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Transit events of extrasolar planets offer a wealth of information for planetary characterization. However, for many known targets, the uncertainty of their predicted transit windows prohibits an accurate scheduling of follow-up observations. In this work, we refine the ephemerides of 21 hot Jupiter exoplanets with the largest timing uncertainties. We collected 120 professional and amateur transit light curves of the targets of interest, observed with a range of telescopes of 0.3 m–2.2 m, and analyzed them along with the timing information of the planets discovery papers. In the case of WASP-117b, we measured a timing deviation compared to the known ephemeris of about 3.5 h, and for HAT-P-29b and HAT-P-31b the deviation amounted to about 2 h and more. For all targets, the new ephemeris predicts transit timings with uncertainties of less than 6 min in the year 2018 and less than 13 min until 2025. Thus, our results allow for an accurate scheduling of follow-up observations in the next decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multicolour broad-band transit observations offer the opportunity to characterize the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet with small- to medium-sized telescopes. One of the most favourable targets is the hot Jupiter HAT-P-32 b. We combined 21 new transit observations of this planet with 36 previously published light curves for a homogeneous analysis of the broad-band transmission spectrum from the Sloan u′ band to the Sloan z′ band. Our results rule out cloud-free planetary atmosphere models of solar metallicity. Furthermore, a discrepancy at reddest wavelengths to previously published results makes a recent tentative detection of a scattering feature less likely. Instead, the available spectral measurements of HAT-P-32 b favour a completely flat spectrum from the near-UV to the near-IR. A plausible interpretation is a thick cloud cover at high altitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eclipsing polar CSS081231:071126+440405 turned bright ( Vmax ∼ 14.5) in late 2008 and was subsequently observed intensively with small and medium-sized telescopes. A homogeneous analysis of this comprehensive dataset comprising 109 eclipse epochs is presented and a linear ephemeris covering the five years of observations, about 24000 orbital cycles, is derived. Formally this sets rather tight constraints on the mass of a hypothetical circumbinary planet, Mpl ≤ 2 MJup. This preliminary result needs consolidation by long-term monitoring of the source. The eclipse lasts 433.08 ± 0.65 s, and the orbital inclination is found to be i = 79.3°-83.7°. The centre of the bright phase displays accretion-rate dependent azimuthal shifts. No accretion geometry is found that explains all observational constraints, suggesting a complex accretion geometry with possible pole switches and a likely non-dipolar field geometry. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present continuous and time-resolved R = 55 000 optical échelle spectroscopy of ε Aurigae from 2006-2013. Data were taken with the STELLA Echelle Spectrograph of the robotic STELLA facility at the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife. Contemporaneous photometry with the Automatic Photoelectric Telescopes at Fairborn Observatory in Arizona is presented for the years 1996-2013. Spectroscopic observations started three years prior to the photometric eclipse and are still ongoing. A total of 474 high-resolution échelle spectra are analyzed and made available in this paper. We identify 368 absorption lines of which 161 lines show the characteristic sharp disk lines during eclipse. Another 207 spectral lines appeared nearly unaffected by the eclipse. From spectrum synthesis, we obtained the supergiant atmospheric parameters Teff = 7395 ± 70 K, log g ≈ 1, and [Fe/H] = +0.02 ± 0.2 with ξt = 9 km s-1, ζRT = 13 km s-1, and v sin i = 28 ± 3 km s-1. The residual average line broadening expressed in km s-1 varies with a period of 62.6 ± 0.7 d, in particular at egress and after the eclipse. Two-dimensional line-profile periodograms show several periods, the strongest with ≈110 d evident in optically thin lines as well as in the Balmer lines. Center-of-intensity weighted radial velocities of individual spectral lines also show the 110-d period but, again, additional shorter and longer periods are evident and are different in the Balmer lines. The two main spectroscopic H α periods, ≈ 116 d from the line core and ≈ 150 d from the center-of-intensity radial velocities, appear at 102 d and 139 d in the photometry. The H β and Johnson V I photometry on the other hand shows two well-defined and phase-coherent periods of 77 d and 132 d. We conclude that H α is contaminated by changes in the circumstellar environment while the H β and V I photometry stems predominantly from the non radial pulsations of the F0 supergiant. We isolate the disk-rotation profile from 61 absorption lines and found that low disk eccentricity generally relates to low disk rotational velocity (but not always) while high disk eccentricity always relates to high velocity. There is also the general trend that the disk-absorption in spectral lines with higher excitation potential comes from disk regions with higher eccentricity and thus also with higher rotational velocity. The dependency on transition probability is more complex and shows a bi-modal trend. The outskirts of the disk is distributed asymmetrically around the disk and appears to have been built up mostly in a tail along the orbit behind the secondary. Our data show that this tail continues to eclipse the F0 Iab primary star even two years after the end of the photometric eclipse. High-resolution spectra were also taken of the other, bona-fide, visual-binary components of ε Aur (ADS 3605BCDE). Only the C-component, a K3-4-giant, appears at the same distance than ε Aur but its radial velocity is in disagreement with a bound orbit. The other components are a nearby (≈ 7 pc) cool DA white dwarf, a G8 dwarf, and a B9 supergiant, and not related to ε Aur. The cool white dwarf shows strong DIB lines that suggest the existence of a debris disk around this star. (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present and analyze long-term optical photometric measurements of the three active stars V2253 Oph, IT Com and IS Vir. All three systems are single-lined spectroscopic binaries with an early K giant as primary component but in different stages of orbital-rotational synchronization. Our photometry is supplemented by 2MASS and WISE near-IR and mid-IR magnitudes and then used to obtain more accurate effective temperatures and extinctions. For V2253 Oph and IT Com, we found their spectral energy distributions consistent with pure photospheric emission. For IS Vir, we detect a marginal mid-IR excess which hints towards a dust disk. The orbital and rotational planes of IT Com appear tobe coplanar, contrary to previous findings in the literature. We apply a multiple frequency analysis technique to determine photometric periods, and possibly changes of periods, ranging from days to decades. New rotational periods of 21.55±0.03 d, 65.1±0.3 d, and 23.50±0.04 d were determined for V2253 Oph, IT Com, and IS Vir, respectively. Splitting of these periods led to tentative detections of differential surface rotations of δP/P ≈ 0.02 for V2253 Oph and 0.07 for IT Com. Using a time-frequency technique based on short-term Fourier transforms we present evidence of cyclic light variations of length ≈ 10 yr for V2253 Oph and 5-6 yr for IS Vir. A single flip-flop event has been observed for IT Com of duration 2-3 yr. Its exchange of the dominant active longitude had happened close to a time of periastron passage, suggesting some response of the magnetic activity from the orbital dynamics. The 21.55-d rotational modulation of V2253 Oph showed phase coherence also with the orbital period, which is 15 times longer than the rotational period, thus also indicating a tidal feedback with the stellar magnetic activity. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We undertook two time-series photometric multisite campaigns for the rapidly oscillating Ap star HD 122970. The first one, conducted in 1998, resulted in 119 h of data and in the detection of three pulsation frequencies. The presence of possible further modes which held the promise of deriving a mode identification motivated a second worldwide campaign in the year 2001. This second campaign resulted in 203 h of measurement, but did not reveal further modes. Rather, one of the previously detected signals disappeared. The two modes common to both data sets have different spherical degree. They also showed slight frequency modulation, and one of them varied in amplitude as well. Possible causes of the latter behaviour include intrinsic instability of the pulsation spectrum or precession of the pulsational axis and orbital motion in a binary system. Frequency analysis of the Hipparcos observations of the star did not allow us to determine the stellar rotation period. The amplitude and phase behaviour of the two modes of HD 122970 in the Strömgren uvby bands is quite similar to that observed for other roAp stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]