For optical fiber spectrum of LAMOST, the requirement for magnitude difference between neighbor fibers is less than 5 magnitudes to avoid faint sources being contaminated by their bright neighbors. However, sometime, neither bright nor faint sources are dense enough to fill a whole plate (4000 fibers). To make full use of all the fibers, they have better be put into the same plate. To resolve crosstalk, we propose that photons fed into a fiber can be degraded by offsetting the fiber from disc center of the bright star. Thus the bright and faint sources can be observed in the same plate without crosstalk contamination. We test the feasibility of the program with the test observation of LAMOST, and the results show that our program is consistent with the expectation.

The Vista Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) ESO Public Survey is an ongoing time-series, near-infrared (IR) survey of the Galactic bulge and an adjacent portion of the inner disk, covering 562 square degrees of the sky, using ESO's VISTA telescope. The survey has provided superb multi-color photometry in 5 broadband filters (Z, Y, J, H, and Ks), leading to the best map of the inner Milky Way ever obtained, particularly in the near-IR. The main part of the survey, which is focused on the variability in the Ks-band, is currently underway, with bulge fields observed between 34 and 73 times, and disk fields between 34 and 36 times. When the survey is complete, bulge (disk) fields will have been observed up to a total of 100 (60) times, providing unprecedented depth and time coverage in the near-IR. Here we provide a first overview of stellar variability in the VVV data.

The presence of pulsations influences the local parameters at the surface of massive stars and thus it modifies the Zeeman magnetic signatures. Therefore it makes the characterisation of a magnetic field in pulsating stars more difficult and the characterisation of pulsations is thus required for the study of magnetic massive stars. Conversely, the presence of a magnetic field can inhibit differential rotation and mixing in massive stars and thus provides important constraints for seismic modelling based on pulsation studies. As a consequence, it is necessary to combine spectropolarimetric and seismic studies for all massive classical pulsators. Below we show examples of such combined studies and the interplay between physical processes.

AX J1745.6–2901 and GRS 1741–2853 are two transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries that are located within ≃ 10′ from the Galactic center. Multi-year monitoring observations with the Swift/XRT has exposed several accretion outbursts from these objects. We report on their updated X-ray light curves and renewed activity that occurred in 2010–2013.

Current knowledge about stellar magnetic fields relies almost entirely on circular polarization observations, with very few objects having been observed in all four Stokes parameters. We are investigating a sample of Ap stars in all four Stokes parameters using the HARPSpol instrument at the 3.6-m ESO telescope. In the context of this project we recently observed the magnetic Ap star HD 24712 (DO Eri, HR 1217). The resulting spectra have dense phase coverage, resolving power > 105, and S/N ratio of 300–600. These are the highest quality full Stokes observations obtained for any star other than the Sun. Furthermore, we have achieved good phase coverage for HD 125248 and HD 119419. Typical four Stokes parameters HARPSpol spectra are shown in Fig. 1. An analysis of the full Stokes vector spectropolarimetric data set of HD 24712 has been published in Rusomarov et al. (2013).

The abundance ratio [α/Fe] is a useful tracer to probe the history of star formation and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. We present a statistical analysis of [α/Fe] in 953 dwarf stars to investigate the distributions of [α/Fe] in the the thin- and thick-disk stars.

Hot B subdwarfs (sdB) are hot and compact helium core burning stars of nearly half a solar mass that can develop pulsational instabilities driving acoustic and/or gravity modes. These evolved stars are expected to be chemically stratified with an almost pure hydrogen envelope surrounding a helium mantle on top of a carbon/oxygen enriched core. However, the sdB stars pulsating in g-modes show regularities in their observed period distributions that, surprisingly (at first sight), are typical of the behavior of high order g-modes in chemically homogeneous (i.e., non-stratified) stars. This led to a claim that hot B subdwarfs could be much less chemically stratified than previously thought. Here, we reinvestigate trapping effects affecting g-modes in sdB stars. We show that standard stratified models of such stars can also produce nearly constant period spacings in the low frequency range similar to those found in g-mode spectra of sdB stars monitored with Kepler.

We report the preliminary results for the detection of H2 and [Fe II] line features around the Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) from the UWISH2 and UWIFE surveys that cover the first galactic quadrant of 7°<l<65° and |b|<1.3°. By this time, we have found a total of 17 H2-emitting and 14 [Fe II]-emitting SNRs in the coverage, and more than a half of them are detected in both H2 and [Fe II] emissions, which implies that the environment of these SNRs might be complex and composed of multi-phase medium. In this paper, we present our identification strategy and some preliminary results including H2 and [Fe II] luminosity distributions.

We observed an area of sky located within the SDSS Stripe 82 field at 1.6 GHz with the European VLBI Network (EVN). There are fifteen mJy/sub-mJy radio sources within the primary beam of a typical 30-m class EVN radio telescope. Our aim was to obtain information on compact radio structures of all VLBI-detectable sources within this primary beam area. The source of particular interest is the recently identified radio quasar J222843.54+011032.2 (J2228+0110) at z = 5.95. The data correlation was performed at the EVN software correlator at JIVE (SFXC). Three targets (J2228+0110, J222851.45+011203.4, J222941.76+011428.5) were detected, all three with position offsets not exceeding the 3σ accuracy of the original low-resolution radio surveys. The detection rate of 20% is consistent with other wide-field VLBI experiments carried out recently (e.g. Middelberg et al. 2013). The project presented here demonstrates the ability of EVN in multiple-phase-centre experiments and paves the way for future large-scale EVN surveys of compact structures in extragalactic radio sources using the multiple-phase-centre VLBI technique.

Shaped by strong mass loss, rapid rotation, and/or the presence of a close companion, the circumstellar environment around the most massive stars is complex and anything but spherical. Here we provide a brief overview of the high spatial resolution observations of Eta Carinae performed with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Special emphasis is given to discuss VLTI/AMBER and VLTI/VINCI observations, which directly resolve spatial scales comparable to those where mass loss originates. Studying scales as small as a few milli-arcseconds allows us to investigate kinematical effects of rotation and binarity in more detail than ever before.

The development of new AGNs selection techniques based on the massive multi-wavelength datasets that are becoming more and more frequent in astronomy is a crucial task to gather statistically significant samples and shed light on the physical nature of this diverse class of extragalactic sources. Novel characterizations of specific classes of sources from unexplored region of their spectrum and unusual combinations of the observational parameters can translate into new classification criteria. In this innovative data environment, the whole process ranging from the discovery of new patterns to the application of such patters to the selection of new AGNs, has to be tackled using a Knowledge Discovery (KD) workflow. A KD workflows is a combination of different KD methods that automatically extract the more interesting patters from data, reduce the complexity of the dataset and provide astronomers with the simplest possible amount of information to be interpreted. In this talk, I will describe an original KD workflow which, in one of its first applications, has led to the discovery of a previously unknown peculiar pattern followed by blazars in the mid-Infrared color space (the blazars WISE locus), and the development of a new classification criterion based on this pattern and useful to tackle different problems. The comprehensive KD workflow used to derive these results encompasses unsupervised methods for the exploration of the multi-dimensional observable spaces, and supervised method for the training and optimization of classifiers based on the patterns determined in the observable spaces. In particular, I will describe the new methods for the association of unidentified gamma-ray sources and the extraction of candidate blazars from mid-Infrared photometric catalog based on the WISE blazars locus.

Standard models of low-mass core helium burning stars typically give an asymptotic l=1 g-mode period spacing well below that inferred from observed mixed modes. We find that most physical uncertainties, such as mixing beyond the fully convective core, are not significant enough to be responsible for such a discrepancy. The solution to the problem may lie in a deviation of structure away from its canonical form, such as a more massive H-exhausted core, which we briefly explore here.

Massive evolved stars contribute to the chemical enrichment of the Galaxy. When they die as supernova but also through their mass loss during the several thousands of years of their red supergiant (RSG) phase. Unfortunately the mass loss mechanism remains poorly understood. Detailed study of the CSE and photosphere of nearby RSGs is required to constrain this scenario.

Betelgeuse is the closest RSG (197 pc) and therefore has a large apparent diameter (~ 42 mas) which makes it a very interesting target. For several years, our team has lead a multi-wavelength and multi-scale observing program to characterize its mass loss. We will review here our recent results in near-infrared interferometry.

Using three-dimensional, moving-mesh simulations, we investigate the future evolution of the recently discovered gas cloud G2 traveling through the galactic center. From our simulations we expect an average feeding rate onto Sgr A* in the range of (5−19) × 10−8M⊙ yr−1 beginning in 2014. This accretion varies by less than a factor of three on timescales ∼ 1 month, and shows no more than a factor of 10 difference between the maximum and minimum observed rates within any given model. These rates are comparable to the current estimated accretion rate in the immediate vicinity of Sgr A*, although they represent only a small (< 10%) increase over the current expected feeding rate at the effective inner boundary of our simulations (racc = 750 RS ∼ 1015 cm). We also explore multiple possible equations of state to describe the gas. In examining the Br-γ light curves produced from our simulations, we find that all of our isothermal models predict significant (factor of 10) enhancements in the luminosity of G2 as it approaches pericenter, in conflict with observations. Models that instead allow the cloud to heat as it is compressed do better at matching observations.

We extracted the neutral hydrogen absorption spectra of supernova remnants W44 (G34.7-0.4) and 3C 391 (G31.9+0.0) from the VLA Galactic Plane Survey data. The revised distance of W41 is about 3.3 kpc replacing the previous 3.0 kpc. Further, we confined the distance of G31.9+0.0 to about 7.2 kpc due to its interaction with its surrounding molecular clouds.

We have employed an extensive new timeseries of Stokes I and V spectra obtained with the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter at the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to investigate the physical parameters, chemical abundance distributions and magnetic field topology of the slowly-rotating He-strong star HD 184927. We infer a rotation period of 9d .53071 ± 0.00120 from Hα, Hβ, LSD magnetic measurements and EWs of helium lines. We used an extensive NLTE TLUSTY grid along with the SYNSPEC code to model the observed spectra and find a new value of luminosity. In this poster we present the derived physical parameters of the star and the results of Magnetic Doppler Imaging analysis of the Stokes I and V profiles. Wide wings of helium lines can be described only under the assumption of the presence of a large, very helium-rich spot.

Hyper-velocity stars are believed to be ejected out from the Galactic center through dynamical interactions of (binary) stars with the central massive black hole(s). In this paper, we firstly select F and G type main sequence stars from about 370,000 stellar spectra of DR7. Then, we select 369 high velocity stars from main sequence samples using the radial velocity distribution. Finally, we find 13 possible unbound hyper-velocity star candidates from the 369 high velocity stars.

High-resolution spectra obtained with the 6m BTA telescope, Russia, and with HARPS and VLT/UVES telescopes at ESO, Chile, were used for Doppler Imaging analysis of two roAp stars, HD 12098 and HD 60435, showing strong and variable Li resonance line in their spectra. We found that Li has highly inhomogeneous distribution on the surfaces of these stars. We compared our results with previously obtained Doppler Imaging mapping of two CP2 stars, HD 83368 and HD 3980, and discuss the correlation between the position of the high Li-abundance spots and magnetic field.