The dwarf planet Eris is a trans-Neptunian object with an orbital eccentricity of 0.44, an inclination of 44 degrees and a surface composition very similar to that of Pluto. It resides at present at 95.7 astronomical units (1 AU is the Earth-Sun distance) from Earth, near its aphelion and more than three times farther than Pluto. Owing to this great distance, measuring its size or detecting a putative atmosphere is difficult. Here we report the observation of a multi-chord stellar occultation by Eris on 6 November 2010 UT. The event is consistent with a spherical shape for Eris, with radius 1,163 ± 6 kilometres, density 2.52 ± 0.05 grams per cm(3) and a high visible geometric albedo, Pv = 0.96(+0.09)(-0.04). No nitrogen, argon or methane atmospheres are detected with surface pressure larger than ∼1 nanobar, about 10,000 times more tenuous than Pluto's present atmosphere. As Pluto's radius is estimated to be between 1,150 and 1,200 kilometres, Eris appears as a Pluto twin, with a bright surface possibly caused by a collapsed atmosphere, owing to its cold environment. We anticipate that this atmosphere may periodically sublimate as Eris approaches its perihelion, at 37.8 astronomical units from the Sun.

Aims. We extend the gr-band time coverage of the gravitationally lensed double quasar Q0957+561. New gr light curves permit us to detect significant intrinsic fluctuations, to determine new time delays, and thus to gain perspective on the mechanism of intrinsic variability in Q0957+561. Methods. We use new optical frames of Q0957+561 in the g and r passbands from January 2005 to July 2007. These frames are part of an ongoing long-term monitoring with the Liverpool robotic telescope. We also introduce two photometric pipelines that are applied to the new gr frames of Q0957+561. The transformation pipeline incorporates zero-point, colour, and inhomogeneity corrections to the instrumental magnitudes, so final photometry to the 1-2% level is achieved for both quasar components. The two-colour final records are then used to measure time delays. Results. The gr light curves of Q0957+561 show several prominent events and gradients, and some of them (in the g band) lead to a time delay between components Δt BA = 417 ± 2 d (1σ). We do not find evidence of extrinsic variability in the light curves of Q0957+561. We also explore the possibility of a delay between a large event in the g band and the corresponding event in the r band. The gr cross-correlation reveals a time lag Δt rg = 4.0 ± 2.0 d (1σ; the g-band event is leading) that confirms a previous claim of the existence of a delay between the g and r band in this lensed quasar. Conclusions. The time delays (between quasar components and between optical bands) from the new records and previous ones in similar bands indicate that most observed variations in Q0957+561 (amplitudes of ∼100 mmag and timescales of ∼100 d) are very probably due to reverberation within the gas disc around the supermassive black hole.

Aims. X-ray sources at intermediate fluxes (a few ×10−14 erg cm −2 s −1 ) with a sky density of ∼100 deg −2 are responsible for a significant fraction of the cosmic X-ray background at various energies below 10 keV. The aim of this paper is to provide an unbiased and quantitative description of the X-ray source population at these fluxes and in various X-ray energy bands. Methods. We present the XMM-Newton Medium sensitivity Survey (XMS), including a total of 318 X-ray sources found among the serendipitous content of 25 XMM-Newton target fields. The XMS comprises four largely overlapping source samples selected at soft (0.5−2 keV), intermediate (0.5−4.5 keV), hard (2−10 keV) and ultra-hard (4.5−7.5 keV) bands, the first three of them being flux-limited. Results. We report on the optical identification of the XMS samples, complete to 85−95%. At the flux levels sampled by the XMS we find that the X-ray sky is largely dominated by Active Galactic Nuclei. The fraction of stars in soft X-ray selected samples is below 10%, and only a few per cent for hard selected samples. We find that the fraction of optically obscured objects in the AGN population stays constant at around 15−20% for soft and intermediate band selected X-ray sources, over 2 decades of flux. The fraction of obscured objects amongst the AGN population is larger (∼35−45%) in the hard or ultra-hard selected samples, and constant across a similarly wide flux range. The distribution in X-ray-to-optical flux ratio is a strong function of the selection band, with a larger fraction of sources with high values in hard selected samples. Sources with X-ray-to-optical flux ratios in excess of 10 are dominated by obscured AGN, but with a significant contribution from unobscured AGN.

To go into the details about the variability of the double quasar SBS 0909+532, we designed a monitoring programme with the 2 m Liverpool Robotic Telescope in the r Sloan filter, spanning 1.5 years from 2005 January to 2006 June. The rband light curves of the A and B components, several cross-correlation techniques and a large number of simulations (synthetic light curves) lead to a robust delay ∆t BA = − 49 ± 6 days (1σ interval) that agrees with our previous results (the B component is leading). Once the time delay and the magnitude offset are known, the magnitude-and time-shifted light curve of image A is subtracted from the light curve of image B. This difference light curve of SBS 0909+532 is consistent with zero, so any possible extrinsic signal must be very weak, i.e., the observed variability in A and B is basically due to observational noise and intrinsic signal. We then make the combined light curve and analyse its statistical properties (structure functions). The structure function of the intrinsic luminosity is fitted to predictions of simple models of two physical scenarios: accretion disc instabilities and nuclear starbursts. Although no simple model is able to accurately reproduce the observed trend, symmetric triangular flares in an accretion disc seems to be the best option to account for it.

Aims. The time delays between the components of a lensed quasar are basic tools for analysing the expansion of the Universe and the structure of the main lens galaxy halo. In this paper, we focus on the variability and time delay of the double system SBS 0909+532A,B as well as the time behaviour of the field stars. Methods. We use VR optical observations of SBS 0909+532A, B and the field stars in 2003. The frames were taken at Calar Alto, Maidanak, and Wise observatories, and the VR light curves of the field stars and quasar components were derived from aperture and point-spread function fitting methods. We measured the R-band time delay of the system from the χ 2 and dispersion techniques and 1000 synthetic light curves based on the observed records. Results. One nearby field star (SBS 0909+532c) was found to be variable, and the other two nearby field stars are non-variable sources. With respect to the quasar components, the R-band records seem more reliable and are more densely populated than the V-band ones. The observed R-band fluctuations permit a pre-conditioned measurement of the time delay. From the χ 2 minimization, if we assume that the quasar emission is observed first in B and afterwards in A (in agreement with basic observations of the system and the corresponding predictions), we obtain ∆τ BA = −45 +1 −11 days (95% confidence interval). The dispersion technique leads to a similar delay range. A by-product of the analysis is the determination of a totally corrected flux ratio in the R band (corrected by the time delay and the contamination due to the galaxy light). Our 95% measurement ∆m BA = m B (t + ∆τ BA ) − m A (t) = 0.575 ± 0.014 mag is in excellent agreement with previous results from contaminated fluxes at the same time of observation.