The IAU Strategic Plan 2020–2030 identifies five goals to guide the Union’s activities through this decade: to lead the global coordination of professional astronomy, to promote inclusive advancement of astronomy, to promote astronomy as a tool for development, to promote public engagement in astronomy, and, to stimulate using astronomy for primary and secondary education. Education permeates through all these goals – professional development, informal education and formal education for the very young through to the PhD level. For the IAU’s Division C, Education, Outreach and Heritage, the plan provides the foundation for supporting teachers worldwide who use astronomy as a tool for teaching science, the humanities and the arts, to promote astronomy education research, to engage life-long learners, and to engage everyone with our collective history and heritage to understand the Universe. I describe Division C’s remit, where we are now in this 3rd decade of the 21st century.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to be launched in 2021. The JWST’s science instruments will provide high quality spectra acquired in the line of sight to young stellar objects whose interpretation will require a robust database of laboratory data. With this in mind, an experimental work is in progress in the Laboratory for Experimental Astrophysics in Catania to study the profile (shape, width, and peak position) of the main infrared bands of molecular species expected to be present in icy grain mantles. Our study also takes into account the modifications induced on icy samples by low-energy cosmic ray bombardment and by thermal processing. Here we present some recent results on deuterium hydrogen monoxide (HDO), N-bearing species, and carbon dioxide (CO2).

Dust radiative transfer simulations provide us with the unique opportunity to study the heating mechanisms of dust by the stellar radiation field. From 2D observational images we derive the 3D distributions of stars and dust. Our aim is to analyze the contribution of the different stellar populations to the radiative dust heating processes in the nearby face-on barred galaxies NGC 1365, M 83 and M 95. We wish to decompose the FIR-submm SED and quantify the fraction directly related to star formation. To model the complex geometries mentioned above, we used SKIRT, a state-of-the-art, 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code designed to simulate the absorption, scattering and thermal re-emission of dust in a variety of environments. We find that the contribution of the evolved stars (8 Gyr) to the dust heating is non-negligible (∼35%) and can reach as high as 70%. We also find a tight correlation between the heating fraction by the unevolved stars (⩽ 100 Myr) and the specific star formation rate.

The Kepler Asteroseismic Legacy Project provided frequencies, separation ratios, error estimates, and covariance matrices for 66 Kepler main sequence targets. Most of the previous analysis of these data was focused on fitting standard stellar models. We present results of direct asteroseismic inversions using the method of optimally localized averages (OLA), which effectively eliminates the surface effects and attempts to resolve the stellar core structure. The inversions are presented for various structure properties, including the density stratification and sound speed. The results show that the mixed modes observed in post-main sequence F-type stars allow us to resolve the stellar core structure and reveal significant deviations from the evolutionary models obtained by the grid-fitting procedure to match the observed oscillation frequencies.

Galaxy formation in the first billion years mark a time of great upheaval in the history of the Universe: the first galaxies started both the ‘metal age’ as well as the era of cosmic reionization. I will start by reviewing the dust production mechanisms and dust masses for high-redshift galaxies which will be revolutionized in the ALMA era. I will then show how the JWST will be an invaluable experiment to shed light on the impact of reionization feedback on early galaxy formation. As we look forward towards the era of 21cm cosmology, I will highlight the crucial and urgent synergies required between 21cm facilities (such as the SKA) and galaxy experiments (JWST, E-ELT and Subaru to name a few) to understand the physics of the epoch of reionization that remains a crucial frontier in the field of astrophysics and physical cosmology. Time permitting, I will try to give a flavour of how the assembly of early galaxies, accessible with the forthcoming JWST, can provide a powerful testbed for Dark Matter models beyond ‘Cold Dark Matter’.

Normal form methods allow one to compute quasi-invariants of a Hamiltonian system, which are referred to as proper elements. The computation of the proper elements turns out to be useful to associate dynamical properties that lead to identify families of space debris, as it was done in the past for families of asteroids. In particular, through proper elements we are able to group fragments generated by the same break-up event and we possibly associate them to a parent body. A qualitative analysis of the results is given by the computation of the Pearson correlation coefficient and the probability of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test.

Recent evidence of super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs (WDs), from the observations of over-luminous type Ia supernovae (SNeIa), has been a great astrophysical discovery. However, no such massive WDs have so far been observed directly as their luminosities are generally quite low. Hence it immediately raises the question of whether there is any possibility of detecting them directly. The search for super-Chandrasekhar WDs is very important as SNeIa are used as standard candles in cosmology. In this article, we show that continuous gravitational wave can allow us to detect such super-Chandrasekhar WDs directly.

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) provides a unique opportunity to probe the physics of supermassive black holes through Very Large Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), such as the existence of the event horizon, the accretion processes as well as jet formation in Low Luminosity AGN (LLAGN). We build a theoretical model which includes an Advection Dominated Accretion Flow (ADAF) and a simple radio jet outflow. The predicted spectral energy distribution (SED) of this model can be compared to observations to get the best estimates of the model parameters. The model-predicted radial emission profiles at different frequency bands can be used to predict whether the inflow can be resolved by the EHT or other telescopes. We have applied this method to some nearby LLAGN such as M84, NGC 4594, NGC 4278 and NGC 3998. We also estimate the model parameters for each of them using high resolution data from different surveys.

Dust attenuation shapes the spectral energy distributions of galaxies and any modelling and fitting procedure of their spectral energy distributions must account for this process. We present results of two recent works dedicated at measuring the dust attenuation curves in star forming galaxies at redshift from 0.5 to 3, by fitting continuum (photometric) and line (spectroscopic) measurements simultaneously with CIGALE using variable attenuation laws based on flexible recipes. Both studies conclude to a large variety of effective attenuation laws with an attenuation law flattening when the obscuration increases. An extra attenuation is found for nebular lines. The comparison with radiative transfer models implies a flattening of the attenuation law up to near infrared wavelengths, which is well reproduced with a power-laws recipe inspired by the Charlot and Fall recipe. Here we propose a global modification of the Calzetti attenuation law to better reproduce the results of radiative transfer models.

Quasar black hole masses are most commonly estimated using broad emission lines in single epoch spectra based on scaling relationships determined from reverberation mapping of small samples of low-redshift objects. Several effects have been identified requiring modifications to these scaling relationships, resulting in significant reductions of the black hole mass determinations at high redshift. Correcting these systematic biases is critical to understanding the relationships among black hole and host galaxy properties. We are completing a program using the Gemini North telescope, called the Gemini North Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) Distant Quasar Survey (DQS), that has produced rest-frame optical spectra of about 200 high-redshift quasars (z = 1.5–3.5). The GNIRS-DQS will produce new and improved ultraviolet-based black hole mass and accretion rate prescriptions, as well as new redshift prescriptions for velocity zero points of high-z quasars, necessary to measure feedback.

Observations of early-type M stars suggest that there are two characteristic cycle times, one of order one year for fast rotators (Prot < 1 day) and another of order four years for slower rotators. For a sample of fast-rotating stars, the equator-to-pole differences of the rotation rates up to 0.03 rad d−1 are also known from Kepler data. These findings are well-reproduced by mean field models. These models predict amplitudes of the meridional flow, from which the travel time from pole to equator at the base of the convection zone of early-type M stars can be calculated. As these travel times always exceed the observed cycle times, our findings do not support the flux transport dynamo.

Reliable spectroscopic data are needed for interpretation and modeling of observed astrophysical plasmas. For heavy element ions, which have complex spectra, experimental data are rather incomplete. To provide valuable fundamental quantities, such as precise wavelengths, level energies and semi-empirical transition probabilities, we are carrying out laboratory studies of high-resolution VUV emission spectra of moderately charged ions of transition metals and rare earth elements. Experimental and theoretical methods are summarized. Examples of studies are described.

In this invited talk, we discuss the physics of the lifecycle of dust in the context of galaxy formation simulations. After outlining the basic physical processes, we apply algorithms for the formation, growth, and destruction of dust in the ISM to a state-of-the-art cosmological simulation to develop a model for the evolution of the dust to gas and dust to metals ratios in galaxies. We show that while modern simulations are able to match the observed dust mass function at redshift z = 0, most models underpredict the observed mass function at high-redshift (z = 2). We then show the power of these techniques by expanding our model to include a spectrum of dust sizes, and make initial predictions for extinction laws in local galaxies.

Dust particles covered by icy mantles play a crucial role in the formation of molecules in the Interstellar Medium (ISM). These icy mantles are mainly composed of water but many other chemical species are also contained in these ices. These compounds can diffuse and meet each other to react. It is through these surface reactions that new saturated species are formed. Photodissociation reactions are also thought to play a crucial role in the formation of radical species. Complex organic molecules are formed through an intricated network of photodissociation and surface reactions.

Both type of reactions release energy. Surface reactions are typically exothermic by a few eV, whereas photodissociation reactions are triggered by the absorption of a UV photon, resulting in the formation of highly excited products. The excited reaction products can apply this energy for desorption or diffusion, making products more mobile than predicted when considering only thermal hopping. The energy could further lead to annealing or deformation of the ice structure.

Here we would like to quantify the relative importance of these different energy dissipation routes. For this we performed thousands of Molecular Dynamics simulations for three different species (CO2, H2O and CH4) on top of a water ice surface. We consider different types of excitation such as translational, rotational, and/or vibrational excitation. The applied substrate is an amorphous solid water surface (ASW).

With this roundtable we wished to discuss about different topics related to research, innovation, scientific literacy and inclusion in Astronomy education, putting together the expertise of educators from all around the world. The present paper includes the introduction to the roundtable prepared by the chairs of the session as well as the contributions from several of the participants.

We present a new tool for the analysis of the optical emission lines of the gas in the Narrow Line Region (NLR) around Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). This new tool can be used in large samples of objects in a consistent way using different sets of optical emission-lines taking into the account possible variations from the O/H - N/O relation. The code compares certain observed emission-line ratios with the predictions from a large grid of photoionization models calculated under the most usual conditions in the NLR of AGNs to calculate the total oxygen abundance, nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio and ionization parameter. We applied our method to a sample of Seyfert 2 galaxies with optical emission-line fluxes from the literature. Our results confirm the high metallicity of the objects of the sample and provide consistent values with the direct method. The usage of models to calculate precise ICFs is mandatory when only optical emission lines are available to derive chemical abundances using the direct method in NLRs of AGN.

We consider four- and five-body problems with symmetrical masses (Caledonian problems). Families of periodic orbits originate from the collinear Schubart orbits. We present and discuss some of these periodic orbits.

At any stage of education, the students begin to study astrophysics with previous incorrect preconceptions that impedes the understanding of new scientific notions. It is a waste of time to add new concepts on a “weak basis”. In this case the duty of any teacher is to spend more time to carefully remove preconceptions from students’ minds. In the present article there are reviewed some of the most common preconceptions of the students when they are learning astrophysics with the right solutions to break them down using some active teaching methods, especially experiments and models.

The detection and analysis of line emission of the CaII, H(396.8nm) and K(393.3nm) have confirmed the chromospheric activity of some single and binaries stars. This activity is associated to the presence of magnetic fields which in turn are produced by internal convective flows along with stellar rotation producing a long-term photometric cycle length related to the apparition and vanishing of superficial stellar spots. We present a photometric study of stars of the type RS CVn, Rotationally variable Star and BY Dra, that have shown evidence of chromospheric activity. The analysis of these measurements has allowed us to delimit periods of rotation. In addition, we have detected and measured the cycle length in some cases. It allows us to complement previous investigations and in some cases to determine for the first time the presence of a long photometric cycle, contributing to complement the link between rotation and magnetic cycles.

Stellar masses are crucial ingredients for putting galaxies in the context of galaxy evolution and are commonly evaluated via Spectral Energy Distribution (SED)-fitting analyses which are hampered by dust attenuation. Observational constraints of attenuation in various galaxy classes provide key inputs for fitting a SED. I will present recent results about the attenuation properties of a sample of Herschel-selected galaxies at 0.7 ⩽ z ⩽ 1.6 widely spanning the star-forming Main Sequence (MS). I will show that far-IR selected galaxies on the MS are well described with local attenuation recipes. Conversely, common recipes cannot recover the SFR of far-IR selected starburst galaxies well above the MS. The SFR of these outliers appears to be hidden by the ∼90% in optically thick cores. These findings pose challenges for SED-fitting codes based on energy balance assumptions that might break in these peculiar sources.