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We present extensive observations of SN 2018zd covering the first $\sim450$\,d after the explosion. This SN shows a possible shock-breakout signal $\sim3.6$\,hr after the explosion in the unfiltered light curve, and prominent flash-ionisation spectral features within the first week. The unusual photospheric temperature rise (rapidly from $\sim 12,000$\,K to above 18,000\,K) within the earliest few days suggests that the ejecta were continuously heated. Both the significant temperature rise and the flash spectral features can be explained with the interaction of the SN ejecta with the massive stellar wind ($0.18^{+0.05}_{-0.10}\, \rm M_{\odot}$), which accounts for the luminous peak ($L_{\rm max} = [1.36\pm 0.63] \times 10^{43}\, \rm erg\,s^{-1}$) of SN 2018zd. The luminous peak and low expansion velocity ($v \approx 3300$ km s$^{-1}$) make SN 2018zd to be like a member of the LLEV (luminous SNe II with low expansion velocities) events originated due to circumstellar interaction. The relatively fast post-peak decline allows a classification of SN 2018zd as a transition event morphologically linking SNe~IIP and SNe~IIL. In the radioactive-decay phase, SN 2018zd experienced a significant flux drop and behaved more like a low-luminosity SN~IIP both spectroscopically and photometrically. This contrast indicates that circumstellar interaction plays a vital role in modifying the observed light curves of SNe~II. Comparing nebular-phase spectra with model predictions suggests that SN 2018zd arose from a star of $\sim 12\,\rm M_{\odot}$. Given the relatively small amount of $^{56}$Ni ($0.013 - 0.035 \rm M_{\odot}$), the massive stellar wind, and the faint X-ray radiation, the progenitor of SN 2018zd could be a massive asymptotic giant branch star which collapsed owing to electron capture., Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 20 pages, 11 figures

Full list of authors: Gupta, Rahul; Gupta, S.; Chattopadhyay, T.; Lipunov, V.; Castro-Tirado, A. J.; Bhattacharya, D.; Pandey, S. B.; Oates, S. R.; Kumar, Amit; Hu, Y. -D.; Valeev, A. F.; Minaev, P. Yu; Kumar, H.; Vinko, J.; Dimple; Sharma, V.; Aryan, A.; Castellón, A.; Gabovich, A.; Moskvitin, A.; Ordasi, A.; Pál, A.; Pozanenko, A.; Zhang, B. -B.; Kumar, B.; Svinkin, D.; Saraogi, D.; Vlasenko, D.; Fernández-García, E.; Gorbovskoy, E.; Anupama, G. C.; Misra, K.; Sárneczky, K.; Kriskovics, L.; Castro-Tirado, M. Á.; Caballero-García, M. D.; Tiurina, N.; Balanutsa, P.; Lopez, R. R.; Sánchez-Ramírez, R.; Szakáts, R.; Belkin, S.; Guziy, S.; Iyyani, S.; Tiwari, S. N.; Vadawale, Santosh V.; Sun, T.; Bhalerao, V.; Kornilov, V.; Sokolov, V. V., Multipulsed GRB 190530A, detected by the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope onboard Fermi, is the sixth most fluent GBM burst detected so far. This paper presents the timing, spectral, and polarimetric analysis of the prompt emission observed using AstroSat and Fermi to provide insight into the prompt emission radiation mechanisms. The time-integrated spectrum shows conclusive proof of two breaks due to peak energy and a second lower energy break. Time-integrated (55.43 ± 21.30 per cent) as well as time-resolved polarization measurements, made by the Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) onboard AstroSat, show a hint of high degree of polarization. The presence of a hint of high degree of polarization and the values of low energy spectral index (αpt) do not run over the synchrotron limit for the first two pulses, supporting the synchrotron origin in an ordered magnetic field. However, during the third pulse, αpt exceeds the synchrotron line of death in few bins, and a thermal signature along with the synchrotron component in the time-resolved spectra is observed. Furthermore, we also report the earliest optical observations constraining afterglow polarization using the MASTER (P < 1.3 per cent) and the redshift measurement (z = 0.9386) obtained with the 10.4 m GTC (Gran Telescopio Canarias) telescopes. The broad-band afterglow can be described with a forward shock model for an ISM (interstellar medium)-like medium with a wide jet opening angle. We determine a circumburst density of n0 ∼ 7.41, kinetic energy EK ∼ 7.24 × 1054 erg, and radiated gamma-ray energy Eγ,iso ∼ 6.05 × 1054 erg. © 2022 The Author(s)., RG, DB, SBP, KM, and VB acknowledge BRICS grant DST/IMRCD/BRICS/PilotCall1/ProFCheap/2017(G) for the financial support. This publication uses data from the AstroSat mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), archived at the Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC). CZT-Imager is built by a consortium of institutes across India, including the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru, Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astro-physics, Pune, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, and Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad. This research also has used data obtained through the HEASARC Online Service, provided by the NASA-GSFC, in support of NASA High Energy Astrophysics Programmes. This work is based on data from the OSN Public Archive at IAA (IAA-CSIC) and the CAHA Archive at CAB (INTA-CSIC). The MASTER equipment is supported by Lomonosov MSU Development Programme. VL and VK are supported by RFBR 19-29-11011 grant. The research group of JV is supported by the project ‘Transient Astrophysical Objects’ GINOP 2.3.2-15-2016-00033 of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH), Hungary, funded by the European Union. AA acknowledges funds and assistance provided by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India with file number 09/948(0003)/2020-EMR-I. AP, SB, and PM acknowledge a support of the RSCF grant 18-12-00378. The GROWTH India Telescope (GIT) is a 70 cm telescope with a 0.7 deg field of view, set up by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay with support from the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India (https://sites.google.com/view/growthindia/). It is located at the IAO (Hanle), operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA). MCG acknowledges support from the Ramón y Cajal Fellowship RYC2019-026465-I. YDH acknowledges support under the additional funding from the RYC2019-026465-I. BBZ acknowledges support by the National Key Research and Development Programme of China (2018YFA0404204), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 11833003, U2038105, and 12121003), the science research grants from the China Manned Space Project with NO.CMS-CSST-2021-B11, and the Programme for Innovative Talents, Entrepreneur in Jiangsu. RSM acknowledges support under the CSIC-MURALES project with reference 20215AT009., With funding from the Spanish government through the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation SEV-2017-0709.

The different elemental abundances of the photosphere and the corona are striking features of not only the Sun, but other stars as well. This phenomenon is known as the FIP effect (FIP stands for first ionization potential), and its strength can be characterized by the FIP bias, the logarithmic abundance difference between low- and high-FIP elements in the corona, compared to the photosphere. The FIP bias was shown to depend on the surface temperature of the star. We compiled FIP bias and other parameters for 59 stars for which coronal composition is available, now including evolved stars. Using principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis, we searched for correlations with other astrophysical parameters within the sample which may influence the stellar FIP bias. Adding stars to the $T_{\rm eff}-$FIP bias diagram unveiled new features in its structure. In addition to the previously known relationship, there appears to be a second branch, a parallel sequence about 0.5 dex above it. While the $T_{\rm eff}$ remains the main determinant of the FIP bias, other parameters such as stellar activity indicators also have influence. We find three clusters in the FIP bias determinant parameter space. One distinct group is formed by the evolved stars. Two groups contain main sequence stars in continuation separated roughly by the sign change of the FIP-bias value. The new branch of the $T_{\rm eff}-$FIP bias diagram contains stars with higher activity level, in terms of X-ray flux and rotational velocity. The two main sequence clusters run from the earliest spectral types of A-F with shallow convection zones through G-K-early M stars with gradually deeper convection zones, and end up with the fully convective M dwarf stars, depicting the change of the dynamo type with the internal differences of the main sequence stars in connection with the FIP-bias values., 21 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables, accepted by A&A

Although late-type dwarfs and giant stars are substantially different, their flares are thought to originate in similar physical processes and differ only by a scale factor in the energy levels. We study the validity of this approach. We search for characteristics of flares on active giants, which might be statistically different from those on main-sequence stars. We used nearly 4000 flares of 61 giants and 20 stars of other types that were observed with Kepler in long-cadence mode, which is the only suitable database for this comparative study. For every flare, we derived the duration and energy and gathered stellar parameters. Correlations between the flare characteristics and various stellar parameters were investigated. Strong correlations are found between the flare duration and the surface gravity, luminosity, and radii of the stars. Scaled flare shapes appear to be similar on giants and dwarfs with a 30 min cadence. The logarithmic relation of flare energy and duration is steeper for stars with lower surface gravity. Observed flares are longer and more energetic on giants than on dwarfs on average. The generalized linear scaling for the logarithmic relation of flare energy and duration with a universal theoretical slope of $\approx$1/3 should slightly be modified by introducing a dependence on surface gravity., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, accepted by A&A

To study astrophysical transit phenomena we follow an alternative strategy for getting high-cadence observations of the field. This can be achieved with our new Fly’s Eye Camera System that monitors the entire sky above 30◦ horizontal altitude. With this instrument one can observe all phenomena brighter than ∼ 15m in Sloan r-band (u’, g’,i’ and z’ filters are also available). If we stack together a few hour of images we canobserve ∼ 17 m faint sources. This small-sized instrument is designed for time-domain astronomy with its 150 sec cadence. Due to the hexapod-based motion control, the instrument can be installed anywhere without any modifications, it can accomplish sky tracking automatically. These parallel robots have 6 degrees of freedom (DoF), but since any kind of rotation can be done by using only 3 DoF, the tracking with hexapods is independent from the geographical coordinates. Even polar alignment is not required, because Fly’s Eye can calibrate itself based on its own observed data. The system is optimal for time-domain astronomy: detecting novae, supernovae, optical afterglows of gamma-ray bursts and other bright, fast transients, and, from the observation database such data can be obtained - even from before the discovery of the transient event. In the future when the direction of the gravitational waves will be defined precisely we will be able to detect their first multiwaveband counterparts. In addition the Fly’s Eye will support the “Transient Astrophysical Objects” project which will use two new 80 cm robotic telescopes for follow-up observations of transients.

Historically, FU Orionis-type stars are low-mass, pre-main sequence stars. The members of this class experience powerful accretion outbursts and remain in an enhanced accretion state for decades or centuries. V1515 Cyg, a classical FUor, started brightening in the 1940s and reached its peak brightness in the late 1970s. Following a sudden decrease in brightness it stayed in a minimum state for a few months, then started a brightening for several years. We present results of our ground-based photometric monitoring complemented with optical/NIR spectroscopic monitoring. Our light curves show a long-term fading with strong variability on weekly and monthly time scales. The optical spectra show P Cygni profiles and broad blue-shifted absorption lines, common properties of FUors. However, V1515 Cyg lacks the P Cygni profile in the Ca II 8498 \r{A} line, a part of the Ca infrared triplet (IRT), formed by an outflowing wind, suggesting that the absorbing gas in the wind is optically thin. The newly obtained near-infrared spectrum shows the strengthening of the CO bandhead and the FeH molecular band, indicating that the disk has become cooler since the last spectroscopic observation in 2015. The current luminosity of the accretion disk dropped from the peak value of 138 $L_{\odot}$ to about 45 $L_{\odot}$, suggesting that the long-term fading is also partly caused by the dropping of the accretion rate., Comment: 26 pages, 19 figure, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

V555 Ori is a T Tauri star, whose 1.5 mag brightening was published as a Gaia science alert in 2017. We carried out optical and near-infrared photometric, and optical spectroscopic observations to understand the light variations. The light curves show that V555 Ori was faint before 2017, entered a high state for about a year, and returned to the faint state by mid-2018. In addition to the long-term flux evolution, quasi-periodic brightness oscillations were also evident, with a period of about 5 days. At optical wavelengths both the long-term and short-term variations exhibited colourless changes, while in the near-infrared they were consistent with changing extinction. We explain the brightness variations as the consequence of changing extinction. The object has a low accretion rate whose variation in itself would not be enough to reproduce the optical flux changes. This behaviour makes V555 Ori similar to the pre-main sequence star AA Tau, where the light changes are interpreted as periodic eclipses of the star by a rotating inner disc warp. The brightness maximum of V555 Ori was a moderately obscured ($A_V$=2.3 mag) state, while the extinction in the low state was $A_V$=6.4 mag. We found that while the Gaia alert hinted at an accretion burst, V555 Ori is a standard dipper, similar to the prototype AA Tau. However, unlike in AA Tau, the periodic behaviour was also detectable in the faint phase, implying that the inner disc warp remained stable in both the high and low states of the system., Accepted to MNRAS

We present near-infrared and optical observations of the Type Ic Supernova (SN) 2020oi in the galaxy M100 and the broad-lined Type Ic SN2020bvc in UGC 9379, using Gemini, LCO, SOAR, and other ground-based telescopes. The near-IR spectrum of SN2020oi at day 63 since the explosion shows strong CO emissions and a rising K-band continuum, which is the first unambiguous dust detection from a Type Ic SN. Non-LTE CO modeling shows that CO is still optically thick, and that the lower limit to the CO mass is 0.001 Msun. The dust temperature is 810 K, and the dust mass is ~10^(-5) Msun. We explore the possibilities that the dust is freshly formed in the ejecta, heated dust in the pre-existing circumstellar medium, and an infrared echo. The light curves of SN2020oi are consistent with a STELLA model with canonical explosion energy, 0.07 Msun Ni mass, and 0.7 Msun ejecta mass. A model of high explosion energy of ~10^(52) erg, 0.4 Msun Ni mass, 6.5 Msun ejecta mass with the circumstellar matter, reproduces the double-peaked light curves of SN2020bvc. We observe temporal changes of absorption features of the IR Ca~II triplet, S~I at 1.043 micron, and Fe~II at 5169 Angstrom. The blue-shifted lines indicate high velocities, up to 60,000 km/s for SN2020bvc and 20,000 km/s for SN2020oi, and the expansion velocity rapidly declines before the optical maximum. We present spectral signatures and diagnostics of CO and SiO molecular bands between 1.4 and 10 microns., accepted for the ApJ; data files are available for Figures 1 and 4

We present observations and analysis of PSN J17292918+7542390, a low-luminosity Type II-P supernova (LL SN IIP). The observed sample of such events is still low, and their nature is still under debate. Such supernovae are similar to SN 2005cs, a well-observed low-luminosity Type II-P event, having low expansion velocities, and small ejected $^{56}$Ni mass. We have developed a robust and relatively fast Monte-Carlo code that fits semi-analytic models to light curves of core collapse supernovae. This allows the estimation of the most important physical parameters, like the radius of the progenitor star, the mass of the ejected envelope, the mass of the radioactive nickel synthesized during the explosion, among others. PSN J17292918+7542390 has $R_0 = 91_{-70}^{+119} \cdot 10^{11} \;\text{cm}$, $M_\text{ej} = 9.89_{-1.00}^{+2.10} \; M_{\odot}$, $E_{\mathrm{kin}} = 0.65_{-0.18}^{+0.19} \;\text{foe}$, $v_{\mathrm{exp}} = 3332_{-347}^{+216}$ km s$^{-1}$, for its progenitor radius, ejecta mass, kinetic energy and expansion velocity, respectively. The initial nickel mass of the PSN J17292918+7542390 turned out to be $1.55_{-0.70}^{+0.75} \cdot 10^{-3} M_{\odot}$. The measured photospheric velocity at the earliest observed phase is 7000 km s$^{-1}$. As far as we can tell based on the small population of observed low-luminosity Type II-P supernovae, the determined values are typical for these events., 19 pages, 13 figures

Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. T.P. acknowledges support from NASA under the Swift GI grant 1619152, the Tess GI grant G03267, from the NYU Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, from a 19 Washington Square North Award awarded to M.M, and in part by a grant from the New York University Research Challenge FundProgram. M.M. and the SNYU group have been supported by the NSF CAREER award AST-1352405, by the NSF award AST1413260, and by a Humboldt Faculty Fellowship. M.M. is grateful for her sabbatical stay supported by the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron institute and for the hospitality of the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, during which some of this work was accomplished. K.B. acknowledges financial support from the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad through the Spanish grant BES2014-069767. K.B., C.T. and A.d.U.P. acknowledge support from the Spanish research project AYA2017-89384-P. C.T. acknowledges support from funding associated to a Ramon y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09984. A.d.U.P. acknowledges support from funding associated to a Ramon y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09975. L.I. acknowledges support from funding associated to a Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion fellowship IJCI-2016-30940. D.A.K. acknowledges support from the Spanish research projects AYA 2014-58381-P, AYA201789384-P, from Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion fellowship IJCI-2015-26153, and from Spanish National Project research project RTI2018-098104-J-I00 (GRBPhot). J.V. and his research group at Konkoly Observatory is supported by the "Transient Astrophysical Objects" GINOP 2.3.2-15-2016-00033 project of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH), Hungary, funded by the European Union. K.V. and L.K. thank the financial support from the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH), Hungary, under grants NKFI-K-131508 and NKFI-KH-130526. A.B. and K.V. are supported by the Lendulet program grant LP2018-7/2019 of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. T.N.D. also acknowledges the support of the Hungarian OTKA grant No. 119993. The work of X.W. was funded by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC grants 12033003, 11633002, and 11761141001), the Major State Basic Research Development Program (grant No. 2016YFA0400803), and the Scholar Program of Beijing Academy of Science and Technology (DZ:BS202002). L.G. was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie SklodowskaCurie grant agreement No. 839090. This work has been partially supported by the Spanish grant PGC2018-095317-BC21 within the European Funds for Regional Development (FEDER). R.G.B. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through grant AYA2016-77846-P and from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" award to the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (SEV-2017-0709). These observations made use of the LCO network. D.A.H., C.P., D.H., and J.B. are supported by NSF Grant AST-1911225 and NASA Grant 80NSSC19k1639., In the last decade a number of rapidly evolving transients have been discovered that are not easily explained by traditional supernova models. We present optical and UV data on one such object, SN 2018gep, that displayed a fast rise with a mostly featureless blue continuum around peak, and evolved to develop broad features typical of an SN Ic-bl while retaining significant amounts of blue flux throughout its observations. This blue excess is most evident in its near-UV flux, which is over 4 mag brighter than other stripped-envelope supernovae, and is still visible in optical g-r colors. Its fast rise time of t (rise,V ) = 5.6 +/- 0.5 days puts it squarely in the emerging class of Fast Evolving Luminous Transients, or Fast Blue Optical Transients. With a peak absolute magnitude of M ( v ) = -19.53 +/- 0.23 mag it is on the extreme end of both the rise time and peak magnitude distribution for SNe Ic-bl. These observations are consistent with a simple SN Ic-bl model that has an additional form of energy injection at early times that drives the observed rapid, blue rise. We show that SN 2018gep and the literature SN iPTF16asu have similar photometric and spectroscopic properties and that they overall share many similarities with both SNe Ic-bl and Fast Evolving Transients. Based on our SN 2018gep host galaxy data we derive a number of properties, and we show that the derived host galaxy properties for both SN 2018gep and iPTF16asu are consistent with the SNe Ic-bl and gamma-ray burst/supernova sample while being on the extreme edge of the observed Fast Evolving Transient sample., W.M. Keck Foundation, NASA under the Swift GI grant 1619152, Tess GI grant G03267, NYU Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University Research Challenge FundProgram, National Science Foundation (NSF) NSF - Office of the Director (OD) AST-1352405 National Science Foundation (NSF) AST-1911225 AST-1413260, Humboldt Faculty Fellowship, Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron institute, Spanish Government BES2014-069767 RyC-2012-09975 RyC-2012-09984, Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion fellowship IJCI-2015-26153 IJCI-2016-30940, "Transient Astrophysical Objects" project of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH), Hungary - European Union GINOP 2.3.2-15-2016-00033, National Research, Development & Innovation Office (NRDIO) - Hungary NKFI-K-131508 NKFI-KH-130526, Hungarian Academy of Sciences LP2018-7/2019, Orszagos Tudomanyos Kutatasi Alapprogramok (OTKA) 119993, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 12033003 11633002 11761141001, National Basic Research Program of China 2016YFA0400803, Scholar Program of Beijing Academy of Science and Technology DZ:BS202002, European Commission 839090 PGC2018-095317-BC21, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness AYA2016-77846-P, State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" award SEV-2017-0709, National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) 80NSSC19k1639, 19 Washington Square North Award AYA 2014-58381-P AYA201789384-P RTI2018-098104-J-I00 AYA2017-89384-P

We present the first simultaneous photometric and spectroscopic investigation of a large set of RR Lyrae variables in a globular cluster. The radial-velocity data presented comprise the largest sample of RVs of RR Lyrae stars ever obtained. The target is M3; $BVI_{\mathrm{C}}$ time-series of 111 and $b$ flux data of further 64 RRab stars, and RV data of 79 RR Lyrae stars are published. Blazhko modulation of the light curves of 47 percent of the RRab stars are detected. The mean value of the center-of-mass velocities of RR Lyrae stars is $-146.8$ km s$^{-1}$ with 4.52 km s$^{-1}$ standard deviation, which is in good agreement with the results obtained for the red giants of the cluster. The ${\Phi_{21}}^{\mathrm RV}$ phase difference of the RV curves of RRab stars is found to be uniformly constant both for the M3 and for Galactic field RRab stars; no period or metallicity dependence of the ${\Phi_{21}}^{\mathrm RV}$ is detected. The Baade-Wesselink distances of 26 non-Blazhko variables with the best phase-coverage radial-velocity curves are determined; the corresponding distance of the cluster, $10480\pm210$ pc, agrees with the previous literature information. A quadratic formula for the $A_{\mathrm{puls}}-A_V$ relation of RRab stars is given, which is valid for both OoI and OoII variables. We also show that the $(V-I)_0$ of RRab stars measured at light minimum is period dependent, there is at least 0.1 mag difference between the colours at minimum light of the shortest- and longest-period variables., Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Young, fast rotating single stars can show dramatically different magnetic signatures and levels of magnetic activity as compared with the Sun. While losing angular momentum due to magnetic breaking and mass loss through stellar winds, the stars gradually spin down resulting in decreasing levels of activity. Studying magnetic activity on such solar analogues plays a key role in understanding the evolution of solar-like stars and allows a glimpse into the past of the Sun as well. In order to widen our knowledge of the magnetic evolution of the Sun and solar-like stars, magnetic activity of the young solar analogue V1358 Ori is investigated. Fourier analysis of long-term photometric data is used to derive rotational period and activity cycle length, while spectral synthesis is applied on high resolution spectroscopic data in order to derive precise astrophysical parameters. Doppler imaging is performed to recover surface temperature maps for two subsequent intervals. Cross-correlation of the consecutive Doppler maps is used to derive surface differential rotation. The rotational modulation of the chromospheric activity indicators is also investigated. An activity cycle of $\approx 1600$ days is detected for V1358 Ori. Doppler imaging revealed a surface temperature distribution dominated by a large polar cap with a few weaker features around the equator. This spot configuration is similar to other maps of young solar analogues from the literature, and supports recent model predictions. We detected solar-like surface differential rotation with a surface shear parameter of $\alpha = 0.016 \pm 0.010$ which fits pretty well to our recently proposed empirical relation between rotation and differential rotation. The chromospheric activity indicators showed a rotational modulation., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, A&A accepted

V582 Aur is an FU Ori-type young eruptive star in outburst since $\sim$1985. The eruption is currently in a relatively constant plateau phase, with photometric and spectroscopic variability superimposed. Here we will characterize the progenitor of the outbursting object, explore its environment, and analyse the temporal evolution of the eruption. We are particularly interested in the physical origin of the two deep photometric dips, one occurred in 2012, and one is ongoing since 2016. We collected archival photographic plates, and carried out new optical, infrared, and millimeter wave photometric and spectroscopic observations between 2010 and 2017, with high sampling rate during the current minimum. Beside analysing the color changes during fading, we compiled multiepoch spectral energy distributions, and fitted them with a simple accretion disk model. Based on pre-outburst data and a millimeter continuum measurement, we suggest that the progenitor of the V582 Aur outburst is a low-mass T Tauri star with average properties. The mass of an unresolved circumstellar structure, probably a disk, is 0.04 M$_{\odot}$. The optical and near-infrared spectra demonstrate the presence of hydrogen and metallic lines, show the CO bandhead in absorption, and exhibit a variable H$\alpha$ profile. The color variations strongly indicate that both the $\sim$1 year long brightness dip in 2012, and the current minimum since 2016 are caused by increased extinction along the line of sight. According to our accretion disk models, the reddening changed from $A_V$=4.5 mag to 12.5 mag, while the accretion rate remained practically constant. Similarly to the models of the UXor phenomenon of intermediate and low-mass young stars, orbiting disk structures could be responsible for the eclipses., Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The nearby SN 2017eaw is a Type II-P (``plateau') supernova showing early-time, moderate CSM interaction. We present a comprehensive study of this SN including the analysis of high-quality optical photometry and spectroscopy covering the very early epochs up to the nebular phase, as well as near-UV and near-infrared spectra, and early-time X-ray and radio data. The combined data of SNe 2017eaw and 2004et allow us to get an improved distance to the host galaxy, NGC 6946, as $D \sim 6.85$ $\pm 0.63$ Mpc; this fits in recent independent results on the distance of the host and disfavors the previously derived (30% shorter) distances based on SN 2004et. From modeling the nebular spectra and the quasi-bolometric light curve, we estimate the progenitor mass and some basic physical parameters for the explosion and the ejecta. Our results agree well with previous reports on a RSG progenitor star with a mass of $\sim15-16$ M$_\odot$. Our estimation on the pre-explosion mass-loss rate ($\dot{M} \sim3 \times 10^{-7} -$ $1\times 10^{-6} M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$) agrees well with previous results based on the opacity of the dust shell enshrouding the progenitor, but it is orders of magnitude lower than previous estimates based on general light-curve modeling of Type II-P SNe. Combining late-time optical and mid-infrared data, a clear excess at 4.5 $\mu$m can be seen, supporting the previous statements on the (moderate) dust formation in the vicinity of SN 2017eaw., Comment: 34 pages, 19 figures, 7 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ

HBC 722 (V2493 Cyg) is a young eruptive star in outburst since 2010. It is an FU Orionis-type object with an atypically low outburst luminosity. Because it was well characterized in the pre-outburst phase, HBC 722 is one of the few FUors where we can learn about the physical changes and processes associated with the eruption. We monitored the source in the BVRIJHKs bands from the ground, and at 3.6 and 4.5 $\mu$m from space with the Spitzer Space Telescope. We analyzed the light curves and the spectral energy distribution by fitting a series of steady accretion disk models at many epochs. We also analyzed the spectral properties of the source based on new optical and infrared spectra. We also mapped HBC 722 and its surroundings at millimeter wavelengths. From the light curve analysis we concluded that the first peak of the outburst in 2010 September was due to an abrupt increase of the accretion rate in the innermost part of the system. This was followed by a long term process, when the brightening was mainly due to a gradual increase of the accretion rate and the emitting area. Our new observations show that the source is currently in a constant plateau phase. We found that around the peak the continuum was bluer and the H$\alpha$ profile changed significantly between 2012 and 2013. The source was not detected in the millimeter continuum, but we discovered a flattened molecular gas structure with a diameter of 1700 au and mass of 0.3 M$_{\odot}$ centered on HBC 722. While the first brightness peak could be interpreted as a rapid fall of piled-up material from the inner disk onto the star, the later monotonic flux rise suggests the outward expansion of a hot component according to the theory of Bell & Lin (1994). Our study of HBC 722 demonstrated that accretion-related outbursts can occur in young stellar objects even with very low mass disks, in the late Class II phase., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 online tables. Accepted for publication in the A&A

DM Cyg, a fundamental mode RRab star was observed in the 2007 and 2008 seasons in the frame of the Konkoly Blazhko Survey. Very small amplitude light curve modulation was detected with 10.57 d modulation period. The maximum brightness and phase variations do not exceed 0.07 mag and 7 min, respectively. In spite of the very small amplitude of the modulation, beside the frequency triplets characterizing the Fourier spectrum of the light curve two quintuplet components were also identified. The accuracy and the good phase coverage of our observations made it possible to analyse the light curves at different phases of the modulation separately. Utilizing the IP method (S\'odor, Jurcsik and Szeidl, 2009) we could detect very small systematic changes in the global mean physical parameters of DM Cyg during its Blazhko cycle. The detected changes are similar to what we have already found for a large modulation amplitude Blazhko variable MW Lyrae. The amplitudes of the detected changes in the physical parameters of DM Cyg are only about 10% of that what have been found in MW Lyr. This is in accordance with its small modulation amplitude being about one tenth of the modulation amplitude of MW Lyr., Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. Table 1 is available electronically eg., from our website: http://www.konkoly.hu/24/publications/. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present the first Doppler imaging study of the two rapidly rotating, single K-giants DP CVn and DI Psc in order to study the surface spot configuration and to pinpoint their stellar evolutionary status. Optical spectroscopy and photometry are used to determine the fundamental astrophysical properties. Doppler imaging is applied to recover the surface temperature distribution for both stars, while photometric light-curve inversions are carried out for studying the long-term changes of the surface activity of DP CVn. Surface differential rotation of DP CVn is estimated from cross-correlating the available subsequent Doppler reconstructions separated by roughly one rotation period. Both stars appear to have higher than normal lithium abundance, LTE log n of 2.28 (DP CVn) and 2.20 (DI Psc), and are supposed to be located at the end of the first Li dredge-up on the RGB. Photometric observations reveal rotational modulation with a period of 14.010 d (DP CVn) and 18.066 d (DI Psc). Doppler reconstructions from the available mapping lines well agree in the revealed spot patterns, recovering rather low latitude spots for both stars with temperature contrasts of Delta T ~ 600-800 K below the unspotted photospheric background. Spots at higher latitudes are also found but either with less contrast (DP CVn) or with smaller extent (DI Psc). A preliminary antisolar-type differential rotation with alpha=-0.035 is found for DP CVn from cross-correlating the subsequent Doppler images. Long-term photometric analysis supports the existence of active longitudes, as well as the differential rotation., Comment: accepted for publication in A&A

Context. Surface differential rotation and other global surface flows on magnetically active stars are among the observable manifestations of the stellar dynamo working underneath. Therefore, such observations are important for stellar dynamo theory and useful constraints for solar dynamo studies as well. Aims. The active K1-giant component of the long-period RS CVn-type binary system sigma Gem and its global surface flow pattern is revisited. Methods. We refine the differential rotation law from recovering the spot migration pattern. We apply a detailed cross-correlation technique to a unique set of 34 time-series Doppler images recovered using data from 1996/97. By increasing the number of the available cross-correlation function maps from the formerly used 4 to 17 we expect a more robust determination of the differential surface rotation law. In addition, we present a new time-series Doppler imaging study of sigma Gem using our advanced surface reconstruction code iMap for a dataset collected in 2006/07. Results. Results from the reprocessed cross-correlation study confirm that the star performs antisolar-type differential rotation with a surface shear alpha of -0.04 +/- 0.01, i.e., almost a factor of two stronger compared to the previously claimed value. We also confirm the evidence of a global poleward spot migration with an average velocity of 0.21 +/- 0.03 km/s, in accordance with theoretical predictions. From the new observations we obtain three subsequent Doppler images. The time evolution of these images confirms the antisolar-type differential rotation of the same amount., 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Aims. We investigate the temporal spot evolution of the K-giant component in the RS CVn-type binary system ζ Andromedae to establish its surface differential rotation. Methods. Doppler imaging was used to study three slightly overlapping spectroscopic datasets, which were obtained independently at three different observing sites. Each dataset covers one full stellar rotation with good phase coverage, which results in a continuous coverage of almost three stellar rotations (P rot = 17.8 d). Therefore, these data are well-suited for reconstructing surface temperature maps and studying temporal evolution in spot configurations. Surface differential rotation was measured by the means of cross-correlation of all possible image pairs. Results. The individual Doppler reconstructions agree well in the revealed spot pattern, recovering numerous low-latitude spots with temperature contrasts of up to ≈ 1000 K with respect to the unspotted photosphere, and also an asymmetric polar cap that is diminishing with time. Our detailed cross-correlation study consistently indicates solar-type differential rotation with an average surface shear α ≈ 0.055, in agreement with former results.

Armstrong, P., et al., SN 2017jgh is a type IIb supernova discovered by Pan-STARRS during the C16/C17 campaigns of the Kepler/K2 mission. Here, we present the Kepler/K2 and ground based observations of SN 2017jgh, which captured the shock cooling of the progenitor shock breakout with an unprecedented cadence. This event presents a unique opportunity to investigate the progenitors of stripped envelope supernovae. By fitting analytical models to the SN 2017jgh light curve, we find that the progenitor of SN 2017jgh was likely a yellow supergiant with an envelope radius of ∼ 50-290R⊙, and an envelope mass of ∼ 0-1.7M⊙. SN 2017jgh likely had a shock velocity of ∼7500-10 300 km s-1. Additionally, we use the light curve of SN 2017jgh to investigate how early observations of the rise contribute to constraints on progenitor models. Fitting just the ground based observations, we find an envelope radius of ∼ 50-330R⊙, an envelope mass of ∼ 0.3-1.7M⊙ and a shock velocity of ∼9000-15 000 km s-1. Without the rise, the explosion time cannot be well constrained that leads to a systematic offset in the velocity parameter and larger uncertainties in the mass and radius. Therefore, it is likely that progenitor property estimates through these models may have larger systematic uncertainties than previously calculated., BET and his group were supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013. The UCSC transient team is supported in part by NASA/K2 grants 80NSSC18K0303 and 80NSSC19K0113, the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and by a fellowship from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to RJF. DOJ acknowledges support provided by NASA Hubble Fellowship grant HST-HF2-51462.001, which is awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS5-26555. IA is a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar in the Gravity and the Extreme Universe Program and acknowledges support from that program, from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement number 852097), from the Israel Science Foundation (grant number 2752/19), from the United States - Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), and from the Israeli Council for Higher Education Alon Fellowship. MRD acknowledges support from the NSERC through grant RGPIN-2019-06186, the Canada Research Chairs Program, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), and the Dunlap Institute at the University of Toronto. DAC acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant DGE1339067. This project has been supported by the LP2018-7 Lendület grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. LG acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) under the 2019 Ramón y Cajal program RYC2019-027683 and from the Spanish MICIU project PID2020-115253GA-I00. BJS is supported by NASA grant 80NSSC19K1717 and NSF grants AST-1920392 and AST-1911074. Support for TWSH was provided by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant HST-HF2-51458.001-A awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS5-26555. Research by SV is supported by NSF grants AST-1813176 and AST-2008108. LK acknowledges the financial support of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office grant NKFIH PD-134784. LK and ZsB are supported by the Jànos Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The Konkoly team has been supported by the project ‘Transient Astrophysical Objects’ GINOP 2.3.2-15-2016-00033 of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH), Hungary, funded by the European Union. SWJ acknowledges support from US National Science Foundation award AST-1615455. This research has made use of the SVO Filter Profile Service (http://svo2.cab.inta-csic.es/theory/fps/) supported from the Spanish MINECO through grant AYA2017-84089. The LCO team is supported by NASA grant 80NSSC19K0119 and NSF grants AST-1911225 and AST-1911151.