The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) of Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) will be providing high quality (R ˜ 22,500 and a typical S/N > 100) near-infrared spectra for ~100,000, predominantly cool stars (mostly giant stars). In principle these spectra can be used to ascertain the stellar atmospheric parameters

We report on early pilot program results and progress made in the Survey of the Magellanic Stellar History (SMASH). SMASH is an NOAO community survey that is using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to map a 2400 deg^2 area (at 20% filling factor, or 480 deg^2 total) of the Magellanic Clouds and their periphery in ugriz. With depths of gri 24 and 23

Context. So far, surface magnetic fields have never been detected on Mira stars. Only recently have the spectropolarimetric capabilities of measuring it via the Zeeman effect become available to us. Then, to complete the knowledge of the magnetic field and of its influence during the transition from asymptotic giant branch to planetary nebulae

Formation of stars is now believed to be tightly linked to the dynamical evolution of interstellar filaments in which they form. In this paper we analyze the density structure and kinematics of a small network of infrared dark filaments, SDC13, observed in both dust continuum and molecular line emission with the IRAM 30 m telescope. These

Aims: In a companion paper we have presented many products derived from the application of the spectral synthesis code starlight to datacubes from the CALIFA survey, including 2D maps of stellar population properties (such as mean ages, mass, and extinction) and 1D averages in the temporal and spatial dimensions. Our goal here is to assess the

We present a new approach for estimating the 3.6 μm stellar mass-to-light ratio Υ3.6 in terms of the [3.6]-[4.5] colors of old stellar populations. Our approach avoids several of the largest sources of uncertainty in existing techniques using population synthesis models. By focusing on mid-IR wavelengths, we gain a virtually dust extinction-free