We use the Galaxies-Intergalactic Medium Interaction Calculation (GIMIC) suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to study the formation of stellar spheroids of Milky Way mass disc galaxies. The simulations contain accurate treatments of metal-dependent radiative cooling, star formation, supernova feedback and chemodynamics, and the large

In order to provide additional constraints to current models of angular momentum evolution of solar-type stars, we have conducted a period-determination program in the Alpha Perseus cluster. We have selected a sample of 22 Alpha Persei G and K dwarfs on the basis of their seemingly slow rotation rate (vsini

In this paper all the travel-time data from crustal earthquakes that occurred in the period 1978-1991 along the southern Tyrrhenian sea have been re-examined. In particular, 410 local earthquakes recorded at a minimum number of seven seismic stations and 52 shots fired on sea have been utilized to infer a tomographic image of the velocity model

We present a new generation SCIDAR instrument that is a fully automatically controlled device with a user-friendly interface. Alignment and observation are reduced to easy and rapid handling without the effort operating in the dome. This instrument is installed in the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma. We describe our progress from prototype to

Damped transverse oscillations of magnetic loops are routinely observed in the solar corona. This phenomenon is interpreted as standing kink magnetohydrodynamic waves, which are damped by resonant absorption owing to plasma inhomogeneity across the magnetic field. The periods and damping times of these oscillations can be used to probe the physical

We have used observations made with the helioseismic instrument LOWL collected over ~6 years to carry out an independent study of the variations of the p-mode damping and excitation rates with solar activity. We observe significant variations in the mode height, mode width, and mode velocity power over a wide range of angular-degree values. Their