Context. The total mass of a cluster, which is the main parameter determining its ability to host more than one stellar generation, may constitute a threshold below which the cluster is able to form only a single stellar population. Aims: Our goal is to investigate the existence of star-to-star variations in CN and CH band strengths, which are

Based on Hubble Space Telescope observations from the Local Cosmology from Isolated Dwarfs project, we present the star formation histories, as a function of galactocentric radius, of four isolated Local Group dwarf galaxies: two dSph galaxies, Cetus and Tucana, and two transition galaxies (dTrs), LGS-3 and Phoenix. The oldest stellar populations

We present an extension of the BaSTI (Bag of Stellar Tracks and Isochrones) stellar evolution database to extremely metal-poor (Z = 10-5) and super-metal-rich (Z = 0.05) metallicities, with both scaled-solar and α-enhanced ([α/Fe] = 0.4) heavy element distributions. These new tracks (from the pre-main sequence to the early-asymptotic giant branch

We present new UV observations for NGC 288, taken with the WFC3 detector on board the Hubble Space Telescope, and combine them with existing optical data from the archive to explore the multiple-population phenomenon in this globular cluster (GC). The WFC3's UV filters have demonstrated an uncanny ability to distinguish multiple populations along

We used Hubble Space Telescope observations to study the young cluster NGC 1844 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We estimated the fraction and the mass-ratio distribution of photometric binaries and report that the main sequence presents an intrinsic breadth which cannot be explained only in terms of photometric errors, and is unlikely because

We report 12 new transit observations of the exoplanet WASP-4b from the Transit Monitoring in the South (TraMoS) project. These transits are combined with all previously published transit data for this planet to provide an improved radius measurement of Rp = 1.395 ± 0.022Rjup and improved transit ephemerides. In a new homogeneous analysis in search

We extend our previous calibration of the infrared Ca II triplet (CaT) as a metallicity indicator to the metal-poor regime by including observations of 55 field stars with [Fe/H] down to -4.0 dex. While we previously solved the saturation at high metallicity using a combination of a Lorentzian and a Gaussian to reproduce the line profiles, in this

We present the star formation history (SFH) and the age-metallicity relation (AMR) in three fields of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy. They sample a region spanning from the centre of the galaxy to beyond one core radius, which allows studying galactocentric gradients. In all the cases, we found stars as old as 12 Gyr, together with intermediate

We present the results of a new search for variable stars in the Local Group dwarf galaxy Leo A, based on deep photometry from the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. We detected 166 bona fide variables in our field, of which about 60 per cent are new discoveries and 33 candidate variables. Of the confirmed variables, we

We present a general overview and the first results of the SUMO project (a SUrvey of Multiple pOpulations in Globular Clusters). The objective of this survey is the study of multiple stellar populations in the largest sample of globular clusters homogeneously analysed to date. To this aim we obtained high signal-to-noise (S/N > 50) photometry for

M 22 is an anomalous globular cluster that hosts two groups of stars with different metallicity and s-element abundance. The star-to-star light-element variations in both groups, with the presence of individual Na-O and C-N anticorrelations, demonstrates that this Milky Way satellite has experienced a complex star formation history. We have

Multi-band Hubble Space Telescope photometry reveals that the main sequence, sub-giant, and the red-giant branch of the globular cluster NGC 6752 splits into three main components in close analogy with the three distinct segments along its horizontal branch stars. These triple sequences are consistent with three stellar groups: a stellar population

We present new number density and surface brightness profiles for the globular cluster M92 (NGC 6341). These profiles are calculated from optical images collected with the CCD mosaic camera MegaCam at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. The ground-based data were supplemented

NGC 6388 and NGC 6441 are two massive Galactic bulge globular clusters that share many properties, including the presence of an extended horizontal branch (HB), quite unexpected because of their high metal content. In this paper we use Hubble Space Telescope's WFPC2, ACS, and WFC3 images and present a broad multicolor study of their stellar content

Optical spectroscopy of the blue star KIC 10449976 shows that it is an extremely helium-rich subdwarf with effective temperature Teff = 40 000 ± 300 K and surface gravity log g = 5.3 ± 0.1. Radial-velocity measurements over a 5 d time-scale show an upper variability limit of ≈50 ± 20 km s-1. Kepler photometry of KIC 10449976 in both long and short

The TASTE project is searching for low-mass planets with the transit timing variation (TTV) technique by gathering high-precision, short-cadence light curves for a selected sample of transiting exoplanets. It has been claimed that the "hot Jupiter" WASP-3b could be perturbed by a second planet. Presenting eleven new light curves (secured at the

We present CH and CN index analysis and C and N abundance calculations based on the low-resolution blue spectra of red giant branch (RGB) stars in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 7089 (M 2). Our main goal is to investigate the C-N anticorrelation for this intermediate metallicity cluster. The data were collected with DOLORES, the multiobject, low

Low-resolution SDSS/SEGUE spectra have been used to study the behavior of the strengths of the CN and CH molecular bands in stars at different evolutionary stages of the open cluster NGC 6791. We find a significant spread in the strengths of the CN bands, more than twice that expected from the uncertainties, although the bimodalities observed in

In the last few years many globular clusters (GCs) have revealed complex color-magnitude diagrams, with the presence of multiple main sequences (MSs), broad or multiple sub-giant branches (SGBs) and MS turnoffs, and broad or split red giant branches (RGBs). After a careful correction for differential reddening, high-accuracy photometry with the

We present the first photometry of individual stars within VV124 (UGC4879) and find that this is the most isolated dwarf galaxy in the periphery of the Local Group. This work is based on imaging and spectroscopic follow-up observations with the 6-m BTA telescope; we resolve VV124 into 1560 stars down to the limiting magnitude levels of V ~= 25.6