Efficient suppression of the residual stellar light is paramount to the success of exoplanet imaging efforts. We present a new approach to diffraction suppression on extremely large telescopes. The method is based on the realization that by obscuring part of the wavefront in the Lyot stop we can change the shape of the corresponding PSF. This

We describe two morphological structures of barred galaxies with the help of numerical simulations. The first one is a feature seen in face-on barred galaxies, the ansae, probably very important dynamically speaking. The second one are the Boxy/Peanut bulges in disc galaxies. They have been associated to stellar bars, and are a result of the

High-resolution observations of sunspots have revealed the existence of dark cores inside the bright filaments of the penumbra. Here we present the stationary solution of the heat transfer equation in a stratified penumbra consisting of nearly horizontal magnetic flux tubes embedded in a stronger and more vertical field. The tubes and the external

This paper reviews some recent advances in the development and application of polarized radiation diagnostics to infer the mean magnetization of the quiet solar atmosphere, from the near equilibrium photosphere to the highly non-equilibrium upper chromosphere. In particular, I show that interpretations of the scattering polarization observed in

Full-Stokes spectropolarimetric data (in the 10830 Å region) of an active region filament were obtained in July 2005 using the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter instrument. The polarization profiles in the filament show Zeeman-like signatures. Milne-Eddington inversions were performed to infer the chromospheric magnetic field, inclination, azimuth

We present results from ongoing science projects conducted by members of the Faulkes Telescope (FT) team and Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT). Many of these projects incorporate observations carried out and analysed by FT users, comprising amateur astronomers and schools. We also discuss plans for the further development of the