We characterize the kinematics, morphology, stellar populations and star formation histories of a sample of massive compact galaxies in the nearby Universe, which might provide a closer look at the nature of their high-redshift (z >rsim 1.0) massive counterparts. We find that nearby compact massive objects show elongated morphologies and are fast

Combined with the collecting power of the Very Large Telescope, X-shooter is the most sensitive medium-resolution spectrograph currently in operation, allowing us to perform quantitative spectroscopy of objects that, up to now, were deemed too faint. In addition, with its unique wavelength coverage, X-shooter provides access to an un-precedentedly

New reduction of photometric B, V, I observations from Stetson et al. (2003, Cat. J/PASP/115/413) with updated photometry zero-points according to Stetson et al. (2005PASP..117..563S), and the same photometry, but empirically corrected for differential reddening using the procedure described in Milone et al. (2012A&A...540A..16M). (1 data file).

We present twenty-three transit light curves and seven occultation light curves for the ultra-short period planet WASP-43 b, in addition to eight new measurements of the radial velocity of the star. Thanks to this extensive data set, we improve significantly the parameters of the system. Notably, the largely improved precision on the stellar

Mrk 938 is a luminous infrared (IR) galaxy in the local Universe believed to be the remnant of a galaxy merger. It shows a Seyfert 2 nucleus and intense star formation according to optical spectroscopic observations. We have studied this galaxy using new Herschel far-IR imaging data in addition to archival X-ray, UV, optical, near-IR and mid-IR

The unexpected rising flux of early-type galaxies at decreasing ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths is a long-standing mystery. One important observational constraint is the correlation between UV-optical colours and Mg2 line strengths found by Burstein et al. The simplest interpretation of this phenomenon is that the UV strength is related to the Mg line