Two pilot Starlight Parks and Protection Areas are under planning.

One of the most successful global outreach efforts in history was the International Year of Astronomy 2009. With the momentum created by this year long program, it was important to take the efforts to coming years. The Astronomers Without Borders organization captured the energy of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 and refocused it as an ongoing annual celebration of the Universe by organizing Global Astronomy Month, a worldwide celebration of astronomy in all its forms, every April. In 2010, the program saw professionals and amateur astronomers, educators and astronomy enthusiasts from around the globe participating together in the spirit of International Year of Astronomy 2009 and provided a global stage for established programs and a framework for partnerships. The 2011 version of the program saw much bigger participation with several global partner organizations joining in creating more than 40 global level programs throughout the month. Within a short period of two years, Global Astronomy Month has evolved to a much needed global platform after International Year of Astronomy 2009.

In this work, we investigate the power source of the most energetic giant outbursts in MS 0735 + 7421, which released ~ 1062 erg of energy. Due to the very high mean jet power in the cavities (Pjet/LEdd ~ 0.02), we produce several jet formation models based on a relativistic thin disk model, i.e., general BP + BZ mechanisms (model A), Livio's (model B) and Meier's (model C) model, to explain the giant outbursts in AGNs. It is found that the energy provided by both model B and model C are inadequate for an initial black hole spin a0 ~ 0.1, only model A can explain the most violent outbursts in MS 0735 + 7421. But if the initial black hole spin a0 ~ 0.95, model B can also blow up the cavity. The final spin of the black hole is found to be very high in spite of the initial spin.

The Joint Discussion on Space-time reference systems for future research (JD7) was held at the XXVIIIth General Assembly of the IAU in Beijing, on 27–29 August 2012. It was organized by IAU Division I (Fundamental Astronomy), with the support of Division III (Planetary Systems Sciences), Division IX (Optical & Infrared Techniques), Division XI (Space & High Energy Astrophysics), and Division XII (Union-Wide Activities). The scientific organizing committee was composed of Nicole Capitaine (France; co-Chair), George H. Kaplan (USA), Sergei Klioner (Germany; co-Chair), Zoran Knezevic (Republic of Serbia), Dafydd Wyn Evans (UK), Dennis McCarthy (USA; co-Chair), Harald Schuh (Austria), Richard N. Manchester (Australia) and Gérard Petit (France).

We performed polarization sensitive VLBI observations of 6.7 GHz methanol masers toward high-mass young stellar objects with clear outflow seen from Spitzer IRAC images in the 4.5 μm band (i.e. EGOs, see Cyganowski et al. 2008) with the EVN to investigate the birthplace of the masers. By comparing direction of the major axis of methanol maser distributions with directions of higher resolution outflow and magnetic field vector, we suggest that the methanol masers toward source G28.83-0.25 may arise from surrounding disk.

In around ≈25% of early-type galaxies (ETGs) UV emission from young stellar populations is present. Molecular gas reservoirs have been detected in these systems (e.g. Young et al. (2011), providing the fuel for this residual star-formation. The environment in which this molecular gas is found is quite different than that in spiral galaxies however, with harsher radiation fields, deeper potentials and high metallicity and alpha-element abundances. Here we report on one element of our multi-faceted programme to understand the similarities and differences between the gas reservoirs in spirals and ETGs. We use spatially resolved observations from the CARMA mm-wave interferometer to investigate the size of the molecular reservoirs in the the CO-rich ATLAS3D ETGs (survey described in Alatalo et al. 2012, submitted). We find that the molecular gas extent is smaller in absolute terms in ETGs than in late-type galaxies, but that the size distributions are similar once scaled by the galaxies optical/stellar characteristic scale-lengths (Fig 1, left). Amongst ETGs, we find that the extent of the molecular gas is independent of the kinematic misalignment, despite the many reasons why misaligned gas might have a smaller extent. The extent of the molecular gas does depend on environment, with Virgo cluster ETGs having less extended molecular gas reservoirs (Fig 1, right). Whatever the cause, this further emphases that cluster ETGs follow different evolutionary pathways from those in the field. Full details of this work will be presented in Davis et al. (2012), submitted.

Extreme Scattering Events and pulsar secondary spectra have highlighted fundamental problems in our understanding of the dynamics of interstellar turbulence. We describe some of these problems in detail and present the theory behind the technique of speckle imaging, which offers a prospect of revealing fundamental properties of the turbulence. It also offers the prospect of resolving pulsar magnetospheres on ~ 10 nas scales.

NIRS0S (Near-IR S0 galaxy Survey), is a K-band survey of ~ 200 early-type disk galaxies, mainly S0s, 2-3 mag deeper than the 2Micron All Sky Survey. In depth morphological analysis was done, in which multi-component structural decompositions played an important role. Possible implications to internal dynamical galaxy evolution were discussed. S0s were suggested to be former spirals in which star formation has ceased, forming a parallel sequence with spirals (see Fig. 1). If that evolution is faster among the brighter galaxies, the observed magnitude difference between the barred and non-barred S0s could be understood. Bars are suggested to play a critical role in such evolution. For example, the inner lenses in the bright non-barred S0s can be explained as former barlenses (inner parts of bars), in which the elongated bar component has dissolved. We suggest that the last destructive merger event happened at a fairly large redshift.

One of the ways in which astronomy can stimulate development is by raising awareness of our place in the universe among the general public. This contributes to inspiring people and brings the scientific community and scientific thinking closer to everyone. The IAU OAD has set up one task force dedicated to ‘Astronomy for the Public’. Proposed activities of the task force range from low-tech astronomy outreach to citizen science. We will present the task force, its objectives and potential developmental impacts for the first few years of operation.

Ammonia (NH3) was the first polyatomic molecule observed in the ISM. Its importance in interstellar molecules is only second to CO because its rovibrational spectroscopic signature can be used very effectively at deducing the conditions of the interstellar environment such as temperature and density, and because it is found in so many different interstellar objects in a wide temperature range. However, experimental determination of NH3 IR spectra is extremely difficult due to the large-amplutide inversion vibration, and the existing HITRAN2008 database for NH3 is limited in temperature, coverage, completeness, and accuracy. With rapid progress in theoretical chemistry and computational resources, now we are able to generate a highly reliable/accurate IR line list of NH3 (and its isotopologues) for astronomical studies. Exact quantum rovibrational computations on an empirically refined potential energy surface (with nonadiabatic corrections included) have achieved accuracies of 0.02-0.05 cm−1 (for line position) and better than 85-95% (for line intensity) for both NH3 and 15NH3 spectra. The unique feature of our work is that our predictions are essentially as accurate as reproducing existing measurements, suitable for synthetic simulation of various astrophysical environments or objects. The reliabilty and accuracy of our predictions for missing bands and higher energies computed on HSL-2 (Fig. 1) have been proved by the most recent high-resolution experiments and extended up to 7000 cm−1. See Huang et al. 2008, Huang et al. 2011, & Sung et al. 2012 for more details.

In May 2011, IceCube, a neutrino telescope with one cubic kilometer instrumented volume started full operation with 5,160 sensors. The plan to build an experiment of this scale was based in part on the successful realization of a prototype experiment, the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array. Here, we will review some of the major challenges and milestones.

Several dynamical scenarios have been proposed that can lead to prompt mass segregation on the crossing time scale of a young cluster. They generally rely on cool and/or clumpy initial conditions, and are most relevant to small systems. As a counterpoint, we present a novel dynamical mechanism that can operate in relatively large, homogeneous, cool or cold systems. This mechanism may be important in understanding the assembly of large mass-segregated clusters from smaller clumps.

The Astro Izery project is carried by several institutions from Poland and Czech Republic. Its aim is to educate and inform tourists, who visit the Izery Mountains, about astronomy and light pollution. The project consists of two activities: permanent (sundials, planetary path etc.) and periodic (meetings, workshops). After five years the project is in good health and will gain more elements in next years.

A night-sky luminance survey was carried on in Beijing to assess the level of light pollution. The luminance of the zenith night sky and skies in four directions at six sites with different distances from the city center was measured by using a photometric luminance meter. The Xinglong Station of National Astronomical Observatory was included to study the impacts of city lights on an astronomical observatory. The survey shows that the night-sky luminance decreases with increasing distance from the city center. Measurement results indicate that outdoor lighting in the Xinglong county town which is close to the observatory has non-negligible influence on the night sky at Xinglong Station.

TV shows have the biggest impact for the public, so we can use them to inform and educate the public about light pollution and the importance of the dark sky for humanity and for the contemporary society. Some examples used in the TV show Us and the Sky at Columna TV, Romania, are presented.

The system of accretion disk and black hole is usually considered as the central engine of Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs). It is usually thought that the disk in the central engine of GRBs is the advection-dominated accretion disk, which is developed from a massive (mass Mdisk) torus at radius rdisk. We find a positive correlation between the isotropic gamma-ray energy Eiso and duration (so-called T90) for GRBs. We interpret this correlation within the advection-dominated accretion disk model, associating Eiso and T90 with Mdisk and viscous timescale respectively.

Quark matter at finite temperature and subject to strong magnetic fields is possibly present in the early stages of heavy ion collisions and in the interior of protoneutron stars. We use the mean field approximation to investigate this type of quark matter described by the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model. The energy per baryon of magnetized quark matter becomes more bound than nuclear matter made of iron nuclei, for magnetic fields around 1019 G. When the su(3) NJL model is applied to stellar matter, the maximum mass configurations are always above 1.45 solar masses and may be as high as 1.9 solar masses for a central magnetic field of 1018 G. These numbers are within the masses of observed neutron stars but exclude the recently measured star with 1.97 solar mass.

The effect of the magnetic field on the effective quark masses and chemical potentials is only felt for quite strong magnetic fields, above 5 × 1018 G, with larger effects for the lower densities. Spin polarizations are more sensitive to weaker magnetic fields and are larger for lower temperatures and lower densities.

I will review the secular evolution of the Milky Way disk and bulge with particular attention to the bulge and disk. Evidence for the importance of stellar migration in the Solar neighbourhood will be presented. The upcoming Gaia satellite will lead to a wealth of new data with which to explore these effects.

High precision spectroscopy is one of the most successful methods to detect extra-solar planets. To enable the detection of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone, extremely precise instruments are required. Our lack of knowledge of the instrument line profile, non-linearity and charge transfer efficiency effects in the detector limits the achievable precision of an instrument. We report our studies on the HARPS (High Accuracy Radial- velocity Planet Searcher) line profiles, measured using the unresolved lines of a Laser Frequency Comb (LFC). We show how the line profile changes as a function of position and signal, and estimate the errors made in the line centroid measurement due to the variation of the line profile.

The almost stately evolution of the global heliospheric magnetic field pattern during most of the solar cycle belies the intense dynamic interplay of photospheric and coronal flux concentrations on scales both large and small. The statistical characteristics of emerging bipoles and active regions lead to development of systematic magnetic patterns. Diffusion and flows impel features to interact constructively and destructively, and on longer time scales they may help drive the creation of new flux. Peculiar properties of the components in each solar cycle determine the specific details and provide additional clues about their sources. The interactions of complex developing features with the existing global magnetic environment drive impulsive events on all scales. Predominantly new-polarity surges originating in active regions at low latitudes can reach the poles in a year or two. Coronal holes and polar caps composed of short-lived, small-scale magnetic elements can persist for months and years. Advanced models coupled with comprehensive measurements of the visible solar surface, as well as the interior, corona, and heliosphere promise to revolutionize our understanding of the hierarchy we call the solar magnetic field.