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—Within the program for studying the variability of slow-rotating magnetic stars, we carried out magnetic monitoring of the Ap star HD 110066 (AX CVn), the expected variability period of which was estimated as 13.4 yrs. Based on our measurements of the magnetic field performed with the 1-m SAO RAS telescope and the literature data, we assumed that the most likely period of this star $$P = 6.4769 \pm 0.0011$$ days; we also estimated the parameters of the oblique rotator model describing the magnetic variability of the star HD 110066. In order to determine its chemical abundance, a high-resolution spectrum with ( $$R \approx 70{\kern 1pt} {\kern 1pt} 000$$ ) was obtained using the fiber-fed spectrometer of the 6-m telescope of SAO RAS. The chemical abundance estimates completely coincided with those from the spectrum obtained with a similar resolution with the ESPaDOnS spectrometer (CFHT, Mauna Kea, Hawaii).

We present first results of spectroscopic observations of transiting exoplanets in the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the Main Stellar Spectrograph of the 6-m BTA telescope. For the exoplanetWASP-32b, we detected a significant variation of intensity and equivalent width in the Hα spectral line of the parent star at the time of a transit. The equivalent width of the line during transit is by 8–10% larger than outside the planet passage. Residual intensity in the core of the line reveals the following tendency: the line is by 10–15% deeper inside transit than outside it. Observations with the long-slit spectrograph of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory at the 2.6-m ZTSh telescope also showed a transit event in the Hα line, although, with a smaller amplitude and shape inverted in relation to the data from the 6-m telescope. While in the observations with the BTA the Hα line becomes deeper during the transit, in the ZTSh observations, the residual intensity of the Hα line decreases during the transit. Reducing and analysis of the archive data of WASP-32b observations with the HARPS spectrograph also confirm the Hα line modulation at the time of the transit. The observed data give evidence of the envelope in WASP-32b filling the Roche lobe and a comet-like tail of changing geometry and orientation relative to the observer. These changes determine different depths and shapes of the Hα spectral line at the time of transits.

We report the results of photometric observations of a number of magnetic white dwarfs in order to search for photometric variability in these stars. These V-band observations revealed significant variability in the classical highly magnetized white dwarf GRW+70◦8247 with a likely period from several days to several dozen days and a half-amplitude of about 0. m 04. Our observations also revealed the variability of the well-known white dwarf GD229. The half amplitude of its photometric variability is equal to about 0. m 005, and the likely period of this degenerate star lies in the 10–20 day interval. This variability is most likely due to the rotation of the stars considered.We also discuss the peculiarities of the photometric variability in a number of other white dwarfs. We present the updated “magnetic field–rotation period” diagram for the white dwarfs.

The goal of the present study is the development and testing of a method for spectral detection of the light of host stars reflected from their exoplanets. The presented method is based on the analysis of dynamical spectra, which make it possible to obtain high signal-to-noise residual spectra after host star spectrum deduction. These residual spectra contain information on the light reflected from an exoplanet and on its albedo. The first results of such research for the exoplanet HD 189733b are presented in the paper. We obtained a series of a few dozens moderate-resolution spectra of the host star HD 189733. Individual spectra have a high signal-to-noise ratio (≈700) and cover a considerable part of the complete orbital cycle of the exoplanet. The use of the developed method allowed us to achieve a characteristic contrast of the reflected light detection at a level of 5 × 10−4 from the continuum. Investigation of the dynamic spectra with this characteristic value as a detection threshold has not revealed obvious evidence of the host star light reflected from the planet. Nevertheless, the obtained threshold is high, which demonstrates the necessity of the development of the method for the exoplanet monitoring studies.

We present the results of photometric observations of the weak magnetic white dwarf WD 0009+501. The observations were carried out for two years with the 1-m telescopes of the Special and Crimean Astrophysical Observatories. As a result of these observations, we detected regular V -band luminosity variations with a period of P ≈ 8 hours. The amplitude of the variability is stable on timescales greater than two years and amounts to 11 ± 1 mmag. The difference in the variability amplitude from observations with different telescopes is 1–3 mmag. The result is interpreted within the concept of a rotation-modulated variability of magnetic properties of the star’s atmosphere. We also discuss a possible variability due to the presence of planetary companions around stars of this type. The results of monitoring were used to explore the capabilities of the telescopes for exoplanet investigation. We studied the dependences between the characteristic times of exposures, magnitudes of the objects, and a threshold level of the expected variability amplitudes for all the telescopes involved in our program. A program of exoplanet monitoring with the mentioned telescopes was drawn up for the next few years based on the results of the study.

We present high-resolution spectropolarimetric observations of the spectroscopic binary Chi Dra. Spectral lines in the spectrum of the main component Chi Dra A show variable Zeeman displacement, which confrms earlier suggestions about the presence of a weak magnetic field on the surface of this star. Within about 2 years of time base of our observations, the longitudinal component BL of the magnetic field exhibits variation from -11.5 +/- 2.5 G to +11.1 +/- 2.1 G with a period of about 23 days. Considering the rotational velocity of Chi DraA in the literature and that newly measured in this work, this variability may be explained by the stellar rotation under the assumption that the magnetic field is globally stable. Our new measurements of the radial velocities (RV) in high-resolution I-spectra of Chi Dra A refined the orbital parameters and reveal persistent deviations of RVs from the orbital curve. We suspect that these deviations may be due to the in uence of local magnetically generated spots, pulsations, or a Jupiter-size planet orbiting the system., 5pages, 3figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters