We present a high-resolution kinematical study of the ionized gas in the circumnuclear region of NGC 4314. Our spectra reveal the presence of a central structure (apparently a ring or torus) located at ~ 2 arcsec from the nucleus, which we identify as the shocked interface between the nuclear bar and the gas inside the HII region ring.

We investigate current problems in obtaining reliable ages for old stellar systems based on stellar population synthesis modeling of their integrated spectra. In particular, we address the large ages derived for the globular cluster 47 Tuc, which is at odds with its color-magnitude diagram (CMD) age. Using a new age indicator, Hγσ

The aperture photometry package "vaphot" was developed to perform reliable and precise time-series photometry of uncrowded fields. This package works within the Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) environment and is built upon the standard aperture photometry task "phot" from IRAF. The design goal of vaphot was a simple-to-use photometry

We study the large-scale spatial distribution of low-redshift quasars and Seyfert 1 galaxies using a sample of 106 luminous emission-line objects (MB~-23) selected by their Hα emission lines in a far-red objective prism survey (0.2

The effects of seeing on the parameters of the Sèrsic profile are studied in an analytical form using a Gaussian point spread function. The surface brightness of Sèrsic profiles is proportional (in magnitudes) to r1/n. The parameter n serves to classify the type of profile and is related to the central luminosity concentration. It is the parameter

We use an inversion technique to derive the luminosity functions of the Galactic bulge from point source counts extracted from the Midcourse Space Experiment's Point Source Catalog (version 1.2).