We present time-resolved photometry of the optical counterpart to the black hole candidate Swift J1753.5-0127 which has remained in the low/hard X-ray state and bright at optical/IR wavelengths since its discovery in 2005. At the time of our observations Swift J1753.5-0127 does not show a decay trend but remains stable at R=16.45 with a night-to

We have conducted simultaneous optical and X-ray observations of SWIFT J1753.5-0127 with RXTE and ULTRACAM, while the system persisted in its relatively bright low/hard state. In the cross-correlation function, we find that the optical emission, with a broad negative peak, leads the X-ray emission by a few seconds and has a smaller positive peak at

Supermassive black holes are a key element in our understanding of how galaxies form. Most of the progress in this very active field of research is based on just ~30 determination of black hole masses, accumulated over the past decade. We illustrate how integral-field spectroscopy, and in particular our OASIS modeling effort can help improve the

SUNRISE is an international project for the development, construction and operation of a balloon-borne solar telescope with an aperture of 1 m, working in the UV/VIS spectral domain. The main scientific goal of SUNRISE is to understand the structure and dynamics of the magnetic field in the atmosphere of the Sun. SUNRISE will provide near

Photometry and long-slit spectroscopy are presented for a sample of six galaxies with a low surface-brightness stellar disc and a bulge. The characterizing parameters of the bulge and disc components were derived by means of a two-dimensional photometric decomposition of the images of the sample galaxies. Their surface-brightness distribution was

We present results on the stellar populations of a sample of 18 late-type spirals, based on data acquired with the integral-field spectrograph SAURON at the WHT. We present the two-dimensional line-strength maps, the central line indices, and estimate the star formation time-scale. In an exponentially declining SFR scenario, we find a trend between