Abstract

The Wide Angle Search for Planets has now discovered over 150 extrasolar giant planets that transit bright stars, more than any other ground-based transiting exoplanet survey. The data from WASP and other exoplanet surveys are also an extremely valuable resource for the discovery and characterisation of many other types of variable star. In this talk I will give two examples of eclipsing binary star systems discovered using WASP data. The first example is a new class of eclipsing binary star in which the precursor of a very low mass white dwarf is eclipsed by a blue straggler. These binaries can be used to understand the formation of low-mass white-dwarf companions to milli-second pulsars and in other extreme astrophysical environments. The second example is solar-type stars in long-period eclipsing binaries. I will outline how these binary systems can be used to calibrate the stellar models that will be used for the interpretation of observations from the Gaia and Plato missions.