Aims: The nearby, bright, almost completely unreddened Type Ia supernova 2011fe in M101 provides a unique opportunity to test both the precision and the accuracy of the extragalactic distances derived from SNe Ia light curve fitters. Methods: We applied the current, public versions of the independent light curve fitting codes MLCS2k2 and SALT2 to

We present high-precision, model-independent, mass and radius measurements for 16 white dwarfs in detached eclipsing binaries and combine these with previously published data to test the theoretical white dwarf mass-radius relationship. We reach a mean precision of 2.4 per cent in mass and 2.7 per cent in radius, with our best measurements reaching

A method that is widely used to analyse stellar populations in galaxies is to apply the theoretically derived responses of stellar spectra and line indices to element abundance variations, which are hereafter referred to as response functions. These are applied in a differential way, to base models, in order to generate spectra or indices with

TeV gamma-ray signals from the Crab Nebula and Mkn 501 were detected with the HEGRA CT1 imaging Cerenkov telescope during periods when the moon was shining and during twilight. This was accomplished by lowering the high voltage supply of the photomultipliers in fixed steps up to 13%. No other adjustments were made and no filters were used. Laser

Context: .The Isaac Newton Telescope Photometric Hα Survey (IPHAS) is currently mapping the Northern Galactic plane reaching to r'=20 mag with typically 1primeprime resolution. Hundreds of Planetary Nebulae (PNe), both point-like and resolved, are expected to be discovered. We report on the discovery of the first new PN from this survey: it is an

We will present preliminary results of the occultation of Tycho star 6833-00163-1 by the dwarf-planet 1 Ceres. The 11.8 visual magnitude star was occulted in the night of 17 August 2010, with the shadow passing through south, south-east and central part of Brazil. The observation was a challenge because of the drop in magnitude was only 0.07 for a