We search for massive and evolved galaxies at z ≥ 5 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) southern field. Combining HST ACS, VLT ISAAC and Spitzer IRAC broad–band photometric data, we develop a color selection technique to identify candidates for being evolved galaxies at high redshifts. The color selection is primarily based on locating the Balmer–break using the K- and 3.6 μm bands. Stellar population synthesis models are fitted to the SEDs of these galaxies to identify the final sample. We find 11 candidates with photometric redshifts in the range 4.9 < z < 5.6, dominated by an old stellar population, with ages 0.2-1.0 Gyr, and stellar masses in the range (0.7 − 5) × 1011 M⊙. Most of the candidates have modest amounts of internal dust extinction. The majority of the stars in these galaxies were formed at z>9 and the current star formation activity is a few percent of the inferred initial star formation rate.

In the last years we have gained new insights on how ram pressure acts in detail on Virgo spiral galaxies. This has been possible due to the combination of new deep HI observations, deep polarized radio continuum observations, and detailed dynamical modelling (sticky particles and MHD). As a major result a first complete ram pressure stripping time sequence could be established for the Virgo cluster.

The giant planets are fluid objects; their solid cores occupy much less than half of their volumes. The largest planet, Jupiter, is over ten times the size of Earth. The giant planet atmospheres are powered in roughly equal parts by sunlight and by internal heat, which is left over from planetary formation. In most cases, the winds are measured by tracking clouds relative to the internal magnetic fields. Saturn is the exception, since the internal field is axisymmetric and therefore provides no evidence of rotation. In all four giant planets, the winds blow mainly in the east-west (zonal) direction, and the coloured cloud bands are aligned with the winds. The patterns are organized by rotation and not by the energy sources, since the sun at zenith moves from one pole to the other during the course of a year on Uranus, and yet the winds do not change. Although the power per unit area - the sum of absorbed sunlight and internal heat - is 20 times greater at Jupiter than at Neptune, the winds at Neptune are stronger. In fact Jupiter has the weakest winds of all the giant planets, although it is closest to the sun. Besides the zonal winds, the giant planets have long-lived vortices that have the same sign of vorticity as the latitude bands in which they sit. These large vortices exhibit a variety of behaviours, including oscillation in shape, position, and orientation, merging and splitting, and filament ejection. The anticyclones have a compact, oval shape; the cyclones are more elongated and diffuse. The cyclones contain lightning, which is a sign of moist convection. The cyclones therefore have a more disturbed appearance, since the convective storms are vigorous and chaotic. The convective storms are more frequent on Jupiter, but they are apparently more energetic on Saturn. The convective storms maintain a Reynolds stress that pumps momentum into the zonal jets in what is known as an inverse energy cascade. The depth to which the zonal winds extend is largely unknown. The winds could be confined to the outer 1 percent of the planets radii, or they could extend down into the fluid interiors, where the electrical conductivity and magnetic field become important.

We use numerical simulations of granulation in the Sun and a K dwarf to study the effects of coherent structures on higher order moments. The latter need to be calculated in non-local Reynolds stress models of turbulent convection. Models that explicitly account for the asymmetry between up- and downflows as well as hot and cold drafts provide a substantial improvement over traditional ones, such as the quasi-normal approximation, which is only able to provide order of magnitude estimates for this type of flow.

The use of eccentric eclipsing binaries to test stellar internal structure models, as well as the equations of motion provided by General Relativity, is reviewed. Close to 80 years have elapsed since the first ideas were produced in this field and many results have been obtained since then. It appears that, in general, a good understanding of stellar structure within the main sequence is available while the same level of knowledge can not be claimed beyond the termination age. The equations of general relativity could not be disproved with observational data though some systems cannot still be fully explained. In the near future, the analysis of evolved systems, very low mass stars, the effects of tidal resonances and the presence of third bodies has to be further explored. In addition, the analysis of large data bases obtained by means of extensive photometric surveys will certainly change the picture from an observational point of view.

The standard torus picture for explaining the difference between Type I and Type II AGN is physically unlikely and provides no natural explanation for a number of simple facts - the average covering factor, the broad range of covering factors, and the characteristic reprocessing distance. Parsec scale warped discs are a strong alternative. A very simple “misaligned disc” model produces good agreement with covering factor statistics, but predicts too many off-axis emission line cones. I discuss possible ways to improve such a model.

CNO and Li abundances and 12C/13C isotopic ratios have been derived for two metal-poor Ba giants, HD 104340 and HD 206983, and two CH subgiants, HD 50264 and HD 87080. High resolution spectra obtained with the 1.52 m telescope and the FEROS echelle spectrograph at ESO, La Silla, Chile, were used in this study. CNO and Li abundances so as 12C/13C isotopic ratios were determined by applying the synthetic spectrum method to the lines of C2, CH, CN, [O I’ and Li I. Our analysis showed that the giant stars studied here have quite different natures: HD 206983 is a metal-poor barium star while HD 104340, although showing enhancement of s-process elements, should not be considered as a classical barium star: its barium syndrome can be explained by internal nucleosynthesis. The low metallicity giant HD 104340 can experience deeper convective mixing and, consequently, a larger dredge-up of CNO-cycle products compared to normal red giants. Light element abundance pattern of HD 104340 resembles anomalies resulting from the appearance on the stellar surface of material enriched in triple-α and CNO cycling.

We describe the present status of the mass discrepancy in the Upper HR Diagram.

A survey for NEO aiming at 90% completeness for a given size range cannot ignore that a significant fraction of the population is observable essentially only at low solar elongation, in the so called “sweet spots” There are several penalties for such low elongation: poorer observing conditions imply a lower limiting magnitude, shorter available time in each night and a more difficult orbit determination. Our aim is to show that these difficulties can be overcome. We have tested the observation procedures and the mathematical methods of orbit determination on two sweet spot test runs. One was performed at ESO La Silla in Jan–Feb 2005, the other at Mauna Kea in Sept–Dec 2005. The results of the tests are presented in this paper; the observed area was not large enough (especially at Mauna Kea) to discover a significant number of new NEO, the purpose was rather to identify the problems. These tests have allowed us to identify all the key elements to be accounted for in the strategy for a successful sweet spot NEO survey. When very short arc observations from different nights have to be identified, a specific difficulty occurs at the sweet spots: the same set of observations from three nights can be fitted to two incompatible orbits, in most cases including one NEO and one MBA. This can lead to two different failures (false positive, false negative) in deciding whether a NEO has been discovered. The classical theory of preliminary orbits shows that three observations at an elongation less than 116.5° can be compatible with two different orbits. From this theory we have derived an algorithm to find the alternate solution, if it exists, when only one is available. In this way we have generated a set of examples of possible discoveries with two well determined but incompatible solutions. Most of the MBA-NEO alternatives have been solved by finding a known MBA which could be identified; in two cases the MBA solution has been confirmed by a later observation.

We discuss recent advances in cloud formation via gravitational instability under the action of self-gravity, magnetic fields, rotational shear, active stars, and/or stellar spiral arms. When shear is strong and the spiral arms are weak, applicable to flocculent galaxies at large, swing amplification exhibits nonlinear threshold behavior such that disks with a Toomre parameter Q < Qc experience gravitational runaway. For most realistic conditions, local models yield Qc ~ 1.4, similar to the observed star formation thresholds. When shear is weak, on the other hand, as in galactic central parts or inside spiral arms, magneto-Jeans instability is very powerful to form spiral-arm substructures including gaseous spurs and giant clouds. The wiggle and Parker instabilities proposed for cloud formation appear to be suppressed by strong non-steady motions inherent in vertically-extended spiral shocks, suggesting that gravitational instability is a primary candidate for cloud formation.

Pre-encounter ground-based thermal observations of NEA 25143 Itokawa at 10μm led to a size prediction of 520(±50) × 270(±30) × 230(±20)m, corresponding to an effective diameter of DTPMeff= 318m (Müller et al.2005). This is in almost perfect agreement with the final in-situ results 535 × 294 × 209m (DHayabusaeff= 320m; Demura et al.2006). The corresponding radar value, based on the same shape model (Kaasalainen et al.2005), were about 20% too high: 594 × 320 × 288m (DRadareff= 379m; Ostro et al.2005). The very simple N-band observations revealed a surface which is dominated by bare rocks rather than a thick regolith layer. This prediction was nicely confirmed by the Hayabusa mission (e.g., Fujiwara et al.2006; Saito et al.2006). The ground-based measurements covered three different phase angles which enabled us to determine the thermal properties with unprecedented accuracy and in excellent agreement with the results from the touch-down measurements (Okada et al.2006; Yano et al.2006). These thermal values are also key ingredients for high precision Yarkovsky and YORP calculations (mainly the rotation slowing) for Itokawa (e.g., Vokrouhlický et al.2004; Vokrouhlický et al.2005). In addition to the above mentioned properties, our data allowed us to derive the surface albedo and to estimate the total mass. We believe that with our well-tested and calibrated radiometric techniques (Lagerros 1996,1997,1998; Müller & Lagerros 1998, 2002; Müller 2002) we have tools at hand to distinguish between monolithic, regolith-covered and rubble pile near-Earth objects by only using remote thermal observations. This project also emphasizes the high and so far not yet fully exploited potential of thermophysical modeling techniques for the NEA/NEO exploration.

We discuss aspects of using the P03 precession model.

We have performed CO(J=3−2) emission observations with the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) toward the 5′ × 5′ (or 6.6 × 6.6 kpc at the distance D = 4.5 Mpc) region of the nearby barred spiral galaxy M 83. We successfully resolved the major structures, i.e., the nuclear starburst region, bar, and inner spiral arms in CO(J=3−2) emission at a resolution of 22'' (or 480 pc), showing a good spatial coincidence between CO(J=3−2) and 6 cm continuum emissions.

From a comparison of CO(J=3−2) data with CO(J=1−0) intensities measured with Nobeyama 45-m telescope, we found that the radial profile of CO(J=3−2)/CO(J=1−0) integrated intensity ratio R3−2/1−0 is almost unity in the central region (r<0.25 kpc), whereas it drops to a constant value, 0.6–0.7, in the disk region. The radial profile of star formation efficiencies (SFEs), determined from 6 cm radio continuum and CO(J=1−0) emission, shows the same trend as that of R3−2/1−0. At the bar-end (r ~ 2.4 kpc), the amounts of molecular gas and the massive stars are enhanced when compared with other disk regions, whereas there is no excess of R3−2/1−0 and SFE in that region. This means that a simple summation of the star forming regions at the bar-end and the disk cannot reproduce the nuclear starburst of M 83, implying that the spatial variation of the dense gas fraction traced by R3−2/1−0 governs the spatial variation of SFE in M 83.

We present results from the first successful open call e-VLBI science run, observing the X-ray binary GRS 1915+105. e-VLBI science allows the rapid production of VLBI radio maps, within hours of an observation rather than weeks. A total of 6 telescopes observing at 5 GHz across the European VLBI Network (EVN) were correlated in real time at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE). Throughout this, GRS 1915+105 was observed for a total of 5.5 hours, producing 2.8 GB of visibilities of correlated data. The peak brightness was 10.2 mJy per beam, with a total integrated radio flux of 11.1 mJy.

Results of the Mars Exploration Rover mission to Mars are summarized.

Any successful model of star formation must be able to explain the low star forming efficiency of molecular clouds in our Galaxy. If the collapse of gas is regulated only by gravity, then the star formation rate should be orders of magnitude larger than the 1 M per year within our galaxy. The standard model invokes magnetic fields to slow down the rate of collapse, but does not explain star formation in cluster mode, or the lack of observed variations in the chemistry of molecular clouds if they are long-lived entities.

In this article I review our present knowledge of SN 1006 based on radio observations since the identification of the radio remnant four decades ago. I also report preliminary results of a new radio expansion study which combines VLA 1991/92 data with new VLA and ATCA observations performed in 2003.

Beginning in the autumn of 2008, the first generation of astronomy master's students will start a two-year course in Astrophysics offered by the Physics Department of the University of Split, Croatia (http://fizika.pmfst.hr/astro/english/index.html). This unique master's course in south-eastern Europe, following the Bologna convention and given by astronomers from international institutions, offers a series of comprehensive lectures designed to greatly enhance students’ knowledge and skills in astrophysics, and prepare them for a scientific career. An equally important aim of the course is to recognize the areas in which astronomy and astrophysics can serve as a national asset and to use them to prepare young people for real life challenges, enabling graduates to enter the modern society as a skilled and attractive work-force. In this contribution, I present an example of a successful organization of international astrophysics studies in a developing country, which aims to become a leading graduate programme in astrophysics in the broader region. I will focus on the benefits of the project showing why and in what way astronomy can be interesting for third world countries, what are the benefits for the individual students, nation and region, but also research, science and the astronomical community in general.

While black holes (BHs) are apparently a ubiquitous component of the nuclei of local spheroids, their role in galaxy evolution remains largely unknown. The tight correlations between galaxy spheroid properties and BH mass provide an important boundary condition for models of the coevolution of BHs and galaxies. Here we consider another important boundary condition: the local mass function of broad-line active galaxies. We use standard virial mass estimation techniques to examine the distribution of BH masses and accretion rates for active galaxies in the local universe, and we also compare the distribution of BH masses in local broad and narrow-line objects, and find that both populations have a characteristic mass of ∼107M⊙. Most importantly, this is the first BH mass function to consider BH with masses ∼106M⊙. The space density of this important population allows us to place constraints on potential mechanisms for the creation of seed BHs in the early Universe.

Astronomy in Asia has continuously developed. Local wisdom in many Asian countries reflects their interest in astronomy since the historical period. However, the astronomical development in each country is different which depends on their cultures, politics and economics. Astronomy in some Asian developing countries such as China and India are well-developed while some other countries especially in south-east Asia, with some supports such as telescopes, training, experts etc. from some developed countries, are trying to promote relevant research in astronomy as well as use astronomy as a tool to promote scientific awareness and understanding for the public. Recently, a new national research institute in astronomy, called the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT), with a 2.4-metre reflecting telescope has been established in Thailand. One of the major objectives of this research-emphasis institute would aim at a collaborative network among South-East Asian countries so as to be able to contribute new knowledge and research to the astronomical community.