MWC 656 (=HD 215227) was recently discovered to be the first binary system composed of a Be star and a black hole (BH). We observed it with XMM-Newton, and detected a faint X-ray source compatible with the position of the optical star, thus proving it to be the first Be/BH X-ray binary. The spectrum analysis requires a model fit with two components

Context. Time and spatial damping of transverse magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) kink oscillations is a source of information on the cross-field variation of the plasma density in coronal waveguides. Aims: We show that a probabilistic approach to the problem of determining the density structuring from the observed damping of transverse oscillations

Context. The Crab pulsar is the only astronomical pulsed source detected at very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma rays. The emission mechanism of VHE pulsation is not yet fully understood, although several theoretical models have been proposed. Aims: In order to test new models, we measured the light curve and the spectra of the Crab pulsar

We present Galactic mean metallicity maps derived from the first year of the SDSS-III APOGEE experiment. Mean abundances in different zones of projected Galactocentric radius (0 R 15 kpc) at a range of heights above the plane (0 |z| 3 kpc), are derived from a sample of nearly 20,000 giant stars with unprecedented coverage, including stars in

Review of the book : Architecture, Astronomy and Sacred Landscape in Ancient Egypt. Giulio Magli (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013). Pp. xii + 272. £60. ISBN 978-1-10703-208-8.

Aims: We present a portrait of the active Centaur P/2010 C1 (Scotti), observed with a well developed comet-like activity (central diffuse coma condensation and an extended sharp tail-like structure) at the heliocentric distance of rh = 5.5 AU. Methods: We analyse multicolour (B, V, R, and I) images taken at the TNG telescope to characterise the