We propose to observe the peculiar neutron star low mass X-ray binary (NS/LMXB) 2S 1803-245 in quiescence. Together with EXO 1745-248, it is the only transient that reached peak luminosities comparable to the Eddington- limit. This makes 2S 1803-245 one of the thermally brightest NSs in quiescence according to the cooling theory, and therefore one

The statistics of vertical structure of the turbulence affect the complexity of the design and implementation of Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) systems. The operation of these systems could be optimized if the stability of the layers were such as to permit to fix the deformable mirrors (DMs) at specific heights. Moreover, it is desirable to

The radial velocity technique is currently used to classify transiting objects. While capable of identifying grazing binary eclipses, this technique cannot reliably identify blends, a chance overlap of a faint background eclipsing binary with an ordinary foreground star. Blends generally have no observable radial velocity shifts, as the foreground

VLT J- to M'-band adaptive optics observations of the Circinus galaxy on parsec scales resolve a central bright Ks-band source with a FWHM size of 1.9+/-0.6 pc. This source is only visible at wavelengths longward of 1.6 μm and coincides in position with the peak of the [Si VII] 2.48 μm coronal line emission. With respect to the peak of the central

We report the detection of a transiting Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a relatively bright (V=11.79) K0 V star. We detected the transit light-curve signature in the course of the TrES multisite transiting planet survey and confirmed the planetary nature of the companion via multicolor photometry and precise radial velocity measurements. We designate

In this paper we present the current status of a XMM-Newton program to observe an optically-defined, complete and unbiased sample of Compton-thick Seyfert 2 galaxies. The main goal of this project is the measurement of the occurrence rate of transition between transmission- (i.e. Compton-thin), and reflection-dominated spectral states. These