We report the detection of the first extrasolar planet, ET-1 (HD 102195b), using the Exoplanet Tracker (ET), a new-generation Doppler instrument. The planet orbits HD 102195, a young star with solar metallicity that may be part of the local association. The planet imparts radial velocity variability to the star with a semiamplitude of 63.4+/-2.0 m

We report the first quiescent detection of KV UMa, the optical counterpart of XTEJ1118 + 480, in the near-infrared. The observed magnitudes and colours are consistent with a K7-M0V star, at the distance of 1.4 +/- 0.2 kpc. The light curve shows strong orbital modulation with possible contamination from a superhump detected in the quiescent optical

We have obtained a low-resolution optical spectrum for one of the faintest cluster member candidates in Praesepe with the Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy mounted on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio de Canarias. We confirm spectroscopically the first L dwarf member in Praesepe, UGCS J084510.66+214817.1. We derived an

We present observations of a new very low mass field binary, discovered during an infrared imaging survey of 250 DENIS L and very late-M dwarfs. DENIS-J055146.0-443412.2 is an M8.5 + L0 pair, with a physical separation of over 200 AU. This makes it the widest very low mass binary known in the field, by an order of magnitude. Such a system is

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On the basis of Synthetic Horizontal Branches computed with Sweigart and Gross (1976) Horizontal Branch evolutionary tracks, and by means of Sweigart and Gross (1978) Red Giant Branch star models, the calibration of the ratio R = N(HB)/N(RGB) in terms of helium abundance (Y), He-core mass (Mc) and Horizontal Branch morphology is derived. The