We have derived beryllium abundances in a wide sample of stars hosting planets, with spectral types in the range F7V-K0V, aimed at studying in detail the effects of the presence of planets on the structure and evolution of the associated stars. Predictions from current models are compared with the derived abundances and suggestions are provided to

We present the results of a new spectroscopic and photometric survey of the hot X-ray cluster 1E0657-56, at z=0.296. We determine the presence of a low velocity dispersion subcluster, which is offset from the main cluster position by 0.7 Mpc and =~ 600 km s-1. We determine the virial masses and total luminosities of the cluster and its subcluster

Line intensities, visual extinction, abundances and ionization hardness parameter for HII regions in two spiral galaxies are presented. The following galaxies have been observed: NGC 5457 and NGC 4395. In NGC 5457 have been obtained data for 338 regions. In NGC 4395 have been obtained data for 158 regions. For each region position, visual

We analyze images of BL Lacertae objects obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 and the F814W filter. The nine objects cover a redshift range of 0.19 to 0.997. The relatively deep images are sufficient to detect galaxies at least one magnitude below MI* (-21.4) and in most cases to three magnitudes below M*. Galaxy enhancement over the

For decades, the grand-design SAB spiral galaxy NGC 5248 has been postulated to host a short bar of semimajor axis 22" (1.6 kpc). From dynamical and morphological arguments, however, we argue that its spiral structure is being driven by a large-scale bar whose corotation radius lies at ~115" (8.6 kpc). Our estimate is based partially on a deep R

The energy budget of all known optical jets is discussed. It is found that to power the extended radio lobes of radio galaxies, the jet bulk motion on kpc scales must be relativistic, on average. Based on various constraints, a ``most probable'' region centered around Γbulk~7.5 and /θ~20° is found. Because of the consequent relativistic beaming