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Scientific results after the first year of operation with Toppo di Castelgrande

telescope (TT1)

Written by: Vincenzo Ripepi (INAF-O. A. Capodimonte)

Approved by: Massimo Della Valle (Director of INAF-OACapodimonte)

Dario Mancini (INAF-OAC and Director of TT1)

With contribution of:

Felice Cusano (INAF-OAC); Fausto Cortecchia (INAF-OAC/TT1 staff); Massimo Dall’Ora (INAF-OAC/TT1 Staff); Silvio Leccia (INAF-OAC); Dario Mancini (INAF-OAC/TT1 Staff); Roberto Molinaro (INAF-OAC/TT1 Staff); Nicola Penninpede (INAF-OAC/TT1 Staff); Roberto Silvotti (INAF- OATo)

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Table of Contents 1   Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 3  1.1   Calls  for  proposals  and  peer  review.................................................................................................. 3  1.2   Observing  efficiency. .............................................................................................................................. 3  

2   Scientific  programs ......................................................................................................................... 3  2.1   Fast  optical  photometry  of  the  X  variable  SS  Cyg.......................................................................... 3  2.2   EXoplanet  search  with  the  TIming  MEthod  (EXOTIME). ............................................................ 4  2.3   Search  for  PMS  pulsators  in  the  HII  region  Sh  2-S284................................................................. 6  

2.3.1   Rotational variables............................................................................................................................................7  2.3.2   Pre-Main-Sequence δ Scuti candidates....................................................................................................8  2.3.3   Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................................... 11  

2.4   Near  Field  Cosmology:  Variable  star  population  of  the  UFDs  UmaI  and  Segue2..............11  P.I.    V.  Ripepi  (INAF-‐O.A.Capodimonte) .........................................................................................................11  

2.4.1   Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 11  2.4.2   Ursa Mayor I (UMaI) ...................................................................................................................................... 12  2.4.3   Segue  2.................................................................................................................................................................... 14  

2.5   Observing  gamma-ray  loud  blazars  in  the  AGILE  and  Fermi  era...........................................17  

3   Conclusions  and  future  developments ...................................................................................18  

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1 Introduction This document is intended to report on the results obtained with the Telescopio del Toppo di Castelgrande (TT1) during the first year of operations. The characteristics of the telescope and of the CCD camera used during this period can be consulted at the web site: http://www.na.astro.it/tt1.

1.1 Calls for proposals and peer review. We issed three call for proposals: AOT1: Oct, 2008-Jan, 2009; AOT2: Feb-Jun 2009; AOT3: Oct-Nov 2009. During AOT1 and AOT2 we offered ten nights per month (dark nights only), while during AOT3 the number of night was enlarged to 15 nights per month (around new moon). Quantitatively 37, 50 and 30 nights were offered for AOT1, AOT2 and AOT3, respectively, for a grand total of 117 nights.

Telescope stopped operations in Jul-Sept, 2009 due to main mirror aluminization and general maintenance, and is closed since Dec, 2009 for instrument upgrade (TFOSC installation). Operations should start again in summer 2010.

A total of 15 proposals were submitted during the three periods, 50% with P.I. from INAF-OAC and 50% with P.I. coming from other (Italian) institutions. Proposal peer review was carried out by a qualified TAC including J. M. Alcala’, C. Cacciari, F. Fusi Pecci, R. Gratton, D. Mancini (V. Ripepi TAC secretary). Practically all the proposals were awarded observing time. A list can be found in the appendix.

Technical and weather downtimes in AOT2 were ≈10% and ≈70%, respectively. In AOT3, ≈10-15% and ≈50% (for AOT1 no statistics, but bad weather affected about 90% of the available nights).

1.2 Observing efficiency. Detailed statistics on the observations are available for AOT2 and AOT3 only. During AOT2 and AOT3, technical and weather downtimes were ≈10%, ≈70%, and ≈10-15%, ≈50%, respectively. For AOT1 no precise statistics is available, but bad weather affected about 90% of the available nights. As for the seeing, the typical value is around 2 arcsec.

2 Scientific programs In this section we shall present the main results obtained with TT1. Other programs obtained a significant amount of good quality observations (e.g. the project: “Probing MACHOs by observation of M31 pixel lensing”, P.I. S. Calchi Novati), but the data were not reduced yet.

2.1 Fast optical photometry of the X variable SS Cyg Laurea thesis (triennale), Univ. La Sapienza, Roma

G. D’Alessandro

Supervisors: R. Nesci, D. Mancini

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Motivation: Search for coupling of orbital and rotational periods for the dwarf nova SS Cyg. In particular, the proponents aim at confirming the 12.18 m luminosity modulation observed by Bartolini (1985) in R and I.

The observations were carried out during the night 2009, Oct. 2009 in condition of good seeing (~1.5 arcsec). Figure 1 show the long term light curve of SS Cyg. The arrow shows that the observations were carried out just after the outburst.

Figure 1 Long term light curve of SS Cyg. The arrow show the timing of the observations, just after the outburst.

Figure 2 Right: light curve for SS Cyg and four comparison stars; Left: Fourier transform of the data. Note that only the peak N. 1 is significant. Results: The light curve of SS Cyg and of the four comparison stars is shown in Fig. 2 (right), whereas the Fourier transform of these data is reported on the lef panel of the same figure. The periodicity of 12.18 m is not confirmed by present data, but the peak n.1 show a new feature with period = 60±8 min S/N=7.6 Amp=0.055 mag. Subsequent observations are needed to confirm this new feature and to allow an interpretation.

2.2 EXoplanet search with the TIming MEthod (EXOTIME). P.I. Roberto Silvotti (INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino) and Sonja Schuh (Goettingen University)

Co-Is. Ronny Lutz (PhD student, Goettingen), Serena Benatti (PhD student, Padova), Riccardo Claudi (INAF-OAPd), Alfio Bonanno (INAF-OACt), Massimo Dall’Ora and the TT1 team (INAF-OACn), Raquel Oreiro (Granada University),+ many participants from several international Institutes

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Figure 3 Home page of the project EXOTIME (www.na.astro.it/~silvotti/exotime) where all the information on the motivations, program stars etc. can be found.

Goals of the project:

1. Late-stage evolution of planetary systems: detect new planets orbiting evolved stars (sdBs) through the timing method using the stellar pulsation as a clock (O-C diagram)

2. Secular variation of the pulsation periods (P): from the O-C plot, measure dP/dt (→ precise evolutionary status of a star, mode identification)

3. Asteroseismology: determination of the basic stellar parameters 4. Investigation on the formation of (single) sdB stars.

Observations:

More than 30 observing nights has been awarded to this project along AOT1 and AOT2. Data have been collected during about 10 nights (several partial). Data reduction is in progress, here we show in Fig. 4 one night of data for the star PG 1325+101 (Feb. 27 2009). In particular, the figure shows the comparison between the data obtained with TT1 (right panel) and those taken with the Loiano tlescope in 2005. An inspection of the figure reveals that the data quality is similar, i.e. TT1 data is perfectly adequate for this kind of research.

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Figure 4: Top and bottom panels show the light curves (plus symbols) and the periodograms, respectively, for the sdB star PG 1325+101. The right and left panels show the data obtained with Loiano in 2005 and with TT1 in 2009, respectively.

2.3 Search for PMS pulsators in the HII region Sh 2-S284

P.I. V. Ripepi (INAF-O.A.Capodimonte)

CoI. F. Cusano (INAF-OAC), J.M. Alcala’ (INAF-OAC), M Marconi (INAF-OAC)

Dolidze 25 is a young (6 Myr) and distant (∼5.5 Kpc) cluster, associated with the HII region Sh 2-284. Puga et al. (2009) investigated this region by means of Spitzer data. They divided Sh 2-284 into four sub-regions with possible different ages, being Dolidze 25 one of these sub-structures. Lennon et al. (1990), on the basis of high resolution spectra for three OB stars, found that Dolidze 25 is deficient in metals approximately by a factor 6 with respect to the sun, i.e. a lower metallicity with respect to what is expected for a linear abundance gradient in the disk. Thus, Dolidze 25 and Sh 2-284 in general, offers probably the unique possibility to study a star forming region whose metallicity is much lower than other well studied nearby SFRs. We are investigating this region since a few years in the context of a more general international collaboration. As a result, we already have a good characterization of Sh 2-284. In particular we possess BVRI (EXODAT catalogue), JHK (2MASS), and Spitzer-IRAC (Puga et al. 2009) photometry. As for spectroscopy, this region has been investigated by means of VIMOS@VLT (Cusano et al. 2010, submitted), AAOMEGA@AAT (Gandolfi et al. 2010, in preparation) and FLAMES@VLT (P.I. C. Neiner).

In this conext, the main aim of this project is the study of pulsation among the intermediate-mass Pre-Main-Sequence objects in the Sh 2-284 region. These stars cross the instability strip for δ Scuti pulsation during their path toward the Main-Sequence and become pulsating objects (see Marconi & Palla, 1998; Ripepi et al. 2006). This occurrence gives us the possibility to use asteroseismological techniques to put constraints on their evolutionary status and internal structure.

On the basis of these data described above, Cusano et al. 2010 found at least 8 objects falling in the Pre-Main-Sequence instability strip for δ Scuti pulsation. Noteworthy, the Sh 2-284 region has been observed by the CoRoT satellite for 141 days continuously. However, most of the PMS objects were too faint to be observed by CoRoT, hence, we decided to obtain time-series data with TT1. In the following we present some preliminary results obtained on the basis of the data collected with TT1.

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We observed during 8 nights in Nov 2009 (~32 h of observations in V band) Standard pre-reduction with IRAF, photometry with Stetson’s DAOPHOT (aperture photometry, with aperture of 4 arcsec). Stetson’s DAOMATCH/DAOMASTER was used to merge catalogues and obtain single epoch photometry.

As a result we found several variables, many in common with CoRoT, whereas all the stars fainter than V~15 are present only in TT1 data. To demonstrate the quality of TT1 data we show in Fig. 5 the comparison between TT1 and CoRoT data for the binary star CoRoT102745707 (V~13.2).

Figure 5: Green and black dots show CoRoT and TT1 observations, respectively, for the baiary star CoRoT102745707. The CoRoT data has been arbitrarily shifted in magnitude. Note that the high scatter in both light curves is due to instrinsic variability of one or both the components of the binary.

2.3.1 Rotational variables As for the faint stars, we individuated several objects showing variability that can be ascribed to rotation (i.e. due to the presence of large cold spots on the surface). In Fig. 6 we show two examples of such objects. Particularly interesting is the right object (V934) which is a T Tauri candidate.

Figure 6 Two examples of rotational variables. The solid line is a rough fit to the data. Note that the magnitudes are the instrumental ones, the calibrated average magnitudes of the stars is labelled on the top of each panel.

We derived the rotational period for six confirmed PMS objects (Cusano et al. 2010). It is interesting to note that these periods correlate with the age of the objects (see Fig. 7), as it is expected to be.

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Figure 7 Correlation between the rotational periods and the age for a sample of 6 confirmed PMS objects. The scattered star highlighted with a square is probably a non-member of the Sh 2-284 region.

2.3.2 Pre-Main-Sequence δ Scuti candidates We have found four objects pulsating in the range of the PMS δ Scuti variables. In the following we’ll treat each object singularly.

V2604: This star is a confirmed PMS object (Cusano et al. 2010). Figure 8 show the light curve for this star, where the irregular variability is due to the presence of circumstellar material, a typical occurrence for these young objects.

Figure 8: Light curve of V2604. The solid line show the least square fit to the data used to remove the “rotational-like” features present in the star.

After removing the long-term variability, we can investigate if the star pulsate in the PMS δ Scuti interval. This is shown in Fig. 9, where it is clear the presence of a significant oscillation with period~0.053 d. The same figure shows the periodogram of the non-variable star V2171 (with magnitude similar to that of V2604). The comparison of the periodograms of V2604 and V2171 demonstrate that the features at f=19.0 c/d is real and not a noise effect. Additional modes of pulsations seem to be present too, but they are not strictly significant (S/N

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Figure 9: Fourier transform for V2604 after subtracting the long-term behaviour (right panel); as before but after subtracting the frequency f=19.0 c/d (mid panel); Fourier transform for the non variable star V2171 (right panel).

V2144: Same considerations as for V2604, but in this case the oscillations frequency is smaller: f=4.96 c/d and the worse S/N (~5).

Figure 10: As in Fig. 9, but for V2171

V2470: We do not have spectral information for this star, however based on its magnitude, we can guess that it is not likely a member of the association (it is too bright), hence could not be a PMS object. In any case, it shows a clear δ Scuti variability with relatively high amplitude (a few hundredths of magnitude, see Fig. 11). The Fourier transform of the data shows the presence of at least two significant frequencies of pulsation at f1=8.01 c/d and f2=13.01 c/d (see Fig. 12).

Figure 11 Sample of light curve for V2470 (dots). The solid line show a least square fit to the data.

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Figure 12 Left panel: Fourier transform for V2470; mid panel periodogram after prewithening with f1; right panel: residuals after prewithening with f1+f2.

V479: as for the previous star, we do not know if this object belongs to the association, however, again the δ Scuti variability is very clear (see Fig. 13). The Fourier analysis reveal the presence of a single pulsation mode with f=13.03 c/d (see Fig. 14).

Figure 13 Light-curve for one night of data for V479. The solid line represent the least-square fit with F=13.04 c/d.

Figure 14 Left panel: Fourier transform for V479; Right Panel: residuals after prewithening with F1.

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2.3.3 Conclusions Concluding, the project on Sh 2-S284 allowed us to discover several interesting variable stars not observed by the CoRoT satellite due to their faintness. In this sense, TT1 observations are complementary to the CoRoT ones. In particular we discovered several rotational variables (including a few T Tauri candidates), two PMS δ Scuti candidates plus two additional the δ Scuti variabiles whose origin is uncertain: they are probably close one each other and are placed in front of the Sh 2-284 region. The results presented here will be included in a paper on A&A which is in progress.

2.4 Near Field Cosmology: Variable star population of the UFDs UmaI and Segue2.

P.I. V. Ripepi (INAF-O.A.Capodimonte) CoI: M. Dall’Ora INAF-OAC, F. Cusano INAF-OAC, M. Marconi INAF-OAC, I. Musella INAF-OAC, G. Clementini INAF-OABO, M.I. Moretti INAF-OABO, A. Garofalo INAF-OABO, H.A. Smith MSU (USA), K. Kuehn MSU (USA), K. Kinemuchi Univ. Conception (Chile)

2.4.1 Introduction

Dwarf Spheroidal (dSph) galaxies [1] supply vital constraints on Λ-Cold-Dark-Matter (Λ-CDM) theories of galaxy formation, which predict that several hundred small dark halo satellites should surround the halos of large galaxies like the Milky Way (MW) and M31 [2]. dSphs are also deemed to be best candidates for the “building blocks” from which the MW and M31 halos were assembled [3].

The dSph galaxies surrounding the MW can be divided into two groups: “bright” dSphs, mainly discovered before 2005, and “faint” dSphs, discovered in the last couple of years primarily from analysis of imaging obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; [4]). Bright and faint dSphs lie in two separate regions of the absolute magnitude versus half-light radius plane (see Figure 8 of [5]). The bright dSphs include 10 galaxies which are found to contain stars exhibiting different chemical compositions than the stars in the Galactic halo (see e.g. [6]). Furthermore, they generally host RR Lyrae stars with pulsation properties that differ from the properties of the variables in the MW Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs), being “Oosterhoff-intermediate” [7]. These two properties suggest that it is unlikely that the halo of the MW was formed from objects with properties similar to those of the bright dSphs that are observed today. Since 2005, 16 new faint satellites of the MW were discovered, primarily from SDSS imaging (see [8], and references therein). At least 10 of the new MW companions are dSphs showing high mass-to-light ratios and (often) distorted morphologies, probably due to tidal interactions with the MW. They all host an ancient stellar population with chemical properties similar to that of external Galactic halo stars (see e.g. [9]). The new objects are therefore good candidates for the “building blocks” of the Galactic Halo. To further test this hypothesis, it is important to check whether the new dSphs contain RR Lyrae stars with pulsation properties (i.e. the Oosterhoff type) consistent with the properties observed for the MW Halo variables. To this purpose, our group is carrying out a systematic study of the variable stars (in particular of RR Lyrae type) in the newly discovered faint dSphs. Time series data are being collected with a large variety of telescopes: the 1.3m LCO-Polish, the 1.5m Loiano, the 1.8m Lowell, the 2.2m ESO, the 2.3m WIRO, the 2.5m INT, the 3.5m TNG, the 4.1m SOAR, the 4.2m WHT. We have already published results for 5 of the SDSS dSphs, namely, Bootes I, [10]; CVn I, [11]; CVn II, [12]; Coma, [13] and Leo IV [14].

In this context, we decided to investigate with TT1 the SDSS dSph UMaI and Segue2. The results of these studies are reported in the following.

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2.4.2 Ursa Mayor I (UMaI)

We have an extended dataset for this galaxy coming from vaious telescopes: Tautenburg Observatory (2.0m), Loiano (1.5m), Subaru (8m, archival). We observed UMaI with TT1 in may 2009, obtaining only a few epochs in V (with exp. times of 1800 sec.) due to bad weather. Data pre-reduction was performed using IRAF, whereas for the PSF photometry we adopted Stetson’s DAOPHOT/ALLSTAR.

We searched for variability our data and we have found three RR Lyrae variables. In Fig. 16 we show an example of light curve. In the figure the phase points obtained at TT1 are encircled. Note the very small errors at this relatively faint magnitudes.

In Fig. 17 we show the Color-Magnitude diagram for the galaxy where the red dots show the three RR Lyrae found in UMa I (two are probably blended). In the figure, the magenta solid line shows the mean points of M68. Adopting [Fe/H]~-2.2, E(B-V)~0.02 mag, and =20.43 mag, we obtain (m-M)0=19.95±0.10 mag, in perfect agreement with previous findings in the literature. The average period of the three ab-type RR Lyrae stars found in UMaI is =0.64 d, hence this galaxy is an Oosterhoff II. If we plot the location of UMaI in the vs [Fe/H] (see Fig. 18), we can conclude that also this galaxy confirms the suggestion that from the pulsational point of view the SDSS dSphs could resemble plausible building blocks of the galactic halo.

The paper on UMaI is in preparation for ApJ.

Figure 15 Light curve of one of the three RR Lyrae found in UMa I. The phase points obtained with TT1 are encircled.

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Figure 16 Color-Magnitude Diagram of UMa I: the red dots show the three RR Lyrae found in UMa I (two are probably blended); the magenta solid line show the mean points of M68.

Figure 17 Mean period of the RR Lyrae stars ( versus [Fe/H] for several stellar systems (see labels) The symbol representing UMaI is encircled. The light blue belt shows the Oosterhoff gap.

References for UMaI

1. M.L. Mateo, ARAA 36, 435 (1998) 2. B. Moore, et al., Astrophys. J. 524, L19 (1999) 3. L. Searle and R. Zinn, Astrophys. J. 225, 357 (1978) 4. D.G. York et al., Astronom. J. 120, 1579 (2000)

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5. V. Belokurov, et al. Astrophys. J. 654, 897 (2007) 6. A. Helmi, A., et al. Astrophys. J. 651, L121 (2006) 7. P.T. Oosterhoff, Observatory 62, 104 (1939) 8. V. Belokurov, et al. arXiv:0903.0818 (2009) 9. J.D. Simon and M. Geha, Astrophys. J. 670, 313 (2007) 10. M. Dall'Ora et al. Astrophys. J. 653, L109 (2006) 11. C. Kuehn, et al. Astrophys. J. 674, L81 (2008) 12. C. Greco, et al. Astrophys. J. 675, L73 (2008) 13. I. Musella, et al. Astrophys. J. 695, L83 (2009) 14. M.I. Moretti et al. Astrophys. J., 699, L195 (2009)

2.4.3 Segue 2

Segue 2 is an extremely faint object discovered by Belokurov et al. (2009); its position in the Mv-rh plane (see Fig. 19), make it a possible transition object between galaxies and globular cluster.

We observed this galaxy in BV bands during 8 nights in Nov, 2009. Standard pre-reduction was performed with IRAF, whereas aperture photometry (the field is not crowded) was carried out by using Stetson’s DAOPHOT. Landolt’s standard stars were used for the photometric calibration. The resulting CMD is shown in Fig. 20, in comparison with literature data. We used the mean points of M68 to estimate distance modulus and reddening of Segue 2. As a result we find (m-M)0=17.72±0.15 and E(B-V)=0.22±0.02, in excellent agreement with literature data.

Figure 18 Location of ``classic'' and ``ultra-faint'' dSphs around the MW and M31 in the absolute magnitude versus half-light radius rh diagram. Adapted and updated from Belokurov et al. (2007, ApJ 654, 897). Lines of constant surface brightness are marked. Open circles and open squares are the bright dSphs surrounding the MW and M31, respectively. Filled circles are the ``ultra-faint" Milky Way (MW) dSphs satellites, and two extremely low luminosity globular clusters, discovered after 2005, mainly from the analysis of SDSS data (see text). Bold open squares are new M31 dSph satellites discovered after 2004. Red filled circles indicate galaxies already studied for variability, and found to contain RR Lyrae stars. Open triangles are Galactic globular clusters (GCs) from Harris (1996, AJ 112, 1487), and Mackey \& van den Bergh (2005, MNRAS 360, 631). Filled stars are GCs of the Andromeda galaxy, from Federici et al. (2007, A\&A 473, 429). Open stars are GCs in the outer halo of M31, from Mackey et al. (2007, ApJ 655, L85) and Martin et al. (2006, MNRAS 371, 1983). Asteriscs are extended M31 GCs,

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from Huxor et al. (2005, MNRAS 360, 1007) with parameters measured by Mackey et al. (2006, ApJ 653, L105). Cyan filled circles are GCs of NGC5128, from McLaughlin et al. (2008, MNRAS 384, 563). Magenta filled inverted triangles are nuclei of dwarf elliptical galaxies in the Virgo cluster, from Cote et al. (2006, ApJS 165, 57). Diamonds are ultra-compact dwarfs in the Fornax cluster, from De Propris et al. (2005, ApJ 623, L105).

Figure 19 Left panel: literature CMD for Segue2, after Belokurov, V., et al. 2009, MNRAS, 397, 1748. Right panel: CMD based on TT1 data. Blue and red dots show the candidate SX Phoe and Red variables, respectively. The magenta line represent the mean points of the metal poor globular cluster M68. The values used for the fit of these mean points are labeled.

Our dataset was searched for variable stars. Unfortunately no RR Lyrae is present (this is not surprising because the Horizontal Branch is poorly populated.), however we were able to discover a few interesting variable sources. In particular we have found three “red” variables with small amplitude and a candidate SX Phoe star. The relative light curves are shown in Fig.s 21, 22, and 23. Particularly interesting is the star V284 (Fig. 22). It shows two clear modes of pulsations with periods of 6.5 d and 0.607 d, respectively. The ration of the two periods is not typical of none of the known variable types. The classification of this star is difficult due to the lack of spectroscopic information, which we plan to obtain in the future. Star V2396 (Fig. 23 left panel) is also very interesting because it is a SX Phoe candidate (SX Phoe are the δ Scuti counterpart at low metallicities), which obey to a Period-Luminosity relation. If we use the distance and reddening estimated on the basis of the CMD, we can verify if the position of V2396 is consistent with that expected for a SX Phoe variable. This is done in Fig. 23 (right panel), which suggests that this star could be indeed a second overtone SX Phoe.

We plan to collect additional data during next fall to confirm the variables and the findings presented here.

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Figure 20 Two red variables with low amplitude and period around 5 days. The similar behaviour in B and V bands suggests that the variability is real.

Figure 21 Light curves for the red variable V284. This star shows two pulsation modes.

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Figure 22 Left panel: light curve for the SX Phoe candidate V2396. Left panel: Period-Luminosity for the candidate SX Phoe ti star V2396. The red and green lines show the empirical relations by McNamara et al. 2005, and Poretti et al. 2008, respectively. The solid, short-dashed and lon-dashed lines show the theoretical PL relations for the fundamental, first and second overtone, respectively, after Santolamazza et al. (2001).

2.5 Observing gamma-ray loud blazars in the AGILE and Fermi era. P.I. C.M. Raiteri (INAF-OATO) M. Villata (INAF-OATO), D. Mancini (INAF-OAC) The GLAST-AGILE Support Program (GASP), born in 2007 from the international collaboration Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT, http://www.oato.inaf.it/blazars/webt/), aims at monitoring a sample of 28 blazars gamma-loud in the optical, near-infrared and radio domains.

Several exposures of selected blazars, were collected with TT1 during the nights March, 25 and 27 2009. In particular, we observed the source PKS 1510-089, in coincidence with its outburst in the optical as well as strong gamma ray activity, as derived from AGILE and Fermi satellite observations.

TT1 observations are shown in Fig. 24 together with data collected at other telescopes of the CASP collaboration.

Figure 23 Light curve fot the blazar PKS 1510-089.

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GASP data on PKS 1510-089, including TT1 observations will be published in two papers, leaded by Andrea Tramacere and Filippo D'Ammando for the Fermi-LAT and AGILE teams, respectively.

The first paper, with title: “Fermi-LAT and multi-wavelength observations of the flaring activity of PKS1510-089 between September 2008 and June 2009” was just submitted to ApJ. The second paper is in preparation.

As for the other sources, data collected with TT1 for da0716+714, OJ 287, and Mkn 421 were already included in the GASP light curves and will be used for future publications. In particular, data for Mkn 421 have been passed to David Paneque (Fermi-LAT collaboration) with the aim of studying the multi-frequency behaviour of this source.

3 Conclusions and future developments

The first year of observations with TT1 was hampered by bad weather. Never the less, as demonstrated in the previous pages, a number of scientific programs were carried out, and the results will be published soon.

The introduction of the TFOSC instrument, planned for summer 2010, will greatly increase the capabilities of the telescope. In particular, the increased field of view (~20’x20’) coupled with the wide choice of filters (UBVRI, ugriz, uvbyHβ, Hα + other narrow filters) willl make TFOSC at TT1 and attracting instrument for any kind of photometric program. As for spectroscopy, low (up to V~16-17) and mid resolution (up to V~13) will allow to carry out a variety of programs both in the galactic and extragalactic field.

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