Understanding the assembly of the most massive galaxies is one of the most important problems in astronomy today. It is now feasible to identify the most massive galaxies out to z 2.5, yet we have just begun to probe their evolution. To address this, we propose to obtain deep NIRI NIR long-slit spectroscopy of a sample of 15 ultra-massive galaxies

We report the detection of 15 X-ray bursts with RXTE and Swift observations of the peculiar X-ray binary Circinus X-1 (Cir X-1) during its 2010 May X-ray re-brightening. These are the first X-ray bursts observed from the source after the initial discovery by Tennant and collaborators, 25 years ago. By studying their spectral evolution, we firmly

We present high-resolution echelle spectra of seven proximate damped Lyman α (PDLA) systems. The relative velocity separation of each PDLA from the background quasar is Δ V 3000 km s-1. Combining our sample with a further nine PDLAs from the literature we compare the chemical properties of the proximate systems with a control sample of intervening

We present two-dimensional line-of-sight stellar kinematics of the lens galaxy in the Einstein Cross, obtained with the GEMINI 8 m telescope, using the GMOS integral-field spectrograph. The stellar kinematics extend to a radius of 4'' (with 0farcs2 spaxels), covering about two-thirds of the effective (or half-light) radius Re ~= 6'' of this early

HH 110 is a rather peculiar HerbigHaro object in Orion that originates due to the deflection of another jet (HH 270) by a dense molecular clump, instead of being directly ejected from a young stellar object. Here we present new results on the kinematics and physical conditions of HH 110 based on Integral Field Spectroscopy. The 3D spectral data

The relatively recent insight that energy input from supermassive black holes (BHs) can have a substantial effect on the star formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies motivates us to examine the effects of BH feedback on the scale of galaxy groups. At present, groups contain most of the galaxies and a significant fraction of the overall baryon content of