We present results of a long-baseline interferometry campaign using the PAVO beam combiner at the CHARA Array to measure the angular sizes of five main-sequence stars, one subgiant and four red giant stars for which solar-like oscillations have been detected by either Kepler or CoRoT. By combining interferometric angular diameters, Hipparcos

Recent studies have shown that at low metallicities Doppler-detected planet-hosting stars tend to have high α-content and to belong to the thick disk. We used the reconnaissance spectra of 87 Kepler planet candidates and data available from the HARPS planet search survey to explore this phenomenon. Using the traditional spectroscopic abundance

We compare calculated intensities of lines of C II, N I, N II, O I and O II with a published deep spectroscopic survey of IC 418. Our calculations use a self-consistent nebular model and a synthetic spectrum of the central star atmosphere to take into account line excitation by continuum fluorescence and electron recombination. We found that the N

Context. Recent studies have argued that galaxy mergers are not important drivers for the evolution of S0's, on the basis that mergers cannot preserve the coupling between the bulge and disk scale-lengths observed in these galaxies and the lack of correlation of their ratio with the S0 Hubble type. However, about 70% of present-day S0's reside in

We present the analysis of photometric and spectroscopic data of two bright Galactic Cepheids, X Puppis and XX Sagittarii. Based on the available data in the literature as well as our own observations spanning 75 years, we conclude that both Cepheids belong to spectroscopic binary systems. However, the data are not sufficient to determine the