Over the past years observations of young and populous star clusters have shown that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) can be conveniently described by a two-part power-law with an exponent α2 = 2.3 for stars more massive than about 0.5 M&sun; and an exponent of α1 = 1.3 for less massive stars. A consensus has also emerged that most, if not

We have carried out a search for late-type T dwarfs in the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey Galactic Plane Survey 6th Data Release. The search yielded two persuasive candidates, both of which have been confirmed as T dwarfs. The brightest, UGPS J0521+3640, has been assigned the spectral type T8.5 and appears to lie at a distance of 7-9 pc. The

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We present deep and precise multiband (U, B, V, I) optical data for the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Data were collected using three different ground-based telescopes (4-metre Blanco CTIO, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre, 1.5-metre CTIO) and cover the entire body of the galaxy. We discuss the reliability of the absolute photometric zero-point calibrations of

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been separated into two classes, originally along the lines of duration and spectral properties, called "short/hard" and "long/soft." The latter have been conclusively linked to the explosive deaths of massive stars, while the former are thought to result from the merger or collapse of compact objects. In recent years

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