The majority of the globular clusters associated with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy are faint. In this respect it differs significantly from the globular cluster systems surrounding typical giant galaxies. The observation that most of globular clusters in the outer halo of the Galaxy are also sub-luminous may be understood by assuming that these clusters once also belonged to faint clusterrich d...

We study the formation histories and present-day structure of satellite galaxies formed in a high resolution hydrodynamic simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy. The simulated satellites span nearly 4 orders of magnitude in luminosity but have a very similar mass within their inner 600 pc, ∼ 3×10 M⊙, with very little scatter. This result is in agreement with the recent measurements for dwarf sph...

We compute theoretical nova rates as well as type Ia SN rates in galaxies of different morphological type (Milky Way, ellipticals and irregulars) by means of detailed chemical evolution models, and compare them with the most recent observations. The main difference among the different galaxies is the assumed history of star formation. In particular, we predict that the nova rates in giant ellip...

Prompted by the discovery of the accreted Canis Major dwarf galaxy and its associated globular cluster (GC) system (Martin et al.), we investigate the contribution of accreted GCs to the Galactic system. The Canis Major GCs, and those associated with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, exhibit a range of galactocentric radii, prograde and retro-grade motions, and horizontal branch morphologies, indic...

The contribution of white dwarfs of the different Galactic populations to the stellar content of our Galaxy is only poorly known. Some authors claim a vast population of halo white dwarfs, which would be in accordance with some investigations of the early phases of Galaxy formation claiming a top-heavy initial–mass–function. Here, I present a model of the population of white dwarfs in the Milky...

The average strength of the total magnetic field in the Milky Way, derived from radio synchrotron data under the energy equipartition assumption, is 6μG locally and ≃ 10μG at 3 kpc Galactic radius. Optical and synchrotron polarization data yield a strength of the local regular field of ≃ 4μG (an upper limit if anisotropic fields are present), while pulsar rotation measures give ≃ 1.5μG (a lower...

As part of our efforts to unveil extragalactic large-scale structures behind the southern Milky Way, we here present redshifts for 764 galaxies in the Hydra/Antlia, Crux and Great Attractor region (266◦ ≤ l ≤ 338◦, | b | ∼ 10 ◦), obtained with the Meudon-ESO Fibre Object Spectrograph (MEFOS) at the 3.6-m telescope of ESO. The observations are part of a redshift survey of partially obscured gala...

The dwarf spheroidal galaxy in Ursa Minor is apparently dark-matter dominated, and is of very low surface brightness, with total luminosity only equal to that of a globular cluster. Indeed its dominant stellar population is old and metal-poor, very similar to that of a classical halo globular cluster in the Milky Way Galaxy. However, the environment in which its stars formed was clearly differe...

Context. Methanol masers at 6.7GHz are recognised markers of high-mass star formation regions. The study of their distribution in the Galaxy gives important insights into the star formation activity of the Milky Way. We present a statistical analysis on the General Catalogue of 6.7GHz methanol masers in the Galaxy with the aim of extracting global properties of the masers. Aims. We provide cons...