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Colour-magnitude diagrams (CMD) of the SMC star cluster NGC419, derived from HST/ACS data, reveal a well-delineated secondary clump located below the classical compact red clump typical of intermediate-age populations. We demonstrate that this feature belongs to the cluster itself, rather than to the underlying SMC field. Then, we use synthetic CMDs to show that it corresponds very well to the secondary clump predicted to appear as a result of He-ignition in stars just massive enough to avoid electron-degeneracy settling in their H-exhausted cores. The main red clump instead is made of the slightly less massive stars which passed through electron-degeneracy and ignited He at the tip of the RGB. In other words, NGC419 is the rare snapshot of a cluster while undergoing the fast transition from classical to degenerate H-exhausted cores. At this particular moment of a clusters life, the colour distance between the main sequence turn-off and the red clump(s) depends sensitively on the amount of convective core overshooting, Lambda_c. By coupling measurements of this colour separation with fits to the red clump morphology, we are able to estimate simultaneously the cluster mean age (1.35(-0.04,+0.11) Gyr) and overshooting efficiency (Lambda_c=0.47(-0.04,+0.14)). Therefore, clusters like NGC419 may constitute important marks in the age scale of intermediate-age populations. After eye inspection of other CMDs derived from HST/ACS data, we suggest that the same secondary clump may also be present in the LMC clusters NGC1751, 1783, 1806, 1846, 1852, and 1917.
We have identified a star in the WASP archive photometry with an unusual lightcurve due to the total eclipse of a small, hot star by an apparently normal A-type star and with an orbital period of only 0.668d. From an analysis of the WASP lightcurve t
We report the serendipitous discovery from WASP archive photometry of a binary star in which an apparently normal A-type star (J0247-25A) eclipses a smaller, hotter subdwarf star (J0247-25B). The kinematics of J0247-25A show that it is a blue-straggl
The rich SMC star cluster NGC419 has recently been found to present both a broad main sequence turn-off and a dual red clump of giants, in the sharp colour-magnitude diagrams (CMD) derived from the High Resolution Channel of the Advanced Camera for S
We report the serendipitous discovery of an object, UVQS J060819.93-715737.4, with a spectrum dominated by extremely intense, narrow C II emission lines. The spectrum is similar to those of the very rare, late-type [WC11] low-mass Wolf-Rayet stars. D
We present aluminium, magnesium, and silicon abundances in the metal-poor globular cluster NGC 6752 for a sample of more than 130 red giants with homogeneous oxygen and sodium abundances. We find that [Al/Fe] shows a spread of about 1.4 dex among gia