Large fullerenes and fullerene-based molecules have been proposed as carriers of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). The recent detection of the most common fullerenes (C60 and C70) around some planetary nebulae (PNe) now enable us to study the DIBs towards fullerene-rich space environments. We search DIBs in the optical spectra towards three

We report on a spectroscopic study of the unusual Li-rich red giant (RG) recently discovered in NGC 6819. This star was observed by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey as part of the survey's calibration cluster sample. We use the high-resolution, near-infrared APOGEE spectrum to address its questionable

The Apache Point Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) forms part of the third Sloan Digital Sky Survey and has obtained high resolution, high signal-to-noise infrared spectra for ~1.3 x 105 stars across the galactic bulge, disc and halo. From these, stellar parameters are derived together with abundances for various elements using the APOGEE

An important part of the history of the Milky Way is encoded in the dynamics and chemistry of the inner Galaxy, which contains about 30% of its mass. It is only in the last few years that a composite picture of the bulge has begun to emerge: recent evidence points towards a population made of multiple components. The origin of the bulge appears to

We present the technology, its installation and the first results from the AMOS meteor system on the Canary Islands. Since March 15 2015, a pair of AMOS automatic all-sky cameras (at Observatory Teide (Tenerife) and Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma) of the Astronomical Institute of Canary Islands) has been observing regularly to record meteors on

We present preliminary Sloan u',g'-band light curves for a sample of known RR Lyrae variables in the Galactic globular cluster omega Cen. Results are based on the partial reduction of multi-band time series photometric data collected during six consecutive nights with the visitor instrument ULTRACAM mounted on the New Technology Telescope (La Silla