The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is introduced, its basic properties are presented, and the relevance of the observatory to Planetary Nebula studies is described.

We present a review of the modern concept of physical processes which go on in magnetic CVs with the mass transfer between the components. Using results of 3D MHD simulations, we investigated variations of the main characteristics of accretion disks depending on the value of the magnetic induction on the surface of the accreting star. In the frame of a self-consistent description of the MHD flow structure in close binaries, we formulate conditions of the disk formation and find a criterion that separates two types of flows corresponding to intermediate polars (intermediate magnetic field) and polars (strong field).

The influence of asynchronous rotation of the accretor on the flow structure in magnetic close binaries is also discussed. Simulations show that the accretion instability arising in binaries with rapid rotation of accretor (“propeller” regime) can explain the mechanism of quasi-periodic dwarf nova outbursts observed in DQ Her systems.

The common envelope interaction between a giant star and a stellar or substellar companion is at the origin of several compact binary classes, including the progenitors of Type Ia SN. A common envelope is also what will happen when the Sun expands and swallows its planets as far out as Jupiter. The basic idea and physics of the common envelope interaction has been known since the 1970s. However, the outcome of a common envelope interaction - what systems survive and what their parameters are - depends sensitively on the details of the engagement. To advance our knowledge of the common envelope interaction between stars and their stellar and substellar companions, we have carried out a series of simulations with Eulerian, grid-based and Lagrangian, smoothed particle hydrodynamics codes between a 0.88-M⊙, 85-R⊙, red giant branch star and companions in the mass range 0.1-0.9 M⊙. In this contribution, we will discuss the reliability of the techniques, the physics that is not included in the codes but is likely important, the state of the ejected common envelope, and the final binary separation. We also carry out a comparison with the observations. Finally, we discuss the common envelope efficiency parameter, α and the survival of planets.

Tracking the mass-loss history of planetary nebulae (PNe) by means of molecular emission lines (mainly mm and sub-mm ranges) is fundamental to gain insight into the mechanism of nebular shaping. This is particularly important in cases such as NGC 7027, where most of the nebula is constituted by molecular gas (85% of a total of 1.4 M⊙, see Fong et al. 2001).

To this aim, Herschel/HIFI provides an invaluable tool to probe warm molecular gas (~50-1000 K). It produces 1-D, high resolution spectra of the whole nebula (convolved with the telescope beam) in high-excitation molecular transitions (e.g. CO J=6–5, 10–9 and 16–15). Although the morphological information is therefore lost, the kinematics and the excitation conditions can be studied with unprecedented detail (see (see Bujarrabal et al. 2011).).

We have developed a code, shapemol, which, used along the existing SHAPE software (Steffen et al. 2010), implements spatiokinematical modeling with accurate non-LTE calculations of line excitation and radiative transfer in molecular species. The high quality of the data, together with this code, have allowed us to study, for the first time, the kinematics and excitation conditions of the warm gas of a PN with such a high-excitation.

In the frame of ISW model the rates of the evolutionary changes of the flux density and the critical frequency in radio continuum spectrum have been calculated in dependence on the kinematic age of a planetary nebula. The time changes of the instantaneous radio spectra of IC 418 and NGC 6369 do not contradict accounts.

The model of a young star with a low-mass secondary component (q = M2/M1 ≤ 0.1) accreting matter from a circumbinary (CB) disc is considered. It is assumed that the orbit and the CB disc can be coplanar and non-coplanar. The model parameters were varied within the following ranges: the component mass ratio q ranged from 0.1 to 0.003, the eccentricity e varied from 0 to 0.7, the inclination of the orbit plane to the CB disc ranged from 0 to 10 degrees, and the parameter that defines the viscosity of the system was also varied. A number of hydrodynamics models of such a system have been calculated by the SPH method and then the variations of the circumstellar extinction and phase brightness curves were determined. The calculated brightness curves differ in shape and amplitude and it depends on the model parameters and the orientation of the system relative to the observer. The results were used to analyze the cyclic activity of UX Ori type stars.

We determine elemental abundances of He, N, O, Ne, S, and Ar in Magellanic Cloud planetary nebulae (PNe) using direct methods and a large set of observed ions, minimizing the need for ionization correction factors. In contrast to prior studies, we find a clear separation between Type I and non-Type I PNe in these low-metallicity environments, and no evidence that the O-N nucleosynthesis cycle is active in low-mass progenitors. We find that the S/O abundance ratio is anomalously low compared to H ii regions, confirming the “sulfur anomaly” found for Galactic PNe. We also found that Ne/O is elevated in some cases, raising the possibility that Ne yields in low-mass AGB stars may be enhanced at low metallicity.

The intense stellar SXR and EUV radiation exposure at “Hot Jupiters” causes profound responses to their upper atmosphere structures. Thermospheric temperatures can reach several thousands of Kelvins, which result in dissociation of H2 to H and ionization of H to H+. Depending on the density and orbit location of the exoplanet, as a result of these high temperatures the thermosphere expands dynamically up to the Roche lobe, so that geometric blow-off with large mass loss rates and intense interaction with the stellar wind plasma can occur. UV transit observations together with advanced numerical models can be used to gain knowledge on stellar plasma and the planet's magnetic properties, as well as the upper atmosphere.

Neutron(n)-capture elements (atomic number Z > 30), which can be produced in planetary nebula (PN) progenitor stars via s-process nucleosynthesis, have been detected in nearly 100 PNe. This demonstrates that nebular spectroscopy is a potentially powerful tool for studying the production and chemical evolution of trans-iron elements. However, significant challenges must be addressed before this goal can be achieved. One of the most substantial hurdles is the lack of atomic data for n-capture elements, particularly that needed to solve for their ionization equilibrium (and hence to convert ionic abundances to elemental abundances). To address this need, we have computed photoionization cross sections and radiative and dielectronic recombination rate coefficients for the first six ions of Se and Kr. The calculations were benchmarked against experimental photoionization cross section measurements. In addition, we computed charge transfer (CT) rate coefficients for ions of six n-capture elements. These efforts will enable the accurate determination of nebular Se and Kr abundances, allowing robust investigations of s-process enrichments in PNe.

Dynamical models of strongly irradiated gas-giant atmospheres exhibit a range of behavior, the nature of which depends on both the adopted parameters and the adopted numerical model. Discerning the correct choice of physical parameters and modeling philosophy can be difficult. Here, I present a series of wavelength-dependent transmission spectra for the giant planet HD209458b based on 3D radiative hydrodynamical models for a range of kinematic viscosities. While flow patterns and temperature distributions can vary significantly, disk-averaged phase curves mask much of this information. Transmission spectra, on the other hand, probe the day-night transition where advective contributions dominate and differences are often most pronounced. Transmission spectra illustrate noticeable changes, especially when comparing the differences between transmission spectra of eastern and western hemispheres, as might be seen during ingress and egress.

The investigation of post-AGB objects (proto-planetary nebulae) is very important from the standpoint of physical and chemical changes occurring during the late stages of stellar evolution. The Toruń catalogue of Galactic post-AGB and related objects is an evolutive catalogue containing astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic data as well as HST images for all known post-AGB objects and candidates in our Galaxy. This free-access catalogue can serve as an ideal tool to study different groups of post-AGB objects, especially due to the fact that all information is gathered in one place. The second release of our catalogue introduces a simple classification scheme of post-AGB objects and includes a significant number of new objects, photometric data, spectra and images. Here, using objects from the catalogue we consider the problem of the termination of the AGB phase.

Observations of about 60 binary star systems hosting exoplanets indicate the necessity of stability studies of planetary motion in such multi-stellar systems. For wide binary systems with separations between hundreds and thousands of AU, the results from single-star systems may be applicable but, in tight double stars systems, we have to take the stellar interactions into account which influences the planetary motion significantly.

This review discusses the different types of planetary motion in double stars and the stability of the planets for different binary configurations. An application to the most famous tight binary system (γ Cephei) is also shown. Finally, we analyze the habitability from the dynamical point of view in such systems, where we discuss the motion of terrestrial-like planets in the so-called habitable zone.

We have performed numerical simulations of the interaction between a “hot Jupiter” planet and gas of the stellar wind using a numerical code developed for investigations of binary stars. With this code, we have modeled the structure of the gaseous flow in the system HD 209458. The results have been used to explain observations of this system performed with the COS instrument on-board the HST.

The ESO VLT spectrograph X-shooter is currently the only one capable of observing the range from 330 nm up to 2.5 μm in a single shot. X-shooter is very suitable for study of the many diagnostic emission lines in PN providing a uniform flux scale at medium resolution over a large instantaneous wavelength range. Spectroscopy of two contrasting PNe, NGC 6302 and M 2-9, were observed and methods explored for identification of the many fitted emission lines.

We have carried out 2D and 3D numerical simulations (Kaigorodov et al 2010, Fateeva et al. 2011, Sytov et al. 2011) of accretion processes in binary T Tauri stars (TTSs) DQ Tau, UZ Tau E, V4046 Sgr, GW Ori, RoXs 42C using a finite-difference Roe-Osher-Einfeld TVD scheme. The morphology of the flow pattern for UZ Tau E is shown in Fig. 1 (left panel). The flow structure includes accretion disks surrounding the components, bow-shocks in front of both the components, a shock wave (“bridge”) between the circumstellar accretion disks and a gap containing rarefied gas in the inner part of the protoplanetary disk.

To understand the evolution and morphology of planetary nebulae, a detailed knowledge of their central stars is required. Central stars that exhibit emission lines in their spectra, indicating stellar mass-loss allow to study the evolution of planetary nebulae in action. Emission line central stars constitute about 10 % of all central stars. Half of them are practically hydrogen-free Wolf-Rayet type central stars of the carbon sequence, [WC], that show strong emission lines of carbon and oxygen in their spectra. In this contribution we address the weak emission-lines central stars (wels). These stars are poorly analyzed and their hydrogen content is mostly unknown. We obtained optical spectra, that include the important Balmer lines of hydrogen, for four weak emission line central stars. We present the results of our analysis, provide spectral classification and discuss possible explanations for their formation and evolution.

Accretion disks around some white dwarfs in Cataclysmic Variables are thought to tilt around the line of nodes by the lift force acting at the disk's center of pressure. We investigate whether protoplanetary disks can also experience disk tilt. We find that lift may be possible by an asymmetric, net uni-directional, in-falling gas/dust stream overflowing a bluff body (e.g., Class I sources) or inner annuli of young Class II sources if gas/dust is still in-falling and the aspect ratio and disk surface area are large enough. However, inner disks of Class II sources LkCa 15, UX Tau A, and Rox 44 are not large enough, and therefore disk tilt is not likely.

In order to clarify the observed relation between the expansion velocity measured from lines of different ions and their ionization potential, we present kinematical data for several objects. We have measured radial velocities on ESO UVES high dispersion spectra to compare expansion velocities for a set of planetary nebulae.

I. Hubeny Welcome to the last panel meeting. We invite general comments either from the audience or from the panelists.

V. Trimble Well, Mercedes started us with a vocabulary item and I think I would like to end with a vocabulary item. When they were first discovered, we called them ‘extra solar system planets’ which was descriptive and fine, but it's just rather cumbersome. At some point they became ‘extra solar planets.’ Now I have never seen a planet inside the Sun. And therefore ‘extrasolar’ is not a good descriptor. ‘Exoplanets’ is OK, but now that there are so many of them that perhaps they are simply ‘the planets.’ When you want to specialize to ours, you could say ‘solar system planets.’ Think how much ink it would save.

We present Herschel PACS and SPIRE images of the dust shells around the planetary nebulae NGC 650, NGC 6853, and NGC 6720, as well as images showing the dust temperature in their shells. The latter show a rich structure, which indicates that internal extinction in the UV is important despite the highly evolved status of the nebulae.