Interstellar dust grain alignment gives rise to polarization from UV to mm wavelengths, allowing the study of the geometry and strength of the magnetic field. Over the last couple of decades observations and theory have led to the establishment of the Radiative Alignment Torque (RAT) mechanism as the leading candidate to explain the effect. With a

Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are a main site of production of nuclei heavier than iron via the s process. In massive (>4 M⊙) AGB stars the operation of the 22Ne neutron source appears to be confirmed by observations of high Rb enhancements, while the lack of Tc in these stars rules out 13C as a main source of neutrons. The problem is that

While both exoplanets and stellar-mass companions have been found in extremely short-period orbits, there has been a paucity of brown dwarf (BD) companions orbiting Sun-like stars, a phenomenon known as the "Brown Dwarf Desert." However, more recent work has shown that this Desert might be limited in extent, only existing for small separation (a 5

Galactic bulges contain dense, information-rich fossil records of star formation and galaxy assembly, encoded in the chemo-dynamical patterns of the stellar populations. The Milky Way's bulge is the only one in which we can resolve the chemistry and kinematics of individual stars in those populations, but we still do not fully understand the

The centers of giant galaxies display stellar mass deficits (Mdef) which are thought to be a signature left by inspiraling supermassive black holes (SMBHs) from pre-merged galaxies. We quantify these deficits using the core-Sérsic model for the largest ever sample of early-type galaxies and find Mdef ˜ 0.5 to 4 MBH (SMBH mass). We find that

We present [C/Fe] and [N/Fe] abundance ratios and CH(λ4300) and S(λ3883) index measurements for 94 red giant branch (RGB) stars in the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy from VLT/VIMOS MOS observations at a resolving power R = 1150 at 4020 Å. This is the first time that [N/Fe] abundances are derived for a large number of stars in a dwarf spheroidal