Context: Nearby young clusters are privileged places to study the star formation history. Over the last decade, the σ-Orionis cluster has been a prime location for the study of young very low mass stars, substellar and isolated planetary mass objects and the determination of the initial mass function. Aims: To extend previous studies of this

Aims: We investigate the origin of a flux increase found during a transit of TrES-1, observed with the HST (Hubble Space Telescope). This feature in the HST light curve cannot be attributed to noise and is supposedly a dark area on the stellar surface of the host star eclipsed by TrES-1 during its transit. We investigate the likelihood of two

We studied the role of fundamental constants in an updated recombination scenario, focusing on the time variation of the fine structure constant α and the electron mass m_e in the early Universe. Using CMB data including WMAP 5-yr release, and the 2dFGRS power spectrum, we put bounds on variations of these constants, when both constants are allowed

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SPIRE, the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver, is Herschel's submillimetre camera and spectrometer. It comprises a three-band imaging photometer operating at 250, 350 and 500 μm, and an imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) covering 194 672 μm. The design of SPIRE is described, and the expected scientific performance is summarised