We show radio continuum observations of the WR ring nebulae around WR 101 and WR 113 obtained using the VLA and H i 21 cm line data of the interstellar bubble around the O type stars BD +24° 3866 and BD+25° 3952 obtained with the DRAO Synthesis Telescope. We review previous radio continuum and H i line results toward WR and O-type stars.

There are several goals I hope to reach in this talk. First, I would like to give this broad audience some idea of our present state of knowledge concerning global circulation of the sun—what the observations tell us (and don’t tell us!) as well as current theories. This will comprise a large part of my talk. In doing this, I hope I do not bore the specialists in this area. Second, I would like to put the problem of global circulation of the sun in the broader context of “solar variability”, a topic of rapidly growing interest in the solar community, that has implications for stars generally, and which may not have caught the attention of the stellar community. I would like also to put the solar circulation problem in the context of stellar rotation, by making a few admittedly speculative extrapolations to other stars. In addition, I will give a few of my own opinions about what we should be doing in the near future to make more progress in understanding the solar problem. And finally, I hope to provoke a wide ranging discussion of the whole area of circulation and variability in the sun and stars.

The ‘holy grail’ of exoplanet research today is the detection of an earth-like planet: a rocky planet in the habitable zone around a main-sequence star. Extremely precise Doppler spectroscopy is an indispensable tool to find and characterize earth-like planets; however, to find these planets around solar-type stars, we need nearly one order of magnitude better radial velocity (RV) precision than the best current spectrographs provide. Recent developments in astrophotonics (Bland-Hawthorn & Horton 2006, Bland-Hawthorn et al. 2010) and adaptive optics (AO) enable single mode fiber (SMF) fed, high resolution spectrographs, which can realize the next step in precision. SMF feeds have intrinsic advantages over multimode fiber or slit coupled spectrographs: The intensity distribution at the fiber exit is extremely stable, and as a result the line spread function of a well-designed spectrograph is fully decoupled from input coupling conditions, like guiding or seeing variations (Ihle et al. 2010). Modal noise, a limiting factor in current multimode fiber fed instruments (Baudrand & Walker 2001), can be eliminated by proper design, and the diffraction limited input to the spectrograph allows for very compact instrument designs, which provide excellent optomechanical stability. A SMF is the ideal interface for new, very precise wavelength calibrators, like laser frequency combs (Steinmetz et al. 2008, Osterman et al. 2012), or SMF based Fabry-Perot Etalons (Halverson et al. 2013). At near infrared wavelengths, these technologies are ready to be implemented in on-sky instruments, or already in use. We discuss a novel concept for such a spectrograph.

Nowadays the interest for space weather and solar wind forecasting is increasing to become a main relevance problem especially for telecommunication industry, military, and for scientific research. At present the goal for weather forecasting reach the ultimate high ground of the cosmos where the environment can affect the technological instrumentation. Some interests then rise about the correct prediction of space events, like ionized turbulence in the ionosphere or impacts from the energetic particles in the Van Allen belts, then of the intensity and features of the solar wind and magnetospheric response. The problem of data prediction can be faced using hybrid computation methods so as wavelet decomposition and recurrent neural networks (RNNs). Wavelet analysis was used in order to reduce the data redundancies so obtaining representation which can express their intrinsic structure. The main advantage of the wavelet use is the ability to pack the energy of a signal, and in turn the relevant carried informations, in few significant uncoupled coefficients. Neural networks (NNs) are a promising technique to exploit the complexity of non-linear data correlation. To obtain a correct prediction of solar wind an RNN was designed starting on the data series. As reported in literature, because of the temporal memory of the data an Adaptative Amplitude Real Time Recurrent Learning algorithm was used for a full connected RNN with temporal delays. The inputs for the RNN were given by the set of coefficients coming from the biorthogonal wavelet decomposition of the solar wind velocity time series. The experimental data were collected during the NASA mission WIND. It is a spin stabilized spacecraft launched in 1994 in a halo orbit around the L1 point. The data are provided by the SWE, a subsystem of the main craft designed to measure the flux of thermal protons and positive ions.

We discuss the first available binary evolution models which include up-to-date rotational physics for both components, as well as angular momentum accretion and spin-orbit coupling. These models allow a self-consistent computation of the mass transfer efficiency during Roche-lobe overflow phases, and a determination of the transition from quasi-conservative to non-conservative evolution. Applications to massive binary systems lead to predictions for the spin rates of compact objects in binaries, and for the occurrence of gamma-ray bursts from collapsars in binaries. Rotational effects in accreting white dwarfs are found to stabilise the shell burning and decrease the carbon abundance in progenitor models for Chandrasekhar-mass Type Ia supernovae, and to potentially avoid a detonation of the white dwarf within the sub-Chandrasekhar mass scenario.

Over the past decades various forms of the mixing length theory (MLT) have been used to describe convection in stellar atmospheres. Recent advances in turbulence theory now allow for major improvements in modelling thermal convection. We review several models for convection which have been derived from turbulence theory, and describe one of them, the “CM model”, in detail. The CM model has been used in several stellar evolution and helioseismology codes during the last four years and has now been applied to model atmospheres. An overwiew comparing stellar atmosphere models based on the CM formulation with its MLT predecessors indicates improvements on model atmospheres for A and F stars.

The importance of massive stars in astrophysics is self-evident to all of us. However the full scope of this role has only become apparent over the last few years, as we begin to understand the central role that massive star formation and evolution plays in phenomena ranging from the structure and evolution of the interstellar medium, galaxy formation and evolution, nuclear activity in galaxies, and even the reionization of the universe itself. This paper briefly reviews this broad relevance of massive star formation, and the wide range in massive star formation environments found in the local universe.

(Astrophys. Letters). The measured amount of band-splitting, Δf, in the spectra of nine harmonic type II bursts is illustrated in Figure 1. Here, as in previous, smaller samples (Roberts, 1959; Maxwell and Thompson, 1962; Weiss, 1965) Δf is found to increase with frequency, f.

The 40-channel magnetograph is described. Special attention is given to details of the fiber-optic probe which dissects the Fraunhofer line image and provides for a choice of spectral and spatial resolution. Examples of magnetograms taken with the instrument are shown. Maps of quiet areas, made with long integration times to achieve a noise of 0.4 G, yet with 5 arc-sec resolution, indicate the presence everywhere of a minimum background field of average strength 2–3 G.

To date, we have been able to gather information on the abundances of 16 elements, ranging from helium to iron, relative of course to hydrogen, the seventeenth. Of the lightest 26 elements only the lithium, beryllium, boron trio, aluminum, and the quintet of metals from scandium to magnanese have not been treated. The results of decades of labor on galactic planetaries are presented as succinctly as possible in Table 1, where the elements are shown in order of atomic number. I will take as a general approach that He/H and O/H have readily recognizable gradients and variations, and that the other elements either generally vary in concert with oxygen, or are best studied with respect to that atom. Column (2) classifies the element according to its most prominent behavior. The well-studied ratios that are generally constant, for which a true mean can be derived, are designated “C.” Those that are probably constant, but which are not well studied, are noted as “c.” The four elements with abundances significantly under solar, which are probably depleted from the nebular gas by grain formation, are called “D.” The letters “G” and “E” denote those for which vertical galactic gradients and/or enrichment by the parent star have been clearly established.

The Square Kilometre Array will be an amazing instrument for pulsar astronomy. While the full SKA will be sensitive enough to detect all pulsars in the Galaxy visible from Earth, already with SKA1, pulsar searches will discover enough pulsars to increase the currently known population by a factor of four, no doubt including a range of amazing unknown sources. Real time processing is needed to deal with the 60 PB of pulsar search data collected per day, using a signal processing pipeline required to perform more than 10 POps. Here we present the suggested design of the pulsar search engine for the SKA and discuss challenges and solutions to the pulsar search venture.

It is an honor for me to continue the discussion of galactic spirals following Professor Bok, who has contributed to the subject for many years. My experience has been relatively short. My first encounter with the study of galactic spirals occurred in 1961, when I was invited by Professor Bengt Strömgren to attend a conference on interstellar matter at Princeton, N.J. There I first learned about the winding dilemma from Professor Jan Oort. After the conference, Professor Lodewijk Woltjer, who edited the Proceedings, visited me for about a month. Thus, I began slowly to learn about spiral galaxies and to work on the subject. It turned out to be an extremely rewarding experience, for the observational data were already ripe for theoretical analysis, and the hydromagnetic theory of spiral arms was clearly encountering great difficulties. Since I was not educated as an astronomer, I owe my gratitude to Professors Strömgren, Woltjer, and Kevin Prendergast, on whom I depended for correct astronomical facts as I started my work. Without their help, I would not be standing here today. Later on, I was to receive help from many other distinguished astronomers, including Professor Bok from whom you just heard. I am greatly impressed with the community of astronomers as a dedicated group of scientists.

On the basis of the Yohkoh data on the site and mechanism of magnetic energy transformation into thermal and kinetic energies of superhot plasmas and accelerated particles, a model is developed that explains observed properties of collisionless 3D reconnection in active regions. The model makes intelligible the observed relation between the S-like morphology and eruptive activity.

The solar wind interaction with comets is characterized by the mass-loading of the solar wind with heavy cometary ions that are produced by the ionization of neutrals in the extensive cometary coma. This mass-loading slows down the solar wind and ultimately leads to the formation of a magnetic barrier and a magnetotail. Solar wind protons disappear in the vicinity of the cometopause due to charge-exchange collisions with neutrals. The plasma and fields inside the cometopause of comets Halley and Giacobini-Zinner were observed by instruments on board several spacecraft. Several plasma populations were detected in the inner coma, including cold (less than 1 eV) and energetic (several keV or more) ions, and cold and hot electrons. The Giotto magnetometer observed a diamagnetic cavity surrounding the nucleus, which is a consequence of an outward ion-neutral drag associated with the flow of cometary neutrals past plasma frozen onto field lines in the magnetic barrier. In addition to large-scale structures, many small-scale structures in the plasma and fields have been observed in comets, including tail rays and kinks, and plasma pile-ups and depletions in the barrier. Theoretically, the existence of a very narrow layer of enhanced plasma density just inside the diamagnetic cavity boundary has been predicted. The behavior of plasma in the inner coma (within the cometopause) of an active comet is determined both by plasma processes, such as magnetohydrodynamics, and by collisional processes such as ion-neutral friction, resistivity, electron and ion thermal cooling, ion-neutral chemical reactions, and electron-ion recombination.

Molecular outflows in the form of wide-angle winds and/or well-collimated jets are associated with young stellar objects of all luminosities. Independent studies have established that the mass outflow rate is proportional to L$_{bol}^{0.6}$ for L$_{bol} = 0.3$ to $10^5$ L$_{\odot}$, suggesting that there is a strong link between accretion and outflow for a wide range of source luminosity and there is reasonable evidence that accretion-related processes are responsible for generating massive molecular flows from protostars up to spectral type B0. Beyond L$_{bol} \sim 10^4$ L$_{\odot}$, O stars generate powerful wide-angle, ionized winds that can dramatically affect outflow morphology and even call into question the relationship between outflow and accretion.

Recently Beuther & Shepherd 2005 have proposed an evolutionary scenario in which massive protostellar flows (up to early B spectral type) begin collimated. Once the star reaches the Main Sequence, ionizing radiation may affect the balance between magnetic and plasma pressure, inducing changes in the flow morphology and energetics. Here I review the properties of outflows from young OB stars, discuss implications and observational tests of this proposed evolutionary scenario, and examine differences between low-mass and massive star formation.

A review of the current knowledge of physical properties and chemical composition of meteoroids entering the Earth's atmosphere is presented. Meteoroid penetration ability, ablation coefficients, beginning heights, light curves, fragmentation, and spectra are considered. The inferred bulk densities, mechanical strengths, rotation, and atomic elemental abundances are discussed. Cometary meteoroids are effectively grain aggregates with low bulk density (100–1000 kg m$^{-3}$), high porosity and low cohesivity. A volatile matrix holding the grains together may be present. Presence of large amounts of organic material is not firmly established. Small chunks ($\sim $mm) of denser material are sometimes contained in cometary meteoroids. Chemically, cometary grains are similar to CI chondrites but there is a hint of enhancement of Na, Si, and Mg and depletion of Fe, Cr, and Mg. Larger chemical diversity is observed among small meteoroids on cometary orbits not belonging to meteoroid streams. The relatively frequent Na-free meteoroids are probably fragments of cometary irradiation crust. Asteroidal meteoroids exhibit much lower mechanical strengths than stony meteorites, clearly due to the presence of large scale cracks. Iron meteoroids dominate among asteroidal meteoroids smaller than 1 cm.

It is now well established that a fraction of the massive (M > 8 M⊙) star population hosts strong, organised magnetic fields, most likely of fossil origin. The details of the generation and evolution of these fields are still poorly understood. The BinaMIcS project takes an important step towards the understanding of the interplay between binarity and magnetism during the stellar formation and evolution, and in particular the genesis of fossil fields, by studying the magnetic properties of close binary systems. The components of such systems are most likely formed together, at the same time and in the same environment, and can therefore help us to disentangle the role of initial conditions on the magnetic properties of the massive stars from other competing effects such as age or rotation. We present here the main scientific objectives of the BinaMIcS project, as well as preliminary results from the first year of observations from the associated ESPaDOnS and Narval spectropolarimetric surveys.

In the following a method is presented for computing the internal structure of nonspherical stars assuming that the force per gram causing the deviation from spherical symmetry is conservative. The method has the advantage that in a normal (spherical) stellar structure code only slight changes have to be made in order to obtain nonspherical stellar models. The method can be applied as well to rotating stars as to stars distorted by tidal effects. Although it is similar to that of Faulkner et al. (1968) in the case of purely rotating stars, it is not necessary to use the division into two zones, where either slow rotation or negligible contribution to the gravitional potential is assumed.

Type I PNe were defined in 1977; during the last 19 years evidence has accumulated indicating that indeed these objects form a distinct physical group, corresponding to the high mass end of the stellar progenitors of PNe. In this review the definition of PNe of Type I is reanalyzed. Their properties in our Galaxy and other galaxies are discussed.