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Aims. We present an update of the 3C 273's database hosted by the ISDC, completed with data from radio to gamma-ray observations over the last 10 years. We use this large data set to study the multiwavelength properties of this quasar, especially focussing on its variability behaviour. Methods. We study the amplitude of the variations and the maximum variability time scales across the broad-band spectrum and correlate the light curves in different bands, specifically with the X-rays, to search for possible connections between the emission at different energies. Results. 3C 273 shows variability at all frequencies, with amplitudes and time scales strongly depending on the energy and being the signatures of the different emission mechanisms. The variability properties of the X-ray band imply the presence of either two separate components (possibly a Seyfert-like and a blazar-like) or at least two parameters with distinct timing properties to account for the X-ray emission below and above ∼20 keV. The dominant hard X-ray emission is most probably not due to electrons accelerated by the shock waves in the jet as their variability does not correlate with the flaring millimeter emission, but seems to be associated to long-timescale variations in the optical. This optical component is consistent with being optically thin synchrotron radiation from the base of the jet and the hard X-rays would be produced through inverse Compton processes (SSC and/or EC) by the same electron population. We show evidence that this synchrotron component extends from the optical to the near-infrared domain, where it is blended by emission of heated dust that we find to be located within about 1 light-year from the ultraviolet source.

Abstract. The presence of a planet around the K dwarf HD 192263 was recently called into question by the detection of a periodic photometric signal with the same period as the one observed in radial velocity. In this paper, we investigate this possibility, using a combination of radial-velocity, photometry, and bisector measurements obtained simultaneously. The results show that while the observed radial-velocity variation is always very stable in phase, period, and amplitude, the photometric signal changes with time. The combined information strongly suggests that the observed radial-velocity variation is being produced by the presence of a planet, as firstly proposed. The photometric variations are either not connected to the planetary companion, or can eventually be induced by the interaction between the planet and the star. Finally, the radial-velocity data further show the presence of a long term trend, whose origin, still not clear, might be related to the presence of another companion to the system.

From radial velocity measurements obtained with a cross-correlation technique, the variation of turbulence during the pulsation cycle is studied for a sample of 40 Cepheids. We will propose a new way to separate classical and s-Cepheids. More complete results will appear in a forthcoming paper (Bersier & Burki 1995)The radial velocities have been measured with the spectrometer CORAVEL (Baranne et al. 1979), whose cross-correlation function (CCF) is fitted with a Gaussian, giving the radial velocity Vr, the width σobs the depth H and the continuum, normalised to 1. The pulsation broadens the lines and thus also the CCF. In the Gaussian approximation one can writewhere σobs is the observed width, σinst is the instrumental width, σpuls is the additional width caused by the pulsational velocity field and σres contains all the other effects (turbulence, rotation, magnetic field, etc.). To be less affected by the noise in the data, a Fourier series has been fitted to each curve of σobs. With numerical simulations, one is able to synthesise the additional Doppler width due to pulsation, with a high accuracy. The instrumental width being well known for CORAVEL, the computation of σres is then straightforward. One then has a curve in phase for σres. From this curve, we determined the maximum residual broadening σmax (observed at or very close to minimum radius), and the width σo that the star would have if it did not pulsate. As shown by Bersier & Burki (1995), σo is slightly higher than the mean value of σres.

Abstract. The long-term spectrophotometric variations of 49 Be stars are studied using the U and V magnitudes of the UBV system, the total Balmer discontinuity D and the visible gradient Φ rb . BCD spectrophotometric and photometric data in five different photometric systems, obtained in most cases since 1950 and reduced to the BCD system, were used. The (U, D), (V, D), (Φ rb , D) and (Φ rb , V ) correlations obtained differ from star to star and they can be single or double-valued. They differ clearly for Be phases or Be-shell phases. Be stars with small V sin i showing the "spectrophotometric shell behaviour": D > D * , were found. This finding implies either that strongly flattened models of circumstellar envelopes are in doubt for these stars, or that not all Be stars are rapid rotators. Comparison of observed variations with those predicted for model Be stars with spherical circumstellar envelopes of variable densities and dimensions implies that spectrophotometric patterns of Be phases are due to circumstellar envelopes in low opacity regimes, while those of spectrophotometric shell phases are due to circumstellar envelopes in high opacity regimes. In a given star, the envelope regions responsible for the observed variations of D and Φ rb in spectrophotometric shell phases seem to be smaller and denser than those producing the observed variations of these parameters in spectrophotometric Be phases. The high positive RV found in strong shell phases might favor the formation of compact circumstellar layers near the star.