相关论文: Is Palomar 1 really associated with the Canis Majo…
The Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy has an anomalous number of globular clusters, five, for its stellar mass. There is a longstanding debate about a potential sixth globular cluster (Fornax~6) that has recently been `rediscovered' in DECam…
We report on a study of the galaxy environments of low redshift physical quasars pairs. We selected 20 pairs having projected separation $<$ 0.5 Mpc and difference of systemic velocity $<$ 800 km s$^{-1}$. Using Sloan Digital Sky Survey…
Accurate (<10%) distances of Galactic star clusters allow precise estimation of the physical parameters of any physically associated Planetary Nebula (PN) and also that of its central star (CSPN) and its progenitor. The progenitor's mass…
The galaxy correlation function serves as a fundamental tool for studying cosmology, galaxy formation, and the nature of dark matter. It is well established that more massive, redder and more compact galaxies tend to have stronger…
The analysis of pseudo-colour diagrams, the so-called chromosome maps, of Galactic globular clusters (GCs) permits to classify them into type I and type II clusters. Type II GCs are characterized by an above-the-average complexity of their…
The theoretically expected amplitude of the associations of background quasars with foreground galaxies as a result of gravitational lensing has been updated in this paper. Since the galactic matter alone yields an amplitude of quasar…
The origin of the Galactic Anticenter Stellar Structure (GASS) or "Monoceros ring" --- a low latitude overdensity at the edge of the Galactic disk spanning at least the second and third Galactic quadrants --- remains controversial. Models…
At a Galactocentric distance of 27 kpc, Pal 13 is an old globular cluster (GC) in the outer halo. We present a chemical abundance analysis of this remote system from high-resolution spectra obtained with Keck/HIRES. Owing to the low…
Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) are predominatly found in the cores of nearby galaxy clusters. Besides the Fornax and Virgo cluster, UCDs have also been confirmed in the twice as distant Hydra I and Centaurus clusters. Having (nearly)…
We present a comparison of high-resolution, integrated-light, detailed chemical abundances for Galactic and extragalactic globular clusters in both massive galaxies and dwarf galaxies. We include measurements of Fe, Ca, Si, Na, and Al for…
Information on globular clusters (GC) formation mechanisms can be gathered by studying the chemical signature of the multiple populations that compose these stellar systems. In particular, we are investigating the anticorrelations among O,…
High massive compact stars have been reported recently in the literature, providing strong constraints on the properties of the ultradense matter beyond the saturation nuclear density. In view of these results, the calculations of quark…
Recent observations have revealed that at least 8 globular clusters (GCs) in the Galaxy show internal abundance spreads in [Fe/H]. We investigate the origin of these `anomalous' GCs using numerical simulations of GCs in the dwarfs orbiting…
We study the chemical composition of 5 giant stars in the globular cluster Terzan 7 associated with the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr dSph), based on high resolution UVES-VLT spectra. We confirm the metallicity found by previous…
(Abridged version) Mayall II = G1 is one of the brightest globular clusters belonging to M31, the Andromeda galaxy. Our observations with HST/WFPC2 provide data for the (I vs. V-I) and (V vs. V-I) color-magnitude diagrams. From model…
Over a quarter of white dwarfs have photospheric metal pollution, which is evidence for recent accretion of exoplanetary material. While a wide range of mechanisms have been proposed to account for this pollution, there are currently few…
Since first noticed by Shapley in 1939, a faint object coincident with the Fornax dwarf spheroidal has long been discussed as a possible sixth globular cluster system. However, debate has continued over whether this overdensity is a…
Recently, very massive compact stellar systems have been discovered in the intracluster regions of galaxy clusters and in the nuclear regions of late-type disk galaxies. It is unclear how these compact stellar systems -- known as…
The strong observed clustering of $z>3.5$ quasars indicates they are hosted by massive ($M_{\rm{halo}}\gtrsim10^{12}\,h^{-1}\,\rm{M_{\odot}}$) dark matter halos. Assuming quasars and galaxies trace the same large-scale structures, this…
In these lectures I present a highly opinionated review of the observed patterns of metallicity and element abundance ratios in nearby spiral, irregular, and dwarf elliptical galaxies, with connection to a number of astrophysical issues…