A 37 year long-term series of monochromatic Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) has been recovered from solar irradiance measurements performed with the solar spectrometer Mark-I, deployed at Izaña mountain since 1976. The instrument operation is based on the method of resonant scattering, which presents a long-term stability and high precision in

This paper presents the re-construction of the 80 year time series of daily global shortwave downward radiation (SDR) at the subtropical high-mountain Izaña Atmospheric Observatory (IZO, Spain). For this purpose, we combine SDR estimates from sunshine duration (SD) data using the Ångström-Prescott method over the 1933/1991 period, and SDR

Context. The object HD 43587Aa is a G0V star observed during the 145-day LRa03 run of the COnvection, ROtation and planetary Transits space mission (CoRoT), for which complementary High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectra with S/N > 300 were also obtained. Its visual magnitude is 5.71, and its effective temperature is close to

Context. We still do not understand which physical mechanisms are responsible for the transport of angular momentum inside stars. The recent detection of mixed modes that contain the clear signature of rotation in the spectra of Kepler subgiants and red giants gives us the opportunity to make progress on this question. Aims: Our aim is to probe the

Context. The continuous high-precision photometric observations provided by the CoRoT and Kepler space missions have allowed us to understand the structure and dynamics of red giants better using asteroseismic techniques. A small fraction of these stars show dipole modes with unexpectedly low amplitudes. The reduction in amplitude is more

The prototype telescope and instruments for the Stellar Observations Network Group (SONG) are nearing completion at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife. In this contribution we describe the current status (autumn 2013) of the telescope and its instrumentation. Preliminary performance characteristics are presented for the high-resolution

Context. The study of stellar activity is important because it can provide new constraints for dynamo models when combined with surface rotation rates and the depth of the convection zone. We know that the dynamo mechanism, which is believed to be the main process that rules the magnetic cycle of solar-like stars, results from the interaction

Aims: We report the discovery of a massive and dense transiting planet CoRoT-27b on a 3.58-day orbit around a 4.2 Gyr-old G2 star. The planet candidate was identified from the CoRoT photometry, and was confirmed as a planet with ground-based spectroscopy. Methods: The confirmation of the planet candidate is based on radial velocity observations

Context. The evolution of planetary systems is intimately linked to the evolution of their host stars. Our understanding of the whole planetary evolution process is based on the wide planet diversity observed so far. Only a few tens of planets have been discovered orbiting stars ascending the red giant branch. Although several theories have been

We use asteroseismic data obtained by the NASA Kepler mission to estimate the fundamental properties of more than 500 main-sequence and sub-giant stars. Data obtained during the first 10 months of Kepler science operations were used for this work, when these solar-type targets were observed for one month each in survey mode. Stellar properties have

Solar magnetic indices are used to model the solar irradiance and ultimately to forecast it. However, the observation of such indices is generally limited to the Earth-facing hemisphere of the Sun. Seismic maps of the far side of the Sun have proven their capability to locate and track medium-large active regions at the non-visible hemisphere. We

Aims: The aim of this work was to use a multi-approach technique to derive the most accurate values possible of the physical parameters of the δ Sct star HD 174966, which was observed with the CoRoT satellite. In addition, we searched for a periodic pattern in the frequency spectra with the goal of using it to determine the mean density of the star

One of the objectives of the CoRoT mission is the search for transiting extrasolar planets using high-precision photometry, and the accurate characterization of their fundamental parameters. The CoRoT satellite consecutively observes crowded stellar fields since February 2007, in high-cadence precise photometry; periodic eclipses are detected and

Context. The CoRoT short asteroseismic runs give us the opportunity to observe a large variety of late-type stars through their solar-like oscillations. We report the observation and modeling of the F5V star HD 175272. Aims: Our aim is to define a method for extracting as much information as possible from a noisy oscillation spectrum. Methods: We

The dynamics of the solar radiative interior are still poorly constrained by comparison to the convective zone. This disparity is even more marked when we attempt to derive meaningful temporal variations. Many data sets contain a small number of modes that are sensitive to the inner layers of the Sun, but we found that the estimates of their

We report the discovery of Kepler-77b (alias KOI-127.01), a Saturn-mass transiting planet in a 3.6-day orbit around a metal-rich solar-like star. We combined the publicly available Kepler photometry (quarters 1-13) with high-resolution spectroscopy from the Sandiford at McDonald and FIES at NOT spectrographs. We derived the system parameters via a

Context. Studies of transiting extrasolar planets are of key importance for understanding the nature of planets outside our solar system because their masses, diameters, and bulk densities can be measured. An important part of transit-search programmes is the removal of false-positives. In the case of the CoRoT space mission, the majority of the

The asteroseismic and planetary studies, like all research related to stars, need precise and accurate stellar atmospheric parameters as input. We aim at deriving the effective temperature (Teff), the surface gravity (log g), the metallicity ([Fe/H]), the projected rotational velocity (v sin i) and the MK type for 169 F-, G-, K- and M-type Kepler

We report the discovery of two transiting exoplanets, CoRoT-25b and CoRoT-26b, both of low density, one of which is in the Saturn mass-regime. For each star, ground-based complementary observations through optical photometry and radial velocity measurements secured the planetary nature of the transiting body and allowed us to fully characterize

KIC 8677585 is a roAp star in the Kepler field which is unique in that there are four low-frequency variations of unknown origin in addition to more than 20 high-frequency roAp modes. We analysed all available spectroscopy and conclude that the star has a constant radial velocity and most likely not a binary. We estimate its effective temperature