The transient black hole candidate GX 339-4 is currently softening in X-ray, making a transition out of the hard state (ATel #2545). We are monitoring the source with the Faulkes Telescope South (located at Siding Spring, Australia) and the SMARTS 1.3m telescope and ANDICAM instrument (at Cerro Tololo, Chile). From the Faulkes monitoring, the

We present high time-resolution multicolour optical observations of the quiescent X-ray transients GRS 1124-684 (=GUMus) and Cen X-4 (=V822Cen) obtained with ULTRACAM. Superimposed on the secondary stars' ellipsoidal modulation in both objects are large flares on time-scales of 30-60min as well as several distinct rapid flares on time-scales of a

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We have explored late-type spiral galaxies with truncated radial surface brightness profiles. Based on the study of optical color profiles, Bakos et al. (2008) suggested that truncated (TYPE II) galaxies have a generally older stellar population in their outer regions: one observable consequence of this would be a strong dependence of the

We present a method for the analysis of radial velocity (RV) measurements, in the context of searching for planets around chromospherically active stars. We assume that the observed RV signal is induced by the reflex motion of the star as well as by distortions of spectral line profiles, measured by the Bisector Velocity Span (BVS). The RVs are