We have obtained deep near-infrared images in J and K filters of four fields in the Sculptor Group spiral galaxy NGC 247 with the ESO VLT and Infrared Spectrometer and Array Camera. For a sample of 10 Cepheids in these fields, previously discovered by García-Varela et al. from optical wide-field images, we have determined mean J and K magnitudes and have constructed the period-luminosity (PL) relations in these bands. Using the near-infrared PL relations together with those in the optical V and I bands, we have determined a true distance modulus for NGC 247 of 27.64 mag, with a random uncertainty of ±2% and a systematic uncertainty of ∼4% which is dominated by the effect of unresolved stars on the Cepheid photometry. The mean reddening affecting the NGC 247 Cepheids of E(B − V ) = 0.18 ± 0.02 mag is mostly produced in the host galaxy itself and is significantly higher than what was found in the previous optical Cepheid studies in NGC 247 of our own group, and Madore et al., leading to a 7% decrease in the previous optical Cepheid distance. As in other studies of our project, the distance modulus of NGC 247 we report is tied to an assumed Large Magellanic Cloud distance modulus of 18.50. Comparison with other distance measurements to NGC 247 shows that the present IR-based Cepheid distance is the most accurate among these determinations. With a distance of 3.4 Mpc, NGC 247 is about 1.5 Mpc more distant than NGC 55 and NGC 300, two other Sculptor Group spirals analyzed before with the same technique by our group.

No abstract

We present L-band spectra of the Be stars γ Cas, f Per, 28 Tau, θ CrB, 66 Oph, o Her, and 28 Cyg, obtained through use of the CID-InSb spectrograph with the 2.1-m telescope at OAN/UNAM San Pedro Martir Observatory. This is the first report of L-band spectra of o Her and θ CrB, and of the data obtained with this spectrograph. We obtain flux ratios of hydrogen lines for these stars, finding that they have optically thin envelopes, except by 66 Oph and θ CrB, which do not show evidence of a circumstellar disk. γ Cas and f Per have flux ratio values of hydrogen lines closer to the optically thick case than the other stars. We use the line flux ratio diagram and optical spectra reported in the literature to study the life cycles of the disks. We find clear evidence of the dissipating process of the envelopes of 66 Oph and 28 Cyg, i.e., they are decaying stars. 28 Tau seems to have passed by a similar process. γ Cas and f Per are stable stars because their circumstellar disks do not show notorious changes for many years. Finally, the stars in a build-up phase, whose envelopes are generated after a decaying phase or for the first time, have not yet been observed in the L-band. It would be useful to monitor more Be stars to observe this class of stars that probably change from a very tenuous envelope to an optically thick circumstellar disk. The line flux ratio diagram seems to confirm that late Be stars have more tenuous disks than early-type Be stars, as they tend to be separated at the left bottom and the top right parts of the diagram, respectively. Larger samples of Be stars are needed to confirm this hypothesis through a statistical analysis.

The universality and linearity of the Leavitt law are hypotheses commonly adopted in studies of galaxy distances using Cepheid variables as standard candles. In order to test these hypotheses, we obtain slopes of the Leavitt law using linear regressions of fundamental-mode Cepheids observed by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment project in the Magellanic Clouds. We find that the slopes in V I-bands and in the Wesenheit index behave exponentially, indicating non-linearity. We also find that the slopes obtained using long-period Cepheids can be considered as universal in the V I-bands, but not in the Wesenheit index.

Context. Optical and infrared variability surveys produce a large number of high quality light curves. Statistical pattern recognition methods have provided competitive solutions for variable star classification at a relatively low computational cost. In order to perform supervised classification, a set of features is proposed and used to train an automatic classification system. Quantities related to the magnitude density of the light curves and their Fourier coefficients have been chosen as features in previous studies. However, some of these features are not robust to the presence of outliers and the calculation of Fourier coefficients is computationally expensive for large data sets. Aims. We propose and evaluate the performance of a new robust set of features using supervised classifiers in order to look for new Be star candidates in the OGLE-IV Gaia south ecliptic pole field. Methods. We calculated the proposed set of features on six types of variable stars and also on a set of Be star candidates reported in the literature. We evaluated the performance of these features using classification trees and random forests along with the K-nearest neighbours, support vector machines, and gradient boosted trees methods. We tuned the classifiers with a 10-fold cross-validation and grid search. We then validated the performance of the best classifier on a set of OGLE-IV light curves and applied this to find new Be star candidates. Results. The random forest classifier outperformed the others. By using the random forest classifier and colours criteria we found 50 Be star candidates in the direction of the Gaia south ecliptic pole field, four of which have infrared colours that are consistent with Herbig Ae/Be stars. Conclusions. Supervised methods are very useful in order to obtain preliminary samples of variable stars extracted from large databases. As usual, the stars classified as Be stars candidates must be checked for the colours and spectroscopic characteristics expected for them.

We have detected, for the first time, Cepheid variables in the Sculptor Group spiral galaxy NGC 7793. From wide-field images obtained in the optical V and I bands on 56 nights in 2003-2005, we have discovered 17 long-period (24-62 days) Cepheids whose periods and mean magnitudes define tight period-luminosity relations. We use the (V-I) Wesenheit index to determine a reddening-free true distance modulus to NGC 7793 of 27.68 ± 0.05 mag (internal error) ± 0.08 mag (systematic error). The comparison of the reddened distance moduli in V and I with the one derived from the Wesenheit magnitude indicates that the Cepheids in NGC 7793 are affected by an average total reddening of E(B-V)=0.08 mag, 0.06 of which is produced inside the host galaxy.As in the earlier Cepheid studies of the Araucaria Project, the reported distance is tied to an assumed LMC distance modulus of 18.50. The quoted systematic uncertainty takes into account effects like blending and possible inhomogeneous filling of the Cepheid instability strip on the derived distance. The reported distance value does not depend on the (unknown) metallicity of the Cepheids according to recent theoretical and empirical results. Our Cepheid distance is shorter, but within the errors consistent with the distance to NGC 7793 determined earlier with the TRGB and Tully-Fisher methods.-3 -The NGC 7793 distance of 3.4 Mpc is almost identical to the one our project had found from Cepheid variables for NGC 247, another spiral member of the Sculptor Group located close to NGC 7793 on the sky. Two other conspicuous spiral galaxies in the Sculptor Group, NGC 55 and NGC 300, are much nearer (1.9 Mpc), confirming the picture of a very elongated structure of the Sculptor Group in the line of sight put forward by Jerjen et al. and others.

1 Based on observations obtained with the 1.3 m telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory, the 2.2 m ESO/MPI telescope at the European Southern Observatory for Large Programme 171.D-0004, and the 4.0 m Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. This work is part of the PhD thesis of AGV. ABSTRACTWe report on the discovery of a Cepheid population in the Sculptor Group spiral galaxy NGC 247 for the first time. On the basis of wide-field images collected in photometric surveys in V and I bands which were conducted with three different telescopes and cameras, 23 Cepheid variables were discovered with periods ranging from 17 to 131 days. We have constructed the period-luminosity relations from these data and obtain distance moduli to NGC 247 of 28.20 ± 0.05 mag (internal error) in V, 28.04 ± 0.06 mag in I, and 27.80 ± 0.09 mag in the reddening-independent Wesenheit index. From our optical data we have determined the total mean reddening of the Cepheids in NGC 247 as E(B-V)=0.13 mag, which brings the true distance modulus determinations from the V and I bands into excellent agreement with the distance determination in the Wesenheit index. The best estimate for the true distance modulus of NGC 247 from our optical Cepheid photometry is 27.80 ±0.09 (internal error) ± 0.09 mag (systematic error) which is in excellent agreement with other recent distance determinations for NGC 247 from the Tip of the Red Giant branch method, and from the Tully-Fisher relation. The distance for NGC 247 places this galaxy at twice the distance of two other Sculptor Group galaxies, NGC 300 and NGC 55, yielding supporting evidence for the filament-like structure of this group of galaxies. The reported distance value is tied to an assumed LMC distance modulus of 18.50 mag.

ABSTRACT. We present the result of a search for southern Galactic Be star candidates within the group of miscellaneous variables of the ASAS-2 catalog of variable stars, using statistical, morphological, photometric, and color criteria. This search lead us to obtain a catalog of 213 new Be star candidates. The I-band light curves of these candidates show outbursts (Type-1 stars) only in 9% of the sample, and stochastic variations (Type-4 stars) in 91% of the sample. We do not find stars showing clear high and low states (Type-2 stars) or showing outbursts and high and low states simultaneously (Type-1/Type-2 stars). Our sample of southern Galactic Be star candidates provide valuable new bright targets for high resolution spectroscopic studies with small/medium size telescopes.