We present UBVRI light curves of BL Lacertae from May 2000 to January 2001, obtained by 24 telescopes in 11 countries. More than 15 000 observations were performed in that period, which was the extension of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) campaign originally planned for July-August 2000. The exceptional sampling reached allows one to follow

R-band surface photometry is presented for 171 late-type dwarf and irregular galaxies. For a subsample of 46 galaxies B-band photometry is presented as well. We present surface brightness profiles as well as isophotal and photometric parameters including magnitudes, diameters and central surface brightnesses. Absolute photometry is accurate to 0.1

We present optical photometry and spectroscopy of the X-ray transient XTE J1859+226, obtained during outburst and its subsequent decay to quiescence. Both the X-ray and optical properties are very similar to those of well-studied black hole soft X-ray transients. We have detected three mini-outbursts, when XTE J1859+226 was approaching quiescence

Context: Determining the parameters of massive stars is crucial to understand many processes in galaxies and the Universe, since these objects are important sources of ionization, chemical enrichment and momentum. 10m class telescopes enable us to perform detailed quantitative spectroscopic analyses of massive stars in other galaxies, sampling

The equilibrium configuration of very small magnetic flux tubes in an intergranular environment automatically produces kilogauss magnetic field strengths. We argue that such a process takes place in the Sun and complements the convective collapse (CC), which is traditionally invoked to explain the formation of kilogauss magnetic concentrations in

We present relations between thermal and magnetic quantities in a simple, isolated sunspot, as deduced from the inversion of 1.56 μm spectropolarimetric data. We used a combination of two infrared Fe I lines at 15 648.5 Å and 15 652.8 Å/ in the inversions. Due to the high Zeeman sensitivity of these lines, we can study this relationship in the