These are introductory notes to the field of loop quantum gravity based on the lectures presented at the XIII Brazilian School of Cosmology and Gravitation, Rio de Janeiro, July 2008.

Results of observations of the Galactic bulge X-ray source GX 9+9 by the All-Sky Monitor (ASM) and Proportional Counter Array (PCA) onboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer are presented. The ASM results show that the 4.19 hr X-ray periodicity first reported by Hertz and Wood in 1987 was weak or not detected for most of the mission prior to late

The AGILE gamma-ray burst GRB 080514B was the first detected to have emission at energies above 30 MeV and an optical/NIR afterglow. Here we summarize the main results of our observing campaign based on optical/NIR follow-up observations of this event at several observatories, including the multi-channel imager GROND on La Silla and Swift UVOT. The

The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is a collaborative project with participation from Spain, Mexico and the University of Florida, Gainesville. The GTC is an advanced technology 10.4 m segmented primary telescope currently under commissioning. By the time of the conference we should have pointed to the sky. In the talk I will give a brief overview

There is a long-standing debate why the Mn i 5394.7 Å line in the solar irradiance spectrum brightens more at higher activity than other photospheric lines. The claim that this is caused by spectral interlocking to chromospheric emission in the Mg ii h & k lines is disputed. In this paper we settle this issue, using classical one-dimensional

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