We present initial abundance gradients in the Milky Way as determined from high-resolution (R > 20,000) spectra of red giant stars. Our observations were taken with the SDSS-III APO Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) and have a S/N of at least 100. APOGEE is able to sample a large range of Galactocentric radii (RGC) including the bulge and

To determine the spectral type, the rotational velocity and the radial velocity amplitude of the primary, we obtained 46 high-resolution (R~85000) echelle spectra using the HERMES spectrograph at the 1.2-m Mercator telescope (La Palma, Canary Islands). These were reduced using the standard instrument-specific data reduction pipeline. Additionally

Single junction In0.52Al0.48As solar cells have been grown on a (100) GaAs substrate by employing a 1 μm thick compositionally graded InxGa1-xAs/InP metamorphic buffer layer to accommodate the 3.9% mismatch. Cells processed from the 0.8 μm thick InAlAs layers had photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 5% with an open circuit voltage of 0.72 V, short

We present a list of 13 candidate gravitationally lensed submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) from 95 deg2 of the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey, a surface density of 0.14 ± 0.04 deg–2. The selected sources have 500 μm flux densities (S 500) greater than 100 mJy. Gravitational lensing is confirmed by follow-up observations in 9 of the 13

Context. The nature of ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) sources is still a matter of debate. Studies of their counterparts in other spectral ranges will help to clarify the nature of those sources. Aims: Our goal was to identify and characterize the optical counterparts of five sources catalogued as ULXs. Methods: We obtained optical imaging and

Some recent observations seem to disagree with hierarchical theories of galaxy formation about the role played by major mergers in the late buildup of massive E-S0s. We re-address this question by analysing the morphology, structural distortion level and star formation enhancement of a sample of massive galaxies (M* > 5 × 1010 M&sun;) lying on the