Swift, a dedicated gamma-ray burst (GRB) satellite with ultrarapid slewing capability, and a suite of ground-based (ESO) telescopes have recently achieved a major breakthrough: detecting the first afterglows of short-duration GRBs. The faintness of these afterglows and the diversity of old and young host galaxies lend support to the emerging

The Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) is one of three key projects in SDSS-II. SEGUE is in the process of obtaining ugriz imaging of some 3500 square degrees of sky outside of the SDSS-I footprint, with special attention being given to scans of lower galactic latitudes in order to better probe the disk/halo

We present high spatial resolution integral-field spectroscopy of 28 elliptical (E) and lenticular (S0) galaxies from the SAURON representative survey obtained with the OASIS spectrograph during its operation at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. These seeing-limited observations explore the central 8 × 10 arcsec2 (typically 1 kpc diameter)

Our multi-wavelength analysis of GRB 060124 shows the unusual behaviour of the decaying lightcurve as well as supporting the recently proposed phenomenon of long-lasting central engine activity. The prompt X-ray emission displays uncommonly well resolved flaring behaviour, with spectral evolution - indicative of central engine activity - which

Context: .Sunspot penumbrae harbor highly structured magnetic fields and flows. The moving flux tube model offers an explanation for several observed phenomena, e.g. the Evershed effect and bright penumbral grains. Aims: .A wealth of information can be extracted from spectropolarimetric observations. In order to deduce the structure of the magnetic

There are some 194,000 R = 2000 stellar spectra reported in the final public release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-I), known as DR-5. Setting aside the stars observed during the course of early tests for the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE), which will be considered in the future, this leaves a total of