Context. X-Shooter is the first second-generation instrument for the ESO-Very Large Telescope. It is a spectrograph covering the entire 300-2480 nm spectral range at once with a high resolving power. These properties enticed us to observe the well-known trans-Neptunian object (136199) Eris during the science verification of the instrument. The

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PG 1351+489 is one of the 20 DBVs - pulsating helium-atmosphere white dwarf stars - known and has the simplest power spectrum for this class of star, making it a good candidate to study cooling rates. We report accurate period determinations for the main peak at 489.334 48 s and two other normal modes using data from the Whole Earth Telescope (WET)

The neutron star low-mass X-ray binary and long thermonuclear burst source XTE J1701-407 (ATel #1618) has been active ever since its discovery in 2008 June (ATel #1569), displaying a typical 2-10 keV luminosity of ~5E36 erg/s (assuming a distance D=5.0 kpc; ATel #2814). However, routine monitoring of the Galactic bulge with the PCA aboard RXTE

We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of the members of three previously cataloged compact group (CG) candidates at redshifts z > 0.3. These confirm spectroscopic redshifts compatible with being gravitationally bound structures at redshifts 0.3112, 0.3848, and 0.3643, respectively, and then they are the most distant CGs known with

Context. Knowledge of the mass function in open clusters constitutes one way to constrain the formation of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs as does the knowledge of the frequency of multiple systems and the properties of disks. Aims: The aim of the project is to determine the shape of the mass function in the low-mass and substellar regimes in the