IN the course of taking submillimetre chromospheric data from Concorde 001 during the eclipse of June 30 (ref. 1), it proved possible to record information on the visual thickness of the chromosphere which is accurate enough to merit reporting. During an eclipse viewed conventionally from a stationary site on the ground, the precise time at which

We present optical imaging and long slit spectroscopic observations of nine luminous type 2 active galactic nuclei (AGN) within the redshift range 0.3 < z < 0.6 based on Very Large Telescope Focal Reducer and Low Dispersion Spectrograph (VLT FORS2) data. Most objects (6/9) are high luminosity Seyfert 2, and three are type 2 quasars (QSO2), with our

Context. Fornax is one of the most massive dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group. The Fornax field star population is dominated by intermediate age stars but star formation was going on over almost its entire history. It has been proposed that Fornax experienced a minor merger event. Aims: Despite recent progress, only the high metallicity

We present medium-resolution VLT/FORS2 spectroscopy of six cataclysmic variables (CVs) discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We determine orbital periods for SDSSJ023322.61+005059.5 (96.08 +/- 0.09min), SDSSJ091127.36+084140.7 (295.74 +/- 0.22min), SDSSJ103533.02+055158.3 (82.10 +/- 0.09min) and SDSSJ121607.03+052013.9 (most likely 98

We present the discovery of three new transiting giant planets, first detected with the WASP telescopes, and establish their planetary nature with follow up spectroscopy and ground-based photometric light curves. WASP-92 is an F7 star, with a moderately inflated planet orbiting with a period of 2.17 d, which has Rp = 1.461 ± 0.077RJ and Mp = 0.805

We present the first results from a long-term campaign of water vapor monitoring at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Canary Islands, Spain). This observatory is situated on a volcanic peak, on the small island of La Palma. Although its altitude is relatively low (2400 meters), our initial site-testing, taken for site selection for the