Optical novae have recently been identified as the major class of supersoft X-ray sources in M 31 based on ROSAT and early XMM-Newton and Chandra observations. This paper reports on a search for X-ray counterparts of optical novae in M 31 based on archival Chandra HRC-I and ACIS-I as well as XMM-Newton observations of the galaxy center region

We present the results of the DART imaging and CaII triplet (CaT) survey of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) at ESO. We collected hundreds of low resolution spectra of Red Giant Branch (RGB) stars in the CaT region, using VLT/FLAMES in Medusa mode, with the GIRAFFE spectrograph (grating LR8, resolving power R~6500). We list the results for

A series of missions will be launched over the next few decades that will be designed to detect and characterize extrasolar planets around nearby stars. These missions will search for habitable environments and signs of life (biosignatures) in planetary spectra. The vegetation's ``red edge,'' an enhancement in the Earth's spectrum near 700 nm when

We selected a large sample of O-B stars that were considered as (candidate) slowly pulsating B, beta Cep, and Maia stars after the analysis of their Hipparcos data. We analysed both the Hipparcos data and our new seven passband Geneva data collected for these stars during the first three years of scientific operations of the Mercator telescope. We

We announce the discovery of the second transiting hot Jupiter discovered by the Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey. The planet, which we dub TrES-2, orbits the nearby star GSC 03549-02811 every 2.47063 days. From high-resolution spectra, we determine that the star has Teff=5960+/-100 K and logg=4.4+/-0.2, implying a spectral type of G0 V and a mass

This paper defines the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) Early Data Release (EDR). UKIDSS is a set of five large near-infrared surveys being undertaken with the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Wide Field Camera (WFCAM). The programme began in 2005 May and has an expected duration of 7yr. Each survey uses some or all of the broad-band filter