IAU Commission 5 deals with data management issues, and its working groups and task groups deal specifically with information handling, with data centres and networks, with technical aspects of collection, archiving, storage and dissemination of data, with designations and classification of astronomical objects, with library services, editorial policies, computer communications, ad hoc methodologies, and with various standards, reference frames, etc., FITS, astronomys Flexible Image Transport System, the major data exchange format, is controlled, maintained and updated by the Working Group FITS.

Division VIII provides a focus for astronomers studying a wide range of problems related to galaxies and cosmology. Objects of the study include individual galaxies, groups and clusters of galaxies, large scale structure, comic microwave background radiation and the universe itself. Approaches are diverse from observational one to theoretical one including computer simulations.

The Working Group was formed at the IAU XXV General Assembly in Sydney, 2003, as a joint initiative of Commissions 40 Radio Astronomy and Commission 41 History of Astronomy, in order to assemble a master list of surviving historically-significant radio telescopes and associated instrumentation found worldwide, and document the technical specifications and scientific achievements of these instruments. In addition, it would maintain an on-going bibliography of publications on the history of radio astronomy, and monitor other developments relating to the history of radio astronomy (including the deaths of pioneering radio astronomers).

The diversity of physical phenomena embraced by the study of Chemically Peculiar (CP) stars results in an associated research community with interests that are equally diverse. This fact became once more evident during the CP#Ap Workshop that took place in Vienna (Austria) in September 2007, and which gathered over 80 members of this research community. Besides the excellent scientific outcome of the meeting, during the workshop the community had the opportunity to discuss its organization and plans for the future. Following on those plans, the Working Group has submitted a proposal for a Joint Discussion during the IAU XXVII General Assembly, in Rio de Janeiro, which has meanwhile been accepted. Moreover, through an ApN newsletter forum, the Working Group has compiled requests from the community concerning atomic and related data. These requests have been put together and will be shared with Commission 14.

Division II of the IAU provides a forum for astronomers and astrophysicists studying a wide range of phenomena related to the structure, radiation and activity of the Sun, and its interaction with the Earth and the rest of the solar system. Division II encompasses three Commissions, 10, 12 and 49, and four Working Groups.

Research in atomic and molecular collision processes and spectral line broadening has been very active since our last report (Schultz & Stancil 2007, Allard & Peach 2007). Given the large volume of the published literature and the limited space available, we have attempted to identify work most relevant to astrophysics. Since our report is not comprehensive, additional publications can be found in the databases at the web addresses listed in the final section. Elastic and inelastic collisions among electrons, atoms, ions, and molecules are included and reactive processes are also considered, but except for charge exchange, they receive only sparse coverage.

Commission 21 consists of IAU members and consultants with expertise and interest in the study of the light of the night sky and its various diffuse components, at all accessible electromagnetic frequencies. In cosmic distance scales, the subjects of Commission 21 range from airglow and tropospheric scattering in Earth's atmosphere, through zodiacal light in the solar system, including thermal emission from interplanetary dust, integrated starlight in the Milky Way galaxy, diffuse galactic light due to dust scattering in the galactic diffuse interstellar medium, thermal emissions from interstellar dust and free free emission from ionized interstellar gas, to various diffuse extragalactic background sources, including the cosmologically important cosmic microwave background (CMB). Observations of the diffuse night sky brightness at any frequency typically include signals from several of these sources, and it has been the historic mandate of Commission 21 to foster the necessary collaboration of experts from the different astronomical sub-disciplines involved.

Star clusters are valuable tools for theoretical and observational astronomy across a wide range of disciplines from cosmology to stellar spectroscopy. For example, properties of globular clusters are used to constrain stellar evolutionary models, nucleosynthesis and chemical evolution, as well as the star formation and assembly histories of galaxies and the distribution of dark matter in present-day galaxies. Open clusters are widely used as stellar laboratories for the study of specific stellar phenomena (e.g., various emission-line stars, pulsating pre-MS stars, magnetic massive stars, binarity, stellar rotation, etc.). They also provide observational constraints on models of massive star evolution and of Galactic disk formation and chemical evolution.

This report is divided in four parts: the first part summarizes the activities of the Commission between September 2006 and June 2008; the second part reports on recent advances in the physical study of planets and satellites. However, instead of attempting to cover the large body of new knowledge gathered over the last three years, we have chosen to highlight just a few exciting results – on Mercury, the exploration of unchartered terrains with ground-based imaging and a new measurement of its libration parameters, some spectacular findings from the Cassini mission inside the Saturnian system, and the results of methane-band spectrophotometric monitoring of Saturn over the last 13 years; the third part summarizes future plans now being drawn by the various space agencies for the exploration of planets and satellites in the solar system; the last part tries to project the activities of the Commission over the period June 2008–August 2009, and to express a few thoughts concerning the future developments in the field, and the role of the Commission therein.

According to the IAU membership database, Commission 25 currently has 230 members from 40 countries. The Commission's membership represents 2.4% of the total IAU membership of 9658.

Division I provides a focus for astronomers studying a wide range of problems related to fundamental physical phenomena such as time, the inertial reference frame, positions and proper motions of celestial objects and precise dynamical computation of the motions of bodies in stellar or planetary systems in the Universe.

During the period the Working Group had proposed and was granted renewed status by Division XI Space and High-Energy Astrophysics. Additionally the Working Group requested to be extended to Division IX Optical and Infrared Techniques, Division X Radio Astronomy, as well as Division XI.

Although we were happy to welcome over 20 new members at the Prague meeting, Commission 26 is still one of the smallest in the IAU. Notwithstanding its size, it continues to carry on an active and diversified program of activities. Our web site, maintained at the US Naval Observatory, contains further information on the Commission. The site includes links to other relevant sites, to databases and catalogues, an archive of our Information Circulars, a list of upcoming meetings of interest, as well as an extensive bibliography of recently published papers on double and multiple stars. The site can be accessed at <ad.usno.navy.mil/wds/dsl.html#iau>.

Our Working Group studies massive, luminous stars, with historical focus on early-type (OB) stars, but extending in recent years to include massive red supergiants that evolve from hot stars. There is also emphasis on the role of massive stars in other branches of astrophysics, particularly regarding starburst galaxies, the first stars, core-collapse gamma-ray bursts, and formation of massive stars.