High-energy gamma-ray emission is theoretically expected to arise in tight binary star systems (with high mass loss and high-velocity winds), although the evidence of this relationship has proven to be elusive so far. Here we present the first bounds on this putative emission from isolated Wolf-Rayet (WR) star binaries, WR 147 and WR 146, obtained

Until April 2007 the Major Atmospheric Gamma ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescope used a 300 MSamples/s flash analog-to-digital converter (FADC) system to sample the shaped photomultiplier tube (PMT) signals produced by the captured Cherenkov photons of air showers. Different algorithms to reconstruct the signal from the read-out samples

Spitzer IR Array Camera (IRAC) mid-infrared photometry is presented for the globular cluster (GC) systems of the NGC 5128 (`Centaurus A') and NGC 4594 (`Sombrero') galaxies. Existing optical photometric and spectroscopic are combined with this new data in a comprehensive optical-to-mid-IR colour catalogue of 260 GCs. Empirical colour-metallicity

We report high-resolution spectroscopy of the moderately reddened (AV=3) early-type star Cernis 52 located in a region of the Perseus molecular cloud complex with anomalous microwave emission. In addition to the presence of the most common diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) we detect two new interstellar or circumstellar bands coincident to within 0

We present initial results of a comparative near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic study of the Themis and Veritas asteroid families. These two families are compositionally primitive (mainly Tholen C-types) and likely formed in the same region of the protoplanetary disk. However, their disruption ages are at opposite extremes: 2.5 Gy and 8.3 My

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project for a 4 meter-class ground-based telescope, to be located in the Canary Islands. The project is promoted by the European Association for Solar Telescopes (EAST), a consortium formed by research organizations from 15 European countries. EST will be optimized for studies of magnetic coupling between the