Swift has been monitoring the accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J17498-2921 since the start of its outburst in 2011 August 12 (ATels #3551, #3555, #3556). We detected two X-ray bursts on Aug. 18 and 28. During the first ~12 days the average persistent XRT count rate remained approximately constant at 3-7 c/s. Around Aug. 24 the source count rate

An X-ray burst from the direction of the neutron star (NS) transient and thermonuclear burster KS 1741-293 triggered the Swift-BAT on 2011-09-01 at 12:07:22 UTC. The burst was detected only in the 15-25 keV band, lasted for about 10s, had a peak flux of (9.0+/-2.5)e-9 ergs/cm^2/s and an integrated fluence of (5.5+/-1.2)e-8 erg/cm^2 (both in the 15

Aims: We carried out high-resolution spectroscopy and BV(I)C photometric monitoring of the two fastest late-type rotators in the nearby β Pictoris moving group, HD 199143 (F7V) and CD-64°1208 (K7V). The motivation for this work is to investigate the rotation periods and photospheric spot patterns of these very young stars, with a longer term view

To understand the formation and evolution of solar-type stars and planets in the solar neighborhood, we need to obtain their stellar parameters with high precision. We present a catalog of precise stellar parameters for low-activity FGK single stars in a volume-limited sample followed by the HARPS spectrograph in the quest to identify extra-solar

Liquid-crystal variable retarders (LCVRs) are an emergent technology for space-based polarimeters, following its success as polarization modulators in ground-based polarimeters and ellipsometers. Wide-field double nematic LCVRs address the high angular sensitivity of nematic LCVRs at some voltage regimes. We present a work in which wide-field LCVRs

Context. The formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies is relatively difficult to understand because of their faint emission in all regimes that require large aperture telescopes. Aims: We intend to study the evolution of star-forming dwarf galaxies in clusters. We selected Fornax and Hydra clusters to complement our previous study of Virgo. On the