TY Pup is a well-known bright eclipsing binary with an orbital period of 0.8192 days. New light curves in B, V, (RI)C bands were obtained with the 0.61 m reflector robotic telescope (PROMPT-8) at ...CTIO in Chile during 2015 and 2017. By analyzing those photometric data with the W-D method, it is found that TY Pup is a low-mass-ratio (q ∼ 0.184) and deep-contact binary with a high fill-out factor (84.3%). An investigation of all available times of minimum light including three new ones obtained with the 60 cm and the 1.0 m telescopes at Yunnan Observatories in China indicates that the period change of TY Pup is complex. An upward parabolic variation in the O − C diagram is detected to be superimposed on a cyclic oscillation. The upward parabolic change reveals a long-term continuous increase in the orbital period at a rate of dP/dt = 5.57( 0.08) × 10−8 days yr−1. The period increase can be explained by mass transfer from the less massive component (M2 ∼ 0.3 M ) to the more massive one (M1 ∼ 1.65 M ). The binary will be merging when it meets the criterion that the orbital angular momentum is less than three times the total spin angular momentum, i.e., Jorb < 3Jrot. This suggests that the system will finally merge into a rapid-rotating single star and may produce a luminous red nova. The cyclic oscillation in the O − C diagram can be interpreted by the light-travel time effect via the presence of a third body.
ABSTRACT
Asteroid (3200) Phaethon is a Near-Earth Apollo asteroid with an unusual orbit that brings it closer to the Sun than any other known asteroid. Its last close approach to the Earth was in ...2017 mid-December and the next one will be on 2026 October. Previous rotationally time-resolved spectroscopy of Phaethon showed that its spectral slope is slightly bluish, in agreement with its B/F taxonomic classification, but at some rotational phases, it changes to slightly reddish. Motivated by this result, we performed time-resolved imaging polarimetry of Phaethon during its recent close approach to the Earth. Phaethon has a spin period of 3.604 h, and we found a variation of the linear polarization with rotation. This seems to be a rare case in which such variation is unambiguously found, also a consequence of its fairly large amplitude. Combining this new information with the brightness and colour variation as well as previously reported results from Arecibo radar observations, we conclude that there is no variation of the mineralogy across the surface of Phaeton. However, the observed change in the linear polarization may be related to differences in the thickness of the surface regolith in different areas or local topographic features.
We present time-resolved optical photometry of the binary millisecond ‘redback’ pulsar PSR J1023+0038 (=AY Sex) during its low-mass X-ray binary phase. The light curves taken between 2014 January and ...April show an underlying sinusoidal modulation due to the irradiated secondary star and accretion disc. We also observe superimposed rapid flaring on time-scales as short as ∼20 s with amplitudes of ∼0.1–0.5 mag and additional large flare events on time-scales of ∼5–60 min with amplitudes of ∼0.5–1.0 mag. The power density spectrum of the optical flare light curves is dominated by a red-noise component, typical of aperiodic activity in X-ray binaries. Simultaneous X-ray and UV observations by the Swift satellite reveal strong correlations that are consistent with X-ray reprocessing of the UV light, most likely in the outer regions of the accretion disc. On some nights we also observe sharp-edged, rectangular, flat-bottomed dips randomly distributed in orbital phase, with a median duration of ∼250 s and a median ingress/egress time of ∼20 s. These rectangular dips are similar to the mode-switching behaviour between disc ‘active’ and ‘passive’ luminosity states, observed in the X-ray light curves of other redback millisecond pulsars. This is the first time that the optical analogue of the X-ray mode-switching has been observed. The properties of the passive- and active-state light curves can be explained in terms of clumpy accretion from a trapped inner accretion disc near the corotation radius, resulting in rectangular, flat-bottomed optical and X-ray light curves.
GJ3470b is a hot Neptune exoplanet orbiting an M dwarf and the first sub-Jovian planet to exhibit Rayleigh scattering. We present transit timing variation (TTV) and transmission spectroscopy analyses ...of multiwavelength optical photometry from 2.4-m and 0.5-m telescopes at the Thai National Observatory, and the 0.6-m PROMPT-8 telescope in Chile. Our TTV analysis allows us to place an upper mass limit for a second planet in the system. The presence of a hot Jupiter with a period of less than 10 d or a planet with an orbital period between 2.5 and 4.0 d are excluded. Combined optical and near-infrared transmission spectroscopy favour an H/He-dominated haze (mean molecular weight 1.08 plus or minus 0.20) with high particle abundance at high altitude. We also argue that previous near-infrared data favour the presence of methane in the atmosphere of GJ3470b.
ABSTRACT
We present the binary model and the eclipse timing variations of the eclipsing binary RR Cae, which consists of a white dwarf eclipsed by an M-type dwarf companion. The multiwavelength ...optical photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the 0.6-m PROMPT-8 telescope, and the 0.7-m Thai Robotic Telescope at Spring Brook Observatory, combined with archive H α radial velocities from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) are analysed. From the data, the physical parameters of the system are obtained along with 430 new times of minima. The TESS light curves in 2018 and 2020 show out-of-eclipse variations, which might be caused by a large spot on the secondary component. The light travel time effect models due to the gravitational interaction of one or two circumbinary objects are adopted to fit the cyclic variations in the RR Cae’s O-C curve. The fitting solution of the O-C curve with one circumbinary object model shows a periodic variation with a period of 16.6 ± 0.2 yr and an amplitude of 14 ± 1 s, which can be caused by a planet with a minimum mass of 3.4 ± 0.2 MJup. When we consider the model with two circumbinary objects, the O-C curve shows cyclic variations with periods of 15.0 ± 0.5 yr and 39 ± 5 yr and amplitudes of 12 ± 1 s and 20 ± 5 s, respectively, corresponding to minimum masses of 3.0 ± 0.3 MJup and 2.7 ± 0.7 MJup.
ABSTRACT
We present transitfit1, a package designed to fit exoplanetary transit light curves. transitfit offers multi-epoch, multi-wavelength fitting of multi-telescope transit data. transitfit ...allows per-telescope detrending to be performed simultaneously with transit parameter fitting, including custom detrending. Host limb darkening can be fitted using prior conditioning from stellar atmosphere models. We demonstrate transitfit in a number of contexts. We model multi-telescope broad-band optical data from the ground-based SPEARNET survey of the low-density hot-Neptune WASP-127b and compare results to a previously published higher spectral resolution GTC/OSIRIS transmission spectrum. Using transitfit, we fit 26 transit epochs by TESS to recover improved ephemeris of the hot-Jupiter WASP-91b and a transit depth determined to a precision of 111 ppm. We use transitfit to conduct an investigation into the contested presence of TTV signatures in WASP-126b using 180 transits observed by TESS, concluding that there is no statistically significant evidence for such signatures from observations spanning 27 TESS sectors. We fit HST observations of WASP-43 b, demonstrating how transitfit can use custom detrending algorithms to remove complex baseline systematics. Lastly, we present a transmission spectrum of the atmosphere of WASP-96b constructed from simultaneous fitting of JWST NIRISS Early Release Observations and archive HST WFC3 transit data. The transmission spectrum shows generally good correspondence between spectral features present in both data sets, despite very different detrending requirements.
Context.
Besides the astrometric mission of the
Gaia
satellite, its repeated and high-precision measurements also serve as an all-sky photometric transient survey. The sudden brightenings of the ...sources are published as
Gaia
Photometric Science Alerts and are made publicly available, allowing the community to photometrically and spectroscopically follow up on the object.
Aims.
The goal of this paper is to analyze the nature and derive the basic parameters of Gaia18aen, a transient detected at the beginning of 2018. This object coincides with the position of the emission-line star WRAY 15-136. The brightening was classified as a “nova?” on the basis of a subsequent spectroscopic observation.
Methods.
We analyzed two spectra of Gaia18aen and collected the available photometry of the object covering the brightenings in 2018 and also the preceding and following periods of quiescence. Based on this observational data, we derived the parameters of Gaia18aen and discussed the nature of the object.
Results.
Gaia18aen is the first symbiotic star discovered by
Gaia
satellite. The system is an S-type symbiotic star and consists of an M giant of a slightly super-solar metallicity, where
T
eff
∼ 3500 K, a radius of ∼230
R
⊙
, and a high luminosity
L
∼ 7400
L
⊙
. The hot component is a hot white dwarf. We tentatively determined the orbital period of the system ∼487 d. The main outburst of Gaia18aen in 2018 was accompanied by a decrease in the temperature of the hot component. The first phase of the outburst was characterized by the high luminosity
L
∼ 27 000
L
⊙
, which remained constant for about three weeks after the optical maximum, later followed by the gradual decline of luminosity and increase of temperature. Several re-brightenings have been detected on the timescales of hundreds of days.
ABSTRACT
Light curves of the accreting white dwarf pulsator GW Librae spanning a 7.5-month period in 2017 were obtained as part of the Next-Generation Transit Survey. This data set comprises 787 h of ...photometry from 148 clear nights, allowing the behaviour of the long (hours) and short-period (20 min) modulation signals to be tracked from night to night over a much longer observing baseline than has been previously achieved. The long-period modulations intermittently detected in previous observations of GW Lib are found to be a persistent feature, evolving between states with periods ≃ 83 min and 2–4 h on time-scales of several days. The 20 min signal is found to have a broadly stable amplitude and frequency for the duration of the campaign, but the previously noted phase instability is confirmed. Ultraviolet observations obtained with the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph on-board the Hubble Space Telescope constrain the ultraviolet-to-optical flux ratio to ≃5 for the 4 h modulation, and ≲1 for the 20 min period, with caveats introduced by non-simultaneous observations. These results add further observational evidence that these enigmatic signals must originate from the white dwarf, highlighting our continued gap in theoretical understanding of the mechanisms that drive them.
ULTRASPEC is a high-speed imaging photometer mounted permanently at one of the Nasmyth focii of the 2.4-m Thai National Telescope (TNT) on Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest mountain. ULTRASPEC employs ...a 1024 × 1024 pixel frame-transfer, electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD) in conjunction with re-imaging optics to image a field of 7.7 × 7.7 arcmin2 at (windowed) frame rates of up to ∼200 Hz. The EMCCD has two outputs – a normal output that provides a readout noise of 2.3 e− and an avalanche output that can provide essentially zero readout noise. A six-position filter wheel enables narrow-band and broad-band imaging over the wavelength range 330–1000 nm. The instrument saw first light on the TNT in 2013 November and will be used to study rapid variability in the Universe. In this paper we describe the scientific motivation behind ULTRASPEC, present an outline of its design and report on its measured performance on the TNT.
We present a timing analysis of the eclipsing post-common envelope binary (PCEB) DE CVn. Based on new CCD photometric observations and published data, we found that the orbital period in DE CVn has a ...cyclic period oscillation with an amplitude of 28.08 s and a period of 11.22 years plus a rapid period decrease at a rate of . According to the evolutionary theory, secular period decreases in PCEBs arise from angular momentum losses (AMLs) driven by gravitational radiation (GR) and magnetic braking (MB). However, the observed orbital decay is too fast to be produced by AMLs via GR and MB, indicating that there could be another AML mechanism. We suggest that a circumbinary disk around DE CVn may be responsible for the additional AML. The disk mass was derived as a few ×10−4-10−3 M , which is in agreement with that inferred from previous studies in the order of magnitude. The cyclic change is most likely the result of the gravitational perturbation by a circumbinary object due to the Applegate's mechanism failing to explain such a large period oscillation. The mass of the potential third body is calculated as . Supposing the circumbinary companion and the eclipsing binary are coplanar, its mass would correspond to a giant planet. This hypothetical giant planet is moving in a circular orbit of a radius of ∼5.75( 2.02) au around its host star.
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