Aims:We study the structure and reveal the physical nature of the reversed granulation pattern in the solar photosphere by means of 3-dimensional radiative hydrodynamics simulations. Methods: We used the MURaM code to obtain a realistic model of the near-surface layers of the convection zone and the photosphere. Results: The pattern of horizontal

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

Recent Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire data have further confirmed the hypothesis of the existence of an in-plane long bar different from the bulge of the Milky Way with the same characteristics as emphasized some years ago by our team. In this paper we present two new analyses that corroborate recent and earlier claims

Accurate estimates of spectral parameters are essential to investigate the physical conditions in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In particular, intrinsic reddening can be estimated from the Hα/Hβ ratio of the narrow-line components. The mass of the central black hole can be obtained from the stellar velocity dispersion in the bulge, which can be

Context: Since the discovery in 1997 of stellar oscillations in some B-type hot subdwarfs (sdBs), much effort is being made both observationally and theoretically to characterize this new group of pulsating objects. Aims: To increase the number of members of such pulsators and to perform a theoretical analysis of new pulsating stars. Methods: The

We provide in Table 4 basic (HIP and HD numbers, V magnitude and parallax) and kinematic (radial velocities and heliocentric space velocity) data for our sample stars. The kinematic probabilities of being a thin-disk, thick-disk, and halo member are also given. Table 5 contains the line data used in our abundance computations as well as the