Supernova (SN) light echoes could be a powerful tool for determining distances to galaxies geometrically, Sparks (1994ApJ...433...19S). In this paper we present CCD photometry of the environments of 64 historical supernovae, the first results of a program designed to search for light echoes from these SNe. We commonly find patches of optical emission at, or close to, the sites of the supernovae. The color distribution of these patches is broad, and generally consistent with stellar population colors, possibly with some reddening. However there are in addition patches with both unusually red and unusually blue colors. We expect light echoes to be blue, and while none of the objects are quite as blue in V-R as the known light echo of SN 1991T, there are features that are unusually blue and we identify these as candidate light echoes for follow-on observations.
We searched for the optical/UV/IR counterparts of seven supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs) in M31 in the Hubble Space Telescope} (HST}) 'Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury' (PHAT) archival images and photometric catalogue. Three of the SSSs were transient; the other four are persistent sources. The PHAT offers the opportunity to identify SSSs hosting very massive white dwarfs (WDs) that may explode as Type Ia supernovae in single degenerate binaries, with magnitudes and colour indexes typical of symbiotics, high-mass close binaries, or systems with an optically luminous accretion disc. We find evidence that the transient SSSs were classical or recurrent novae; two probable counterparts that we identified are probably symbiotic binaries undergoing mass transfer at a very high rate. There is a candidate accreting WD binary in the error circle of one of the persistent sources, r3-8. In the spatial error circle of the best-studied SSS in M31, r2-12, no red giants or AGB stars are sufficiently luminous in the optical and UV bands to be symbiotic systems hosting an accreting and hydrogen-burning WD. This SSS has a known modulation of the X-ray flux with a 217.7s period, and we measured an upper limit on its derivative, namely |dP/dt|<~0.82x10^11. This limit can be reconciled with the rotation period of a WD accreting at a high rate in a binary with an orbital period of a few hours. However, there is no luminous counterpart with colour indexes typical of an accretion disc irradiated by a hot central source. Adopting a semi-empirical relationship, the upper limit for the disc optical luminosity implies an upper limit of only 169-min for the orbital period of the WD binary.
Photometric transit surveys promise to complement the currently known sample of extra-solar planets (ESPs) by providing additional information on the planets and especially their radii. Here, we present ESP candidates from one such survey called, the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) obtained with the SuperWASP wide-field imaging system. Observations were taken with SuperWASP North located in La Palma during the 2004 April to October observing season. The data cover fields between 23 and 03h in RA at declinations above +12{deg}. This amounts to over >>400000 stars with V magnitudes 8-13.5. For the stars brighter than 12.5, we achieve better than 1% photometric precision. Here, we present 41 sources with low-amplitude variability between >>1 and 10mmag, from which we select 12 with periods between 1.2 and 4.4d as the most promising ESP candidates. We discuss the properties of these ESP candidates, the expected fraction of transits recovered for our sample and implications for the frequency and detection of hot-Jupiters.
The Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) survey currently operates two installations, designated SuperWASP-N and SuperWASP-S, located in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, respectively. These installations are designed to provide high time-resolution photometry for the purpose of detecting transiting extrasolar planets, asteroids, and transient events. Here, we present results from a transit-hunting observing campaign using SuperWASP-N covering a right ascension (RA) range of 06h<RA<16h. This paper represents the fifth and final in the series of transit candidates released from the 2004 observing season. In total, 729335 stars from 33 fields were monitored with 130566 having sufficient precision to be scanned for transit signatures. Using a robust transit detection algorithm and selection criteria, six stars were found to have events consistent with the signature of a transiting extrasolar planet based on the photometry, including the known transiting planet XO-1b. These transit candidates are presented here along with discussion of follow-up observations and the expected number of candidates in relation to the overall observing strategy.
The SuperWASP-I (Wide Angle Search for Planets-I) instrument observed 6.7 million stars between 8 and 15mag from La Palma during the 2004 May-September season. Our transit-hunting algorithm selected 11626 objects from the 184442 stars within the RA (right ascension) range 18-21h. We describe our thorough selection procedure whereby catalogue information is exploited along with careful study of the SuperWASP data to filter out, as far as possible, transit mimics. We have identified 35 candidates which we recommend for follow-up observations.
We have performed photometric observations of nearly seven million stars with 8<V<15 with the SuperWASP-North instrument from La Palma between 2004 May to September. Fields in the right ascension range 17-18h, yielding over 185000 stars with sufficient quality data, have been searched for transits using a modified box least-squares (BLS) algorithm. We find a total of 58 initial transiting candidates which have high signal-to-noise ratio in the BLS, show multiple transit-like dips and have passed visual inspection. Analysis of the blending and the inferred planetary radii for these candidates leave, a total of seven transiting planet candidates which pass all the tests plus four which pass the majority. We discuss the derived parameters for these candidates and their properties and comment on the implications for future transit searches.
We have studied over 1600 Am stars at a photometric precision of 1mmag with SuperWASP photometric data. Contrary to previous belief, we find that around 200 Am stars are pulsating delta Sct and gamma Dor stars, with low amplitudes that have been missed in previous, less extensive studies. While the amplitudes are generally low, the presence of pulsation in Am stars places a strong constraint on atmospheric convection, and may require the pulsation to be laminar. While some pulsating Am stars have been previously found to be delta Sct stars, the vast majority of Am stars known to pulsate are presented in this paper. They will form the basis of future statistical studies of pulsation in the presence of atomic diffusion.
We present optical lightcurves of 428 periodic variable stars coincident with ROSAT X-ray sources, detected using the first run of the SuperWASP photometric survey. Only 68 of these were previously recognised as periodic variables. A further 30 of these objects are previously known pre-main sequence stars, for which we detect a modulation period for the first time. Amongst the newly identified periodic variables, many appear to be close eclipsing binaries, their X-ray emission is presumably the result of RS CVn type behaviour. Others are probably BY Dra stars, pre-main sequence stars and other rapid rotators displaying enhanced coronal activity. A number of previously catalogued pulsating variables (RR Lyr stars and Cepheids) coincident with X-ray sources are also seen, but we show that these are likely to be misclassifications. We identify four objects which are probable low mass eclipsing binary stars, based on their very red colour and light curve morphology.
We present light curves and periods of 53 candidates for short period eclipsing binary stars identified by SuperWASP. These include 48 newly identified objects with periods <2x10^4^s (~0.23d), as well as the shortest period binary known with main sequence components (GSC2314-0530 = 1SWASP J022050.85+332047.6) and four other previously known W UMa stars (although the previously reported periods for two of these four are shown to be incorrect). The period distribution of main sequence contact binaries shows a sharp cut-off at a lower limit of around 0.22d, but until now, very few systems were known close to this limit. These new candidates will therefore be important for understanding the evolution of low mass stars and to allow investigation of the cause of the period cut-off.
SuperWASP, the Northern hemisphere WASP observatory, has been observing the skies from La Palma since 2004. In that time, more than 50 planets have been discovered with data contributions from SuperWASP. In the process of validating planets, many false-positive candidates have also been identified. The TESS telescope is set to begin observations of the northern sky in 2019. Similar to the WASP survey, the TESS pixel size is relatively large (13 arcsec for WASP and 21 arcsec for TESS), making it susceptible to many blended signals and false detections caused principally by grazing and blended stellar eclipsing binary systems. In order to reduce duplication of effort on targets, we present a catalogue of 1041 Northern hemisphere SuperWASP targets that have been rejected as planetary transits through follow-up observation.