First results from the AGN-Heidelberg program aimed at resolving the central pc region of the closest Active Galactic Nuclei in the IR 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 new inversion methodology that adapts the inversion grid in both radius and co-latitude to the data set and solves the inversion problem through an iterative procedure. This method was tested on state-of-the-art global mode frequency splittings to assess the solar interior rotation rate and its temporal variation. We also explore the

Using N-body simulations, we study the properties of a bar induced in a discy dwarf galaxy as a result of tidal interaction with the Milky Way. The bar forms at the first pericentre passage and survives until the end of the evolution at 10 Gyr. Fourier decomposition of the bar reveals that only even modes are significant and preserve a hierarchy so

We study the population of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) by means of full evolutionary models of stars of mass 1 M⊙ ≤ M ≤ 8 M⊙, evolved through the thermally pulsing phase. The models also account for dust production in the circumstellar envelope. We compare Spitzer infrared colours with results from

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We present high signal-to-noise Keck spectra for 10 globular clusters associated with the giant Fornax elliptical galaxy NGC 1399 and compare measured line indices with current stellar population models. Our data convincingly demonstrate, for the first time, that at least some of the clusters in a giant elliptical galaxy have supersolar abundance