Close-up of primary and secondary asteroseismic CoRoT targets and the ground-based follow-up observations

To optimise the science results of the asteroseismic part of the CoRoT satellite mission a complementary simultaneous ground-based observational campaign is organised for selected CoRoT targets. The observations include both high-resolution spectroscopic and multicolour photometric data. We present the preliminary results of the analysis of the ground-based observations of three targets. A line-profile analysis of 216 high-resolution FEROS spectra of the δ Sct star HD 50844 reveals more than ten pulsation frequencies in the frequency range 5-18 d-1, including possibly one radial fundamental mode (6.92 d-1). Based on more than 600 multi-colour photometric datapoints of the β Cep star HD 180642, spanning about three years and obtained with different telescopes and different instruments, we confirm the presence of a dominant radial mode ν1 5.48695 d-1, and detect also its first two harmonics. We find evidence for a second mode ν2 0.3017 d-1, possibly a g-mode, and indications for two more frequencies in the 7-8 d-1 domain. From Stromgren photometry we find evidence for the hybrid 5 Sct/γ Dor character of the F0 star HD 44195, as frequencies near 3 d-1 and 21 d-1 are detected simultaneously in the different filters. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.