We present intermediate-resolution (FWHM~1.5-2.6 Angstroms) optical spectra of 106 candidate optical counterparts of 77 X-ray sources detected in four pointed (t_exp>=8700 s) ROSAT PSPC observations of the rho Ophiuchi star-forming region and vicinity. Using the spectral types and equivalent widths of Hα and Liilambda670.8 nm obtained from our

The following topics were dealt with: atmospheric optics, image quality, the Gran Telescopio Canarias project, site testing, meteorological effects, the Galileo Telescope, the Half Arcsecond Programme, the Nordic Optical Telescope, wide-field wavefront sensing, adaptive optics, JOSE site evaluation, the William Herschel Telescope, the Swedish

The study of the IR emission from Seyfert galaxies is of key importance for understanding the origin of the extraordinary nuclear activity seen in these objects as well as the differences between the various Seyfert types. Two important problems remain unresolved. For instance, whether the IR radiation from Seyfert galaxies is of mostly thermal or

We have digitally co-added APM scans of 13 Kodak TechPan films of the SE region of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The ~ 6.2degr x 6.2degr field of the R-band films combined with the resolution of ~ 2 arcsec pixel(-1) results in data file sizes of about 222 MBytes. The 13 scanned films have been aligned, co-added, corrected for vignetting effects

We report the first reliable measurement of the nebular [OI] 5577AA emission line in the Orion nebula. The use of diagnostic diagrams using the nebular [OI] and [NI] lines and the comparison with available photoionization models, indicate that the bulk of the nebular emission of the neutral ionic species in the Orion nebula is produced in regions

We have performed a detailed oxygen abundance analysis of 23 metal-poor (-3.0 [Fe/H] -0.3) unevolved halo stars and one giant through the OH bands in the near UV, using high-resolution echelle spectra. Oxygen is found to be overabundant with respect to iron in these stars, with the [O/Fe] ratio increasing from 0.6 to 1 between [Fe/H] = -1.5 and