We present non-LTE analyses of four M33 early B supergiant stars and five Galactic counterparts. This is the first time that B supergiants beyond the Magellanic Clouds are analyzed by means of detailed non-LTE techniques. Among the M33 stars, new spectroscopic observations of B38 (ob21-108) are presented and the object is classified as B1 Ia. The

We will present analysis of the diffuse emission from the nucleus of M31 using a 40 ks Chandra ACIS-S observation. The observation was taken by Chandra on 5 October, 2001. This is a continuation of our work performed on a 5 ks observation with the Chandra ACIS-I detector, presented as a poster paper at the 2001 ASP conference. With this observation

We present the surface photometry and stellar kinematics of NGC 2950, which is a nearby and undisturbed SB0 galaxy hosting two nested stellar bars. We use the Tremaine-Weinberg method to measure the pattern speed of the primary bar. This also permits us to establish directly and for the first time that the two nested bars are rotating with

The RXTE has been monitoring the new transient X-ray source MAXI J1409-619 since its discovery on October 20, 2010 (Yamaoka et al 2010, ATEL # 2959) . We analyzed the observations of this source performed on December 11, 2010 during the current re-brightening of the source (Ueno et al 2010, ATEL # 3067). The observation lasted for a total exposure

We report on the detection, from observations obtained with the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment spectroscopic survey, of a metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -1.3 dex) field giant star with an extreme Mg-Al abundance ratio ([Mg/Fe] = -0.31 dex; [Al/Fe] = 1.49 dex). Such low Mg/Al ratios are seen only among the second-generation population

Hubble Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera and Multiobject Spectrometer (NICMOS) observations of six brown dwarf candidates in the Pleiades open cluster are presented. One of them, namely CFHT-Pl-18, is clearly resolved as a binary with an angular separation of 0.33". The very low density of contaminating background stars in our images and the