We have studied the core of the Hydra I cluster, around its central cD galaxy, NGC 3311. We have analyzed the kinematics a sample of 60 intracluster planetary nebulae (PNs), detected using the multi-slit imaging spectroscopy technique (MSIS, Gerhard et al., 2005, Ventimiglia et al., 2008). PNs are good tracers of light (Coccato et al., 2009) and the MSIS allows to measure their velocities and positions at the same time. The histogram of the PN radial velocities presents several discrete components. We are comparing this result with ΛCDM hydro-dynamical simulations and other data in order to interpret it in the framework of the formation of extended halos around cD galaxies. V band photometric data around NGC 3311 have revealed the presence of an excess of light in the North-East part of the galaxy, which is spatially coincident with most of the PNs contributing to the reddest peak in the PNs LOSVD. We have measured, using Long-Slit data, the velocity of HCC26, a dwarf (DW) galaxy in the middle of the excess of light. The reddest peak in the PNs LOSVD is consistent both with the velocity of HCC 26 and of several other DWs in the same region. We are investigating the possibility that the light in excess has been stripped from these galaxies and now incorporated into the halo of NGC 3311.

For nearby K dwarfs, the broadening of the observed Main Sequence at low metallicities is much narrower than expected from isochrones with the standard helium–to–metal enrichment ratio ΔY/ΔZ~2. A much higher value, of order 10, is formally needed to reproduce the observed broadening, but it returns helium abundances in awkward contrast with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. This steep enrichment ratio resembles, on a milder scale, the very high ΔY/ΔZ estimated from the multiple Main Sequences observed in some metal-poor Globular Clusters. We argue that a revision of low Main Sequence stellar models, suggested from nearby stars, could help to reduce the overwhelmingly high ΔY/ΔZ deduced so far for those clusters. Under the most favourable assumptions, the estimated helium content for the enriched populations may decrease from Y ≃ 0.4 to as low as Y ≃ 0.3, with intermediate values being plausible.

The Herschel and Planck satellites have started imaging the sky at far-IR to mm wavelengths with an unprecedented combination of sky and spectral coverage, angular resolution, and sensitivity, thus opening the last window of the electromagnetic spectrum on the Galaxy. Dedicated observing programs on Herschel and the Planck all-sky survey will provide the first complete view at cold dust across the Galaxy, opening new perspectives on the structure and dynamical evolution of the Milky Way relevant to Gaia. The analysis and modelling of these observations will contribute to our understanding of two key questions: how do stars form from interstellar matter? how are the interstellar medium and the magnetic field dynamically coupled? The comparison with Gaia observations will contribute to build a 3D model of the Galactic extinction taking into account dust evolution between ISM components

The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array project is timing 20 millisecond pulsars with the aims of detecting gravitational waves, establishing a time scale based on pulsar periods and improving solar-system ephemerides.

We present examples of an extended asteroseismic modelling in which we aim at fitting not only pulsational frequencies but also certain complex parameter related to each frequency. This kind of studies, called complex asteroseismology, has been successfully applied to a few main sequence B-type pulsators and provided, in particular, plausible constraints on stellar opacities. Here, we briefly describe our results for three early B-type stars.

An important factor in estimating the likelihood of life elsewhere in the Universe is determining the stability of a planet's orbit. A significant fraction of stars like the Sun occur in binary systems which often has a considerable effect on the stability of any planets in such a system. In an effort to determine the stability of planets in binary star systems, we conducted a numerical simulation survey of several mass ratios and initial conditions. We then estimated the stability of the planetary orbit using a method that utilizes the hodograph to determine the effective eccentricity of the planetary orbit. We found that this method can serve as an orbital stability criterion for the planet.

Chemically Peculiar (CP) stars have been the subject of systematic research for more than 50 years. With the discovery of pulsation of some of the cool CP stars, and the availability of advanced spectropolarimetric instrumentation and high signal-to-noise, high resolution spectroscopy, a new era of CP star research emerged about 20 years ago. Together with the success in ground-based observations, new space projects are developed that will greatly benefit future investigations of these unique objects. In this contribution we will give an overview of some interesting results obtained recently from ground-based observations and discuss the future outstanding Gaia space mission and its impact on CP star research.

Globular clusters exhibit peculiar chemical patterns where Fe and heavy elements are constant inside a given cluster while light elements (Li to Al) show strong star-to-star variations. This pattern can be explained by self-pollution of the intracluster gas by the slow winds of fast rotating massive stars. Besides, several main sequences have been observed in several globular clusters which can be understood only with different stellar populations with distinct He content. Here we explore how these He abundances can constrain the self-enrichment in globular clusters.

The effect of variations of the fundamental nuclear parameters on big-bang nucleosynthesis are modeled and discussed in detail taking into account the interrelations between the fundamental parameters arising in unified theories. Considering only 4He, strong constraints on the variation of the neutron lifetime, neutron-proton mass difference are set. We show that a variation of the deuterium binding energy is able to reconcile the 7Li abundance deduced from the WMAP analysis with its spectroscopically determined value while maintaining concordance with D and 4He.

Jean Heidmann (1923-2000) began his research career as a radio-astronomer in 1959 at Paris Observatory, investigating the structure of galaxies and the distance scale in the nearby universe. In the early 1980's, his scientific interest broadened to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and he became a strong advocate of SETI, either from the ground or from space.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) launched 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) under the theme, The Universe, Yours to Discover. IYA2009 marked the 400th anniversary of the first astronomical observation through a telescope by Galileo Galilei. It has been, and still is, a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, with a strong emphasis on education, public engagement and the involvement of young people, with events at national, regional and global levels throughout the whole of 2009. UNESCO endorsed IYA2009 and the United Nations proclaimed the year 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy on 20 December 2007. These proceedings aim to give a brief account of IYA2009, from its inception to the present and how its legacy will influence the future of astronomy communication on a planet-wide scale.

In this presentation, I will outline some of the different ways that neutron stars can generate gravitational waves, discuss recent improvements in modeling the relevant scenarios in the context of improving detector sensitivity, and show how observations are beginning to put interesting “constraints” on our theoretical models.

Molecules and dust are formed in and around the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and supernovae (SNe), and are ejected into the interstellar medium (ISM) through the stellar wind. The dust and gas contain elements newly synthesised in stars, thus, dying stars play an important role in the chemical enrichment of the ISM of galaxies. However, quantitative analysis of molecules and dust in these stars had been difficult beyond our Galaxy. The high sensitivity instruments on-board the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST; Werner et al. 2004) have enabled us to study dust and molecules in these stars in nearby galaxies. Nearby galaxies have a wide range in metallicity, thus the impact of the metallicity on dust and gas production can be studied. This study will be useful for chemical evolution of galaxies from low to high metallicity.

Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are potential sites of massive star formation, dark in the near-infrared, but in many cases already with indications of active star-formation from far-infrared and submm observations. They are an ideal test bed to study the role of internal and external heating on the structure of the molecular cloud material.

Accurate synthetic telluric spectra are required for efficient use of telescope time, in particular, with large telescopes and high-resolution NIR spectroscopy: (i) In the preparation of observations, are the telluric features at the same wavelength as spectroscopic features of scientific interest? Since water vapor is the molecule whose abundance varies most in the atmosphere, what values of precipitable water vapor are suitable to carry out successful observations? Are the observations of a telluric star required? Or better, can telluric features in the science spectrum be accurately represented by an appropriate synthetic spectrum? This point is also very important in the planning of telescope time, as observations of a telluric star may sometimes take longer than the one of the science target. (ii) In the analysis of the observations, how do telluric lines affect the scientifically interesting features in the observed spectrum? Is it possible to recover the useful information when telluric star observations could not be obtained, do not have sufficient SNR, or suffer from a significant change in instrumental or observing conditions?

Astrobiology emerged as a scientific discipline in Kazakhstan more than half-a-century ago and flourished for many years under the leadership of Gavriil A. Tikhov, the oldest Pulkovian astrophysicist, member of the Academy of Sciences of the KazSSR (ASKSSR), and corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

In recent years, the local helioseismology has become a highly effective tool for investigating subphotospheric layers of the Sun, which can yield fairly detailed distributions of the subphotospheric temperatures and large-scale plasma flows based on the spectra of the oscillations observed at the photospheric layers and the observed peculiarities of propagation of magnetoacoustic waves in this medium (Zhao et al. (2001), Kosovichev (2006)). Unfortunately, the effects of temperature and the magnetic field on the wave propagation speed have not yet been separated Kosovichev (2006), so that the structure of the sunspot magnetic field in deep layers, beneath the photosphere, remains a subject of purely theoretical analysis. In his analysis of some theoretical models of the subphotospheric layers of sunspots based on recent helioseismological data, Kosovichev (2006) concluded that Parker's (“spaghetti”) cluster model Parker (1979) is most appropriate. In this model, the magnetic flux in the sunspot umbra is concentrated into separate, strongly compressed, vertical magnetic flux tubes that are interspaced with plasma that is almost free of magnetic field; the plasma can move between these tubes.

Geophysical fluids have a major impact on the Earth's rotation. Tidal variations within the oceans are the predominant cause of subdaily length-of-day (lod) variations while those within the solid body of the Earth are a major source of longer period variations; tidal dissipation within the solid Earth and oceans cause a secular change in lod. Fluctuations of the atmospheric winds are the predominant cause of nontidal lod variations on sub-decadal time scales while decadal variations are caused by interactions between the fluid core and mantle.

The values of the fundamental physical constants determine the nature of our universe from the height of mountains on earth to the evolution of the universe over its history. One of these constants is μ = MP/Me the ratio of the proton to electron mass. Astronomical observations provide a determination of this ratio in the early universe through observations of molecular absorption and emission lines in distant objects. Observations of molecular hydrogen in distant damped Lyman Alpha clouds provide a measurement of μ at a time when the universe was only 20% of its present age. To date there is no evidence for a change in μ at the level of 1 part in 105. This limit produces an observational constraint on quintessence theories for the evolution of the universe and Super Symmetric theories of elementary particles.

We present an analysis of glitches detected at Urumqi from 2000 to 2008. Statistics based on all known glitches, for example post glitch behavior were investigated.