The distance to the black hole binary GX 339-4 remains a topic of debate. We examine high-resolution optical spectra of the Na D lines resolving the velocity structure along the line of sight. We find this to be complex, with at least nine components, mostly blueshifted, spanning a velocity range of nearly 200 km s-1. The presence of components

IAUC 8364 available at Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.

We explore possible correlations between the light profile shapes of early-type galaxies, as parameterized by the Sérsic index n, and relevant stellar population parameters, which were obtained from spectra of extremely high signal-to-noise and stellar population models that provide an age indicator that is virtually free of the effects of

Quantitative information about variations in the background at J and K' are presented and used to develop guidelines for the acquisition and reduction of ground-based images of faint extended sources in the near-infrared, especially those that occupy a significant fraction of the field of view of a detector or that are located in areas crowded with

SS433 is the prototype microquasar in the Galaxy and may even be analogous to the ULX sources if the jets' kinetic energy is taken into account. However, in spite of 20 years of study, our constraints on the nature of the binary system are extremely limited as a result of the difficulty of locating spectral features that can reveal the nature and

Smart Focal Planes are devices that enable the efficient sampling of a telescope's focal plane to feed spectroscopic and imaging instruments. Examples are integral field units (fiber and image slicers), cryogenic beam manipulators, and MOEMS (micro-opto-electromechanical systems) such as miniature slit shutters. These technologies are critical in