Evidence for the rapid internal rotation of the sun obtained from Doppler shift measurements of the Fraunhofer absorption lines is reported. An improved version of the Doppler shift optical resonance spectrometer was used to record the resonantly scattered intensities corresponding to the two wings of the 769.9-nm Fraunhofer absorption lines of

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Context: The CoRoT satellite searches for planets by applying the transit method, monitoring up to 12 000 stars in the galactic plane for 150 days in each observing run. This search is contaminated by a large fraction of false positives, caused by different eclipsing binary configurations that might be confused with a transiting planet. Aims: We

The real-colour images of spiral galaxies reproduced in this Newsletter form part of a new series of such pictures, currently under construction. The original images used have all been obtained with the ING telescopes, mostly with the JKT, some with the INT, and an occasional (H-alpha) image with the WHT. For each galaxy, we have images in the B

We have been monitoring the optical counterpart of the TeV emitting binary LSI +61 303 (V615 Cas) since November 2005 with the Faulkes Telescope North (on Haleakala, Maui), as part of a program to monitor long-term variability in X-ray binaries. Prompted by the recent SGR-like burst observed from a source in the region of LSI +61 303 (GCN 8209

During the last years a mayor effort has been carried out both, in defining key parameters to quantify the quality of a site for astronomical observations, and to design reliable techniques and tools to compare different sites. Here, we will revise some of the parameters relevant for astronomical site evaluation, and we will also brief on the