Using a high-resolution spectrum of the secondary star in the black hole binary A0620-00, we have derived the stellar parameters and veiling caused by the accretion disk in a consistent way. We have used a χ2 minimization procedure to explore a grid of 800,000 LTE synthetic spectra computed for a plausible range of both stellar and veiling

Results appearing since the last APN meeting on the relation between abundances and PNe morphological features are reviewed here. Statistical analyses of round, elliptical, and bipolar PNe clearly separate the latter group as having larger He and N/O abundances. Studies of individual PNe, including the UV and IR domains, allow a detailed comparison

High-resolution G-band images of the interior of a supergranulation cell show ubiquitous bright points (BPs; some 0.3 BPs per Mm2). They are located in intergranular lanes and often form chains of elongated blobs whose smallest dimension is at the resolution limit (135 km on the Sun). Most of them live for a few minutes, having peak intensities

This paper will review a new technique of detecting companion stars in LMXBs and X-ray transients in outburst using the Bowen fluorescence NIII lines at 4634-4640. These lines are very efficiently reprocessed in the atmospheres of the companion stars and, thereby, provide estimates of the K[2] velocities and mass functions. The method has been

SCIDAR has proved to be the most efficient technique to obtain the optical vertical structure of the atmospheric turbulence measured from ground level. However, the common procedure of obtaining the data, as well as its 'a posteriori' treatment, requires a huge number of highly qualified human resources. A systematic monitoring program becomes

Deciphering and understanding the small-scale magnetic activity of the quiet solar photosphere should help to solve many of the key problems of solar and stellar physics, such as the magnetic coupling to the outer atmosphere and the coronal heating. At present, we can see only ~1 per cent of the complex magnetism of the quiet Sun, which highlights