High-resolution spectroscopy (R>25,000) is a robust and powerful tool in the near-infrared characterization of exoplanet atmospheres. It has unambiguously revealed the presence of carbon monoxide and water in several hot Jupiters, measured the rotation rate of beta Pic b, and suggested the presence of fast day-to-night winds in one atmosphere. The

The HST/ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters includes F606W and F814W observations of 66 clusters (Sarajedini et al. 2007). We present new global mass functions (MFs) for a significant sub-sample of clusters in the survey. We also present updated core radii, tidal radii, and concentrations for many of these clusters. This new information allows

We present an integral field spectroscopic study of the central 2 × 2 kpc2 of the blue compact dwarf galaxy Mrk 409, observed with the Potsdam MultiAperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS). This study focuses on the morphology, two-dimensional chemical abundance pattern, excitation properties, and kinematics of the ionized interstellar medium in the

The preliminary results of STEPHI 2006 campaign are reported.

The proto-planetary nebula Hen 3-1475 (IRAS 17423--1755) shows a remarkable highly--collimated optical jet with a spectacular S-shaped string of shock-excited knots (Bobrowsky et al. 1995, Riera et al. 1995, Borkowski et al. 1997). Moreover, extremely high velocities have been observed in the innermost regions of its optical jet, which decreases

We present new tools for improving our abilities for disentangling relevant stellar population parameters in early-type galaxies. To develop these tools we use stellar population synthesis models predicting spectra for old and intermediate-aged stellar populations at moderately high resolution. We propose new indices to lift the age/metallicity