We investigate the potential of submm-mm and submm-mm-radio photometric redshifts using a sample of mm-selected sources as seen at 250, 350 and 500μm by the SPIRE instrument on Herschel. From a sample of 63 previously identified mm sources with reliable radio identifications in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North and Lockman Hole

The extragalactic background light at far-infrared wavelengths comes from optically faint, dusty, star-forming galaxies in the Universe with star formation rates of a few hundred solar masses per year. These faint, submillimetre galaxies are challenging to study individually because of the relatively poor spatial resolution of far-infrared

We examine the rest-frame far-infrared emission from powerful radio sources with 1.4-GHz luminosity densities of 25 ≤ log(L1.4/W Hz-1) ≤ 26.5 in the extragalactic Spitzer First Look Survey field. We combine Herschel/SPIRE flux densities with Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer infrared data to obtain total (?m

Context. The ESO public survey VISTA variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) started in 2010. VVV targets 562 sq. deg in the Galactic bulge and an adjacent plane region and is expected to run for about five years. Aims: We describe the progress of the survey observations in the first observing season, the observing strategy, and quality of the data

We describe the public ESO near-IR variability survey (VVV) scanning the Milky Way bulge and an adjacent section of the mid-plane where star formation activity is high. The survey will take 1929 h of observations with the 4-m VISTA telescope during 5 years (2010-2014), covering ˜109 point sources across an area of 520 deg2, including 33 known

The optical spectra of objects classified as QSOs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 are analyzed with the aim of determining the value of the fine structure constant in the past and then checked for possible changes in the constant over cosmological timescales. The analysis is done by measuring the position of the fine structure lines

Aims: We present a determination of the intrinsic colors and ages of galaxies at very high redshift, in particular old galaxies (OGs) within extremely red objects (EROs). To date, the definition of EROs has been restricted to objects with z < 2.5, however, here we consider objects with the same properties but shifted to higher redshifts (z > 2.5)

Quasars (Quasi Stellar Objects, abbreviated as QSOs) are still nowadays, close to half a century after their discovery, objects which are not completel y understood. In this brief review a description of the pending problems, inconsistencies and caveats in the QSO's research is presented. The standard paradigm model based on the existence of very

There are extremely luminous quasi stellar objects (QSOs) at high redshift which are absent at low redshift. The lower luminosities at low redshifts can be understood as the external manifestation of either a lower Eddington ratio or a lower mass. To distinguish between both effects, we determine the possible dependence of masses and Eddington

Context. There is a continuing debate as to the form of the outer disc of the Milky Way galaxy, which has important implications for understanding the Galaxy's formation. Stars are known to exist at a galacto-centric distance of at least 20 kpc. However, there is much debate as to whether these stars can be explained as part of the disc or whether

Aims: The MOJAVE (MOnitoring of Jets in AGN with VLBA Experiments) survey contains 101 quasars with a total of 354 observed radio components that are different from the radio cores, among which 95% move with apparent projected superluminal velocities with respect to the core, and 45% have projected velocities larger than 10c (with a maximum

In order to know the formation epoch of the oldest elliptical galaxies as a function of mass and observed redshift, a statistical analysis of 333 extremely red objects (EROs) classified as old galaxies (OGs) at 0.8

Assuming the standard cosmological model to be correct, the average linear size of the galaxies with the same luminosity is six times smaller at z = 3.2 than at z = 0; and their average angular size for a given luminosity is approximately proportional to z-1. Neither the hypothesis that galaxies which formed earlier have much higher densities nor

Aims:A recent catalogue by Flesch & Hardcastle presents two major anomalies in the spatial distribution of QSO candidates: i) an apparent excess of such objects near bright galaxies, and ii) an excess of very bright QSO candidates compared to random background expectations in several regions of the sky. Because anyone of these anomalies would be

Context. The historic plates of the Carte du Ciel, an international cooperative project launched in 1887, offer valuable first-epoch material for the determination of absolute proper motions. Aims: We present the CdC-SF, an astrometric catalogue of positions and proper motions derived from the Carte du Ciel plates of the San Fernando zone

Context: The existence in the Milky Way of either a long thin bar with a half length of 4.5 kpc and a position angle of around 45° with respect to the Sun-Galactic centre line or a bulge+bar complex, thicker and shorter, with a smaller tilt respect to the Sun-GC line, has been a matter of discussion in recent decades. Aims: In this paper, we

We estimated the Galactic model parameters for a set of 36 high-latitude fields included in the currently available Data Release 5 (DR 5) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), to explore their possible variation with the Galactic longitude. The thick disc scaleheight moves from ˜550 pc at 120°

The dust ejecta of Main-Belt Comet P/2010 A2 (LINEAR) have been observed with several telescopes at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma, Spain. Application of an inverse dust tail Monte Carlo method to the images of the dust ejecta from the object indicates that a sustained, likely water-ice-driven, activity over some eight

We present colour transformations for the conversion of Wide-Field Survey Explorer W1, W2, and W3 magnitudes to the Johnson-Cousins BVIc, Sloan Digital Sky Survey gri, and Two Micron All Sky Survey JHKs photometric systems, for red clump (RC) stars. RC stars were selected from the Third Radial Velocity Experiment Data Release. The apparent

We present colour transformations for the conversion of the W1 and W2 magnitudes of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) photometric system to the Johnson-Cousins BVRI, Sloan Digital Sky Survey gri and Two-Micron All-Sky Survey JHKs photometric systems, for dwarfs. The W3 and W4 magnitudes were not considered due to their insufficient