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We report on the results of a multiwavelength monitoring campaign of the bright, nearby Seyfert galaxy, Ark 120 using a ~50-day observing programme with Swift and a ~4-month co-ordinated ground-based observing campaign, predominantly using the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network. We find Ark 120 to be variable at all optical, UV, and X-ray wavelengths, with the variability observed to be well-correlated between wavelength bands on short timescales. We perform cross-correlation analysis across all available wavelength bands, detecting time delays between emission in the X-ray band and the Swift V, B and UVW1 bands. In each case, we find that the longer-wavelength emission is delayed with respect to the shorter-wavelength emission. Within our measurement uncertainties, the time delays are consistent with the \tau ~ \lambda^{4/3} relation, as predicted by a disc reprocessing scenario. The measured lag centroids are \tau_{cent} = 11.90 +/- 7.33, 10.80 +/- 4.08, and 10.60 +/- 2.87 days between the X-ray and V, B, and UVW1 bands, respectively. These time delays are longer than those expected from standard accretion theory and, as such, Ark 120 may be another example of an active galaxy whose accretion disc appears to exist on a larger scale than predicted by the standard thin-disc model. Additionally, we detect further inter-band time delays: most notably between the ground-based I and B bands (\tau_{cent} = 3.46 +/- 0.86 days), and between both the Swift XRT and UVW1 bands and the I band (\tau_{cent} = 12.34 +/- 4.83 and 2.69 +/- 2.05 days, respectively), highlighting the importance of co-ordinated ground-based optical observations., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report on the 323 hours of nearly uninterrupted time series photometric observations of the DBV star GD 358 acquired with the Whole Earth Telescope (WET) during May 23 to June 8, 2000. We acquired more than 232 000 independent measurements and detected the non-radial g-modes consistent with degree ℓ = 1 and radial order 8 to 20 and their linear combinations up to 6th order. We also detect, for the first time, a high amplitude ℓ = 2 mode, with a period of 796 s. In the 2000 WET data, the largest amplitude modes are similar to those detected with the WET observations of 1990 and 1994, but the highest combination order previously detected was 4th order.

The white dwarfs are promising laboratories for the study of cosmochronology and stellar evolution. Through observations of the pulsating white dwarfs, we can measure their internal structures and compositions, critical to understanding post-main-sequence evolution, along with their cooling rates, which will allow us to calibrate their ages directly. The most important set of white dwarf variables to measure are the oldest of the pulsators, the cool DA variables (DAVs), which have not been explored previously through asteroseismology due to their complexity and instability. Through a time-series photometry data set spanning 10 yr, we explore the pulsation spectrum of the cool DAV, G29-38 and find an underlying structure of 19 (not including multiplet components) normal-mode, probably l=1 pulsations amidst an abundance of time variability and linear combination modes. Modeling results are incomplete, but we suggest possible starting directions and discuss probable values for the stellar mass and hydrogen layer size. For the first time, we have made sense out of the complicated power spectra of a large-amplitude DA pulsator. We have shown that its seemingly erratic set of observed frequencies can be understood in terms of a recurring set of normal-mode pulsations and their linear combinations. With this result, we have opened the interior secrets of the DAVs to future asteroseismological modeling, thereby joining the rest of the known white dwarf pulsators.

We present CCD photometric results for the dust comae of the dynamically new Comet Shoemaker–Levy 1991a1, carried out at heliocentric distances from 1.2 to 0.8 AU pre-perihelion, and the high-eccentricity, long-period Comet McNaught–Russell 1993v obtained at a heliocentric distance close to 1.0 AU post-perihelion. Maps of the directional distribution of the dust emission rate from these cometary nuclei were obtained using the directional deconvolution method (Waniak 1994, Icarus 111, 237–245). For Comet Shoemaker–Levy the prominent region of enhanced dust production was situated between the solar terminator and the nucleocentric meridian opposite the subsolar point. Activity in this region on the night side of the nucleus may be explained both by the heating of the nucleus' surface by scattered visible and reemitted infrared radiation, which is produced by the dust coma, or by non-solar radiation sources of energy, such as chemical reactions or phase transitions. During the period of observations the dust emission rate for this region decreased in comparison with that of another region of enhanced dust production situated on the subsolar hemisphere. For Comet McNaught–Russell two active regions were also visible, although the subsolar region was much more active than that on the night side of the nucleus. For both comets, dust was emitted from the entire surface of the nucleus at a level no lower than 30% of the maximum value for the active regions. The total (integrated over a 4π solid angle) dust emission rate for Comet Shoemaker–Levy changed as r −2.3 h for the observed range of heliocentric distance r h . For both comets, the ejection velocity of submicron dust particles was of the order of 0.1 km sec −1 and the power-law size distribution of dust particles ( a − n ) had a mean value of exponent n equal to 2.9. The power-law dependence of the ejection velocity upon the β parameter ( v ∼ β k ) was specified by a mean value of k close to 0.18.

We present the current status of the ongoing search for B-type pulsators in the double cluster h and χ Persei.

Since pulsating subdwarf B (sdBV or EC14026) stars were first discovered (Kilkenny et al, 1997), observational efforts have tried to realize their potential for constraining the interior physics of extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars. Difficulties encountered along the way include uncertain mode identifications and a lack of stable pulsation mode properties. Here we report on Feige 48, an sdBV star for which follow-up observations have been obtained spanning more than four years, which shows some stable pulsation modes. We resolve the temporal spectrum into five stable pulsation periods in the range 340 to 380 seconds with amplitudes less than 1%, and two additional periods that appear in one dataset each. The three largest amplitude periodicities are nearly equally spaced, and we explore the consequences of identifying them as a rotationally split l=1 triplet by consulting with a representative stellar model. The general stability of the pulsation amplitudes and phases allows us to use the pulsation phases to constrain the timescale of evolution for this sdBV star. Additionally, we are able to place interesting limits on any stellar or planetary companion to Feige 48., accepted for publication in MNRAS