The magnetic and kinematic configuration of sunspot penumbrae is investigated by performing an inversion of the Stokes profiles of three infrared lines at 1565 nm. We use a two-component model atmosphere to describe, at least to first order, the unresolved structure of the penumbra. The observed Stokes profiles are successfully fitted, including

In this short letter we present our new work on the coronal emission in a sample of AGN. We used the adaptive optics system NACO on the VLT to obtain high angular resolution images (˜0.15') of the coronal emission in the vicinity of the central engine.

The infrared sky quality is an important parameter to take into account for the evaluation of astronomical sites. The traditional idea of considering higher altitude sites as better for infrared astronomical observations than sites at lower altitudes is not in agreement with observational data. It has been shown that the observational infrared

Isolated galaxies are important because they probe the lowest density regimes inhabited by galaxies. We define a sample of 36 nearby isolated early-type galaxies for further study. Our isolation criteria require them to have no comparable-mass neighbours within 2 B-band magnitudes, 0.67 Mpc in the plane of the sky and 700 km s-1 in recession

First results from the AGN-Heidelberg program aimed at spatially resolving the central pc region of the closest Active Galactic Nuclei are presented. The core region of prototype active nuclei are clearly unveiled at IR waves and at distances from the nucleus - few pc- where circumnuclear starforming regions appear not to be present. Within that

We present a re-analysis of the European Large Area Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) Survey (ELAIS) 90-μm observations carried out with ISOPHOT, an instrument on board the ISO of the European Space Agency. With more than 12 deg2, the ELAIS survey is the largest area covered by ISO in a single programme and is about one order of magnitude deeper