Do you want to know how to make students volunteer to stay all night long watching the stars with their telescopes freezing? Or how to inspire decent adults to prepare a ‘queue-list to Jupiter’, wait for their turn for hours, and control that no one approaches the telescope bypassing the line? Or how to attract people of all age to forget their laziness and duties, and to get up at 3 a.m. to watch the transit of Venus? If your answer is ‘yes’, then come and see what can be done at the School Workshops on Astronomy.

This first part of Special Session 5 explored the current status of infrared-based observations of obscured and distant stellar clusters in the Milky Way galaxy. Recent infrared surveys, either serendipitously or using targeted searches, have uncovered a rich population of young and massive clusters. However, cluster characterization is more challenging as it must be obtained often entirely in the infrared due to high line-of-sight extinction. Despite this, much is to be gained through the identification and careful analysis of these clusters, as they allow for the early evolution of massive stars to be better constrained. Further, they act as beacons delineating the Milky Way's structure and as nearby, resolved analogues to the distant unresolved massive clusters studied in distant galaxies.

We detail the rich molecular story of NGC 1266, its serendipitous discovery within the ATLAS3D survey (Cappellari et al. 2011) and how it plays host to an AGN-driven molecular outflow, potentially quenching all of its star formation (SF) within the next 100 Myr. While major mergers appear to play a role in instigating outflows in other systems, deep imaging of NGC 1266 as well as stellar kinematic observations from SAURON, have failed to provide evidence that NGC 1266 has recently been involved in a major interaction. The molecular gas and the instantaneous SF tracers indicate that the current sites of star formation are located in a hypercompact disk within 200 pc of the nucleus (Fig. 1; SF rate ≈ 2 M⊙ yr−1). On the other hand, tracers of recent star formation, such as the Hβ absorption map from SAURON and stellar population analysis show that the young stars are distributed throughout a larger area of the galaxy than current star formation. As the AGN at the center of NGC 1266 continues to drive cold gas out of the galaxy, we expect star formation rates to decline as the star formation is ultimately quenched. Thus, NGC 1266 is in the midst of a key portion of its evolution and continued studies of this unique galaxy may help improve our understanding of how galaxies transition from the blue to the red sequence (Alatalo et al. 2011).

In this paper, we investigated the possible exponential decays in the long term optical light curve of the BL Lac {OJ 287}. We developed a method that can be used to decomposing a light curve into a linear combination of exponential decays. The decomposing shows that the decay time scales range from ~ 103.6 to ~ 10−4 days. The power spectra has frequency-dependent power-law with slop ~ 0.5, and the peak of power is at the time scale of decay on ~ 160 days.

Large-amplitude asymptotic giant branch variables potentially rival Cepheid variables as fundamental calibrators of the distance scale, particularly if observations are made in the infrared, or where there is substantial interstellar obscuration. They are particularly useful for probing somewhat older populations, such as those found in dwarf spheroidal galaxies, elliptical galaxies or in the haloes of spirals. Calibration data from the Galaxy and new observations of various Local Group galaxies are described and the outlook for the future, with a calibration from Gaia and observations from the next generation of infrared telescopes, is discussed.

During the lifetime of a galaxy, secular radial mass redistribution is expected to gradually build up a bulge and transform the Hubble type from late to early. The dominant dynamical process responsible for this transformation is a collective instability mediated by density-wave collisionless shocks (Zhang 1996, 1998, 1999). The ability of this new mechanism to secularly redistribute the STELLAR mass provides a general pathway for the formation and evolution of the majority of Hubble types, ranging from late type disk galaxiess to disky ellipticals. ATLAS3D results (Cappellari et al. 2013) showed that spirals and S0s and disky ellipticals form a continuous trend of evolution which also coincides with the aging of the stellar population of galactic disks. The importance of stellar accretion is also revealed in the results of the COSMOS team which showed that the evolution of the black-hole-mass/bulge-mass correlation since z = 1 was mainly due to the mass redistribution on pre-existing STELLAR disks which were already in place by z = 1 (Cisternas et al. 2011). The weaker correlation between the masses of late-type bulges and AGNs observed at any given epoch in our view is a result of the quicker initial onset of accretion events in AGN disks compared to that in galactic disks, since the dynamical timescale is shorter for smaller AGN accretion disks.

The same secular dynamical process can produce and maintain the well-known scaling relations and universal rotation curves of observed galaxies during their Hubble-type transformation (Zhang 2008), as well as reproduce many other observed structural and kinematic properties of galaxies such as the size-line-width relation of the interstellar medium and the age-velocity dispersion relation of solar neighborhood stars in our own Galaxy. A by-product of this analysis is a powerful new method for locating the multiple corotation resonances in galaxies (Zhang & Buta 2007; Buta & Zhang 2009).

The current work also highlights the connection between collective effects in galactic dynamics and nonequilibrium phase transition processes in other branches of physics such as fluid turbulence and spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetry in high-energy physics. The continuous build-up of the Hubble sequence of galaxies through secular mass accretion also hints at the baryonic nature of galactic dark matter and poses challenges to the existing LCDM paradigm, since the well-known adiabatic compression process during baryonic mass inflow produced by secular evolution would lead to a concentration of the cold dark matter to the central region of early-type galaxies, which is not observed.

This paper outlines current achievements of the Hayabusa mission and future small body missions with an emphasis on scientific prospects by both remote sensing in the vicinity of target objects and retuned sample analyses of them. First, the Hayabusa spacecraft aimed as technology demonstration for the worldfs first deep space round trip and sample return from an asteroid and it was launched via the M-V rocket in May of 2003. Soon after the touchdown on Asteroid Itokawa, a sub-km, S-type NEO in November 2005, the spacecraft lost its attitude control due to the leak of RCS propellant; the communication link was lost for 46 days. While the ion engine thrusters reached their lifetime by November of 2009 owing to either of an ion source or neutralizers at each engine, a challenging combination of the neutralizer-A with the ion source-B was devised to resume the spacecraftfs propulsion. This enabled the spacecraft to have returned to the Australian desert on the Earth in June 2010. The sample return capsule (SRC) was successfully recovered and returned to Japan for initial inspection of the Itokawa samples. After the announcement of initial sample analysis results, international announcement of sample distributions has started in the spring of 2012. Following up the original Hayabusa mission, JAXA has approved the Hayabusa-2 project in 2011, an asteroid sample return mission to 1999 JU3, a sub-km, C-type NEO aiming for 2014-5 launch, 2018-9 remote sensing including artificial impactor excavation and 2020 Earth return of both surface and sub-surface samples of the asteroid. C-type asteroid is thought to be abundant in organic matters and hydrated compound, so it has important clues to solve the origin and evolution of the life. NASAfs OSIRIS-Rex and ESAfs Marco Polo-R missions are also carbonaceous asteroid sample return missions in 2010fs-2020fs. Cometary nucleus or/and D-type asteroid sample returns like Hayabusa-Mk-II concept are natural progression of this type of the endeavor. JAXAfs solar power sail mission aims for eventual rendezvous with Jovian Trojan asteroids, reservoir of D/P-type asteroids as either leftovers of Jupiter system formation or the second generation intruders from the Kuiper belt regions.

We have constructed three-dimensional hydrodynamical models to simulate the impact of massive star feedback, via winds and SNe, on inhomogeneous molecular material left over from the formation of a massive stellar cluster. We are studying the timescales for the molecular material to be removed from the environment of a massive stellar cluster and the mass and energy fluxes into the wider environment.

Aiming at comparing different morphological models of galaxy clusters, we use two new methods to construct a cosmological-model-independent test of the distance-duality (DD) relation. The luminosity distances come from the Union2 compilation of Type Ia supernovae. The angular-diameter distances are given by the two cluster models of De Filippis et al. and Bonamente et al. The advantage of our new methods is that they can lead to reduced statistical errors. The morphologies of the cluster models are mainly focused on a comparison between the elliptical and spherical β models. The spherical β model is divided into two groups, in terms of different reduction methods of angular-diameter distances, i.e. the conservative and corrected spherical β models. Our results show that the DD relation is consistent with the elliptical β model at the 1σ confidence level (CL) for both methods, whereas for almost all spherical β-model parameterizations the DD relation can only be accommodated at the 3σ CL, particularly for the conservative spherical β model. To minimize systematic uncertainties, we also apply the test to the overlap sample, i.e. to the same set of clusters modeled by both De Filippis et al. and Bonamente et al. The DD relation is compatible with the elliptically modeled overlap sample at the 1σ CL; however, for most parameterizations the DD relation cannot be accommodated even at the 3σ CL by any of the two spherical β models. Therefore, it is reasonable that the marked triaxial ellipsoidal model is a better geometric hypothesis describing the structure of galaxy clusters than the spherical β model if the DD relation is valid for cosmological observations.

The development of infrared observational facilities has revealed a number of massive stars in obscured environments throughout the Milky Way and beyond. The determination of their stellar and wind properties from infrared diagnostics is thus required to take full advantage of the wealth of observations available in the near and mid infrared. However, the task is challenging. This session addressed some of the problems encountered and showed the limitations and successes of infrared studies of massive stars.

The Planetarium for the blind, deaf, and motor disabled is part of the program on Astronomy and Inclusion of the Argentina Pierre Auger Foundation (FOPAA) and the Institute in Technologies and Detection of Astroparticles-Mendoza (ITeDAM).

Spontaneous formation of self-organized magnetic structures, such as sunspots and pores, is one of intriguing and oldest problems, which represents a complicated interaction of convection and magnetic fields on different scales. Observations of sunspots and pores formation reveal a fast process of accumulation of emerging magnetic field into stable long-living magnetic structures. However, the physical mechanisms of the flux accumulation into the compact magnetic structures with high field strength and their stability are not clear. Development of observational capabilities, theory, and realistic-type MHD numerical simulations open a new level of our understanding of the turbulent processes of the magnetic field accumulation. I discuss the recent progress in observations and radiative MHD simulations that provide important clues for possible mechanisms of formation and stability of sunspots and pores, and their links to the dynamo process.

The steady increase of the sample of know extrasolar planets broadens our knowledge and at the same time, reveals our lack of understanding. Habitability is a wide expression, needing planet formation theory and microphysics of cloud formation at the same time. The habitability of a planet depends, amongst other things, on how much radiation reached the ground and how much of potentially dangerous radiation is absorbed on the way through the atmosphere. For this, we need to understand cloud formation and it's impact on the atmosphere.

We have studied the formation of mineral clouds on planetary atmospheres by a kinetic approach which allows us to predict the size distribution and material composition of the cloud particles. With these results we show that mineral cloud particles can be electrically charged and at which point inside a cloud charge separation will cause an electric field breakdown. Such streamer processes result in an extreme increase of the local number of free charges. Given the strong magnetic field in Brown Dwarfs and maybe in giant gas planets, these charges will than be accelerated upward out of the atmosphere where they become detectable as radio emission.

Weihai Echelle Spectrograph (WES) is the first the fiber-fed echelle spectrograph in China. WES can provide data for the studies of metal abundance of stars, exoplanets researches and asteroseismology, etc. A brief description of its design and performance is given.

We study the properties of the He I 10830 Å line under the bombardment of nonthermal electron beam. Using radiative hydrodynamics method, we obtain the line profiles from different model atmospheres by varying the electron beam fluxes. Below a certain electron flux, the spectra become much more absorptions as nonthemal flux increases. Above the threshold, the spectral intensities increase as the flux goes up. We also investigate the temporal evolution of the spectra under the nonthermal heating. For weak electron flux, the profiles evolve from weak absorptions to strong absorptions. For strong nonthermal heating, the profiles can be significantly changed from absorptions to emissions. The spectra also show red or blue asymmetries.

Current status and prospects of further investigations are considered for: 1.Anomaly distribution of Na-atoms emission in the cometary heads; 2. Mechanisms of X-ray generation in comets; 3. Evolution of sungrazing comets near the Sun.

Ranked near the top of the long list of exciting discoveries made with NASA's Kepler photometer is the detection of transiting circumbinary planets. In just over a year the number of such planets went from zero to seven, including a multi-planet system with one of the planets in the habitable zone (Kepler-47). We are quickly learning to better detect and characterize these planets, including the recognition of their transit timing and duration variation “smoking gun” signature. Even with only a handful of such planets, some exciting trends are emerging.

Secular evolution in disks through angular momentum redistribution of stars induce radial mixing of their orbits. While theoretical studies and simulations now abound on the subject - with various predicted effects: disks growth, flattening of metallicity gradients, possible reversing of the mean age as a function of radius in disk, etc, observational evidences remain sparse. In the Galaxy, possible signatures are searched for in the local distributions of velocities, abundances and ages, or in the variation of large scale chemical gradients with time. I will present the current state of affairs and discuss what kind of evidences is available from data in the Milky Way.

It is remarkable that the long gamma-ray bursts, as objects connected with the supernovae - i.e. with the end of the massive stars, trace the star formation rate. This connection is discussed in this contribution. The presentation is in essence a recapitulation of the article Mészáros A. et al. A&A, 2006, 455, 785.