The Hipparcos mission has made it possible to constrain the positions of nearby field stars in the colour-magnitude diagram with very high accuracy. These positions can be compared with the predictions of stellar evolutionary calculations to provide information on the basic parameters of the stars: masses, radii, effective temperatures, ages, and

On 20-21 October 2005, the remaining six Chandra/HRC-I observations (as mentioned in ATEL #637) were performed as part of the XMM-Newton/ Chandra monitoring campaign of the 1.7 square degree region around Sgr A* (Wijnands et al. 2005, A&A submitted, astro-ph/0508648). The neutron star X-ray transient SAX J1747.0-2853 was in the field-of-view of one

An attempt is made to confirm the observation of Allen (1980) of a 3.3-micron emission feature attributed to thermal dust emission in the quasar 3C 273. Spectrophotometric observations of 3C 273 were obtained on May 18, 19 and 24 with the 1.5-m telescope of the Mount Lemmon Observatory. No evidence is found for the 3.3-micron feature in excess of 7

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Context. In the current era of large spectroscopic surveys of the Milky Way, reference stars for calibrating astrophysical parameters and chemical abundances are of paramount importance. Aims: We determine elemental abundances of Mg, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, and Ni for our predefined set of Gaia FGK benchmark stars. Methods: By analysing high

We discuss SAURON integral field observations of a sample of 42 spirals, ranging in type from Sa to Sd. Using 2D maps of the stellar velocity, velocity dispersion, and absorption line strength, it is now much easier to understand the nature of nearby galactic bulges and inner disks. Here we briefly present some of our results.