Chandra observations of two quiecent black-hole x-ray nova (BHXN), A0620-00 and GS2000+25 emphasize the reality of the difference in the x-ray luminosity swings of these systems and their neutron-star containing analogs. For A0620-00, the slope of the x-ray spectrum is much more accurately determined than had previously been possible, and is

NGC 2420 is a ∼2 Gyr old well-populated open cluster that lies about 2 kpc beyond the solar circle, in the general direction of the Galactic anti-center. Most previous abundance studies have found this cluster to be mildly metal-poor, but with a large scatter in the obtained metallicities. Detailed chemical abundance distributions are derived for

Aims: To understand the formation and evolution of the different stellar populations within our Galaxy it is essential to combine detailed kinematical and chemical information for large samples of stars. The aim of this work is to explore the chemical abundances of neutron capture elements which are a product of different nucleosynthesis processes

Aims: We aim to derive the chemical behavior of a significant sample of PNe and HII regions in the irregular galaxy NGC 6822. The selected objects are distributed in different zones of the galaxy. Our purpose is to obtain the chemical abundances of the present interstellar medium (ISM), represented by H ii regions, and the corresponding values at

ζ Oph, HD 149757, is an O9.5 Vnn star with a very high projected rotational velocity (v sin i ≥ 340 km s-1). It is also a classical runaway star due to its high proper motion. We perform a quantitative analysis of its optical spectrum in order to measure important observables of the star such as its mass, effective temperature, luminosity and He, C

Recent studies of chemical abundances of secondary stars in low mass X-ray binaries have opened a new window to obtain information on the progenitors of black holes and neutron stars. Secondary stars could have captured a significant amount of the ejected matter in the supernova explosions that originated compact objects in these systems. Thus