The activity of the Minor Planet Center continued generally to increase during the triennium. This report covers the period 2008 July 1 to 2011 October 12, and the phrase “during the triennium” in this report should be understood to mean this period.

Some developments of measurements of the weak stellar magnetic fields by the least square technique applied to spectropolarimetric data are proposed and used for the X-ray binary Cyg X-1 = HDE 226868 (the optical counterpart is an O 9.7 supergiant).

I describe ongoing work developing Bayesian methods for flexible modelling of arrival-time-series data without binning. The aim is to improve the detection and measurement of X-ray and gamma-ray pulsars and of pulses in gamma-ray bursts. The methods use parametric and semi-parametric Poisson point process models for the event rate, and by design have close connections to conventional frequentist methods that are currently used in time-domain astronomy.

High resolution spectra of post-outburst novae show multiple components of ejected gas that are kinematically distinct. We interpret the observations in terms of episodes of enhanced mass transfer originating from the secondary star that result in the formation of discrete components of circumbinary gas and accretion onto the white dwarf (WD) that trigger nova outbursts. In this picture the concordance between absorption line velocities and emission line widths in most novae occurs as a result of the collision of the expanding nova ejecta with a larger mass of surrounding circumbinary gas. One implication of this model is that much of the accreted gas remains on the WD, leading to a secular increase in WD mass over each outburst event. Alternative scenarios to explain nova spectral evolution are possible that do not invoke circumbinary gas and a possible test of different models is proposed.

Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are the evolved descendants of massive O-type stars and are considered to be progenitor candidates for Type Ib/c core-collapse supernovae (SNe). Recent results of our HST/WFC3 survey of Wolf-Rayet stars in M101 are summarised based on the detection efficiency of narrow-band optical imaging compared to broad-band methods. We show that on average 42% of WR stars, increasing to ~85% in central regions, are only detected in the narrow-band imaging. Hence, the non-detection of a WR star at the location of ~10 Type Ib/c SNe in broad-band imaging is no longer strong evidence for a non-WR progenitor channel.

We present a three-dimensional model of rotating convection combined with a simplified model of a corona in spherical coordinates. The motions in the convection zone generate a large-scale magnetic field which is sporadically ejected into the outer layers above. Our model corona is approximately isothermal, but it includes density stratification due to gravity.

Binary central stars have long been invoked to explain the vexing shapes of planetary nebulae (PNe) despite there being scant direct evidence to support this hypothesis. Modern large-scale surveys and improved observing strategies have allowed us to significantly boost the number of known close binary central stars and estimate at least 20% of PNe have close binary nuclei that passed through a common-envelope (CE) phase. The larger sample of post-CE nebulae appears to have a high proportion of bipolar nebulae, low-ionisation structures (especially in SN1987A-like rings) and polar outflows or jets. These trends are guiding our target selection in ongoing multi-epoch spectroscopic and photometric surveys for new binaries. Multiple new discoveries are being uncovered that further strengthen the connection between post-CE trends and close binaries. These ongoing surveys also have wider implications for understanding CE evolution, low-ionisation structure and jet formation, spectral classification of central stars, asymptotic giant branch (AGB) nucleosynthesis and dust obscuration events in PNe.

The stellar line-of-sight velocity distribution (LOSVD) can be strongly asymmetric in regions where the light contributions of both disc and bulge in spiral and lenticular galaxies are comparable. Existing techniques for the stellar kinematics analysis do not take into account the difference of disc and bulge stellar populations. Here we present a novel approach to the analysis of stellar kinematics and stellar populations. We use a two-component model of spectra where different stellar population components are convolved with pure Gaussian LOSVDs. For this model we present Monte-Carlo simulations demonstrating degeneracies between the parameters.

We recently identified several emission bands in the Spitzer-IRS spectrum of the unusual planetary nebula Tc 1 with the infrared active vibrational modes of the neutral fullerene species C60 and C70. Since then, the fullerene bands have been detected in a variety of sources representing circumstellar and interstellar environments. Abundance estimates suggest that C60 represents ~0.1%–1.5% of the available carbon in those sources. The observed relative band intensities in various sources are not fully compatible with single-photon heating and fluorescent cooling, and are better reproduced by a thermal distribution at least in some sources. The observational data suggests that fullerenes form in the circumstellar environments of evolved stars, and survive in the interstellar medium. Precisely how they form is still a matter of debate.

This essay introduces the papers from the specially organized session on the theme ‘The 2012 phenomenon: Maya calendar, astronomy, and apocalypticism in the worlds of scholarship and popular culture’. The papers that follow address this topical theme in the contexts of Maya and Western cultures as well as academic and popular cultures.

The rapid response capability of Swift, together with the daily planning of its observing schedule, make it an ideal mission for following novae in the X-ray and UV bands. A number of both classical and recurrent novae have been extensively monitored throughout their supersoft phase. We report findings from these observations, including the high-amplitude flux variation often seen at the start of the supersoft emission, the optical plateau sometimes seen for recurrent novae, the differing relationships between the X-ray and UV variability, and the turn-on and turn-off times of the supersoft emission for the Swift sample of novae.

The characteristics of interstellar dust reflect a complex interplay between stellar injection of stardust, destruction in the ISM, and regrowth in clouds. Astronomical observations and analysis of stardust isolated from meteorites have revealed a highly diverse interstellar and circumstellar grain inventory, including both amorphous materials and highly crystalline compounds (silicates and carbon). This review summarizes this dust budget and inventory. Interstellar dust is highly processed during its sojourn from its birthsite (stellar ejecta) to its incorporation into protoplanetary systems. Processing by strong shocks due to supernova explosions is particularly important. Sputtering by impacting gas ions in shocks in the intercloud medium of the ISM is counteracted by accretion in cloud phases and their balance sets the observed, interstellar, elemental depletion patterns. Astronomical and meteoritical-stardust evidence for these processes is reviewed and it is concluded that dust formation in the ISM is very rapid. Not surprisingly, the characteristics of interstellar dust are expected to vary widely reflecting local stellar sources, the effects of SNe processing, and the interstellar accretion process.

With the advent of surveys such as the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, the Palomar Transient Factory, Pan-STARRS and Gaia, the search for variable objects and transient events is rapidly accelerating. There are, however important existing data-sets from instruments not originally designed to find such events. One example of such an instrument is the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI), an all-sky space-based differential photometer which is able to produce light curves of bright objects (m ≤ 8) with a 102-minute cadence. In this paper we discuss the use of such an instrument for investigations of novæ, and outline future plans to find other variable objects with this hitherto untapped resource.

This Division IV was started on a trial basis at the General Assembly in The Hague 1994 and was formally accepted at the Kyoto General Assembly in 1997. Its broad coverage of “Stars” is reflected in its relatively large number of Commissions and so of members (1266 in late 2011). Its kindred Division V, “Variable Stars”, has the same history of its beginning. The thinking at the time was to achieve some kind of balance between the number of members in each of the 12 Divisions. Amid the current discussion of reorganizing the number of Divisions into a more compact form it seems advisable to make this numerical balance less of an issue than the rationalization of the scientific coverage of each Division, so providing more effective interaction within a particular field of astronomy. After all, every star is variable to a certain degree and such variability is becoming an ever more powerful tool to understand the characteristics of every kind of normal and peculiar star. So we may expect, after hearing the reactions of members, that in the restructuring a single Division will result from the current Divisions IV and V.

Examining Ancient Maya notions about prophecies and their calendar cycles, we find that they predicted no ‘end of the Maya calendar’. Indeed, surviving texts and art indicate that they seem to have expected no change in the status quo whatever, for at least 4000 years into the future. This search also turned up evidence that different local schools of calendar-priests differed significantly from each other; it is entirely possible that priests in one city expected the End of the World, while their peers elsewhere believed the opposite.

There is at present no viable theory whereby a single star with MMS < 2.3 ± 0.3 M⊙ can sustain a PN-forming superwind with Ṁ > 3×10−5 M⊙ yr−1 at the tip of the AGB that can eject the last ~0.3 M⊙ of envelope mass. We propose that a binary companion can not only result in non-spherical PN, but more importantly provide the AGB mass loss rate enhancement that is required to create a visible PN. We provide an overview of our binary population synthesis calculations of the PN formation rates from common envelope (CE) interactions, CE mergers with substellar companions, tidally synchronized systems that avoid CE, gravitationally focused winds, and double degenerate systems. The predicted number of Galactic PN with radii < 0.9 pc shaped and created by a binary companion is 8,100±2,300 which is (71±20)% of the observationally-estimated total. We demonstrate that the observed close central star of PN binary fraction of 15–20% is consistent with our overall binary fraction, considering we predict two binary populations with period distributions centred at log P(days) ~0 and 4. Finally, we discuss the impact of binarity on the PN luminosity function, central star mass distribution, chemical abundances, morphologies, etc., and why these distributions predicted in the binary scenario are close to observations while the single star paradigm produces distributions which are measurably discrepant.

KIC 4544587 is an eclipsing binary star with clear signs of apsidal motion and indications of tidal resonance. The primary component is an early A-type δ Scuti variable, with a temperature of 8270±250 K, whilst the secondary component is an early G-type main sequence star with a temperature of 6500±310 K. The orbital period of this system is 2.18911(1) d, with the light curve demonstrating a hump after secondary minimum due to distortion and reflection. The frequency spectrum of the residual data (the original data with the binary characteristics removed) contains both pressure (p) and gravity (g) modes. Eight of the g modes are precise multiples of the orbital frequency, to an accuracy greater than 3 σ. This is a signature of resonant excitation.

We present a study about the propagation of interplanetary shock waves driven by super magnetosonic coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The discussion focuses on a model which describes the dynamic relationship between the CME and its driven shock and the way to approximate the trajectory of shocks based on those relationships, from near the Sun to 1 AU. We apply the model to the analysis of a case study in which our calculations show quantitative and qualitative agreements with different kinds of data. We discuss the importance of solar wind and CME initial conditions on the shock wave evolution.

H and He features in photospheric spectra have rarely been used to constrain the structure of Type IIb/Ib/Ic supernovae (SNe IIb/Ib/Ic). The lines have to be modelled with a detailed non-local-thermodynamic-equilibrium (NLTE) treatment, including effects uncommon in stars. Once this is done, however, one obtains valuable hints on the characteristics of progenitors and explosions (composition, explosion energy, . . .). We have extended a radiative transfer code to compute synthetic spectra of SNe IIb, Ib and Ic. Here, we discuss our first larger set of models, focusing on the question: How much H/He can be hidden (i.e. remain undetected in photospheric spectra) in SNe Ib/Ic? For the SNe studied (relatively low Mej = 1. . .3 M⊙), we find a limit of MHe ≲ 0.1 M⊙ in SNe Ic (no unambiguous He lines). Stellar evolution models for single stars normally always yield higher masses. We suggest that low- or moderate-mass SNe Ic result from efficient envelope stripping in binaries. We propose similar studies on H/He in high-mass and extremely aspherical SNe, and observations covering the region of He I λ 20581.

The first molecules detected at infrared wavelengths in the ejecta of a Type II supernova, namely SN1987A, consisted of CO and SiO. Since then, confirmation of the formation of these two species in several other supernovae a few hundred days after explosion has been obtained. However, supernova environments appear to hamper the synthesis of large, complex species due to the lack of microscopically-mixed hydrogen deep in supernova cores. Because these environments also form carbon and silicate dust, it is of importance to understand the role played by molecules in the depletion of elements and how chemical species get incorporated into dust grains. In the present paper, we review our current knowledge of the molecular component of supernova ejecta, and present new trends and results on the synthesis of molecules in these harsh, explosive events.