SDSS DR6 includes about 300,000 stellar spectra, and a significant fraction of them belong to members of the halo. We make use of these data to examine closely the shape of the halo metallicity distribution. Does it have a single peak? Is it bimodal? Does it offer any clues on its formation and evolution?

The spectral lines observed in penumbrae are asymmetrical, revealing the existence of spatially unresolved structures. We infer their physical properties by fitting Stokes spectra of Fe I 6301.5 Å and Fe I 6302.5 Å with model atmospheres having two magnetic components interleaved along the line-of-sight (LOS). Combining ten thousand fits, we set up

The thermal spectrum of the zodiacal light cannot be observed from the ground. We collected 27 mid-infrared (6-12mu m) spectra obtained by the spectrophotometer ISOPHOT-S on-board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). The observed positions are distributed over the sky region accessible by ISO. The spectrum of the zodiacal light is remarkably well

We report the largest mass-loss rate of ~5 % of the solar mass per year, directly observed in any stellar object so far during the recent outburst of the Yellow Hypergiant ρ Cas. In the fall of 2000, the enigmatic cool luminous supergiant dimmed by more than a full visual magnitude, thereby changing its spectral type form early F- to early M-type

We present 1.3- and/or 3-mm continuum images and 3-mm spectral scans, obtained using Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) and Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), of 21 distant, dusty, star-forming galaxies. Our sample is a subset of the galaxies selected by Ivison et al. on the basis of their extremely red far-infrared (far-IR) colours and

There are some 194,000 R = 2000 stellar spectra reported in the final public release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-I), known as DR-5. Setting aside the stars observed during the course of early tests for the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE), which will be considered in the future, this leaves a total of