with the 2.56m Nordic Optical Telescope. Multi-band photometry obtained over multiple epochs from September 2011 to September 2012 reveal significant variability at the ~10-30% level in some of the quasar images, indicating that measurements of the relative time delay between quasar images will be feasible. In this lens system we also identify a bright (g = 21.5) giant arc corresponding to a strongly lensed background galaxy at z_s=2.30. We fit parametric models of the lens system, constrained by the redshift and positions of the quasar images and the redshift and position of the giant arc. The predicted time delays between different pairs of quasar images range from ~100 days to ~6 years., 11 pages, 11 figures; submitted to ApJ

We obtained high-resolution, high-contrast optical imaging in the SDSS $i'$ band with the LuckyCam camera mounted on the 2.56m Nordic Optical Telescope, to search for faint stellar companions to 16 stars harbouring transiting exoplanets. The Lucky Imaging technique uses very short exposures to obtain near diffraction-limited images yielding sub-arcsecond sensitivity, allowing us to search for faint stellar companions within the seeing disc of the primary planet host. Here we report the detection of two candidate stellar companions to the planet host TrES-1 at separations $, 13 pages, 9 figures; Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We have monitored 20 Sun-like stars in the Kepler field-of-view for excess flux with the FIES spectrograph on the Nordic Optical Telescope since the launch of Kepler spacecraft in 2009. These 20 stars were selected based on their asteroseismic properties to sample the parameter space (effective temperature, surface gravity, activity level etc.) around the Sun. Though the ultimate goal is to improve stellar dynamo models, we focus the present paper on the combination of space-based and ground-based observations can be used to test the age-rotation-activity relations. In this paper we describe the considerations behind the selection of these 20 Sun-like stars and present an initial asteroseismic analysis, which includes stellar age estimates. We also describe the observations from the Nordic Optical Telescope and present mean values of measured excess fluxes. These measurements are combined with estimates of the rotation periods obtained from a simple analysis of the modulation in photometric observations from Kepler caused by starspots, and asteroseismic determinations of stellar ages, to test relations between between age, rotation and activity., Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Theories on the origin of magnetic fields in massive stars remain poorly developed, because the properties of their magnetic field as function of stellar parameters could not yet be investigated. To investigate whether magnetic fields in massive stars are ubiquitous or appear only in stars with a specific spectral classification, certain ages, or in a special environment, we acquired 67 new spectropolarimetric observations for 30 massive stars. Among the observed sample, roughly one third of the stars are probable members of clusters at different ages, whereas the remaining stars are field stars not known to belong to any cluster or association. Spectropolarimetric observations were obtained during four different nights using the low-resolution spectropolarimetric mode of FORS2 (FOcal Reducer low dispersion Spectrograph) mounted on the 8-m Antu telescope of the VLT. Furthermore, we present a number of follow-up observations carried out with the high-resolution spectropolarimeters SOFIN mounted at the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) and HARPS mounted at the ESO 3.6m between 2008 and 2011. To assess the membership in open clusters and associations, we used astrometric catalogues with the highest quality kinematic and photometric data currently available. The presence of a magnetic field is confirmed in nine stars previously observed with FORS1/2: HD36879, HD47839, CPD-282561, CPD-472963, HD93843, HD148937, HD149757, HD328856, and HD164794. New magnetic field detections at a significance level of at least 3sigma were achieved in five stars: HD92206c, HD93521, HD93632, CPD-468221, and HD157857. Among the stars with a detected magnetic field, five stars belong to open clusters with high membership probability. According to previous kinematic studies, five magnetic O-type stars in our sample are candidate runaway stars., Comment: 14 pages, nine figures, four tables, accepted for publication in A&A

Context. The Jupiter-family comet 81P/Wild 2, target of the NASA Stardust mission, is very important in the context of the studies of pristine objects in the solar system. First, it was only recently deflected into the present orbit, having spent at least 300 yr at higher heliocentric distance prior to the orbital change in 1974. It is therefore likely that the comet experienced a recent activation with consequent low alteration of its original material. Second, it is the only comet whose coma material was brought back to Earth for laboratory analysis. We observed the object between 2010 February 9 and September 9 for a total of 11 nights during the 2010 perihelion passage. Aims. The goals of the campaign were the characterization of the comet’s dust activity and the comparison with previous apparitions to derive hints on the secular behavior of the object. Methods. Broadband R- and I-images were acquired using three instruments: ALFOSC, CAMELOT, and TCP. The first one is mounted at the Nordic Optical Telescope on La Palma, while the second and the third are mounted at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias 0.82-m telescope on Tenerife. We analyzed the presence and variability of dust structures in the coma with image-enhancing techniques, the radial profile of the dust brightness, and we measured the dust production rate and the dust reddening. Results. We found evidence of a long-lasting sunward fan and anti-solar tail activity throughout all our observations up to a heliocentric distance of 2.42 AU. Afρ measurements suggest a pre-perihelion peak of the activity, caused by a seasonal effect, plus two post-perihelion outbursts. Both spatial and Afρ radial profiles indicate a steady-state coma at nucleocentric distances greater than ~1000–2000 km. The color analysis reveals a moderately reddened dust with a 6–9%/1000 A reddening, consistent with the current picture of cometary dust. The second outburst emitted dust with lower reddening. Conclusions. The comparison with previous perihelion passages points toward a recurrent main activity always driven by the same areas on the nucleus, producing dust with similar characteristics and in similar coma structures in different years. Our Afρ measurement at the longest heliocentric distance suggests the comet was less dust-productive in 2010, pointing toward a possible secular aging of the object and its activity. The change of dust colors during the unusual second outburst suggests that an internal part of the nucleus has different physical properties compared with those that produce the recurrent main activity, pointing toward a heterogeneous comet.

We present an asteroseismic study of the solar-like stars KIC 11395018, KIC 10273246, KIC 10920273, KIC 10339342, and KIC 11234888 using short-cadence time series of more than eight months from the Kepler satellite. For four of these stars, we derive atmospheric parameters from spectra acquired with the Nordic Optical Telescope. The global seismic quantities (average large frequency separation and frequency of maximum power), combined with the atmospheric parameters, yield the mean density and surface gravity with precisions of 2% and ~0.03 dex, respectively. We also determine the radius, mass, and age with precisions of 2-5%, 7-11%, and ~35%, respectively, using grid-based analyses. We determine asteroseismic distances to these stars with a precision better than 10%, and constrain the stellar inclination for three of the stars. An Li abundance analysis yields an independent estimate of the age, but this is inconsistent with the asteroseismically determined age for one of the stars. We compare the results from five different grid-based analyses, and we find that they all provide radius and mass values to within 2.4sigma. The absence of a metallicity constraint when the average large frequency separation is measured with a precision of 1% biases the fitted radius and mass for the stars with non-solar metallicity (metal-rich KIC 11395018 and metal-poor KIC 10273246), while including a metallicity constraint reduces the uncertainties in both of these parameters by almost a factor of two. We found that including the average small frequency separation improves the determination of the age only for KIC 11395018 and KIC 11234888, and for the latter this improvement was due to the lack of strong atmospheric constraints. (Abridged)., accepted A&A, 14 two-column pages + appendix, 5 figures, 15 tables

Only for very few beta Cephei stars has the behaviour of the magnetic field been studied over the rotation cycle. During the past two years we have obtained multi-epoch polarimetric spectra of the beta Cephei star V1449 Aql with SOFIN at the Nordic Optical Telescope to search for a rotation period and to constrain the geometry of the magnetic field. The mean longitudinal magnetic field is measured at 13 different epochs. The new measurements, together with the previous FORS1 measurements, have been used for the frequency analysis and the characterization of the magnetic field. V1449 Aql so far possesses the strongest longitudinal magnetic field of up to 700G among the beta Cephei stars. The resulting periodogram displays three dominant peaks with the highest peak at f=0.0720d^-1 corresponding to a period P=13.893d. The magnetic field geometry can likely be described by a centred dipole with a polar magnetic field strength B_d around 3kG and an inclination angle beta of the magnetic axis to the rotation axis of 76+-4deg. As of today, the strongest longitudinal magnetic fields are detected in the beta Cephei stars V1449 Aql and xi^1 CMa with large radial velocity amplitudes. Their peak-to-peak amplitudes reach ~90km/s and ~33km/s, respectively. Concluding, we briefly discuss the position of the currently known eight magnetic beta Cephei and candidate beta Cephei stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram., 6 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication as a letter to A&A

Abundances of 22 chemical elements, including the key elements and isotopes such as 12C/13C, N and O, are investigated in the spectrum of 33 Psc, a single-lined RS CVn-type binary of low magnetic activity. The high resolution spectra were observed on the Nordic Optical Telescope and analyzed with the MARCS model atmospheres. The following main parameters have been determined: T_eff = 4750 K, log g = 2.8, [Fe/H] = -0.09, [C/Fe] = -0.04, [N/Fe] = 0.23, [O/Fe] = 0.05, C/N = 2.14, 12C/13C = 30, which show the first-dredge-up mixing signatures and no extra-mixing.

Accurate fundamental parameters of stars are mandatory for the asteroseismic investigation of the Kepler mission to succeed. We will determine the atmospheric parameters for a sample of 6 well-studied bright K giants to confirm that our method produces reliable results. We then apply the same method to 14 K giants that are targets for the Kepler mission. We have used high-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra from the FIES spectrograph on the Nordic Optical Telescope. We used the iterative spectral synthesis method VWA to derive the fundamental parameters from carefully selected high-quality iron lines and pressure-sensitive Calcium lines. We find good agreement with parameters from the literature for the 6 bright giants. We compared the spectroscopic values with parameters based on photometric indices in the Kepler Input Catalogue (KIC). We identify serious problems with the KIC values for [Fe/H] and find a large RMS scatter of 0.5 dex. The log g values in KIC agree reasonably well with the spectroscopic values with a scatter of 0.25 dex, when excluding two low-metallicity giants. The Teffs from VWA and KIC agree well with a scatter of about 85 K. We also find good agreement with log g and Teff derived from asteroseismic analyses for seven Kepler giant targets. We have determined accurate fundamental parameters of 14 giants using spectroscopic data. The large discrepancies between photometric and spectroscopic values of [Fe/H] emphasize the need for further detailed spectroscopic follow-up of the Kepler targets. This is mandatory to be able to produce reliable constraints for detailed asteroseismic analyses and for the interpretation of possible exo-planet candidates found around giant stars., 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted by A&A

We obtained 1955 high-resolution spectra of the high-amplitude pulsating subdwarf B star V338 Ser with the FIES spectrograph at the 2.5 m Nordic Optical Telescope covering 4 full nights in May–June 2009. Here we present the first results from phase-folding the data on the main pulsation mode, as revealed by simultaneous B-band photometry obtained with the Mercator 1.25 m and Baker 0.4 m telescopes. We compare the results with a sample line-profile model produced with LTE atmospheres and bruce+kylie.

We report the discovery of peculiar features in the optical spectrum of 4C+22.25, a flat spectrum radio quasar at z=0.4183 observed in the SDSS and in a dedicated spectroscopic follow-up from the Nordic Optical Telescope. The Hbeta and Halpha lines show broad profiles (FWHM~12,000 km/s), faint fluxes and extreme offsets (Delta v=8,700+/-1,300 km/s) with respect to the narrow emission lines. These features show no significant variation in a time lag of ~3.1 yr (rest frame). We rule out possible interpretations based on the superposition of two sources or on recoiling black holes, and we discuss the virtues and limitations of a massive black hole binary scenario., 2 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

We report a transit timing study of the transiting exoplanetary system HD 189733. In total we observed ten transits in 2006 and 2008 with the 2.6-m Nordic Optical Telescope, and two transits in 2007 with the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope. We used Markov-Chain Monte Carlo simulations to derive the system parameters and their uncertainties, and our results are in a good agreement with previously published values. We performed two independent analyses of transit timing residuals to place upper mass limits on putative perturbing planets. The results show no evidence for the presence of planets down to 1 Earth mass near the 1:2 and 2:1 resonance orbits, and planets down to 2.2 Earth masses near the 3:5 and 5:3 resonance orbits with HD 189733b. These are the strongest limits to date on the presence of other planets in this system., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted by MNRAS

A search programme for pulsating subdwarf B stars was conducted with the Nordic Optical Telescope on La Palma over 59 nights between 1999 and 2009. The purpose of the programme was to significantly extend the number of rapidly pulsating sdB stars to better understand the properties of this new group of variable compact stars. Candidates were selected initially from the HS and HE surveys, but were supplemented with additional objects from other surveys. Short sequences of time-series photometry were made on the candidates to determine the presence of rapid pulsations. In total twenty new pulsators were found in this survey, most of which have already been published and some extensively studied. We present four new short period pulsators, bringing the total of such pulsators up to 49. We also give limits on pulsation amplitudes for 285 objects with no obvious periodic variations, summarise the results of the survey, and provide improved physical parameters on the composite pulsators for which only preliminary estimates were published earlier., 17 pages, accepted for publication in A&A

We present a detailed study of the F-type detached eclipsing binary BK Peg, based on new photometric and spectroscopic observations. The two components, which have evolved to the upper half of the main-sequence band, are quite different with masses and radii of (1.414 +/- 0.007 Msun, 1.988 +/- 0.008 Rsun) and (1.257 +/- 0.005 Msun, 1.474 +/- 0.017 Rsun), respectively. The 5.49 day period orbit of BK Peg is slightly eccentric (e = 0.053). The measured rotational velocities are 16.6 +/- 0.2 (primary) and 13.4 +/- 0.2 (secondary) km/s. For the secondary component this corresponds to (pseudo)synchronous rotation, whereas the primary component seems to rotate at a slightly lower rate. We derive an iron abundance of [Fe/H] =-0.12 +/- 0.07 and similar abundances for Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr and Ni. Yonsei-Yale and Victoria-Regina evolutionary models for the observed metal abundance reproduce BK Peg at ages of 2.75 and 2.50 Gyr, respectively, but tend to predict a lower age for the more massive primary component than for the secondary. We find the same age trend for three other upper main-sequence systems in a sample of well studied eclipsing binaries with components in the 1.15-1.70 Msun range, where convective core overshoot is gradually ramped up in the models. We also find that the Yonsei-Yale models systematically predict higher ages than the Victoria-Regina models. The sample includes BW Aqr, and as a supplement we have determined a [Fe/H] abundance of -0.07 +/- 0.11 for this late F-type binary. We propose to use BK Peg, BW Aqr, and other well-studied 1.15-1.70 Msun eclipsing binaries to fine-tune convective core overshoot, diffusion, and possibly other ingredients of modern theoretical evolutionary models., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We report the discovery of an accreting binary, RAT J1953+1859, made during the RApid Temporal Survey (RATS) on the Isaac Newton Telescope. It showed high amplitude (0.3 mag) quasi-periodic oscillations on a timescale of ~20 mins. Further observations made using the Nordic Optical Telescope showed it to be ~4 mag brighter than in the discovery images. These photometric observations, together with radial velocity data taken using the William Herschel Telescope, point to an orbital period of ~90 mins. These data suggest that RAT J1953+1859 is a dwarf novae of the SU UMa type. What makes RAT J1953+1859 unusual is that it is the first such system to be discovered as a result of high amplitude QPOs during quiescence. This suggests that high-cadence wide-field surveys could be another means to discover cataclysmic variables as a result of their short period variability., Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present optical R-band light curves of five SDSS double QSOs (SDSS J0903+5028, SDSS J1001+5027, SDSS J1206+4332, SDSS J1353+1138, SDSS J1335+0118) obtained from monitoring at the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) between September 2005 and September 2007. We also present analytical and pixelated modeling of the observed systems. For SDSS J1206+4332, we measured the time delay to be 116 days, which, for a Singular Isothermal Ellipsoid model, corresponds to a Hubble constant of 73 km/s/Mpc. Simultaneous pixeleted modeling of five other systems for which a time delay has now been previously measured at the NOT leads to H_0 = 61.5 km/s/Mpc. Finally, by comparing lightcurves of the two images of each system, suitably shifted by the predicted or observed time-delays, we found no evidence for microlensing variability over the course of the monitoring period., 16 pages, 30 figures

Context. The discovery of stellar oscillations in some subdwarf B stars presents the opportunity of studying the interior structure of these objects, thereby clarifying their possible formation channels. Aims. Our ongoing survey attempts to increase the number of pulsating hot subdwarfs to better understand the complexities of the various subgroups within the population of pulsators and to identify targets suitable for seismological analysis. Methods. Light curves for a list of potential pulsators were obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope. The candidates were mainly selected based on similar T eff and log g as known pulsators. A frequency analysis of the light curves was performed to investigate the multiperiodic photometric variability. Results. From the sample we surveyed in 2007, 2M0415+0154 was the only star clearly showing photometric modulations. Follow-up photometry revealed three clear pulsation modes with periods between 143 and 150 s. Additional spectroscopic data was taken on 2M0415+0154 to refine its physical parameters. We find T eff = 34 000 ± 500 K, log g = 5.80 ± 0.05 dex, log (N He /N H ) = -1.60 ± 0.05, which are typical of sdB pulsators in this period range. No evidence of a companion was found. Conclusions. A new short-period sdB star has been discovered, 2M0415+0154. Its physical parameters and oscillation frequencies agree with those of other V361 Hya stars. The relative brightness and simple frequency spectrum of this star make it a suitable target for empirical mode identification, essential for a seismological analysis of simple pulsators.

The linear polarisation of the Crab pulsar and its close environment was derived from observations with the high-speed photo-polarimeter OPTIMA at the 2.56-m Nordic Optical Telescope in the optical spectral range (400 - 750 nm). Time resolution as short as 11 microseconds, which corresponds to a phase interval of 1/3000 of the pulsar rotation, and high statistics allow the derivation of polarisation details never achieved before. The degree of optical polarisation and the position angle correlate in surprising details with the light curves at optical wavelengths and at radio frequencies of 610 and 1400 MHz. Our observations show that there exists a subtle connection between presumed non-coherent (optical) and coherent (radio) emissions. This finding supports previously detected correlations between the optical intensity of the Crab and the occurrence of giant radio pulses. Interpretation of our observations require more elaborate theoretical models than those currently available in the literature., 21 pages, 13 figures, uses AMS.sty, mn2e.cls, mn2e.bst and natbib.sty, submitted to MNRAS

Context. The origin, evolution, and ultimate fate of magnetic cataclysmic variables are poorly understood. It is largely the nature of the magnetic fields in these systems that leads to this poor understanding. Fundamental properties, such as the field strength and the axis alignment, are unknown in a majority of these systems. Aims. We undertake to put all the previous circular polarization measurements into context and systematically survey intermediate polars for signs of circular polarization, hence to get an indication of their true magnetic field strengths and try to understand the evolution of magnetic cataclysmic variables. Methods. We used the TurPol instrument at the Nordic Optical Telescope to obtain simultaneous UBVRI photo-polarimetric observations of a set of intermediate polars, during the epoch 2006 July 31 - August 2. Results. Of this set of eight systems two (1RXS J213344.1+510725 and 1RXS J173021.5-055933) were found to show significant levels of circular polarization, varying with spin phase. Five others (V2306 Cyg, AO Psc, DQ Her, FO Aqr, and V1223 Sgr) show some evidence for circular polarization and variation of this with spin phase, whilst AE Aqr shows little evidence for polarized emission. We also report the first simultaneous UBVRI photometry of the newly identified intermediate polar 1RXS J173021.5-055933. Conclusions. Circular polarization may be ubiquitous in intermediate polars, albeit at a low level of one or two percent or less. It is stronger at longer wavelengths in the visible spectrum. Our results lend further support to the possible link between the presence of soft X-ray components and the detectability of circular polarization in intermediate polars., Comment: 14 pages. Accepted for publication in A&A

We present observations and analysis of time-series spectroscopy and photometry of the pulsating subdwarf B star PG 1219+534 (KY UMa). Subdwarf B stars are blue horizontal branch stars which have shed most of their hydrogen envelopes. Pulsating subdwarf B stars allow a probe into this interesting phase of evolution. Low resolution spectra were obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope and Kitt Peak National Observatory, and photometric observations were obtained at MDM and Baker observatories in 2006. We extracted radial velocity and equivalent width variations from several Balmer and He I lines in individual spectra. The pulsation frequencies were separated via phase binning to detect line-profile variations in Balmer and helium lines, which were subsequently matched to atmospheric models to infer effective temperature and gravity changes throughout the pulsation cycle. From the photometry we recovered the four previously observed frequencies and detected a new fifth frequency. From the spectra we directly measured radial velocity and equivalent width variations for the four main frequencies and from atmospheric models we successfully inferred temperature and gravity changes for these four frequencies. We compared amplitude ratios and phase differences of these quantities and searched for outliers which could be identified as high-degree modes. These are the first such measurements for a "normal" amplitude pulsating subdwarf B star, indicating that spectroscopic studies can benefit the majority of pulsating subdwarf B stars., 9 pages, 13 figures accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Using data of five clusters of galaxies within the redshift range 0.15 $\leq$ z $\leq$ 0.25, imaged with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) in the central $\approx$ 1 Mpc$^2$ in very good seeing conditions, we have performed an exhaustive inspection of their bright galaxy population. That range of redshift, where only a small amount of data with the required resolution and quality is available, is particularly important for the understanding of the formation and evolution of clusters of galaxies. We have inspected the color-magnitude relation (CMR) for those clusters and measured the blue fraction of galaxies in their cores to check for evidence of evolution as found in other works. Moreover, the visual classification of the galaxy morphology has been performed and the morphology-radius relation has been examined We have not found signs of evolution neither in the slope of the CMR nor in the blue fraction of galaxies. A diversity of situations regarding those parameters and in the morphological mixing has been noticed, with two out of five clusters containing a dominant late-type core population. The cluster A1878 stands out as some of its properties differ from those of the other clusters in the sample. No clear signs of evolution appear in our analysis. The data support the view that the morphology and the stellar content of the galaxies in our clusters have been already settled at z $\sim$ 0.2. Only the fraction of interacting galaxies in the clusters appear to be larger than in clusters like Coma although the number of clusters in the sample is small to give a definitive conclusion., 16 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, 1 longtable The paper has been already accepted but still not published

We report the detection of non-radial g-mode oscillations in seven relatively bright (14.4 < B < 16.5) DA white dwarf stars from time-series photometry collected at the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) at Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory, Spain. The candidate variable stars were selected from preparatory photometric observations of objects from the Hamburg Quasar Survey (HQS) and from spectroscopy of stars from the Villanova (WD) catalogue. The selection of ZZ Ceti candidate stars from photometric data proved nearly as successful as the more common spectroscopic selection method. The effective temperatures that we derive from both methods are consistent with a pure ZZ Ceti instability strip. peerReviewed

Context. Be stars, which are characterised by intermittent emission in their hydrogen lines, are known to be fast rotators. This fast rotation is a requirement for the formation of a Keplerian disk, which in turn gives rise to the emission. However, the pulsating, magnetic B1IV star Cephei is a very slow rotator that still shows H emission episodes like in other Be stars, contradicting current theories.Aims. We investigate the hypothesis that the H emission stems from the spectroscopically unresolved companion of Cep.Methods. Spectra of the two unresolved components have been separated in the 6350-6850 Å range with spectro-astrometric techniques, using 11 longslit spectra obtained with ALFOSC at the Nordic Optical Telescope, La Palma.Results. We find that the H emission is not related to the primary in Cep, but is due to its 3.4 mag fainter companion. This companion has been resolved by speckle techniques, but it remains unresolved by traditional spectroscopy. The emission extends from about -400 to +400 km s-1. The companion star in its 90-year orbit is likely to be a classical Be star with a spectral type around B6-8.Conclusions. By identifying its Be-star companion as the origin of the H emission behaviour, the enigma behind the Be status of the slow rotator Cep has been resolved.

We survey a sample of 32 M5-M8 stars with distance < 40pc for companions with separations between 0.1 arcsec and 1.5 arcsec and with Delta m_i 1 were found, even though our survey is sensitive to up to Delta m=5 (well into the brown dwarf regime). The distribution of orbital radii is in broad agreement with previous results, with most systems at 1-5AU, but one detected binary is very wide at 46.8+/-5.0AU. We also serendipitously imaged for the first time a companion to Ross 530, a metal-poor single-lined spectroscopic binary. We used the new Lucky Imaging system LuckyCam on the 2.5m Nordic Optical Telescope to complete the 32 very low mass star i' and z' survey in only 5 hours of telescope time., 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted by MNRAS (minor changes, spectral type constraints tightened)

We present spectra of twelve Type Ia supernovae obtained in 1999 at the William Herschel Telescope and the Nordic Optical Telescope during a search for Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) at intermediate redshift. The spectra range from z=0.178 to z=0.493, including five high signal-to-noise ratio SN Ia spectra in the still largely unexplored range 0.15 < z < 0.3. Most of the spectra were obtained before or around restframe B-band maximum light. None of them shows the peculiar spectral features found in low-redshift over- or under-luminous SN Ia. Expansion velocities of characteristic spectral absorption features such as SiII at 6355 angs., SII at 5640 angs. and CaII at 3945 angs. are found consistent with their low-z SN Ia counterparts., 45 pages, 23 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A