In this presentation we report visible and near infrared spectra covering the 0.35-2.5 μm range of two big TNOs recently discovered, 2005 FY9 and 2003 EL61, and visible spectrum of 2003UB313 obtained with the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope and the 3.58 m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo sited at El Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Spain)

Context. Star-forming nuclear rings in barred galaxies are common in nearby spirals, and their detailed study can lead to important insights into the evolution of galaxies, their bars and their central regions. We present integral field spectroscopic observations obtained with SAURON of the bar and circumnuclear region of the barred spiral galaxy

The study of asteroids that present sporadic cometary activity, is of fundamental importance to address several astronomical problems like the end states of comet nuclei, the abundance of water in main belt asteroids and its role as a possible source of terrestial water. We studied the composition of the surface of asteroid (3200) Phaethon, a

We report the detection of the first extrasolar planet, ET-1 (HD 102195b), using the Exoplanet Tracker (ET), a new-generation Doppler instrument. The planet orbits HD 102195, a young star with solar metallicity that may be part of the local association. The planet imparts radial velocity variability to the star with a semiamplitude of 63.4+/-2.0 m

Constellation-X presents a great leap forward in collecting area over current X-ray observatories and will enable high signal-to-noise studies of X-ray sources that are currently too faint for Chandra and XMM-Newton. Thus Constellation-X remains a high-priority mission in reviews by the National Academies and is the next major X-ray observatory

We have obtained mosaic images of NGC 3109 in the V and I bands on 74 nights, spanning approximately 1 yr. From these data, we have conducted an extensive search for Cepheid variables over the entire field of the galaxy, resulting in the discovery of 113 variables with periods ranging from 3.4 to 31.4 days. In this sample, 76 Cepheids, including