Knowing the distance of an astrophysical object is key to understanding it. However, at present, comparisons of theory and observations are hampered by precision (or lack thereof) in distance measurements or estimates. Putting the many recent results and new developments into the broader context of the physics driving cosmic distance determination is the next logical step, which will benefit from the combined efforts of theorists, observers and modellers working on a large variety of spatial scales, and spanning a wide range of expertise. IAU Symposium 289 addressed the physics underlying methods of distance determination across the Universe, exploring the various approaches employed to define the milestones along the road. The meeting provided an exciting snapshot of the field of distance measurement, offering not only up-to-date results and a cutting-edge account of recent progress, but also full discussion of the pitfalls encountered and the uncertainties that remain. One of the meeting's main aims was to provide a roadmap for future efforts in this field, both theoretically and observationally.

I briefly explore some relevant connections and differences between the evolutionary paths of dwarf galaxies and globular clusters.

We investigate 10 M-class flares observed by the SOXS mission to study the influence of the solar flare plasma cooling on the Neupert effect. We study the temporal evolution of 1s cadence X-ray emission in 7-10 keV and 10-30 keV representing the SXR and HXR emission respectively. We model the cooling as a function of time by the ratio of time-derivative of SXR with the HXR flux. We report that the ratio is exponentially decaying in rise phase of the flare, which, however, saturates after the impulsive phase. We estimate the cooling time scale in the rise phase for the flares and found to be varying between 39 and 525 s.

Sites on Antarctic plateau have unique atmospheric properties that make them better than any mid-latitude sites as observatory locations. From site testing measurements over 4 years on Dome A carried out by the Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy, we can reasonably predict that Dome A is as good as or even better than Dome C, which has been proved to be the best astronomical site by now, and suitable for high angular resolution observations. Seeing monitoring is necessary for planning large scale ground-based optical astronomical telescopes. In 2012, the 28th Chinese Antarctic Scientific Expedition carried out preliminary daytime seeing monitoring using a Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) placed at a height of 3.5m. The median seeing was found to be 0.8″. This will be the foundation of future research that obtains comprehensive and long-period monitoring of the site's optical parameters.

We study the impact of a hadron-quark phase transition on the maximum neutron-star mass. The hadronic part of the equation of state relies on the most up-to-date Skyrme nuclear energy density functionals, fitted to essentially all experimental nuclear mass data and constrained to reproduce the properties of infinite nuclear matter as obtained from microscopic calculations using realistic forces. We show that the softening of the dense matter equation of state due to the phase transition is not necessarily incompatible with the existence of massive neutron stars like PSR J1614–2230.

Astronomers have always sought the best sites for their telescopes. Antarctica, with its high plateau reaching to above 4,000 metres, intense cold, exceptionally low humidity and stable atmosphere, offers what for many forms of astronomy is the ultimate observing location on this planet. While optical, infrared and millimetre astronomers are building their observatories on the ice, particle physicists are using the ice itself as a detector and exploration of the terahertz region is being conducted from circumpolar long-duration balloons. Remarkable astronomical discoveries are already coming out of Antarctica, and much, much more is just around the corner.

The discovery of a pulsar or pulsars orbiting near the Galactic Center (GC) could offer an unprecedented probe of strong-field gravity, the properties of our galaxy's supermassive black hole and insights into the paradoxical star formation history of the region. However, searching for pulsars near the GC is severely hampered by the large electron densities along our line of sight and the scattering-induced pulse broadening of the pulsar emission observed through it. As the broadened pulse length approaches the pulsar period, the periodicity in pulsar emission becomes nearly undetectable. Searches extended to higher frequencies, in an effort to reduce scattering, suffer from reduced intrinsic flux, higher system temperatures and increased atmospheric opacity. We are currently attempting to mitigate the challenges associated with searching for pulsars near the GC by employing new wide bandwidth receivers, upgraded IF distribution systems and novel digital spectrometers in a GC pulsar search campaign at the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, USA.

Our search will cover two frequency bands, from 12-15 GHz (Ku Band) and 18-26 GHz (K Band), during a total of approximately 30 hours of observations, with expected characteristic 10-sigma sensitivities between 5-10 micro-Jy. Our first observations are scheduled for mid-March 2012. Here we will present the status of our observations and initial results.

The advent of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the development of new photometric algorithms that take advantage of its stable observing platform above the atmosphere have allowed us to study the populations in globular clusters with very high precision.

Massive Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) are observed to have a range of angular momenta, suggesting a variety of merging histories.

The Baade–Becker–Wesselink (BBW) method remains one of most often used tools to derive a full set of Cepheid astrophysical parameters. The surface brightness version of the BBW technique was preferentially used during the past few decades to calculate Cepheid radii and to improve period–luminosity–colour relations. Its implementation requires a priori knowledge of Cepheid reddening values. We propose a new version of the BBW technique, which allows one to independently determine the colour excess and the intrinsic colour of a radially pulsating star, in addition to its radius, luminosity and distance. The new technique is a generalization of the Balona light curve-modelling approach. The method also allows calibration of the function F(CI0) = BC(CI0) + 10 log [Teff (CI0)] for the class of pulsating stars considered. We apply this technique to a number of classical Cepheids with very accurate light and radial-velocity curves. The new technique can also be applied to other pulsating variables, e.g., RR Lyrae stars. We also discuss the possible dependence of the projection factor on the pulsation phase.

Main belt comets (MBCs) are a class of newly discovered objects that exhibit comet-like appearances and yet are dynamically indistinguishable from ordinary main belt asteroids. The measured size and albedo of MBCs are similar to those of classical comets. At present, six MBCs have been discovered, namely 133P/Elst-Pizarro, 176P/LINEAR, 238P/Read, P/2008 R1, P/La Sagra and P/2006 VW139. The total number of active MBCs is estimated to be at the level of a few hundreds (Hsieh & Jewitt, 2006). Several explanations for the activity of MBCs have been suggested. These include impact ejection, sublimation and rotational instability. However, since renewed activity has been observed in 133P and 238P at successive perihelion passages, the most likely explanation may be a thermally-driven process - e.g sublimation of exposed surface ice. Although the proximity of MBCs to the Sun (r ~ 3 AU) makes the survival of surface ice improbable, thermal models have shown that water ice is thermally stable under a regolith layer a few meters thick. The study of MBCs has recently been complicated by the discoveries of two asteroid collisional events (P/2010 A2 (LINEAR) and (596) Scheila) in 2010, where comet-like dust coma/tail have been attributed to recent impacts. If MBCs are indeed icy, they represent the closest and the third established reservoir of comets (after the Oort cloud and the Kuiper belt). As such, they may have been an important source of water for the Earth's oceans. I will review the current state of MBC studies, present the latest observational results and discuss possible mechanisms that could produce the observed activity. I will also talk about current and future space missions that are dedicated or closely related to MBC studies.

Most of the X-ray emission from luminous accreting black holes emerges from within 20 gravitational radii. The effective emission radius is several times smaller if the black hole is rapidly spinning. General Relativistic effects can then be very important. Large spacetime curvature causes strong lightbending and large gravitational redshifts. The hard X-ray, power-law-emitting corona irradiates the accretion disc generating an X-ray reflection component. Atomic features in the reflection spectrum allow gravitational redshifts to be measured. Time delays between observed variations in the power-law and the reflection spectrum (reverberation) enable the physical scale of the reflecting region to be determined. The relative strength of the reflection and power-law continuum depends on light bending. All of these observed effects enable the immediate environment of the black hole where the effects of General Relativity are on display to be probed and explored.

The increasing number of spectral survey telescopes that are soon commissioned for exploring the universe will confront us with many new challenges on the use of optical fibers. A fiber-switching problem for telescope's terminal instrument is as important as a well-known problem of positioning fibers on telescope's focal plane. For a modern survey telescope, it generally feeds several terminal instruments with different functions. According to the observation, these instruments are seriously in need of switching fiber-link with telescope as soon as possible. A kind of multi-fiber coupling plugs introduced in this paper will work for switching fiber-link between Multi-object Exoplanet Search Spectral Interferometer (MESSI) and low resolution spectrograph at Guoshoujing telescope (LAMOST). It includes an inserter, a receptor and a socket in general. The number of simultaneously coupling fibers is up to 25 per group, and any broken fiber in a single plug can be replaced by a new standard one soon without wasting entire fiber bundle. In addition, Most of mechanical part can also be individually replaced when a normal loss happens after a long working time. The related test result is given in detail, including the machining precision and coupling efficiency.

We solve the set of hydrodynamic equations for accretion disks in the spherical coordinates (rθφ) to obtain the explicit structure along the θ direction. The results display thinner, quasi-Keplerian disks for Shakura-Sunyaev Disks (SSDs) and thicker, sub-Keplerian disks for Advection Dominated Accretion Flows (ADAFs) and slim disks, which are consistent with previous popular analytical models, while an inflow region and an outflow region always exist, which supports the results of some recent numerical simulation works. Our results indicate that the outflows should be common in various accretion disks and stronger in slim disks and ADAFs.

The dependence of the solar cycle duration, T, on the 3 years averaged module of the large-scale sunspots magnetic fields (30-60 arcsec), B sp index, was investigated on the base of about 10,000 visual observations conducted during last eight (16-23) cycles. It was found that the duration T of the investigated cycles linearly depends on the index B sp of the magnetic fields observed during 3 years on decline phase of the solar cycle (second, third and fourth years after solar maximum T max ). Namely, the duration of the cycles T was varied between 9,5 and 12,5 years, when the magnetic index B sp was ranged from 2450 to 2600 G. An explanation for this dependence is proposed within the framework of non-linear αΩ- dynamo model. We found the following equation for the dependence of solar dynamo-period on magnetic index: T ≈ B sp 3/2. Therefore, the large observed index B sp , the longer calculated period T.

We use the spatially resolved gas-phase metallicity as a new diagnostic for tagging recent interactions in QSO host galaxies. With this technique we also identified a QSO with extremely low gas-phase metallicity as likely evidence for gas accretion from the environment.

We have searched for dust in an optical sample of 910 Early-Type Galaxies (ETGs) in the Virgo cluster (447 of which are optically complete at mpg ≤ 18.0), extending also to the dwarf ETGs, using Herschel images at 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500 μm. Dust was found in 52 ETGs (46 are in the optically complete sample), including M87 and another 3 ETGs with strong synchrotron emisssion. Dust is detected in 17% of ellipticals, 41% of lenticulars, and in about 4% of dwarf ETGs. The dust-to-stars mass ratio increases with decreasing optical luminosity, and for some dwarf ETGs reaches values similar to those of the dusty late-type galaxies. Slowly rotating ETGs are more likely to contain dust than fast rotating ones. Only 8 ETGs have both dust and HI, while 39 have only dust and 8 have only HI, surprisingly showing that only rarely dust and HI survive together. ETGs with dust appear to be concentrated in the densest regions of the cluster, while those with HI tend to be at the periphery. ETGs with an X-ray active SMBH are more likely to have dust and vice versa the dusty ETGs are more likely to have an active SMBH.

To constrain models of dark energy, a precise measurement of the Hubble constant, H0, provides a powerful complement to observations of the cosmic microwave background. Recent, precise measurements of H0 have been based on the ‘extragalactic distance ladder,’ primarily using observations of Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovae as standard candles. In the past, these methods have been limited by systematic errors, so independent methods of measuring H0 are of high value. Direct geometric distance measurements to circumnuclear H2O megamasers in the Hubble flow provide a promising new method to determine H0. The Megamaser Cosmology Project (MCP) is a systematic effort to discover suitable H2O megamasers and determine their distances, with the aim of measuring H0 to a few percent. Based on observations of megamasers in UGC 3789 and NGC 6264, and preliminary results from Mrk 1419, the MCP has so far measured H0 = 68.0 ± 4.8 km s−1 Mpc−1. This measurement will improve as distances to additional galaxies are incorporated. With the Green Bank Telescope, we recently discovered three more excellent candidates for distance measurements, and we are currently acquiring data to measure their distances.

Gravity-bound isolated systems, from stars, planetary systems, star clusters to galaxies, share common properties where evolution is the rule. Typically if they start forming at a well defined epoch they tend to change significantly over a timescale comparable to their present age. So evolution is never truly stopped, it just proceeds slower and slower: after a rapid, violent phase a slower, secular phase follows. In galactic astronomy for many decades the paradigm was rather that after a short violent time galaxies would settle in a stable steady state just consuming gas into stars. Actually today it appears that the progressive appearance of galaxy systematic morphologies and the slowing pace of mergers indicate that common intrinsic dynamical factors continue to shape galaxies towards similar properties irrespective of their largely different formation histories and initial conditions. Newtonian physics supplemented by a weakly dissipative component provides an amazing amount of explanations for the galaxy properties, like exponential stellar disks, spirals, bars, and peanut-shaped bulges. The purpose of this talk is to review these mechanisms of dynamical secular evolution.

Detections of massive extrasolar moons are shown feasible with the Kepler space telescope. Kepler's findings of about 50 exoplanets in the stellar habitable zone naturally make us wonder about the habitability of their hypothetical moons. Illumination from the planet, eclipses, tidal heating, and tidal locking distinguish remote characterization of exomoons from that of exoplanets. We show how evaluation of an exomoon's habitability is possible based on the parameters accessible by current and near-future technology.