Cosmological models predict that large galaxies like the Milky Way formed from the accretion of smaller stellar systems. The most spectacular of these merger events are stellar tidal streams, rivers of stars and dark matter that envelop the discs of spiral galaxies. We present a research project for a collaboration with amateur astronomers in the

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Earth- and space-based observations provide synergistic information for space mission encounters by providing data over longer timescales, at different wavelengths and using techniques that are impossible with an in situ flyby. We report here such observations in support of the EPOXI spacecraft flyby of comet 103P/Hartley 2. The nucleus is small

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We present the underlying relations between color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and synthesis models through the use of stellar luminosity distribution functions. CMD studies make direct use of the stellar luminosity distribution function while, in general, synthesis models only use its mean value, even though high-order moments can also be obtained