We present the most extensive combined photometric and spectroscopic study to date of the enormous globular cluster (GC) system around M87, the central giant elliptical galaxy in the nearby Virgo Cluster. Using observations from DEIMOS and the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer at Keck, and Hectospec on the Multiple Mirror Telescope, we derive new

Widefield surveys have always provided a rich hunting ground for the coolest stars and brown dwarfs. The single epoch surveys at the beginning of this century greatly expanded the parameter space for ultracool dwarfs. Here we outline the science possible from new multi-epoch surveys which add extra depth and open the time domain to study.

We present a deep I, Z photometric survey covering a total area of 1.12 deg2 of the σ Orionis cluster and reaching completeness magnitudes of I = 22 and Z = 21.5 mag. From I, I - Z color-magnitude diagrams we have selected 153 candidates that fit the previously known sequence of the cluster. They have magnitudes in the range I = 16-23 mag, which

Studies of the mass function (MF) of open clusters of different ages allow us to probe the efficiency with which brown dwarfs (BDs) are evaporated from clusters to populate the field. Surveys in old clusters (age gtrsim 100 Myr) do not suffer so severely from several problems encountered in young clusters, such as intra-cluster extinction and large

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) has secured mid-resolution spectra of over 300 O-type stars in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. A homogeneous analysis of such a large sample requires automated techniques, an approach that will also be needed for the upcoming analysis of the Gaia surveys of the Northern and Southern

The relationship between the emission of coronal lines (CLs) and nuclear activity in 36 Type 1 and 18 Type 2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is analyzed, for the first time, based on near-infrared (0.8-2.4 μm) spectra. The eight CLs studied, of Si, S, Fe, Al, and Ca elements and corresponding to ionization potentials (IPs) in the range 125-450 eV