We present reliable measurements of the metallicity distribution function (MDF) at different points along the tidal stream of the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy, based on high-resolution, echelle spectroscopy of candidate M giant members of the Sgr system. The Sgr MDF is found to evolve significantly from a median [Fe/H]~-0.4 in

We present Keck/LRIS optical spectroscopy of 35 z>=1.4 luminous IR galaxies in the Spitzer Wide-area Infra-Red Extragalactic survey (SWIRE) northern fields (Lockman Hole, ELAIS-N1, ELAIS-N2). The primary targets belong to the "IR-peak" class of galaxies, having the 1.6{mu}m (restframe) stellar feature detected in the IRAC Spitzer channels. The

We report the X-ray detection of Nova Vul 2007 (S. Nakano, IAUC 8861) with the Swift X-ray Telescope in a 6.7ks observation obtained on 2007 October 18 at UT 01:05. The XRT spectrum contains 192 X-ray photons and is largely consistent with a thermal plasma model with temperature kT=0.2 +0.4/-0.07 keV and absorbing column NH=(8 +2/-3)e21 cm^-2. A

The main goal of this work is the analysis of new approaches in order to study the properties of astronomical sites. The objective is to calibrate the atmospheric extinction provided by in situ techniques through remote sensing data retrieved from satellite-platforms. We have explored the usefulness of data provided by different spectrographs

The catalogue of the light curve solutions of contact binary stars was updated. Based on the catalogue data we call the attention to a remarkable gap in the temperature distribution of contact binaries which remained unexplained. The absolute dimensions of the components were calculated in a reliable way.

We present the results on the age and metallicity estimates of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) clusters L110, L112 and L113 obtained from CCD Washington CT1 photometry. We confirm L113 as a relatively old and metal-poor cluster, and report for the first time that L110 and 112 are also relatively old clusters (t ~ 6.5 Gyr). Their derived ages and