During our recent observing run at La Silla (April 26-28, 1996), we had the chance to experiment successfully a previously unexplored capability of the NTT: high-dispersion spectroscopy using the full slit length of EMMI.

M31 has been monitored by a Chandra GTO program, which used both the HRC and ACIS from 1999 to 2001 and a GO program, which used ACIS-S during 2000-2001. We report here the lightcurves of X-ray sources in M31 during the past two years. X-ray sources in M31, like in our Galaxy, exhibit variability on long timescales (days to months). Some sources

Aims: We study the multi-band variability and correlations of the TeV blazar Mrk 421 on year timescales, which can bring additional insight on the processes responsible for its broadband emission. Methods: We observed Mrk 421 in the very high energy (VHE) γ-ray range with the Cherenkov telescope MAGIC-I from March 2007 to June 2009 for a total of

{A high-resolution, high signal-to-noise HIRES-Keck spectrum of APM 08279+5255 reveals a feature in the HI Lyalpha profile of the z_abs=3.514 absorber at the expected position of the corresponding DI Lyalpha line. The absorber shows a relatively simple velocity structure, with a major component detected in several metallic lines including CII, CIV

We present initial results from a study of a sample of low-perihelion near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) using the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The 7-14 μm thermal emission spectra have been fitted with models of the thermal continuum to derive the asteroid’s effective diameter, geometric albedo and beaming parameter η

This is a progress report on a project to characterize the surface composition (and other properties such as radius, albedo and thermal inertia) of a sample of low perihelion Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs), using spec-troscopy in the 0.3 to 2.5 micron region (groundbased) and in the 7 to 14 micron region (Spitzer). NEAs with low perihelion distances