Aims: We present a new upgraded version of ARES. The new version includes a series of interesting new features such as automatic radial velocity correction, a fully automatic continuum determination, and an estimation of the errors for the equivalent widths. Methods: The automatic correction of the radial velocity is achieved with a simple cross

With the advent of a new generation of solar telescopes and instrumentation, interpreting chromospheric observations (in particular, spectropolarimetry) requires new, suitable diagnostic tools. This paper describes a new code, NICOLE, that has been designed for Stokes non-LTE radiative transfer, for synthesis and inversion of spectral lines and

The Alfvén wave is analyzed in case of one quasineutral plasma propagating with some constant speed v0 through another static quasineutral plasma. A dispersion equation is derived describing the Alfvén wave coupled with the flow driven mode ω = k v 0 and solutions are discussed analytically and numerically. The usual solutions for two oppositely

In this paper we present the Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager (AOLI), a state-of-the-art instrument which makes use of two well proved techniques for extremely high spatial resolution with ground-based telescopes: Lucky Imaging (LI) and Adaptive Optics (AO). AOLI comprises an AO system, including a low order non-linear curvature wavefront sensor

To provide a quantitative cosmological context to ongoing observational work on the formation histories and location of compact massive galaxies, we locate and study a sample of exceptionally compact systems in the BOLSHOI simulation, using the dark matter structural parameters from a real, compact massive galaxy (NGC 1277) as a basis for our

We report the discovery of a group of apparently young CoRoT red-giant stars exhibiting enhanced [α/Fe] abundance ratios (as determined from APOGEE spectra) with respect to solar values. Their existence is not explained bystandard chemical evolution models of the Milky Way, and shows that the chemical-enrichment history of the Galactic disc is more