For ground-based optical imaging with current CCD technology, the Poisson fluctuations in source and sky background photon arrivals dominate the noise budget and are readily estimated. Another component of noise, however, is the signal from the undetected population of stars and galaxies. Using injection of artifical galaxies into images, we

In recent years, a new window on galaxy evolution opened, thanks to the increasing discovery of galaxies with a low-surface brightness, such as Ultra Diffuse Galaxies (UDGs). The formation mechanism of these systems is still a much debated question and so are their kinematical properties. In this work, we address this topic by analysing the stellar

NEREA is a stable, compact, high-resolution spectrometer concept for the GTC. NEREA is proposed as a general purpose instrument with a variety of science cases, however, its top level requirements are driven by two science goals in mind: i) The discovery and characterization of planets around nearby late-M type stars. Using GTC's large 10m

Understanding the connection between solar atmospheric layers through the magnetic field is a challenging task in solar physics. These regions are form by plasma weakly ionized and in some places the ionization fraction can be as low as 10^-4 meaning that the presence of neutrals could be important. The interaction of weakly ionized plasma with