Activity and kinematics of members of the TW Hydrae association

We present high-resolution echelle spectroscopy of 20 stars in 16 systems catalogued as members of the TW Hydrae association, and 16 stars identified as possible new members. We have calibrated the range of coronal and chromospheric activity expected for such young stars as a function of spectral type by combining our observations with literature data for field and open cluster stars. We also compute space motions for TWA members and candidate members with proper motion measurements, using two techniques to estimate distances to stars lacking direct trigonometric parallax measurements. The mean space motion of the four TWA members with known parallaxes is  ( U , V , W : −10.0, −17.8, −4.6) km s⁻¹  . 14 of the candidates have properties inconsistent with cluster membership; the remaining two are potential new members, although further observations are required to confirm this possibility.     

Fundamental parameters and new variables of the galactic open cluster NGC 7128

CCD photometry in Johnson UBV and Strömgren uvby systems and medium-resolution spectroscopy of the galactic open cluster NGC 7128 are presented. Spectral types of the brightest 12 stars in the cluster field were determined based on equivalent widths of the H α and the He  i 6678-Å line. The spectroscopic observations also revealed two obvious and one probable Be-type stars showing H α emission. The analysis of the photometric diagrams gave a colour excess of E ( B − V )=1.03±0.06 mag, a distance modulus DM =13.0±0.2 mag and an age above 10 Myr. Time-resolved photometric observations obtained on one night resulted in the detection of short time-scale light variations of seven new and three already known variable stars in the cluster field.     

Rotational broadening and Doppler tomography of the quiescent X-ray nova Centaurus X-4

We present a library of 47 open-cluster integrated spectra, mostly obtained at CASLEO (San Juan, Argentina) in the range  3600 < λ < 7400 Å  , which are made available at CDS. The data are combined with previous spectra to obtain 10 high signal-to-noise ratio basic templates in the young and intermediate-age domains, which are also provided in the library. These Galactic disc templates represent the increased time resolution spectral evolution of a stellar population unit around the Solar metallicity level. The improved signal-to-noise ratio of the present templates with respect to previous template lists, together with their increased time resolution, allowed us to improve the fundamental parameters of some open clusters. The present spectral library will be useful for several astrophysical applications, particularly for population syntheses of star-forming giant galaxies.     

Variable stars in the field of open cluster NGC 6819

We report on the discovery of 25 variable stars plus 13 suspected variables found in the field of the open cluster NGC 6819. The stars were identified from time-series photometric data obtained on the Isaac Newton Telescope, La Palma, during two observing runs covering the 19 nights between 1999 June  22–30  and 1999 July  22–31  . The variables found include 12 eclipsing binaries with an additional three suspected, nine BY Draconis systems, plus four variables of other types, including one star believed to be a Cepheid. Three of the 15 eclipsing binaries are believed to be cluster members. Details of a further 10 suspected variable stars are also included.     

Stellar models and Hyades: the Hipparcos test

We compare theoretical stellar models for main sequence (MS) stars with the Hipparcos data base for the Hyades cluster to give a warning against the uncritical use of available theoretical scenarios and to show how formal MS fittings can be fortuitous if not fictitious. Moreover, we find that none of the current theoretical scenarios appears able to account for an observed mismatch between theoretical predictions and observations of the coolest Hyades MS stars. Finally, we show that current theoretical models probably give too faint He burning luminosities unlike the case of less massive He burning models, with degenerate progenitors, which have been suggested to suffer the opposite discrepancy.