Context: The Galactic H ii region NGC 2579 has stayed undeservedly unexplored due to identification problems which persisted until recently. Both NGC 2579 and its companion ESO 370-9 have been misclassified as planetary or reflection nebula, confused with each other and with other objects. Due to its high surface brightness, high excitation

The authors present the results of a survey made at 1.65 μm (H) and 2.2 μm (K) in 15 small areas on the galactic equator between l = 0° and l = 10°. 775 distinct objects were counted in a total area of 0.17 deg2 to limiting magnitudes H = 10.5 and K = 9.5 (equivalent to detecting M giants at 6 - 7 kpc). Source confusion was the limiting factor in

We describe a Fourier-based method of separating bars from spirals in near-infrared images. The method takes advantage of the fact that a bar is typically a feature with a relatively fixed position angle and uses the simple assumption that the relative Fourier amplitudes due to the bar decline with radius past a maximum in the same or a similar

We present 53 simultaneous photometric (I band) and spectroscopic (6900-9500Å) observations of GRO J0422+32, taken during 1997 December. From these we determine that J0422+32 was in its lowest state yet observed, at I=20.44+/-0.08. Using relative spectrophotometry, we show that it is possible to correct very accurately for telluric absorption

It is now established that thermal disc emission and non-thermal jet emission can both play a role at optical/infrared (OIR) wavelengths in X-ray transients. The spectra of the jet and disc components differ, as do their dependence on mass accretion properties. Here we demonstrate that the OIR colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of the evolution of

We present the results of a deep wide-field near-infrared survey of 12 deg2 of the Pleiades conducted as part of the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) Galactic Cluster Survey (GCS). We have extracted over 340 high-probability proper motion (PM) members down to 0.03 Msolar using a combination of UKIDSS