Nova V458 Vul erupted on 2007 August 8 and reached a visual magnitude of 8.1 a few days later. Hα images obtained 6 weeks before the outburst as part of the IPHAS Galactic plane survey reveal an 18th magnitude progenitor surrounded by an extended nebula. Subsequent images and spectroscopy of the nebula reveal an inner nebular knot increasing

The AGILE gamma-ray burst GRB 080514B is the first detected to have emission above 30 MeV and an optical afterglow. However, no spectroscopic redshift for this burst is known. We report on our ground-based optical/NIR and millimeter follow-up observations of this event at several observatories, including the multi-channel imager GROND on La Silla

We present ``BiRD'', a tool for the browsing and visualisation of XMM-Newton high-resolution spectra. The dataset accessed by this utility consists of RGS spectra uniformly processed and calibrated, and fits therefore very nicely into the VO framework. The tool here described provides also additional information that can be relevant to the

We present the first results of an ambitious work still in progress. We are modeling the light distribution of a large sample (˜10000) of cluster galaxies from the WINGS survey as single Sérsic or bulge plus disk systems. Our classification scheme is based on a logical filter that takes advantage of well-known characteristics of these two kinds of

We use measurements of the projected galaxy correlation function wp(rp) and galaxy void statistics to test whether the galaxy content of halos of fixed mass is systematically different in low-density environments. We present new measurements of the void probability function (VPF) and underdensity probability function (UPF) from Data Release 4 of

Context: The recent discovery of a group of trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) in a narrow region of the orbital parameter space and with surfaces composed of almost pure water ice, being 2003 EL{61} its largest member, promises new and interesting results about the formation and evolution of the TNb and the outer Solar System. Aims: The aim of this