Any variation in the fundamental physical constants, more particularly in the fine structure constant, α, or in the mass of the electron, me, affects the recombination history of the Universe and cause an imprint on the cosmic microwave background angular power spectra. We show that the Planck data allow one to improve the constraint on the time

The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) project aims to provide a strong scientific vision for ground-based optical astronomy beyond the upcoming generation of Extremely Large Telescopes. We make the case that a breakthrough in angular resolution imaging capabilities is required in order to unravel the processes involved in planet formation. PFI will be

We analyse the planetary nebulae (PNe) population of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), based on evolutionary models of stars with metallicities in the range 10-3 ≤ Z ≤ 4 × 10-3 and mass 0.9 M⊙ M 8 M⊙, evolved through the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase. The models used account for dust formation in the circumstellar envelope. To characterize

The nearby disc galaxy M33 is one of the best laboratories for testing chemical evolution models in galaxies and for understanding disc formation mechanisms. In this galaxy, planetary nebulae (PNe) were previously extensively studied only within a galactocentric radius of 8 kpc.In the framework of a broad study of the population of PNe in Local

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The Canarias InfraRed Camera Experiment (CIRCE) for the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is one of the few infrared instruments in the world using a four-beam polarimeter. The classical double-beam configuration consists of a half-wave plate (HWP) and a Wollaston Prism (WP) that allow measurement of two linear polarization components of the light in