Alcatel Space together with Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille is leading one of two competing consortia of European industry and scientific institutions tasked by ESA with carrying out detailed assessment and definition studies of the Near-Infrared Spectrometer for NGST. In this paper, we present the current baseline instrument concept that

We collected photometrical and dynamical data for 73 low red-shift (z

The effects of seeing on Sérsic r1/n profile parameters are extensively studied using a Moffat function. This analytical approximation to the point spread function (PSF) is shown to provide the best fit to the PSF predicted from atmospheric turbulence theory when β~4.765. The Moffat PSF is additionally shown to contain the Gaussian PSF as a

We present R-band observations of the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey gravitational lens system B1152+199, obtained with the active optics system at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. Owing to the very good spatial resolution of the images (0.6"), the optical counterpart of the two quasar components and the lens galaxy have been clearly identified

An exceptional variability phase occurred in the peculiar F-type hypergiant ρ Cas (Ia+) when the V brightness dimmed by about a full magnitude between June and September 2000. The star recovered from this deep minimum by April 2001. It is the third outburst of ρ Cas on record in the last century. We detect the formation of TiO bands in high

We obtained at the same time G-band images at the Dutch Open Telescope (DOT) on La Palma and spectropolarimetric data in the near infrared at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) on Tenerife. The spectropolarimetric data show interesting correlations. Bright filaments have a smaller magnetic field s trength, and higher Evershed velocities occur