The Local Group galaxies offer some of the most discriminating tests of models of cosmic structure formation. For example, observations of the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda satellite populations appear to be in disagreement with N-body simulations of the `lambda cold dark matter' (ΛCDM) model: there are far fewer satellite galaxies than

Context. Dipole mixed pulsation modes of consecutive radial order have been detected for thousands of low-mass red-giant stars with the NASA space telescope Kepler. These modes have the potential to reveal information on the physics of the deep stellar interior. Aims: Different methods have been proposed to derive an observed value for the gravity

We present the preliminary results of a year-long Swift monitoring campaign of the high-redshift (z=2.172) flat-spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) S5 0836+710 (4C 71.07). The campaign, based on one observation per month, 5 ks each observation, for 12 months, allowed us to investigate the synchrotron and nuclear emission contributions to the optical-UV

We investigate the relation between star formation rates (dot{{M}}_s) and AGN properties in optically selected type 1 quasars at 2 z 3 using data from Herschel and the SDSS. We find that dot{{M}}_s remains approximately constant with redshift, at 300 ± 100 M⊙ yr-1. Conversely, dot{{M}}_s increases with AGN luminosity, up to a maximum of ˜ 600 M⊙

Context. We present a study of star formation and central black hole accretion activity of galaxies that are hosted in the two nearby (z ~ 0.2) rich galaxy clusters Abell 983 and 1731. Aims: We aim to quantify both the obscured and unobscured star formation rates, as well as the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGN) as a function of the

Context. Classical bulges in spiral galaxies are known to rotate, but the origin of this observed rotational motion is not well understood. It has been shown recently that a low-mass classical bulge (ClB) in a barred galaxy can acquire rotation by absorbing a significant fraction of the angular momentum emitted by the bar. Aims: Our aim here is to