We report on an international collaboration, the FERRUM Project, which aims at extending the database of experimental oscillator strengths for iron group elements and possibly evaluating theoretical and astrophysical data. The selection of individual projects is made with respect to their relevance for abundance work and plasma diagnostics in astrophysics. In this paper we present recent measurements of gf-values in Fe II. We also report on the first measurements of forbidden lines of the same spectrum, [Fe II].

The hydrodynamic approach to the modeling of the collisional regions of the cometary atmospheres is reviewed. A concise account of the existing Monte Carlo simulations is also incorporated. Emphasis is placed on works stimulated by the Halley flyby missions. The basic physical processes are described, based on the analogy with the physics of underexpanded jets. The general structure of the governing equations is presented and their legacy discussed. A detailed intercomparison is made of the application of these methods to the modeling of the comas. The reliability of the conclusions brought forward by existing models is discussed.

A brief discussion of the systematic effects of selection bias on the extragalactic distance scale is given. Distance indicators with intrinsic scatter yield only upper limits to Ho, unless the true intrinsic scatter is either small or well determined. Several distance indicators (luminosity index, diameters, globular clusters, 21 cm line widths) are discussed. It is concluded that type I supernovae, calibrated through brightest M supergiants, yield presently the most reliable determination of the large-scale value of the Hubble constant, i.e. Ho(cosmic) = 50 ± 7 km s–1 Mpc–1.

We introduce an extended 3D numerical simulation study of Reynolds stress models of stellar convection and probe fluxes as well as mean temperature gradient profiles.

Up to 10% of the total power output of star-forming galaxies is emitted in the infrared emission features at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6 and 11.2 μm. Here, I will review the spectral characteristics of these IR emission bands, their dependence on the local environment, the implications for the physical and chemical characteristics of the carriers, and their applicability as a diagnostic tool.

We review briefly direct and indirect methods of measuring the masses of black holes in galactic nuclei, and then focus attention on supermassive black holes in active nuclei, with special attention to results from reverberation mapping and their limitations. We find that the intrinsic scatter in the relationship between the AGN luminosity and the broad-line region size is very small, ~0.11 dex, comparable to the uncertainties in the better reverberation measurements. We also find that the relationship between reverberation-based black hole masses and host-galaxy bulge luminosities also seems to have surprisingly little intrinsic scatter, ~0.17 dex. We note, however, that there are still potential systematics that could affect the overall mass calibration at the level of a factor of a few.

The derivation of nebular abundances in galaxies using strong line methods is simple and quick. Various indices have been designed and calibrated for this purpose, and they are widely used. However, abundances derived with such methods may be significantly biased, if the objects under study have different structural properties (hardness of the ionizing radiation field, morphology of the nebulae) than those used to calibrate the methods. Special caution is required when comparing the metallicities of different samples, like, for example, blue compact galaxies and other emission line dwarf galaxies, or samples at different redshifts.

Increasing number of massive globular clusters (GCs) in the Milky Way are now turned out to host multiple stellar populations having different heavy element abundances enriched by supernovae. Recent observations have further shown that [CNO/Fe] is also enhanced in metal-rich subpopulations in most of these GCs, including ω Cen and M22 (Marino et al. 2011, 2012). In order to reflect this in our population modeling, we have expanded the parameter space of Y2 isochrones and horizontal-branch (HB) evolutionary tracks to include the cases of normal and enhanced nitrogen abundances ([N/Fe] = 0.0, 0.8, and 1.6). The observed variations in the total CNO content were reproduced by interpolating these nitrogen enhanced stellar models. Our test simulations with varying N and O abundances show that, once the total CNO sum ([CNO/Fe]) is held constant, both N and O have almost identical effects on the HR diagram (see Fig. 1).

The Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS) is a project to map the diffuse polarized emission over the entire sky, Northern and Southern hemispheres, from 300 MHz to 1.8 GHz. With an angular resolution of 30–60 arcmin and a frequency resolution of 1 MHz or better, GMIMS will provide the first spectro-polarimetric data set of the large-scale polarized emission over the entire sky, observed with single-dish telescopes. GMIMS will provide an invaluable resource for studies of the magneto-ionic medium of the Galaxy in the local disk, halo, and its transition.

Measurements of the total solar irradiance (TSI) during the last 18 years from spacecraft are reviewed. Corrections are determined for the early measurements made by the HF radiometer within the ERB experiment on NIMBUS7 and the factor to refer ACRIM II to the ACRIM I irradiance scale. With these corrections a composite TSI is constructed for the period from 1978-1997. This time series is compared with a model that combines a magnetic brightness proxy with observed sunspot darkening and explains nearly 90% of the observed short and longterm variance. Possible, but still unverified degradation of the radiometers hampers conclusions about irradiance changes on decadal time scales and longer.

In observations of six binary millisecond pulsars with the Hubble Space Telescope, we have discovered white dwarf companions to PSRs J0034-0534, J1022+1001, J1713+0747, and J2019+2425 and improved photometry on PSRs J1640+2224 and J2145-0750. Three of the white dwarfs are among the coolest and oldest known. We have determined that the masses for the helium companions are consistent with the expectation based on the core mass of a progenitor that filled its Roche lobe. The cooling times for many of the white dwarfs are much less than the characteristic spin-down times, implying that the spin period at the end of the accretion stage was close to the current period. The initial spin periods calculated are used to place limits on the accretion rate at the end of the low-mass X-ray binary phase. The accretion rates are found to be over an order of magnitude less than the Eddington rate.

The dipole-bound excited state of the methylene nitrile anion (CH2CN−) has been suggested as a candidate carrier for a diffuse interstellar band (DIB) at 803.8 nm. Its corresponding radical has been detected in the interstellar medium (ISM), making the existence for the anion possible. This work applies state-of-the-art ab initio methods such as coupled cluster theory to reproduce accurately the electronic excitations for CH2CN− and the similar methylene enolate anion, CH2CHO−. This same approach has been employed to indicate that 19 other anions may possess electronically excited states, five of which are valence in nature. Concurrently, in order to assist in the detection of these anions in the ISM, work has also been directed towards predicting vibrational frequencies and spectroscopic constants for these anions through the use of quartic force fields (QFFs). Theoretical rovibrational work on anions has thus far included studies of CH2CN−, C3H−, and is currently ongoing for similar systems.

Historical records are available for nine supernova explosions seen in our Galaxy over the last two millennia. The observations of these ‘historical’ supernovae are very useful for the modern astrophysical interpretation of the remnants of these supernovae. The ages of the remnants of these historical supernovae are definitively known, which greatly aids understanding of the nature of the remnants. Also, the fact that the parent supernova was seen implies that it was relatively nearby in the Galaxy, giving further constraints on the distance, and hence other properties of their remnants. Here I briefly review the historical supernovae in our Galaxy, in the context of our understanding of their remnants from modern observations.

Recent observational results toward the “Hot Core” sources (Orion KL, SgrB2, G34.3+0.15, W51, and so on) are summarized. Several saturated organic molecules are commonly observed among these sources, and these results favor formations on the grain mantles followed by evaporation. Some results of surveys in “hot core molecules” are presented. Such molecules may be used as diagnostics to establish the presence of “hot core” regions.

The astrophysics community uses different tools for computational tasks such as complex systems simulations, radiative transfer calculations or big data. Programming languages like Fortran, C or C++ are commonly present in these tools and, generally, the language choice was made based on the need for performance. However, this comes at a cost: safety. For instance, a common source of error is the access to invalid memory regions, which produces random execution behaviors and affects the scientific interpretation of the results.

In 2015, Mozilla Research released the first stable version of a new programming language named Rust. Many features make this new language attractive for the scientific community, it is open source and it guarantees memory safety while offering zero-cost abstraction.

We explore the advantages and drawbacks of Rust for astrophysics by re-implementing the fundamental parts of Mercury-T, a Fortran code that simulates the dynamical and tidal evolution of multi-planet systems.

Our Atlas of Extragalactic Radio Sources will present high-quality images of the nearer half of “3CRR”, the sample defined by Laing, Riley & Longair (1983). This is the best-studied complete sample of extragalactic radio sources. All 173 members have secure redshifts and most have been imaged in the radio at high resolution. There is also copious information on their optical line emission, and many have been detected in the sub-mm, FIR, and in X-rays. 3CRR is widely used as a baseline against which fainter, higher-redshift samples can be compared to define the evolution of the population (e.g. Neeser et al. 1995; Law-Green, this conference).

In this review, the morphology of barred galaxies at optical wavelengths is discussed, focussing mainly on early to intermediate revised Hubble types in the range S0+ to Sbc. Previous work by Hubble, Sandage, de Vaucouleurs, Vorontsov-Velyaminov, and Kormendy is described. The primary emphasis is on ring phenomena, and morphological results from the Catalog of Southern Ringed Galaxies are summarized.

We have monitored velocity variability in nine proto-planetary nebulae (PPN) over a 5 year interval and have monitored light variability in 40 PPN over a 2 year interval. We find all nine of the objects to vary in velocity and almost all of the 40 to vary in light. Three of the objects display a clear periodicity in their velocity variations, and in all three the light varies with the same period as the velocity. Periodic light variations are found in six other objects. We interpret these as due to pulsation in the PPN.

The Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) at UV, optical and NIR wavelengths consists of the integrated light of all unresolved galaxies along the line of sight plus any contributions by intergalactic matter including hypothetical decaying relic particles. The measurement of the EBL has turned out to be a tedious problem. This is because of the foreground components of the night sky brightness, much larger than the EBL itself: the Zodiacal Light (ZL), Integrated Starlight (ISL), Diffuse Galactic Light (DGL) and, for ground-based observations, the Airglow (AGL) and the tropospheric scattered light. We have been developing a method for the EBL measurement which utilises the screening effect of a dark nebula on the EBL. A differential measurement in the direction of a high-latitude dark nebula and its surrounding area provides a signal that is due to two components only, i.e. the EBL and the diffusely scattered ISL from the cloud. We present a progress report of this method where we are now utilising intermediate resolution spectroscopy with ESO's VLT telescope. We detect and remove the scattered ISL component by using its characteristic Fraunhofer line spectral signature. In contrast to the ISL, in the EBL spectrum all spectral lines are washed out. We present a high quality spectrum representing the difference between an opaque position within our target cloud and several clear OFF positions around the cloud. We derive a preliminary EBL value at 400 nm and an upper limit to the EBL at 520 nm. These values are in the same range as the EBL lower limits derived from galaxy counts.

Unit: We will use in this paper the abbreviation 1 cgs = 10−9erg s−1cm−2sr−1Å−1

A flexible and extensible software package for analyzing two-dimensional and multi-object spectra of nebulae has been implemented within Microsoft Excel (version 5). From lists of calibrated fluxes (and errors) for lines in a series of spectra, the program first identifies transitions by referring to wavelengths generated from atomic data. Colour excesses can be computed from a reddening law and ratio of total to selective extinction of the user's choice. Line fluxes can be corrected for stellar absorption and reddening and reported in a format suitable for publication. Temperatures, densities, ionic abundances, ionization correction factors, and total abundances can be computed. (The interface for the temperture/density calculation is shown below.) Emission coefficients for forbidden transitions are calculated using an adaptation of the FIVEL five-level atom routine (DeRobertis, 1987). As well, emission coefficients are supplied for an extensive set of recombination lines. The user has complete control over which spectral lines are used in an analysis – there are no pre-ordained methods. Abundance analyses can be performed using the physical conditions either measured or specified for each spectrum. Uncertainties are propagated throughout. The atomic data used in all of the calculations are easily updated or augmented by the user. Since the software is embedded in Microsoft Excel, graphical representations of the data are easily created, and extended analyses using the full functionality of the spreadsheet are easily implemented.