We propose to measure the expansion parallax of the nebulae around the binary symbiotic Miras He 2-104 {the Southern Crab} and He 2-147 by means of high resolution WFPC2/F658N images to be taken at two different epochs. Given the large outward velocities of these nebulae inferred from ground-based spectroscopy, their apparent expansion can be

We present results from a survey of an unbiased sample of 38 early-type (S0-Sa), low-inclination, optically barred galaxies in the field, using images both from the ground and from space. Our goal was to find and characterize central stellar and gaseous structures: secondary bars, inner disks, and nuclear rings. We find that bars inside bars are

We report the discovery of three L dwarfs in the solar vicinity within 30 parsecs. These objects were originally found as proper motion objects from a combination of R and I photographic plates measured as part of the SuperCOSMOS Sky Surveys. We subsequently identified these objects as bona fide brown dwarf candidates on the basis of their R-I

SLX 1737-282 is a persistent moderately bright X-ray source 1fdg2 from the Galactic center. X-ray observations with the Wide Field Cameras on BeppoSAX have for the first time revealed the true nature of SLX 1737-282: a 15 min long thermonuclear flash was detected exposing the source as a neutron star in a binary system. The flash was Eddington

The study of extragalactic extinction laws is of paramount importance as it plays a key role in galaxy evolution, as well as for the determination of the cosmological parameters, for example using SNe. We propose to utilize a new technique based on flux measurements of gravitationally lensed, multiply-imaged QSOs to estimate the extinction law of

We present the results of our monitoring of the halo black hole soft X-ray transient (SXT) XTE J1118+480 during its decline to quiescence. The system has decayed 0.5mag from 2000 December to its present near-quiescent level at R~=18.65 (2001 June). The ellipsoidal light curve is distorted by an additional modulation that we interpret as a superhump