We present the analysis of 34 light curves in $V$ and $I$ of 17 giant stars in the globular cluster NGC 3201, to check if such stars are variable and if their variability has some kind of impact on the iron abundance as obtained from spectroscopic measurements. First, we computed the Generalized Lomb-Scargle and Phase Dispersion Minimization periodograms on the sample to check if the stars were variables. In this way, 7 stars of the sample were found to be non-variable, 2 stars are considered as possible variables, and 8 stars were found to be variable, with periods ranging from $0.0881\pm0.0001$ to $0.5418\pm0.0027$ days. According to the literature, the variables have distinct values of $\text{[Fe I/H]}$: the 3 most metal-rich stars are in the RGB stage, one has an $\text{[Fe I/H]}=-1.37$ dex, while the other two have $\text{[Fe I/H]}=-1.31$ dex. The two most metal-poor variables have $\text{[Fe I/H]}=-1.61$ dex and $\text{[Fe I/H]}=-1.62$ dex, and are AGB stars; the remaining variables have $\text{[Fe I/H]}=-1.44$, $-1.48$, and $-1.50$ dex, the first two being RGB while the last is AGB star. On the other hand, stars that appear to be non-variables have $-1.56\leq\text{[Fe I/H]}\leq-1.40$. We conclude that variability somehow affects the spectroscopic determination of the iron content of giant stars in NGC 3201 increasing the iron spread of the cluster. If variability is not taken into account, this spread could be wrongly interpreted as due to an intrinsic iron spread affecting the stars of the cluster.
We present K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS) observations of 18 Red Supergiant (RSG) stars in the Sculptor Group galaxy NGC 55. Radial velocities are calculated and are shown to be in good agreement with previous estimates, confirming the supergiant nature of the targets and providing the first spectroscopically confirmed RSGs in NGC 55. Stellar parameters are estimated for 14 targets using the $J$-band analysis technique, making use of state-of-the-art stellar model atmospheres. The metallicities estimated confirm the low-metallicity nature of NGC 55, in good agreement with previous stu…
We examine the spectroscopic binary population for two massive nearby regions of clustered star formation, the Orion Nebula Cluster and NGC 2264, supplementing the data presented by Tobin et al. (2009, 2015) with more recent observations and more extensive analysis. The inferred multiplicity fraction up to 10 AU based on these observations is $5.3\pm 1.2$% for NGC 2264 and $5.8\pm 1.1$% for the ONC; they are consistent with the distribution of binaries in the field in the relevant parameter range. Eight of the multiple systems in the sample have enough epochs to make an initial fit for the orb…
In this paper we analyse the evolutionary status and properties of the old open cluster NGC 2355, located in the Galactic anticentre direction, as a part of the long term programme BOCCE. NGC 2355 was observed with LBC@LBT using the Bessel $B$, $V$, and $I_c$ filters. The cluster parameters have been obtained using the synthetic colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) method, as done in other papers of this series. Additional spectroscopic observations with FIES@NOT of three giant stars were used to determine the chemical properties of the cluster. Our analysis shows that NGC 2355 has metallicity sligh…
We present spectroscopic follow-up observations of 68 red, faint candidates from our multi-epoch, multi-wavelength, previously published survey of NGC 2264. Using near-infrared spectra from VLT/KMOS, we measure spectral types and extinction for 32 young low-mass sources. We confirm 13 as brown dwarfs in NGC 2264, with spectral types between M6 and M8, corresponding to masses between 0.02 and 0.08$M_{\odot}$. These are the first spectroscopically confirmed brown dwarfs in this benchmark cluster. 19 more objects are found to be young M-type stars of NGC 2264 with masses of 0.08 to 0.3$\,M_{\odot…
Using photometry and high resolution spectroscopy we investigate for the first time the physical connection between the open clusters NGC 5617 and Trumpler 22. Based on new CCD photometry we report their spatial proximity and common age of ~70 Myr. Based on high resolution spectra collected using the HERMES and UCLES spectrographs on the Anglo-Australian telescope, we present radial velocities and abundances for Fe, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca and Ni. The measured radial velocities are -38.63 +/-2.25 km/s for NGC 5617 and -38.46 +/-2.08 km/s for Trumpler 22. The mean metallicity of NGC 5617 was found t…
We present a VLT/FORS1 imaging and spectroscopic survey of the Wolf-Rayet (WR) population in the Sculptor group spiral galaxy NGC 7793. We identify 74 emission line candidates from archival narrow-band imaging, from which 39 were observed with the Multi Object Spectroscopy (MOS) mode of FORS1. 85% of these sources displayed WR features. Additional slits were used to observe HII regions, enabling an estimate of the metallicity gradient of NGC 7793 using strong line calibrations, from which a central oxygen content of log (O/H) + 12 = 8.6 was obtained, falling to 8.25 at R_25. We have estimated …
We obtain high resolution spectra of nine red giant branch stars in NGC 6681 and perform the first detailed abundance analysis of stars in this cluster. We confirm cluster membership for these stars based on consistent radial velocities of 214.5$\pm$3.7 km/s and find a mean [Fe/H] = -1.63$\pm$0.07 dex and [α/Fe] = 0.42$\pm$0.11 dex. Additionally, we confirm the existence of a Na-O anti-correlation in NGC 6681 and identify two populations of stars with unique abundance trends. With the use of HST photometry from Sarajedini et al. (2007) and Piotto et al. (2015) we are able to identify these two…
We report results of spectroscopic and photometric observations of ten delta Scuti stars and one eclipsing binary in the open cluster NGC1817, and of ten delta Scuti stars and two other variables in the open cluster NGC7062. For all targets in NGC1817 and for three targets in NGC7062, the radial velocity and projected rotational velocity are determined. For all stars, the effective temperature and surface gravity is measured. Two delta Scuti stars, NGC1817-V1 and NGC7062-V1, and the eclipsing binary, NGC1817-V18, are discovered to be single-lined spectroscopic binaries. The eclipsing binary de…
Intermediate-age star clusters in the LMC present extended main sequence turnoffs (MSTO) that have been attributed to either multiple stellar populations or an effect of stellar rotation. Recently it has been proposed that these extended main sequences can also be produced by ill-characterized stellar variability. Here we present Gemini-S/GMOS time series observations of the intermediate-age cluster NGC 1846. Using differential image analysis, we identified 73 new variable stars, with 55 of those being of the Delta Scuti type, that is, pulsating variables close the MSTO for the cluster age. Co…
NGC 6910 is the northern hemisphere open cluster known to be rich in $β$ Cephei-type stars. Using four-season photometry obtained in Białków (Poland) and Xinglong (China) observatories, we performed variability survey of NGC 6910. As the result, we found over 100 variable stars in the field of the cluster, including many stars showing variability due to pulsations and binarity. Thanks to the spectroscopic observations, we also detected changes in the profiles of spectral lines of $β$ Cep stars, caused by pulsations.
Integral field spectroscopy (IFS) provides a unique capability to spectroscopically study extended sources over a 2D field of view, but it also requires new techniques and tools. In this paper, we present an automatic code, Spectroscopic Analysis Tool for intEgraL fieLd unIt daTacubEs, SATELLITE, designed to fully explore such capability in the characterization of extended objects, such as planetary nebulae, H II regions, galaxies, etc. SATELLITE carries out 1D and 2D spectroscopic analysis through a number of pseudo-slits that simulate slit spectrometry, as well as emission line imaging. The …
Stellar population studies of globular clusters have suggested that the brightest clusters in the Galaxy might actually be the remnant nuclei of dwarf spheroidal galaxies. If the present Galactic globular clusters formed within larger stellar systems, they are likely surrounded by extra-tidal halos and/or tails made up of stars that were tidally stripped from their parent systems. The stellar surroundings around globular clusters are therefore one of the best places to look for the remnants of an ancient dwarf galaxy. Here an attempt is made to search for tidal debris around the supernovae enr…
We present the abundance analysis for a sample of 18 red giant branch stars in the metal-poor globular cluster NGC 4147 based on medium and high resolution spectra. This is the first extensive spectroscopic study of this cluster. We derive abundances of C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Ni, Y, Ba, and Eu. We find a metallicity of [Fe/H]=-1.84+-0.02 and an alpha-enhancement of +0.38+-0.05 (errors on the mean), typical of halo globular clusters in this metallicity regime. A significant spread is observed in the abundances of light elements C, N, O, Na, and Al. In particular we found a Na-…
We present a spectroscopic analysis of main sequence (MS) stars in the young globular cluster NGC1818 (age~40 Myrs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Our photometric survey on Magellanic Clouds clusters has revealed that NGC1818, similarly to the other young objects with age 600 Myrs, displays not only an extended MS Turn-Off (eMSTO), as observed in intermediate-age clusters (age~1-2 Gyrs), but also a split MS. The most straightforward interpretation of the double MS is the presence of two stellar populations: a sequence of slowly-rotating stars lying on the blue-MS and a sequence of fast rotator…
New photometric data from CCD multicolour BVRI observations of 14 pre-main sequence stars during the period from 2013 April to 2015 September are presented. The studied objects are located in the field of 'Gulf of Mexico' in the NGC 7000/IC 5070 star-forming complex. The stars from our study exhibit different types of photometric variability in all optical passbands. Using our long-term observations and data published by other authors, we tried to define the reasons for the observed brightness variations. On the basis of our new data previously unknown periodicity in the light curve of the sta…
We present three years of long-cadence and over one year of short-cadence photometry of the central star of the Planetary Nebula NGC 6826 obtained with the Kepler spacecraft, and temporally coinciding optical spectroscopy. The light curves are dominated by incoherent variability on time scales of several hours, but contain a lower-amplitude periodicity of 1.23799 d. The temporal amplitude and shape changes of this signal are best explicable with a rotational modulation, and are not consistent with a binary interpretation. We argue that we do not observe stellar pulsations within the limitation…
The young open cluster NGC 6611 includes among its candidate members a class of peculiar objects with interesting properties: blue stars with infrared IR excesses. These stars show excesses in IR bands, signature of the presence of a circumstellar disk, but optical colors typical of older field stars. In order to confirm their membership to the cluster, it is therefore important to use new spectroscopic observations, together with previous photometric data. We aim at confirming the membership of these objects and at investigating their physical properties to verify whether the observed colors …
We present results from long-term optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of 5 pre-main sequence stars, located in the vicinity of the bight nebula NGC 7129. We obtained UBVRI photometric observations in the field centered on the star V391 Cep, north-west of the bright nebula NGC 7129. Our multicolor CCD observations spanned the period from February 1998 to November 2016. At the time of our photometric monitoring, a total of thirteen medium-resolution optical spectra of the stars were obtained. The results from our photometric study show that all stars exhibit strong variability in …
Pre-main sequence stars are variable sources. In diskless stars this variability is mainly due to the rotational modulation of dark photospheric spots and active regions, as in main sequence stars even if associated with a stronger magnetic activity. Aims. We aim at analyzing the simultaneous optical and X-ray variability in these stars to unveil how the activity in the photosphere is connected with that in the corona, to identify the dominant surface magnetic activity, and to correlate our results with stellar properties, such as rotation and mass. Methods. We analyzed the simultaneous optica…
We present the current state of the WOCS radial-velocity (RV) survey for the rich open cluster NGC 6819 (2.5 Gyr) including 93 spectroscopic binary orbits with periods ranging from 1.5 to 8,000 days. These results are the product of our ongoing RV survey of NGC 6819 using the Hydra Multi-Object Spectrograph on the WIYN 3.5 m telescope. We also include a detailed analysis of multiple prior sets of optical photometry for NGC 6819. Within a 1-degree field of view, our stellar sample includes the giant branch, the red clump, and blue straggler candidates, and extends to almost 2 mag below the main…
We explore UV and optical variability signatures for several hundred members of NGC 2264 (3 Myr). We performed simultaneous u- and r-band monitoring over two full weeks with CFHT/MegaCam. About 750 young stars are probed; 40% of them are accreting. Statistically distinct variability properties are observed for accreting and non-accreting cluster members. The accretors exhibit a significantly higher level of variability than the non-accretors, especially in the UV. The amount of u-band variability correlates statistically with UV excess in disk-bearing objects, which suggests that accretion and…
Time-series photometry of the CoRoT field SRa01 was carried out with the Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope II (BEST II) in 2008/2009. A total of 1,161 variable stars were detected, of which 241 were previously known and 920 are newly found. Several new, variable young stellar objects have been discovered. The study of the spatial distribution of eclipsing binaries revealed the higher relative frequency of Algols toward the center of the young open cluster NGC 2264. In general Algol frequency obeys an isotropic distribution of their angular momentum vectors, except inside the cluster, where a s…
We introduce the stellar sample of the WIYN Open Cluster Study radial-velocity survey for the rich open cluster NGC 7789 (1.6 Gyr, [Fe/H] = +0.02). This sample lies within an 18$'$ circular radius from the cluster center (10 pc in projection, or about 2 core radii), and includes giants, red-clump stars, blue stragglers, red stragglers, sub-subgiants, and main-sequence stars down to one mag below the turnoff. Our survey began in 2005 and comprises more than 9,000 radial-velocity measurements from the Hydra Multi-Object Spectrograph on the WIYN 3.5m telescope. We identify 564 likely cluster memb…
Using archival RXTE data, we show that the ultracompact X-ray binary in NGC 1851 exhibits large amplitude X-ray flux varations of more than a factor of 10 on timescales of days to weeks and undergoes sustained periods of months where the time-averaged luminosty varies by factors of two. Variations of this magnitude and timescale have not been reported previously in other ultracompact X-ray binaries. Mass transfer in ultracompact binaries is thought to be driven by gravitational radiation and the predicted transfer rates are so high that the disks of ultracompact binaries with orbits as short a…
We present 98 spectroscopic binary orbits resulting from our ongoing radial-velocity survey of the old (7 Gyr) open cluster NGC 188. All but 13 are high-probability cluster members based on both radial-velocity and proper-motion membership analyses. Fifteen of these member binaries are double lined. Our stellar sample spans a magnitude range of 10.8 <=V<= 16.5 (1.14-0.92 Msun) and extends spatially to 17 pc (~13 core radii). All of our binary orbits have periods ranging from a few days to on the order of 10^3 days, and thus are hard binaries that dynamically power the cluster. For each binary,…
$Context.$ Pulsating stars are windows to the physics of stars enabling us to see glimpses of their interior. Not all stars pulsate, however. On the main sequence, pulsating stars form an almost continuous sequence in brightness, except for a magnitude range between $δ$ Scuti and slowly pulsating B stars. Against all expectations, 36 periodic variables were discovered in 2013 in this luminosity range in the open cluster NGC 3766, the origins of which was a mystery. $Aims.$ We investigate the properties of those new variability class candidates in relation to their stellar rotation rates and st…
We present results of variability search in the field of the young open cluster NGC 1502. Eight variable stars were discovered. Of six other stars in the observed field that were suspected for variability, we confirm variability of two, including one beta Cep star, NGC 1502-26. The remaining four suspects were found to be constant in our photometry. In addition, UBVI photometry of the well-known massive eclipsing binary SZ Cam was obtained. The new variable stars include: two eclipsing binaries of which one is a relatively bright detached system with an EA-type light curve, an alpha2 CVn-type …
Aims. We present the results obtained from a long-term spectroscopic campaign devoted to the multiplicity of O-type stars in the young open cluster NGC2244 and in the Mon OB2 association. Methods. Our spectroscopic monitoring was performed over several years, allowing us to probe different time-scales. For each star, several spectral diagnostic tools are applied, in order to search for line shifts and profile variations. We also measure the projected rotational velocity and revisit the spectral classification. Results. In our sample, several stars were previously considered as spectroscopic bi…
The NASA space telescope Kepler has provided unprecedented time-series observations which have revolutionised the field of asteroseismology, i.e. the use of stellar oscillations to probe the interior of stars. The Kepler-data include observations of stars in open clusters, which are particularly interesting for asteroseismology. One of the clusters observed with Kepler is NGC 6811, which is the target of the present paper. However, apart from high-precision time-series observations, sounding the interiors of stars in open clusters by means of asteroseismology also requires accurate and precise…
In an optical color-magnitude diagram sub-subgiants (SSGs) lie red of the main sequence and fainter than the base of the red giant branch in a region not easily populated by standard stellar-evolution pathways. In this paper, we present multi-epoch radial velocities for five SSG candidates in the old and metal-rich open cluster NGC 6791 (8 Gyr, [Fe/H] = +0.30). From these data we are able to make three-dimensional kinematic membership determinations and confirm four SSG candidates to be likely cluster members. We also identify three member SSGs as short-period binary systems and present their …
We study variable stars in the field of the open cluster NGC 381 using photometric data observed over 27 nights and identify a total of 57 variable stars out of which five are member stars. The variable stars are classified based on their periods, amplitudes, light curve shapes, and locations in the H-R diagram. We found a rich variety of variable stars in the cluster. We identified a total of 10 eclipsing binaries out of which 2 are Algol type (EA) while 8 are W UMa type (EW) binaries. The estimated ages of these EW binaries are greater than 0.6 Gyr which is in agreement with the formation ti…
A recent photometric survey in the NGC~3766 cluster led to the detection of stars presenting an unexpected variability. They lie in a region of the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram where no pulsation are theoretically expected, in between the $δ$ Scuti and slowly pulsating B (SPB) star instability domains. Their variability periods, between $\sim$0.1--0.7~d, are outside the expected domains of these well-known pulsators. The NCG~3766 cluster is known to host fast rotating stars. Rotation can significantly affect the pulsation properties of stars and alter their apparent luminosity through grav…
Within the context of a large project aimed at studying early F-, A- and late B-type stars we present the abundance analysis of the photospheres of 21 members of the open cluster NGC 5460, an intermediate age cluster (logt ~ 8.2) previously unstudied with spectroscopy. Our study is based on medium and high resolution spectra obtained with the FLAMES instrument of the ESO/VLT. We show that cluster members have a nearly solar metallicity, and that there is evidence that the abundances of magnesium and iron are correlated with the effective temperature, exhibiting a maximum around Teff=10500 K. N…
The very young open cluster NGC 6383 centered on the O-star binary HD 159176 is an interesting place for studying the impact of early-type stars with strong radiation fields and powerful winds on the formation processes of low-mass stars. To investigate this process, it is necessary to determine the characteristics (age, presence, or absence of circumstellar material) of the population of low-mass pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars in the cluster. We obtained deep U B V (R I)_c H-alpha photometric data of the entire cluster as well as medium-resolution optical spectroscopy of a subsample of X-ray s…
We identify 228 periodic variables in the region of young open cluster NGC 281 using time series photometry carried out from 1 m class ARIES telescopes, Nainital. The cluster membership of these identified variables is determined on the basis colour-magnitude, two colour diagrams and kinematic data. Eighty one variable stars are found to be members of the cluster NGC 281. Of 81 variables, 30 and 51 are probable main-sequence and pre-main-sequence members, respectively. Present study classifies main-sequence variable stars into different variability types according to their periods of variabili…
