We present 10 new Spitzer detections of fullerenes in Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebulae, including the first extragalactic detections of the C70 molecule. These new fullerene detections together with the most recent laboratory data permit us to report an accurate determination of the C60 and C70 abundances in space. Also, we report evidence for

Aims: Near-IR photometry of dwarf irregular galaxies (dIs) has been acquired to expand the sample of objects suitable for investigating the fundamental plane (FP) discovered previously by us. Data for blue compact dwarfs (BCDs), dwarf ellipticals (dEs), and dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are amalgamated to evaluate how closely these classes of

Context. The Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) is a large public spectroscopic survey at the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope. Aims: A key aim is to provide precise radial velocities (RVs) and projected equatorial velocities (vsini) for representative samples of Galactic stars, which will complement information obtained by the Gaia astrometry

Context. Recent metallicity determinations in young open clusters and star-forming regions suggest that the latter may be characterized by a slightly lower metallicity than the Sun and older clusters in the solar vicinity. However, these results are based on small statistics and inhomogeneous analyses. The Gaia-ESO Survey is observing and

Originally thought to explore the high redshift Universe, the extreme depth of the Frontier Fields survey provides also an excellent opportunity to explore with unprecedented detail the faintest component of the galaxy clusters: their intra-cluster light (ICL). In this contribution, we will show our analysis of the ICL of the cluster Abell 2744

The GTC is a 10.4m telescope being built in La Palma, Spain, by a consortium lead by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC). Other members of the collaboration include Mexico and the University of Florida (US). The telescope is now complete, the main activity currently being the installation of the control system. This will lead to the