In this timely volume, the editors present eight specially-written chapters by experts renowned for their teaching skills. The chapters show how astronomers can deduce the internal composition (density, helium abundance, etc.) and dynamical structure (rotation, sub-surface velocity fields, etc.) of the Sun through helioseismology, and how

We combine results from imaging searches for substellar objects in the σ Orionis cluster and follow-up photometric and spectroscopic observations to derive a census of the brown dwarf population in a region of 847 arcmin2. We identify 64 very low mass cluster member candidates in this region. We have available three-color (I, Z, and J) photometry

Aims:We investigate the mass function in the substellar domain down to a few Jupiter masses in the young σ Orionis open cluster (3±2 Ma, d = 360^+70_-60 pc). Methods: We have performed a deep IJ-band search, covering an area of 790 arcmin2 close to the cluster centre. This survey was complemented with an infrared follow-up in the HK_s- and Spitzer

We review different surveys, in the optical and infrared, conducted in the very young (age 1 8 Myr), nearby (d ˜ 350 pc) σ Orionis cluster aimed to characterize the substellar population. We describe spectral characteristics of very low mass stars, brown dwarfs and planetary mass objects in the cluster with spectral types from K7 to T6. We study

The Sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory consists of a 1m aperture Gregory telescope, a UV filter imager, an imaging vector polarimeter, an image stabilization system and further infrastructure. The first science flight of Sunrise yielded high-quality data that reveal the structure, dynamics and evolution of solar convection, oscillations and

Asteroid dynamical families are supposed to be formed from the collisional disruption of parent bodies. As a consequence, the investigation of the surface properties of small and large family members may give some hints on the nature of the dynamical group, the internal composition of the parent body, and the role played by space weathering