Highlights - Volume 467-3 (June I 2007)

“A tale of two cores: triggered massive star formation in the bright-rimmed cloud SFO 75”, by J.S. Urquhart et al. A&A 467, p. 1123

In a very thorough multi-wavelength investigation, using 1.3 cm and 1.2 mm continuum observations and both ¹³CO and ammonia spectral line observations, this paper shows very convincing evidence of triggered star formation in a bright rimmed cloud. this paper shows very convincing evidence of triggered star formation in a bright rimmed cloud. These observations witness the shock-triggered formation of a cluster of massive stars in one core and show second core, which is deeper in the cloud and which has not yet been subjected to shock compression and star formation.

“Eclipsing binaries observed with the WIRE satellite. II. β Aurigae and non-linear limb darkening in light curves”, by J. Southworth et al. A&A 467, p. 1213

The authors use space-based photometry to present the most precise light curve ever obtained for a detached eclipsing binary star (30 000 data points with a point-to-point scatter of 0.3 mmag) and use it to investigate the inclusion of non-linear limb darkening laws in light curve models of eclipsing binaries. Using non-linear limb darkening improves the quality of the fit and significantly changes the measured radii. The quality of the data is sufficient to derive all of the limb darkening coefficients from the light curve, although they are strongly correlated with each other.