3C 273 - half a century later

We have presented an optical monitoring of 3C 273, the first quasar discovered fifty years ago. It does not show variability both on intra-night and long-term time scales. To facilitate the further monitoring of 3C 273, we compiled the available calibrations of the comparison stars in its field into a mean sequence.

Am stars in binary systems

It is argued that apart from the well known dependence of the Am phenomenon on the mass, age (effective temperature, gravity) and rotation there is also a complex dependence on the orbital parameters in binary systems. This is why the generally accepted scenario in which the Am star rotation plays a unique role needs to be revisited, the strong correlations between the rotation, orbital period and eccentricity need to be properly addressed and tidal effects taken into account. Recent observations of Am stars in binary systems are reviewed.