The High-Velocity Clouds (HVCs) observed in the Galactic neighbourhood, have been proposed to be remnants of the formation of the galaxies in the Local Group, having distances, and thus masses, predominantly of dark matter, considerably larger than hitherto hypothesized. This hypothesis is plausibly supported by observational evidence that their

From an H-α image of the spiral barred galaxy NGC 3359, an HII region catalogue is composed. The catalogue comprises the position, mean radius and the calibrated H-alpha luminosity of each HII region. The observations of the image of NGC 3359 in H-α were carried out in February 1996, on the Isaac Newton telescope in La Palma in the context of the

We present observations of magnetic fields of the very quiet Sun near disk center using the Spectro-Polarimeter of the Solar Optical Telescope aboard the Hinode satellite. These observations reveal for the first time the ubiquitous presence of horizontal magnetic fields in the internetwork regions. The horizontal fields are spatially distinct from

Seeing statistics from several year-long site-testing campaigns carried out at different locations at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) are reviewed (this contribution contains results previously published by Munoz-Tunon et al. (1997) [Estudio de Sitio para el Gran Telescopio: Informe final; A&AS, 125, 183]). In particular, tests at the

Let M be a von Neumann algebra, f a faithful normal state and denote by M^f the fixed point algebra of the modular group of f. Let U_M and U_{M^f} be the unitary groups of M and M^f. In this paper we study the quotient U_M/U_{M^f} endowed with two natural topologies: the one induced by the usual norm of M (called here usual topology), and the one

Context. The solar magnetic field is responsible for all aspects of solar activity. Thus, emergence of magnetic flux at the surface is the first manifestation of the ensuing solar activity. Aims: Combining high-resolution and synoptic observations aims to provide a comprehensive description of flux emergence at photospheric level and of the growth