We discuss an ongoing study of the connection between galaxy merging/interaction and AGN activity, based on integral field spectroscopy. We focus on the search for AGN ionization in the central regions of mergers, previously not classified as AGNs. We present here the science case, the current status of the project, and plans for future

Near-infrared spectra were obtained for 117 red giants in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy with the FORS1 spectrograph on the VLT, in order to study the metallicity distribution of the stars and to lift the age-metallicity degeneracy of the red giant branch (RGB) in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD). Metallicities are derived from the equivalent

We have re-analyzed the Galactic O-star sample from citet{puls96} by means of line-blanketed NLTE model atmospheres in order to investigate the influence of line-blocking/blanketing on the derived parameters. The analysis has been carried out by fitting the photospheric and wind lines from H and He. In most cases we obtained a good fit, but we have

We present William Herschel Telescope (WHT) and Very Large Telescope (VLT) spectroscopy of MM Ser, the optical counterpart to Ser X-1. We deblend the red spectra of the two close stars identified by Wachter and show that the brighter of the two is responsible for the Hα and He I emission, hence confirming that this is the true counterpart of the X

We present a quantitative morphological analysis of 187 galaxies in a region covering the central 0.28 deg2 of the Coma Cluster. Structural parameters from the best-fitting Sérsic r1/n bulge plus, where appropriate, exponential disk model, are tabulated here. This sample is complete down to a magnitude of R=17 mag. By examining the recent

Echelle spectrophotometry of the planetary nebula NGC 5315 is presented. The data consist of VLT UVES observations in the 3100-10450 Å range. The intensities of 556 emission lines have been measured, including 508 identified permitted lines of H0, He0, C0, C+, N0, N+, N++, O0, O+, Ne0, Ne+, Mg+, Si+, S0, S+, S++, and Ar+. Electron temperatures and