The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) uses a dedicated 300-fiber, narrow-band near-infrared (1.51-1.7 μm), high resolution (R~22,500) spectrograph to survey approximately 100,000 giant stars across the Milky Way. This three-year survey, in operation since late-summer 2011 as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III

OSIRIS (Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy) was the optical Day One instrument for the 10.4m Spanish telescope GTC. It is installed at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos (La Palma, Spain). This instrument has been operational since March-2009 and covers from 360 to 1000 nm. OSIRIS observing modes include

In this paper we review various organizational issues encountered when GRANTECAN, the Spanish organization responsible for the construction and operation of the GTC telescope, evolved from the construction phase of a large telescope facility into the phase of scientific operation. GRANTECAN now operates and further develops the 10.4m segmented

In this paper, we investigate the eclipse timing of the polar binary HU Aquarii that has been observed for almost two decades. Recently, Qian et al. attributed large (O-C) deviations between the eclipse ephemeris and observations to a compact system of two massive Jovian companions. We improve the Keplerian, kinematic model of the light travel time

TypeIa supernovae are thought to occur when a white dwarf made of carbon and oxygen accretes sufficient mass to trigger a thermonuclear explosion. The accretion could be slow, from an unevolved (main-sequence) or evolved (subgiant or giant) star (the single-degenerate channel), or rapid, as the primary star breaks up a smaller orbiting white dwarf

This paper presents a first observational investigation of the faint Of?p star NGC 1624-2, yielding important new constraints on its spectral and physical characteristics, rotation, magnetic field strength, X-ray emission and magnetospheric properties. Modelling the spectrum and spectral energy distribution, we conclude that NGC 1624-2 is a main