The overall frequency and other statistical properties of binary systems suggest that star formation is intrinsically a complex and chaotic process, and that most binaries and single stars actually originate from the decay of multiple systems. Interactions between stars forming in close proximity to each other may play an important role in the star formation process itself, for example via tidally induced accretion from disks. Some of the energetic activity of newly formed stars could be due to bursts of rapid accretion triggered by interactions with close companions.

In an attempt to summarize the present knowledge on the general magnetic field (gmf) of the Sun we pointed out the fine structure and the statistical nature of the gmf as one of its most important properties. The dipole-like behaviour of the mean polar field strengths is combined sometimes (since 1964) with a bias of the S-polarity flux for both poles. Highly uneven distribution of gmf with latitude and longitude, the disappearance of gmf at the South pole for months, and short period, almost synchronous at both poles, variations in the sign of gmf are pointed out. The fluctuations with time of the mean magnetic field of the Sun seen as a star (as well as mf at different latitudes) shows periodicity connected with the rotation of the Sun and very close agreement with the fluctuations of the interplanetary field (sector structure). The effect of faster rotation of N-polarities as compared with S-polarities as well as the bias of mean solar as well as interplanetary S-polarity fields are also pointed out. The possibility of short time-scale (hours) intrinsic changes in the local pattern of gmf is demonstrated.

We present the results of a high-angular resolution spectro-imaging survey of a sample of isolated Herbig Ae-Be (HAeBe) stars aimed at searching for close companions. The fraction of wide binaries is found to be significantly higher in HAeBe stars than in solar-mass field dwarfs, and suggests a companion star fraction possibly larger than 1. The spectral energy distribution of the primaries and secondaries is derived independently from multi-wavelength resolved photometry of the systems. It is found that young low-mass companions usually do not exhibit infrared excesses, which suggests that the lifetime of their circumstellar disk might have been shortened by the influence of the massive primary.

Important problems to which we would like to find answers are:

1. • What are the distances to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)?

2. • What is the present distribution of stars, gas and dark matter in the Clouds, and how did it evolve?

3. • How, and where, did the Magellanic Clouds form, and how have their orbits evolved?

4. • Finally the recent discovery of numerous microlensing events in the Clouds provides answers to questions that we have only recently started to ask.

Three areas of current progress relevant to the theme of this Symposium will be discussed. (1) New spectroscopic observations of the 30 Doradus central cluster, obtained independently by the author and by J. Melnick, confirm the presence of numerous very early O-type members, including several of type O3. In combination with sophisticated new direct imagery of the luminous central object R136 by A. Walker and by G. Weigelt, these results have evident implications for understanding the ionization of the supergiant H II region, as well as for the interpretation of R136 itself and of the apparently similar regions seen in more distant galaxies. In particular, no evidence remains for a supermassive object in 30 Doradus, but its central cluster is revealed as a spectacular grouping of very massive hot stars. (2) A further member of the Ofpe/WN9 category in the LMC has been identified, bringing their number to seven, with no exact spectroscopic counterparts yet known in the Galaxy. One of these objects is currently in a state of outburst and has been interpreted by O. Stahl et al. as the hottest known Hubble-Sandage variable. (3) An extensive survey of IUE high-resolution data has revealed a strong correlation between the ultraviolet stellar wind features and the optical spectral classifications for the majority of normal O stars. These results are relevant to future studies with the High Resolution Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, which may observe restricted UV wavelength ranges in faint extragalactic OB stars lacking optical data of comparable quality.

The National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science (NAOC), has started building the largest antenna in the world. Known as FAST, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope is a Chinese mega-science project funded by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). FAST also represents part of Chinese contribution to the international efforts to build the square kilometer array (SKA). Upon its finishing around September of 2016, FAST will be the most sensitive single-dish radio telescope in the low frequency radio bands between 70 MHz and 3 GHz. The design specifications of FAST, its expected capabilities, and its main scientific aspirations were described in an overview paper by Nan et al. (2011). In this paper, we briefly review the design and the key science goals of FAST, speculate the likely limitations at the initial stages of FAST operation, and discuss the opportunities for astronomical discoveries in the so-called early science phase.

The Chinese Spectral Radioheliograph (CSRH) with two arrays in 400MHz-2GHz/2-15GHz ranges with 64/520 frequency channels have been established in Mingantu Observing Station, Inner Mongolia of China, since 2013 and is in test observations now. CSRH is renamed as Mingantu Ultrawide SpEctral Radioheliograph (MUSER) after its accomplishment. We introduce the progress and current status of MUSER. The first burst imaging results of MUSER is presented.

I present an overview of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), a joint program of the JWST/NIRCam and NIRSpec Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) teams involving 950 hours of observation. We will target two well-studied fields with excellent supporting data (e.g., from HST-CANDELS): GOODS-North and South, including the Ultra Deep Field. The science goal of JADES is to chart galaxy evolution at z > 2, and potentially out to z > 10, using the rest-frame optical and near-IR though observations from ≍ 1–5μm. Multi-colour NIRCam imaging with 9 filters will enable photometric redshifts and the application of the Lyman break technique out to unprecedented distances. NIRSpec spectroscopy (with spectral resolving powers of R = 100, 1000 & 2700) will measure secure spectroscopic redshifts of the photometrically-selected population, as well as stellar continuum slopes in the UV rest-frame, and hence study the role of dust, stellar population age, and other effects. Measuring emission lines can constrain the dust extinction, star formation rates, metallicity, chemical abundances, ionization and excitation mechanism in high redshift galaxies. Coupling NIRCam and NIRSpec observations will determine stellar populations (age, star formation histories, abundances) of galaxies and provide the information to correct their broad-band spectral energy distribution for likely line contamination. Potentially we can search for signatures of Population III stars such as HeII. We can address the contribution of star-forming galaxies at z > 7 to reionization by determining the faint end slope of the luminosity function and investigating the escape fraction of ionizing photons by comparing the UV stellar continuum with the Balmer-line fluxes.

We review the properties of proto-planetary nebulae, highlighting the advances in our quantitative knowledge of these objects. The discussion focuses on the chemistry and morphology of their circumstellar envelopes and the chemistry and variability of their central stars.

The present authors (Clark et al, 1971) previously attempted to detect the 1.35 cm microwave line of water in Comet Bennett (1969i) using the 26 m Maryland Point radio telescope of the Naval Research Laboratory. An upper limit for the H2O column density of 1017 molec/cm2 was obtained assuming the rotational levels were in thermal equilibrium, A more recent search in Comet Kohoutek using the 37 m radio telescope of the Haystack Observatory with a low noise traveling wave maser preamplifier was also unsuccessful. In this comet the identification of H2O+ in the visible spectrum gave strong support to the idea of water as a major parent molecule. The radio detection of HCN (Heubner et al, 1974) and CH3CH (Uhlich and Conklin, 1974) in Comet Kohoutek suggested that the attempt to detect H2O should be repeated in a suitable comet.

The Tycho Catalogue contains astrometric and photometric data for the one million brightest stars on the sky. About 900000 stars are high quality astrometric reference stars. Photometry in a blue and visual band is provided.

Two extensions of the catalogue are under way. One is the extension to one magnitude fainter stars by a second reduction of the original Tycho observations, resulting in a catalogue with a total of about three million stars. The other extension is the derivation of more accurate proper motions by means of the Astrographic Catalogue positions as first epoch. This latter work will be carried out first for the one million stars, and later for all the three million, resulting in the Tycho Reference Catalogue (TRC).

Recently, one of the rapidly oscillating Ap stars, HR 3831, has been found to have an equally split frequency septuplet, though its oscillation seems to be essentially an axisymmetric dipole mode with respect to the magnetic axis which is oblique to the rotation axis (Kurtz et al. 1992; Kurtz 1992). In order to explain this fine structure, we investigate oscillations of rotating magnetic stars by taking account of the perturbations due to the magnetic fields and the rotation. We show that the magnetic field on axisymmetric dipole modes distorts the dipole oscillation pattern to have axisymmetric octapole components so that the frequency pattern becomes a septuplet rather than a triplet, and that the additional effect of the rotation leads the frequency pattern to be asymmetric. The formula allows us to get information about the magnetic fields, the rotation, and the geometrical configuration of the star from the oscillation data.

The class of P Cygni Type (PCT) stars is defined and the brightest members in our galaxy, LMC, M31 and M33 are identified. They are located near the upper luminosity limit in the HRD in the range of 8500 ≤ Teff ≤ 27,000 K and −11.0 ≤ Mbol ≤ −7.8. We suggest that all PCT stars are S Dor variables, and that the reverse may also be true. The basic parameters of the PCT stars are derived and compared with those of normal supergiants: the effective gravity is a factor 3 to 10 lower, the mass loss rate is a factor 3 to 10 higher, the terminal velocity is about a factor 10 lower. This results in a wind density which is a factor 30 higher and thus produces the P Cygni lines in the visual spectrum. The history and the physical processes in the star P Cygni are discussed. The photometric variability and the shell ejections on a timescale of about a month are probably due to non-radial pulsations. The acceleration of the wind is due to radiation pressure by numerous (∼103) metal lines in the Balmer continuum. This can also explain the S Dor type of variability. The proposed mechanism will automatically lead to a P Cygni phase in the evolution of the most massive stars and to the existence of an upper limit in the HR diagram. The expected lifetime of the PCT phase is about 104 to 105 years. Some unresolved problems and recommendations for future research are discussed.

As self-gravitating systems, dense star clusters exhibit a natural diffusion of energy from their innermost to outermost regions, leading to a slow and steady contraction of the core until it ultimately collapses under gravity. However, in spite of the natural tendency toward “core collapse,” the globular clusters (GCs) in the Milky Way exhibit a well-observed bimodal distribution in core radii separating the core-collapsed and non-core-collapsed clusters. This suggests an internal energy source is at work, delaying the onset of core collapse in many clusters. Over the past decade, a large amount of work has suggested that stellar black holes (BHs) play a dynamically-significant role in clusters throughout their entire lifetimes. Here we review our latest understanding of BH populations in GCs and demonstrate that, through their dynamical interaction with their host cluster, BHs can naturally explain the distinction between core-collapsed and non-core-collapsed clusters through a process we call “black hole burning.”

The insoluble organic material preserved in primitive chondritic meteorites shares many similarities with the refractory organic material in interplanetary dust particles and comets, suggesting that there is a genetic link between the organic matter in objects that formed between ~3 AU and ~30 AU from the Sun. These similarities include large D and 15N enrichments in bulk and even more extreme enrichments in isotopic hotspots. The enrichments attest to formation in very cold environments, either in the outer Solar System or the protosolar molecular cloud. There are many properties of this organic material that are consistent with an interstellar origin, but a Solar System origin cannot be ruled out. Similar organic material is presumably an important component of most protoplanetary disks, and heating or sputtering of this material would be a source of PAHs in disks. The soluble organic matter was more heavily effected by processes on the chondritic parent bodies than the insoluble material. Amino acids, for instance, probably formed by reaction of ketones and aldehydes with NH3 and HCN. The accretion of the relatively volatile NH3 and HCN, presumably in ices, strengthens the chondrite-comet connection. However, unlike most comets the water in chondrites, when it was accreted, had D/H ratios that were similar to or depleted relative to Earth.

Recent theoretical studies of the consequences of fierce tidal interactions between galaxies are reviewed and compared.

The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy is a funded project to repeatedly survey the entire visible sky to faint limiting magnitudes (mR ~ 24). It will be composed of four 1.8m diameter apertures each outfitted with fast readout orthogonal transfer Giga-pixel CCD cameras. A single aperture prototype telescopes has achieved first-light in the second half of 2006 with the full system becoming available a few years later. Roughly 60% of the surveying will be suitable for discovery of new solar system objects and it will cover the ecliptic, opposition and low solar-elongation regions. In a single lunation Pan-STARRS will detect about five times more solar system objects than the entire currently known sample. Within its first year Pan-STARRS will have detected 20,000 Kuiper Belt Objects and by the end of its ten year operational lifetime we expect to have found 107 Main Belt objects and achieve ~90% observational completeness for all NEOs larger than ~300m diameter. With these data in hand Pan-STARRS will revolutionize our knowledge of the contents and dynamical structure of the solar system.

Our knowledge concerning stars of the T Tauri and UV Ceti types has been considerably enlarged during recent years, owing to the accumulation of a large number of facts. As a result, we may now make certain suggestions regarding the causes of the non-stability of these stars, based on observational data. Such an approach to the solution of the problem is altogether different from that applied heretofore in attempts to develop a theory of certain types of variable stars. The method of construction of models has usually been applied in the past. We do not exclude, of course, the possibility of solving a problem on the basis of some theoretical model. However, the physical phenomena observed in the T Tauri and UV Ceti stars are so unusual that it is first of all necessary to define the nature of these phenomena and their mutual interrelation. Only then will detailed mathematical construction of a definite model be possible.