We present the study, characterization, and calibration of the polarization modulation package (PMP) of the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) instrument, a successful Stokes spectropolarimeter on board the SUNRISE balloon project within the NASA Long Duration Balloon program. IMaX was designed to measure the Stokes parameters of incoming light

We have been monitoring yearly variation in the Sun's polar magnetic fields with the Solar Optical Telescope aboard Hinode to record their evolution and expected reversal near the solar maximum. All magnetic patches in the magnetic flux maps are automatically identified to obtain the number density and magnetic flux density as a function of the

We present further results from the ongoing XMM-Newton validation follow-up of Planck cluster candidates, detailing X-ray observations of eleven candidates detected at a signal-to-noise ratio of 4.5 S/N 5.3 in the same 10-month survey maps used in the construction of the Early SZ sample. The sample was selected in order to test internal SZ

We present the results for a chemical abundance analysis between planet-hosting and stars without planets for 12 refractory elements for a total of 1111 nearby FGK dwarf stars observed within the context of the HARPS GTO programs. Of these stars, 109 are known to harbour high-mass planetary companions and 26 stars are hosting exclusively Neptunians

Context. Solar-like oscillations have been observed by Kepler and CoRoT in several solar-type stars, thereby providing a way to probe the stars using asteroseismology Aims: We provide the mode frequencies of the oscillations of various stars required to perform a comparison with those obtained from stellar modelling. Methods: We used a time series

Context. The structure of the solar chromosphere is believed to be governed by magnetic fields, even in quiet-Sun regions that have a relatively weak photospheric field. During the past decade inversion methods have emerged as powerful tools for analyzing the chromosphere of active regions. The applicability of inversions to infer the