In this contribution, we show how a future ELT ($>$25 m diameter) helps to understand the formation and early dynamical evolution of massive stars embedded in dust-enshrouded very compact HII regions. We describe how to exploit the ELT's near- and mid-IR enhanced sensitivity and high angular resolution to peer through huge amounts of dust extinction, taking direct nearly diffraction-limited images and doing IFU spectroscopy. Together with ALMA, an ELT will be a powerful observing platform to reveal one of the most hidden secrets of stellar astrophysics: the origin of massive stars.

We present a Japanese “roadmap” on direct extrasolar planet studies spanning from the current ground-based telescope to future IR/Opt space-based telescopes. Several searches for young planets and disks have been conducted with the Subaru 8.2m telescope with adaptive optics (AO) infrared coronagraph, CIAO. The instrument will be soon upgraded to a new AO and a coronagraph with simultaneous spectral and polarimetric differential imaging modes (HiCIAO), which will significantly improve the contrast performance and hence the capability of young planet detection. A sensitive unbiased survey for extrasolar zodiacal emission around nearby stars will be conducted with the ASTRO-F space mission (0.7m telescope, $\sim$2–200 $\mu$m) to be launched around the beginning of 2006. A successor space mission, SPICA (3.5m, 5–200 $\mu$m), is also planned; its high sensitivity will enable the detection and characterization of outer-most planets around nearby stars, if any. For the studies of extrasolar terrestrial planets, a high contrast space telescope (HCST; 3.5m, $\sim$0.3–2 $\mu$m). We are also seeking for collaborations with or are considering to join to foreign missions. We describe an outline, status, and role of each project on the extrasolar planet studies.

The recent evidence of a peculiar distribution of X-ray sources in the elliptical galaxy NGC 4261 reported by Zezas et al. has prompted us to study this galaxy combining archive X-ray and optical observations, from Chandra, INT, and HST. We find that a sizable fraction of the X-ray sources has a globular cluster as optical counterpart. This together with the shape of the luminosity function of the X-ray sources suggest that they are accreting low-mass binaries. We further show a remarkable similarity in the anisotropy of the projected spatial distributions of the optical and X-ray sources, which leads us to conclude that the spatial anisotropy of the X-ray sources in NGC 4261 is due to the anisotropy of the globular cluster population.

In this contribution, we report on the discovery of dwarf spheroidals (dSphs) in the core of the Fornax cluster. Their photometric properties – like magnitude, colour, surface brightness – are very similar to those of Local Group dSphs. However, at a given total magnitude, dSphs in Fornax seem to be more extended than their Local Group counterparts. The membership of several dwarf galaxy candidates in Fornax has been confirmed by surface brightness fluctuation measurements on deep wide-field images taken with the Magellan telescope. The analysis of these images also confirms the flat faint end slope of the luminosity function for dSphs in Fornax which contradicts the expected large number of small dark matter halos connected to dwarf galaxies in $\Lambda$CDM theory. Dwarf spheroidals have also been detected in the Hydra I and Centaurus cluster. A preliminary analysis of their photometric properties shows that they obey similar scaling relations as their counterparts in Fornax and the Local Group.

As of early $\sim$2010's, the Japanese SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) space observatory will be launched. This actively cooled, cryogenic (4.5K), 3.5m telescope will operate in the mid and far infrared spectral regions. With its very high sensitivity, one of SPICA's aims will be the direct detection and characterization of extra-solar outer planets of nearby stars. The goal contrast ranges from $10^5$ to $10^6$ up to an angular separation of ${\sim}5$ arcsec. The relatively low angular resolution at MIR (5 to 20 $\mu$m) requires an efficient and robust coronagraphic mode working at cryogenic temperatures. In this presentation we describe several envisaged preliminary designs and assess their performance against the science goals and host telescope specifications. These are compared against numerical simulations and instrumental environment considerations, such as the need for an actively corrected wavefront.

In this paper, we present a statistical study of the X-ray properties of 11 isolated early-type galaxies (IEGs) observed with the Chandra ACIS-S3, and then discuss the implications of these properties.

Chandra observations of early-type galaxies have resolved large populations of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) in early-type galaxies. The majority of these observations have been snapshots on the order of a day or less. In our own Galaxy, LMXBs are known to exhibit a range of luminosity and spectral variability. Multi-epoch observations of early-type galaxies are just beginning to explore the regime of variability on timescales of days to years. We present results for NGC 4365 and NGC 4697, and compare them to the Milky Way.

Dwarfs of the spectral types late-M, L and T span mass regimes from very-low-mass stars through brown dwarfs down to young planetary objects. They all show massive molecular line-blanketing and the condensation of refractory species with decreasing $T_{\mathrm{eff}}$, leading to changes in chemical equilibrium composition and absorption due to dust grains. The spectral evolution from late-M through L to mid- and late-T classes is now understood as chiefly due to increasing amounts of condensates in the visible photosphere up to mid-L types, and the settling of dust clouds into deeper regions at the transition from L to T, resulting in a depletion of condensable elements in the upper atmosphere. The ensuing photospheric cooling also drives a change in carbon chemistry leading to the hallmark methane absorption features of T dwarfs.

Recent observations of brown dwarfs in the L-T spectral sequence and model atmosphere calculations have shown that these changes in spectral features reveal differences in the efficiency of cloud removal that seem to be triggered by an additional parameter besides effective temperature. We present models describing the settling of particle clouds as an equilibrium process between condensation, gravitational sedimentation and convective and turbulent mixing, based on 3D-hydrodynamical simulations for the description of the velocity field. These calculations predict a strong dependence of the settling on gravity, and can therefore explain observed differences between the spectral energy distributions of brown dwarfs of equal luminosity as an effect of different mass. Based on these calculations we would expect even stronger deviations in the colours of young brown dwarfs of very low mass from those commonly observed in the field. Such predictions seem to be in aggreement with the first observations of candidate planetary-mass objects, and would imply that extrasolar planets at very young ages have spectral energy distributions significantly different from previous models. Our models also predict characteristic time scales for the cloud formation processes that may be compared to observed variability in brown dwarfs.

We present a detailed and uniform study of oxygen abundances in a large set of 155 metal-rich dwarfs. EW measurements were carried out for the [OI] 6300 Å line and the OI triplet, while spectral synthesis was performed for several OH lines. NLTE corrections were calculated and applied to the LTE abundance results derived from the triplet. Abundances from [OI], the OI triplet and near-UV OH were obtained in 103, 87 and 77 dwarfs, respectively. A good agreement between [O/H] ratios from forbidden and OH lines is found, while the NLTE triplet shows a systematically lower abundance. Nevertheless, the consistency with other indicators improves if we consider LTE triplet results. In any case, discrepancies between OH, [OI] and the OI triplet hardly exceed 0.2dex. All three indicators show that, on average, [O/Fe] decreases with [Fe/H] in the metallicity range −0.8<[Fe/H]<0.5.

Following the Sydney General Assembly, the membership of C41 stood at 352, of whom, at the time of writing, three are known to have deceased. Since the formation of the Inter-Union Commission for the History of Astronomy (ICHA) prior to the Sydney General Assembly, C41/ICHA has subsequently acted, in effect, as an integrated Commission with a single OC. In this triennium the C41/ICHA OC made strong efforts to clarify and simplify the controversial issue of admitting non-IAU members to the ICHA. After prolonged and active consultation, the OC approved the document “Procedures for Admitting non-IAU members to the ICHA” and the OC Secretary Prof. Clive Ruggles officially presented this document to the history of astronomy community in C41/ICHA Newsletter no. 6. It is subject to ratification by the C41/ICHA Business Meeting in Prague in 2006.

I describe some common themes that emerged from the meeting, ending with some thoughts on connecting our studies with those of other galaxies.

We report the discovery of broad mid-infrared resonances in the outer regions of the Red Rectangle outflow (Markwick-Kemper et al. 2005). The peak position and the strength of the resonances vary spatially, but the full width at half maximum, as well as the shape of the feature, appears remarkably constant. While emission due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is also present at these locations, we show that PAHs cannot be the carriers of these new components. Instead, we argue that these resonances are caused by solid state components, perhaps simple Mg-Fe-oxides. The presence of such O-rich species in the otherwise C-rich outflows further complicates the picture of the formation and chemistry of the Red Rectangle nebula.

I begin with a very brief summary of the nature of the physics problems facing us in massive star birth, and present a couple of (now belated) admonitions to the participants. I will say a few words about several of the high spots from papers on the newly born massive stars that caught my attention. This is thus a very personal and highly biased summary. There is no way I could mention all of the really new and interesting results presented at this meeting and I apologize in advance for leaving out many fine reports.

Significant and specific progress has been made in protecting major astronomical sites during the last three years. A brief summary is given, along with references to some of the efforts by members of Commission 50 to control light pollution and radio-frequency interference.

A Mid-IR instrumentation study for OWL has been performed by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg (Germany), and a Dutch consortium led by the Leiden Observatory (The Netherlands). MIR imaging and spectroscopic observational capabilities are compared to contemporary IR to sub-millimeter facilities, especially concentrating on the MIR-capabilities of JWST(MIRI). Our best effort calculation of the sensitivity for both MIR imager and spectrograph indicate a huge discovery potential in numerous areas from our planetary system to the high redshift Universe. Here we focus on the field of exo-planets and nearby star formation. Starting with the science cases, top level requirements are deduced and summarized including MIR instrumental constrains for the telescope itself.

We present non–Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (non–LTE) calculations for neutral carbon spectral line formation, carried out for a grid of model atmospheres covering the range of late-type stars. The results of our detailed calculations suggest that the carbon non–LTE corrections in these stars are higher than usually adopted, remaining substantial even at low metallicity. For the most metal-poor stars in the sample of Akerman et al (2004), the effects are of the order of $\Delta\log\epsilon_{\rm C} \simeq -0.35\ldots-0.45$ (when neglecting H collisions). Applying our results to those observations, the apparent [C/O] upturn seen in their LTE analysis is no longer present, thus revealing no need to invoke contributions from Pop. III stars to the carbon nucleosynthesis.

We present a model which allows for a self-consistent calculation of spectrophotometric, chemical, and dust evolution of spiral and irregular galaxies. Dust evolution is treated without the Instantaneous Recycling Approximation on the basis of the Dwek (1998) model, where up-to-date dust yields for SNe and intermediate mass stars on their AGB phase are taken into account. Confronting model results with the chemical abundances observed in DLA systems, we conclude that spiral and irregular galaxies are good candidates for DLAs.

In the local Universe most massive black holes at the centers of galaxies are not luminous quasars. Is this because (1) they are starved of gas, (2) they accrete without emitting radiation, (3) they refuse to eat, ejecting the incoming material, or (4) they are storing up matter in an accretion disk to feast later?

With Chandra ACIS we have imaged a pilot sample of 6 nearby (D $<$ 30 Mpc) elliptical galaxies chosen to be especially quiescent based on the careful optical spectroscopy of Ho, measured black hole masses (Mbh$\,{>}\,$10(7)Msol), and with existing X-ray upper limits (Lx$\,{<}\,$10(40)erg/s) implying far sub-Eddington accretion. In these galaxies we can measure, or limit, the diffuse hot interstellar medium, and so constrain the Bondi accretion rate.

Faint X-ray emission is detected at or around the nucleus in each galaxy. The morphology of these weak X-ray sources is complex. The X-ray colors of the sources can be determined, and a moderate quality spectrum for one was obtained. We discuss these results against the possible explanations of black hole quiescence.

On the other hand, a few percent of all galaxies shows evidence for nuclear activity and a brief review of the high energy emission from Active Galactic Nuclei is given.

A summary is given of the presentations delivered at IAU Symposium 231.

An all-sky list of 88 nearby dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies with distances $D < 10$ Mpc is considered. Most of the objects have recently been found by Karachentseva & Karachentsev based on POSSII/ESO-SERC survey. A hundred more dSph galaxies are expected in this volume, being missed so far because of their low luminosity and low surface brightness. Apart from 22 dSph members of the Local Group, there are 33 dSphs in other nearby groups that have been resolved recently into stars with HST. Only 5% of the local dSphs are situated outside the known groups.

We discuss observational correlation between basic parameters of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies, in particular, absolute magnitude, surface brightness, metallicity, and so-called “tidal index”. The observed number of dSphs in group increases with luminosity of its brightest galaxy. In a “synthetic” nearby group, dwarf spheroidal galaxies are distributed in depth quite symmetrically about the principal galaxy, having an rms distance scatter of 200 kpc. Projected radial distribution of dSphs in the synthetic group follows the profile $N(R) ~ exp(-R/200$ kpc).