We report spectroscopic surveys of planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Milky Way and Andromeda (M31), using the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The spectra are of high quality and cover the whole optical range, mostly from 3650 Å to beyond 1 μm, enabling detection of nebular emission lines critical for spectral analysis and photoionization modeling. We obtained GTC spectra of 24 compact (angular diameter <5 arcsec) PNe located in the Galactic disk, ∼3–20 kpc from the Galactic centre, and that can be used to constrain stellar evolution models and derive radial abundance gradients of the Milky Way. We have observed 30 PNe in the outer halo of M31 using the GTC. These halo PNe are uniformly metal-rich and probably all evolved from low-mass stars, consistent with the conjecture that they formed from the metal-rich gas in M31 disk but were displaced to their present locations due to galaxy interactions.

We measure the enclosed Milky Way (MW) mass profile to Galactocentric distances of ∼70 and ∼50 kpc using the smooth, diffuse stellar halo samples of Bird et al. The samples are Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SDSS/SEGUE) K giants (KG) and SDSS/SEGUE blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars with accurate metallicities. The 3D kinematics are available through LAMOST and SDSS/SEGUE distances and radial velocities and Gaia DR2 proper motions. Two methods are used to estimate the enclosed mass: 3D spherical Jeans equation and Evans et al. tracer mass estimator (TME). We remove substructure via the Xue et al. method based on integrals of motion. We evaluate the uncertainties on our estimates due to random sampling noise, systematic distance errors, the adopted density profile, and non-virialization and non-spherical effects of the halo. The tracer density profile remains a limiting systematic in our mass estimates, although within these limits we find reasonable agreement across the different samples and the methods applied. Out to ∼70 and ∼50 kpc, the Jeans method yields total enclosed masses of 4.3±0.95 (random) ±0.6 (systematic) ×1011 M⊙ and 4.1±1.2 (random) ±0.6 (systematic) ×1011 M⊙ for the KG and BHB stars, respectively. For the KG and BHB samples we find a dark matter virial mass of (random) ±0.083 (systematic) ×1012 M⊙ and (random) ±0.15 (systematic) ×1012 M⊙, respectively.

AI and deep learning techniques are beginning to play an increasing role in astronomy as a necessary tool to deal with the data avalanche. We describe an application for finding resolved Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in crowded, wide-field, narrow-band Hα survey imagery in the Galactic plane.

We review recent results that utilize planetary nebulae (PNe) to constrain galactic dynamical and chemical evolution in different environments. Planetary nebulae have become essential probes in both these aspects of galaxy evolution, and novel observations illustrate their potential. Dynamical evolutionary models need observational constraints, and PNe uniquely probe the environment far from the galactic centers. In chemical evolution, the PN progenitor population spans a broad range of formation epochs; the oldest progenitors of local PNe are contemporary with H II regions in z ∼ 2 star-forming galaxies (SFGs). The future will bring even more possibilities in these fields, especially with the advent of extremely large telescopes.

MUSE data regarding NGC 3132 were used and analysed through SATELLITE in order to obtain 2D maps of the physico-chemical parameters of the nebula. Furthermore, our results were compared with a 3D photoionisation model built with MOCASSIN with the aim to constrain its parameters. Lastly, we utilized JWST and Spitzer IR data and examined their radial distribution.

. Post-starburst galaxies (PSBs) have quenched (significant decline in star formation rate) both recently and rapidly (≲Gyr). They are thus promising in providing insights into activities that are happening at the early stage of quenching. While studies have suggested that black hole feedback in the form of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and outflows play important roles in quenching, the details of how they impact the host galaxies and their interplay with other quenching mechanisms are still not fully understood. We find that PSBs commonly show signatures of AGN activity but they appear to be weak and/or heavily obscured. These AGN might be able to drive outflows but they are likely not strong enough to remove gas from the host galaxy. Direct evidence of AGN quenching the star formation of the host galaxy is still missing and AGN likely quench by disturbing rather than expelling the gas.

Recent panoramic maps of the Magellanic system have revealed a wealth of low-surface-brightness stellar substructures surrounding both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC); clear evidence of tidal interactions between the two Clouds, as well as with the Milky Way. The Magellanic Edges Survey (MagES), a spectroscopic survey that targets red clump and red giant branch stars across the outskirts of both Clouds, aims to characterise these features and shed light on their formation. We summarise recent results from MagES, which suggest multiple previous LMC-SMC interactions are required to fully explain the observed dynamical properties of the Clouds.

Red Supergiant stars (RSGs) are known to eject large amounts of material during this evolutionary phase. However, the processes powering the mass ejection in low- and intermediate-mass stars do not work for RSGs and the mechanism that drives the ejection remains unknown. Different mechanisms have been proposed as responsible for this mass ejection including Alfvén waves, large convective cells, and magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) disturbances at the photosphere, but so far little is known about the actual processes taking place in these objects. Here we present high angular resolution interferometric ALMA maps of VY CMa continuum and molecular emission, which resolve the structure of the ejecta with unprecedented detail. We reconstructed the 3D structure of the gas traced by the different species. It allowed us to study the morphology and kinematics of the gas traced by the different species surrounding VY CMa. Two types of ejecta are clearly observed: extended, irregular, and vast ejecta surrounding the star that are carved by localized fast outflows. The structure of the outflows is found to be particularly flat. We present a 3D reconstruction of these outflows and proof of the carving. This indicates that two different mass loss processes take place in this massive star. We tentatively propose the physical cause for the formation of both types of structures. These results provide essential information on the mass loss processes of RSGs and thus of their further evolution.

The induction and momentum equations of solar dynamo are simplified to a dynamic system for the convective Root-Mean-Square (rms) velocity and the rms magnetic field in the solar convection zone. The study of stable stationary points of this system gives a minor excess of the critical level of the dynamo and, accordingly, moderate magnetic field typically about 1 T (10 kG). A significantly lower rms magnetic field may be possible at some parameters of the system. The stable rms velocity is about 100 m/sec, and the characteristic magnetic times are about the half-period of solar rotation or about an average lifetime of sunspots. Relative magnetic energy is of order 5 kJ/kg that is about the kinetic energy. The unstable stationary points could be near zero magnetic fields as in periods of very lower solar activity similar to the Maunder minimum.

The Galactic dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) provide valuable insight into dark matter (DM) properties and its role in galaxy formation. Their close proximity enables the measurement of line-of-sight velocities for resolved stars, which allows us to study DM halo structure. However, uncertainties in DM mass profile determination persist due to the degeneracy between DM mass density and velocity dispersion tensor anisotropy. Overcoming this requires large kinematic samples and identification of foreground contamination. With 1.25 deg2 and 2394 fibers, PFS plus pre-imaging with Hyper Suprime Cam will make significant progress in this undertaking.

Nearly all intragroup (IGL) and intracluster light (ICL) comes from stars that are not bound to any single galaxy but were formed in galaxies and later unbound from them. Kinematic information on these very low surface brightness structures mostly comes from discrete tracers such as planetary nebulae and globular clusters, showing highly unrelaxed velocity distributions. Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations provide key predictions for the dynamical state of IGL and ICL and find that most IC stars are dissolved from galaxies that subsequently merge with the central galaxy. The increase of the measured velocity dispersion with radius in the outer halos of bright galaxies is a key feature to identify IGL and ICL components. In the local groups and clusters, IGL and ICL are more centrally concentrated than the galaxies, with their typical fractions that are few to ten percent, i.e. significantly lower than the average values in more evolved clusters. The properties of ICPNe, their luminosity functions and specific frequencies were key to further constraint the age (10 Gyr) and the metallicity ([M / Fe]< −1.0) of the IC/IGL. The results in the nearby clusters are briefly illustrated.

I have performed numerical hydrodynamical calculations of outflows driven by the evaporation of a pseudo-barotropic ring around a luminous central star. The outflow shapes and internal structures resemble known cylindrical nebulae. Some of the corresponding synthetic spectra show ‘Hubble’ type outflow.

In this contribution, we describe how we have used positions and velocities of 30 globular clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) to estimate its anisotropy and mass within 13 kpc, and then how we have used these estimates to extrapolate its virial mass. This is the first time that this family of mass estimation methods has been applied to the LMC. We also compare our estimate against other estimates of the LMC’s mass via different methods and discuss the broader context of our results.

The tilt of the bipolar magnetic region (BMR) is crucial in the Babcock-Leighton process for the generation of the poloidal magnetic field in the Sun. We extend the work of Jha et al. (2020) and analyze the recently reported tracked BMR catalogue based on AutoTAB (Sreedevi et al. 2023) from Michelson Doppler Imager (1996–2011) and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (2010–2018). Using the tracked information of BMRs based on AutoTAB, we confirm that the distribution of Bmax reported by Jha et al. (2020) is not because of the BMRs are picked multiple times at the different phases of their evolution instead it is also present if we consider each BMRs only once. Moreover, we find that the slope of Joy’s law (〈γ0〉) initially increases slowly with the increase of Bmax. However, when Bmax >2.5 kG, γ0 decreases. The decrease of observed γ0 with Bmax provides a hint to a nonlinear tilt quenching in the Babcock-Leighton process.

A high sensitivity and high-angular resolutions infrared space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), allowed us to study dust and molecules in unprecedented details. This contribution highlights the first year of JWST’s scientific operation, and reports prospects of dust and molecular studies in the coming future.

Observations of super flare occurrence (with energy 1033–1036 erg)s in low mass stars like M dwarfs still remains as a puzzle. In this paper we have inferred the typical sizes and characteristics of magnetic fields associated with active regions in M dwarfs responsible for these super flares. This is done by extrapolation of physical conditions associated with largest solar flares. The average poloidal and toroidal magnetic fields near the surface of selected M dwarfs will be also inferred in this context.

A quarter of a century has passed since the observing technique of integral field spectroscopy (IFS) was first applied to planetary nebulae (PNe). Progress after the early experiments was relatively slow, mainly because of the limited field-of-view (FoV) of first generation instruments. With the advent of MUSE at the ESO Very Large Telescope, this situation has changed. MUSE is a wide field-of-view, high angular resolution, one-octave spanning optical integral field spectrograph with high throughput. Its major science mission has enabled an unprecedented sensitive search for Lyα emitting galaxies at redshift up to z=6.5. This unique property can be utilized for faint objects at low redshift as well. It has been demonstrated that MUSE is an ideal instrument to detect and measure extragalactic PNe with high photometric accuracy down to very faint magnitudes out to distances of 30 Mpc, even within high surface brightness regions of their host galaxies. When coupled with a differential emission line filtering (DELF) technique, MUSE becomes far superior to conventional narrow-band imaging, and therefore MUSE is ideal for accurate Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function (PNLF) distance determinations. MUSE enables the PNLF to become a competitive tool for an independent measure of the Hubble constant, and stellar population studies of the host galaxies that present a sufficiently large number of PNe.

Dwarf satellite galaxies in our Milky Way and different galaxy systems in the Local Volume appear to be arranged in thin, vast planes. It has been argued that these phase-space correlations cannot be explained to a satisfactory degree by the ΛCDM paradigm but it is unclear whether these planes in our neighborhood are statistical outliers, or if they are perhaps a common phenomenon in the Universe. Recent deep imaging surveys have significantly increased the number of known dwarf galaxies and allow us to advance such small-scale tensions beyond the Local Volume. We present our study analyzing the spatial distribution of 2210 dwarf galaxies identified in the MATLAS survey as well as results from follow-up observations with the MUSE instrument on the VLT. Spectral information for 56 of these dwarf galaxies allow for a deeper dive into their properties and for a comparison to the Local Volume dwarfs.

The Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) has enabled a renaissance of the planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) as a standard candle. In the case of NGC 300, we learned that the precise spectrophotometry of MUSE was crucial to obtain an accurate PNLF distance. We present the advantage of the integral field spectrograph compared to the slit spectrograph in delivering precise spectrophotometry by simulating a slit observation on integral field spectroscopy data. We also discuss the possible systematic shift in measuring the PNLF distance using the least-square method, especially when the PNLF cutoff is affected by small number statistics.

We present recent results from the Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS), which used metallicity-sensitive narrow-band CaHK photometry to identify and follow up spectroscopically thousands of ancient metal-poor candidates in the bulge. For the spectroscopic PIGS sample, we derive distances with StarHorse and compute orbital properties in a realistic potential including a bar. We find that a significant fraction of metal-poor stars is confined to the inner Galaxy (apocentre < 4 kpc), with an estimated confined fraction of 80%/50% at [Fe/H] = − 1.0/ − 2.0. We also find that the very metal-poor population has a net prograde rotation, with a υϕ ∼ 40 kms−1. It is still under discussion what the origin is of the population of very metal-poor inner Galaxy stars – it is likely a combination of in-situ and accreted stars. In future, spectroscopic observations from 4MOST will be crucial to complete our picture.