The origin, and role of C in the formation of first solar system aggregates is described. Stellar grains evidence demonstrates that Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars were nearby to the solar nebula at the time of solar system formation. Such stars continue to burn H and He in shells that surround the C-O core. During their evolution, flashes

Aims: We are performing a search for symbiotic stars using IPHAS, the INT Hα survey of the northern Galactic plane, and follow-up observations. Methods: Candidate symbiotic stars are selected on the basis of their IPHAS and near-IR colours, and spectroscopy and photometry are obtained to determine their nature. We present here observations of the

MAGIC is a system of two 17 m diameter Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) for ground-based γ-ray astronomy. During many years, starting with the design phase of the first telescope in 2003, the upgrade of the second telescope in 2008 up to now, novel technologies have been developed, commissioned and continuously improved. Most

We present the details and early results from a deep near-infrared survey utilizing the NICMOS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope centred around massive M* > 1011 M&sun; galaxies at 1.7 z 2.9 found within the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) fields North and South. The GOODS NICMOS Survey (GNS) was designed to obtain deep

Context. Understanding the formation of collimated outflows is one of the most debated and controversial topics in the study of the late stages of stellar evolution. Aims: M 2-9 is an outstanding representative of extreme aspherical flows. It presents unique features such as a pair of high-velocity dusty polar blobs and a mirror-symmetric rotating

We present the ellipticity distribution and its evolution for early-type galaxies in clusters from z˜ 0.8 to the current epoch, based on the WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (0.04 ≤z≤ 0.07) and the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (0.4 ≤z≤ 0.8). We first investigate a mass-limited sample and we find that above a fixed mass limit (M*≥ 1010.2 M&sun