Context. The ESO public survey VISTA variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) started in 2010. VVV targets 562 sq. deg in the Galactic bulge and an adjacent plane region and is expected to run for about five years. Aims. We describe the progress of the survey observations in the first observing season, the observing strategy, and quality of the data obtained. Methods. The observations are carried out on the 4-m VISTA telescope in the ZY JHK s filters. In addition to the multi-band imaging the variability monitoring campaign in the K s filter has started. Data reduction is carried out using the pipeline at the Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit. The photometric and astrometric calibration is performed via the numerous 2MASS sources observed in each pointing. Results. The first data release contains the aperture photometry and astrometric catalogues for 348 individual pointings in the ZY JHK s filters taken in the 2010 observing season. The typical image quality is ∼0. 9−1. 0. The stringent photometric and image quality requirements of the survey are satisfied in 100% of the JHK s images in the disk area and 90% of the JHK s images in the bulge area. The completeness in the Z and Y images is 84% in the disk, and 40% in the bulge. The first season catalogues contain 1.28 × 10 8 stellar sources in the bulge and 1.68 × 10 8 in the disk area detected in at least one of the photometric bands. The combined, multi-band catalogues contain more than 1.63 × 10 8 stellar sources. About 10% of these are double detections because of overlapping adjacent pointings. These overlapping multiple detections are used to characterise the quality of the data. The images in the JHK s bands extend typically ∼4 mag deeper than 2MASS. The magnitude limit and photometric quality depend strongly on crowding in the inner Galactic regions. The astrometry for K s = 15−18 mag has rms ∼ 35−175 mas. Conclusions. The VVV Survey data products offer a unique dataset to map the stellar populations in the Galactic bulge and the adjacent plane and provide an exciting new tool for the study of the structure, content, and star-formation history of our Galaxy, as well as for investigations of the newly discovered star clusters, star-forming regions in the disk, high proper motion stars, asteroids, planetary nebulae, and other interesting objects.

The periodic spectroscopic events in η Carinae are now well established and occur near the periastron passage of two massive stars in a very eccentric orbit. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the variations of different spectral features, such as an eclipse by the wind-wind collision boundary, a shell ejection from the primary star or accretion of its wind onto the secondary. All

As an eclipsing polar with 3.39 hrs orbital period, MN Hya was going through state change when we observed it during 2009-2016. 10 new mid-eclipse times, along with others obtained from literature, allow us to give a new ephemeris. The residuals of linear fit show that period decreased during the phase of state change. It means angular momentum was lost during this phase. The X-ray observation indicates the mass accretion rate as about 3.6 × 10 −9 M ⊙ yr −1 . The period decrease gives that at least 60 percent of mass being transfered from secondary was lost, maybe in form of the spherically symmetric stellar wind. In high state, the data shows the intensity of the flickering reduced when system had higher accretion rate, and that flickering sticks out with primary timescale about 2 minutes, which implies the position of the threading point as about 30 radius of the white dwarf above the surface of it. The trend of light curves of the system in high state follows that of low state for a large fraction of phase interval from phase 0 to phase 0.4 since which the cyclotron feature is visible, and the primary intensity hump of light curves near phase 0.7 when the system is in high state did not appear on the curve when it is in low state. Those facts contradict the predictions of the two-pole model.