We analyze the stellar distribution in the Galactic disc via NIR color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). Extinction measurements in the K band are also extracted from the diagrams both for supporting stellar counts predictions of the Besançon and "SKY" models and for comparing with a three dimensional model of the Galactic extinction. The method is based

The old stellar populations of the Milky Way carry the signature of their formation environment and dynamical history in their kinematics and chemical abundances. In particular, the dynamically hot thick disk and halo contain the oldest stars in the Galaxy, and are remnants of its more chaotic past. We present a study of the high-latitude thick

We present spatially resolved kinematics and global stellar populations and mass-to-light ratios for a sample of 39 dwarf early-type (dE) galaxies in the Virgo cluster studied as part of the SMAKCED stellar absorption-line spectroscopy and imaging survey. This sample is representative of the early-type population in the Virgo cluster in the

Starforming galaxies with compact morphology and high optical luminosity (LBCGs) are very common at redshitfs z = 0.4 - 1.2. Those galaxies are believed to have evolved more than other galaxy class during the last ~ 8 Gyr, and are a mayor contributor to the global star formation rate density of the universe at z ~ 1. A robust way to gauge their

Three new grids of stellar evolutionary models with Z=0.01 are presented for the following values of initial hydrogen content X_i_=0.80, 0.73 and 0.63. The latest set of radiative opacities with spin-orbit coupling provided by the Lawrence Livermore group are used. For the lower temperatures the results by Alexander were considered. The models were

Recently, Matthews et al. (2004, Nature, 430, 51) claim a null detection of p-mode oscillations in Procyon A from 32 days of nearly continuous photometric satellite-based observations (MOST). They did not even find evidence in the Fourier amplitude spectrum of Procyon of the uniform frequency spacing signature that solar-like stars acoustic