We present the results of long-slit spectroscopy in several slit positions that cover different morphological structures of the central parts of three bright Galactic HII regions: M8, M17 and NGC 7635. We study the spatial distributions of a large number of nebular parameters, such as the extinction coefficient, line fluxes, physical conditions and

Seeing measurements are crucial for the optimum design of (multi-conjugate) adaptive optics systems operating at solar telescopes. For the design study of the 4-meter European Solar Telescope, to be located in the Canary Islands, several instruments have been constructed and operated, at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma) and at

In the astrophysical context of the search for Earth-like extrasolar planets, an important research effort has been done for the realization of single-mode integrated optics devices for mid-infrared space-based interferometry. Preparatory projects like FKSI [3], where rejection of high order modes is required to a level better than 40dB, will need

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a European collaborative project to build a 4m class solar telescope in the Canary Islands, which is now in its design study phase. The telescope will provide diffraction limited performance for several instruments observing simultaneously at the Coudé focus at different wavelengths. A multi-conjugated adaptive

We continued our Swift-XRT monitoring of the new very-faint X-ray source XMMSL1 J171900.4-353217 [ATel #2607, #2656]. Two new observations were obtained on Jun 14th and 29th and we fitted both observations with an absorbed powerlaw model, keeping the hydrogen column density constant to the value 3.4E22 cm-2 (see ATel #2627). The resulting photon

In a fast multi-wavelength timing study of black hole X-ray binaries (BHBs), we have discovered correlated optical and X-ray variability in the low/hard state of two sources: GX 339-4 and SWIFT J1753.5-0127. After XTE J1118+480, these are the only BHBs currently known to show rapid (sub-second) aperiodic optical flickering. Our simultaneous VLT