Aims: We report the discovery of CoRoT-8b, a dense small Saturn-class exoplanet that orbits a K1 dwarf in 6.2 days, and we derive its orbital parameters, mass, and radius. Methods: We analyzed two complementary data sets: the photometric transit curve of CoRoT-8b as measured by CoRoT and the radial velocity curve of CoRoT-8 as measured by the HARPS

Context. The space telescope CoRoT searches for transiting extrasolar planets by continuously monitoring the optical flux of thousands of stars in several fields of view. Aims: We report the discovery of CoRoT-10b, a giant planet on a highly eccentric orbit (e = 0.53 ± 0.04) revolving in 13.24 days around a faint (V = 15.22) metal-rich K1V star

Context. NRAO 150 is one of the brightest radio and mm AGN sources in the northern sky, and is an interesting source to study extreme relativistic jet phenomena. However, its cosmological distance has not yet been calibrated, because of its optical faintness due to strong Galactic extinction. Aims: We measure the redshift of NRAO 150, to enable us

We report the discovery of peculiar features in the optical spectrum of 4C+22.25, a flat spectrum radio quasar at z = 0.4183 observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and in a dedicated spectroscopic follow-up from the Nordic Optical Telescope. The Hβ and Hα lines show broad profiles (FWHM ~ 12,000 km s-1), faint fluxes, and extreme offsets (Δv =

Near-Earth asteroid (NEA) 101955 (1999 RQ36; henceforth RQ36) is especially accessible to spacecraft and is the primary target of NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample return mission; it is also a potentially hazardous asteroid. We combine dynamical and spectral information to identify the most likely main-belt origin of RQ36 and we conclude that it is the

We present time-resolved optical spectroscopy of V458 Vulpeculae (Nova Vul 2007 No. 1) spread over a period of 15 months starting 301d after its discovery. Our data reveal radial-velocity variations in the HeII λ5412 and HeII λ4686 emission lines. A period analysis of the radial-velocity curves resulted in a period of 98.09647 +/- 0.00025min (0