We have used photometric images of 10 barred galaxies in the B and I bands to infer geometric and dynamical parameters of their bars: their lengths, their strengths, and their corotation radii. The bar length, R_bar, is measured as the radius at which the odd Fourier components of the I image show a rise, accompanied by a blue peak in the B-I

We present optical spectroscopy and optical and infrared photometry of the neutron star soft X-ray transient Aql X-1 during its X-ray outburst of 1997 August. By modelling the X-ray, optical and IR light curves, we find a 3-d delay between the IR and X-ray rise times, analogous to the UV-optical delay seen in dwarf novae outbursts and black hole X

To preserve the exceptional sky quality of the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory, the Spanish Government has subsidized the cost of a programme of streetlighting adaptation on La Palma aimed at minimizing potential light pollution. New non-polluting light fixtures and low-pressure sodium vapour lamps have been used to modified existing lighting

We present high-quality (subarcsecond) optical narrowband CCD images of the planetary nebula NGC 6881, which reveal a highly collimated bipolar structure. A careful examination of the [N II] image and of the [N II]/[O III] and [N II]/Hα ratio images shows that NGC 6881 is a quadrupolar planetary nebula, that is, a twice bipolar planetary nebula

Since the launch of SOHO, the Solar Heliospheric Orbital Observatory, the helioseismic observations are nearly uninterrupted. The GOLF instrument (A. Gabriel et al., 1997) measures the mean velocity integrated over the disk. The autocorrelation function of this velocity shows two main features: Firstly, the initial decrease of the peak amplitudes

A ring-diagram analysis technique has been applied to a region of the Sun of about 15 deg^2 area close to the disk center at dates chosen for several solar rotations in 1996: April 5, May 1, May 28, June 27, July 23, August 20, August 21, and September 18. The horizontal velocity flows inferred directly beneath the solar surface have thus been