We present new CCD photometric observations of V1044 Her obtained on May 22, 23 and 24, 2015. From our data, we derived five new light curve minimum times. Combining our new results with previously available CCD light minimum times, we derived an updated ephemeris and discovered that the period of this binary system exhibits an oscillation. The cyclic variation may be caused by the light-time effect via the presence of a third body or magnetic activity cycle. We calculated the corresponding period of the third body to be 14.1+/-1.4 years or magnetic cycle to be 12.2+/-0.7 years. We analyzed our new asymmetric light curves to obtain photometric solutions and starspot parameters using the Wilson and Devinney program. The final results show that V1044 Her is a contact binary system with a degree of contact factor f=3.220(+/-0.002)%.
We have obtained CCD photometry in the Johnson V, Kron-Cousins I and CT_1_ Washington systems for NGC 2324, a rich open cluster located ~35{deg} from the Galactic anticentre direction. We measured V magnitudes and V-I colours for 2865 stars and T_1_ magnitudes and C-T_1_ colours for 1815 stars in an area of 13.6'x13.6' (pixel=0.4")
We present VI CCD photometric observations of about 5500 stars up to a limiting magnitude of V~20 in an area of ~16'x16' around the cluster NGC 6631. The cluster parameters determined for the first time by fitting the theoretical isochrones in the V, (V-I) diagram of the cluster stars are E(V-I)=0.60+/-0.05mag, distance=2.6+/-0.5kpc, age=400+/-100Myr and metallicity, Z=0.05. The cluster diameter determined from the radial density profile is 4.8+-0.5pc. The mass function of the cluster has a slope of 2.1+/-05.
We present CCD photometry in V and I for the metal-rich globular cluster NGC 6528. A comparison with previous photometry reveals discrepancies of the order 0.1 to 0.2mag in V, emphasizing the need for independent photometry. As found previously, the giant branch (or the asymptotic giant branch, which cannot be distinguished) of the cluster extends to V-I=7. Population synthesis in V-I must take these red stars into account in order to understand integrated red colours of bulge populations. Currently available theoretical isochrones do not reproduce the shape of the RGB/AGB. The derivation of reliable values for reddening, distance and metallicity of NGC 6528 is hampered by uncertainties in the extrapolation to high metallicity, which dominate the absolute error rather than the photo metric uncertainty does. Together with other properties (old age derived from HST data, high radial velocity), this object is more likely a member of the bulge than of the disk population.
X, Y pixel coordinates and V, I CCD photometric magnitudes of stars in cluster region NGC 6553. DAOPHOT photometric errors in V and (V-I) are also given.
CCD observations in the Johnson V, Kron-Cousins I and the Washington system C and T_1_ passbands have been used to generate colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) reaching down to V~21.0mag and T_1_~19.0 for Trumpler 5, an old open cluster located towards the Galactic anticentre. Our data analysis confirms the existence of non-uniform extinction over the face of the cluster, the mean E(V-I) and E(C-T_1_) values being 0.80+/-0.05 and 1.17+/-0.15, respectively. Through comparison of the cluster CMDs with theoretical isochrones of the Geneva group, Washington Standard Giant Branches and measures of V and T_1_ indices, we derive the following values for the cluster apparent distance modulus, age, and metallicity: V-M_V_=13.80+/-0.30 (corresponding to a distance from the Sun of 2.4+/-0.5 kpc and 0.04kpc above the Galactic plane), t=5.0+/-0.5Gyr and [Fe/H]=-0.30+/-0.15. We estimate the cluster angular radius to be about 7.7 arcmin (=5.4pc) from star counts carried out within and outside the cluster field.
We present CCD VI_KC_ photometry down to V~21mag in the field of the rich open cluster NGC 2194, which is projected towards the Galactic anticentre direction. We measured V magnitudes and V-I colours for a total of 2515 stars in a field of 13.6x13.6arcmin^2^, supplemented with CCD photometry in the C, M and T_1_ filters of the Washington system and photoelectric CMT_1_T_2_ photometry of 20 red giant candidates, using the 0.9-m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Chile, on 1997 December 23-24.
We report on the results of a time-series photometric survey of M50 (NGC 2323), a ~130Myr open cluster, carried out using the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 4-m Blanco telescope and Mosaic-II detector as part of the Monitor project. Rotation periods were derived for 812 candidate cluster members over the mass range 0.2<=M/M_{sun}_<=1.1. The rotation period distributions show a clear mass-dependent morphology, statistically indistinguishable from those in NGC 2516 and M35 taken from the literature. Due to the availability of data from three observing runs separated by ~10 and 1 month time-scales, we are able to demonstrate clear evidence for evolution of the photometric amplitudes, and hence spot patterns, over the 10 month gap. We are not able to constrain the time-scales for these effects in detail due to limitations imposed by the large gaps in our sampling, which also prevent the use of the phase information.
We study the red giant populations of two dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies, AM 1339-445 and AM 1343-452. The galaxies are members of the Centaurus A group (D~3.8Mpc), and are classified as outlying (R~350kpc) satellites of Cen A. The analysis is based on near-IR photometry for individual red giant stars, derived from images obtained with ISAAC on the VLT, and on optical V and I photometry, derived from WFPC2 images retrieved from the HST science archive. The data enable us to investigate the stellar populations of these galaxies in the vicinity of the red giant branch (RGB) tip. In both systems we find stars above the RGB tip, which we interpret as intermediate-age upper-AGB stars. Their luminosities suggest ages of approximately 6.5+/-1 and 4+/-1Gyr as estimates for the epoch of the last episode of significant star formation in these systems. In both cases the number of upper-AGB stars suggests that ~15% of the total stellar population is in the form of intermediate-age stars.
We report on the discovery of a Cepheid population in the Sculptor Group spiral galaxy NGC 247 for the first time. On the basis of wide-field images collected in photometric surveys in V and I bands that were conducted with three different telescopes and cameras, 23 Cepheid variables were discovered with periods ranging from 17 to 131 days.
