We present the dynamical and stellar population analysis of 12 dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs) observed using the SAURON IFU (WHT, La Palma). We demonstrate that dEs have lower angular momenta than their presumed late-type progenitors and we show that dE circular velocity curves are steeper than the rotation curves of galaxies with equal and up to

In this paper we discuss the photometric and spectroscopic observations of newly discovered (symbiotic) systems in the dwarf spheroidal galaxy NGC 205. The Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on-off band [O III] 5007 Å emission imaging highlighted several [O III] line emitters, for which optical spectra were then obtained. The detailed study of the

We present a joint estimate of the stellar/dark matter mass fraction in lens galaxies and the average size of the accretion disk of lensed quasars based on microlensing measurements of 27 quasar image pairs seen through 19 lens galaxies. The Bayesian estimate for the fraction of the surface mass density in the form of stars is α = 0.21 ± 0.14 near

We carried out high-sensitivity spectro-polarimetric observations of the central star of the Red Rectangle protoplanetary nebula with the aim of constraining the mechanism that gives its biconical shape. The stellar light of the central binary system is linearly polarised since it is scattered on the dust particles of the nebula. Surprisingly, the

We present an analysis of nine S0-Sb galaxies which have (photometric) bulges consisting of two distinct components. The outer component is a flattened, kinematically cool, disc-like structure: a `discy pseudo-bulge'. Embedded inside is a rounder, kinematically hot spheroidal structure: a `classical bulge'. This indicates that pseudo-bulges and

We make use of a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation to investigate the origin of the observed correlation between [α/Fe] abundance ratios and stellar mass in elliptical galaxies. We implement a new galaxy-wide stellar initial mass function (IMF; top-heavy integrated galaxy initial mass function, TH-IGIMF) in the semi-analytic model SAG