Since the discovery of the first planet outside the solar system, the number of planet detections is increasing exponentially. Although we have not been capable of detecting and exploring planets like our own yet, challenging space missions are already being planned for the next decades, and the discovery of earth-like planets is only a matter of

The determination of accurate masses from the study of binary orbits requires a combination of complementary observing techniques. In this respect, of particular interest is the solution of astrometric orbits for long-period spectroscopic binaries by applying interferometric techniques. Results of a high-resolution spectroscopic monitoring of low

The bulge contribution to the inner density profile of a galaxy is well traced by the bulge's NIR surface brightness profile. We map the surface brightness profiles of bulges using HST/NICMOS imaging. Most bulges show nuclear components of 20-200 pc scales, and frequently also unresolved nuclear star clusters (

We investigate the well-known correlations between the dynamical mass-to-light ratio M/L and other global observables of elliptical (E) and lenticular (S0) galaxies. We construct two-integral Jeans and three-integral Schwarzschild dynamical models for a sample of 25 E/S0 galaxies with SAURON integral-field stellar kinematics to about one effective

To explain the currently observed accelerated expansion of the universe, a large number of different theoretical models are presently being discussed. In one way or another, all of these contain `new physics', though at different levels. The big question is how to select out of infinitely many possible models the right one. We here discuss a

We present the results from our non-LTE investigation for neutral carbon, which was carried out to remove potential systematic errors in stellar abundance analyses. The calculations were performed for late-type stars and give substantial negative non-LTE abundance corrections. When applied to observations of extremely metal-poor stars, which within