We have studied the Lyα, Hβ, Hα, and Mg II λ2798 line profiles of the Seyfert 1 galaxy III Zw 2. The shapes of these broad emission lines show evidence of a multicomponent origin and also features that may be identified as the peaks due to a rotating disk. We have proposed a two-component broad-line region (BLR) model consisting of an inner

High-resolution spectra provide evidence of the Li-I 6707 line in 28 of the stars, and the significance of the results is discussed. The Li-I equivalent widths are presented after correcting for continuum veiling with actual measurements of the veiling itself. Surface spots are found to have a complex effect on the width of the photospheric lines

We present a quantitative derivation of the recent star formation history (SFH) in different regions in the main body of NGC 6822. It has been performed using a set of model CM diagrams computed under different assumptions for the recent (~400 Myr) SFH and in which the crowding effects have been simulated using the particular crowding information

Context: Over the past decade there have been a series of results supporting the hypothesis of the existence of a long thin bar in the Milky Way with a half-length of 4.5 kpc and a position angle of around 45°. This is apparently a very different structure from the triaxial bulge of the Galaxy, which is thicker and shorter and dominates the star

We present an overview of the ongoing Hubble Space Telescope large program GO-12911. The program is focused on the core of M 4, the nearest Galactic globular cluster, and the observations are designed to constrain the number of binaries with massive companions (black holes, neutron stars, or white dwarfs) by measuring the ``wobble'' of the luminous

The MAGIC telescope, presently at its commissioning phase, will become fully operative by the end of 2003. Placed at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) on the island of La Palma, MAGIC is the largest among new generation ground-based gamma ray telescopes, and will reach an energy threshold as low as 30 GeV. The range of the