We selected and studied 180 pairs with d V < 800 km s−1 and Dp < 60 kpc containing Markarian (MRK) galaxies to investigate the dependence of galaxies integral parameters, star-formation (SF) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) properties on kinematics of pairs, their structure and large-scale environments. Projected radial separation Dp and perturbation level P are better measures of interaction strength than dV. The latter correlates with the density of large-scale environment and with the morphologies of galaxies. Both galaxies in a pair are of the same nature, the only difference is that MRK galaxies are usually brighter than their neighbors. Specific star formation rates (SSFR) of galaxies in pairs with smaller Dp or d V is in average 0.5 dex higher than that of galaxies in pairs with larger Dp or d V. Closeness of a neighbor with the same and later morphological type increases the SSFR, while earlier-type neighbors do not increase SSFR. Major interactions/mergers trigger SF and AGN more effectively than minor ones. The fraction of AGNs is higher in more perturbed pairs and pairs with smaller Dp. AGNs typically are in stronger interacting systems than star-forming and passive galaxies. There are correlations of both SSFRs and spectral properties of nuclei between pair members.

Are the University of Cambridge and its colleges peculiars? The university has always claimed independence from episcopal authority for itself and its colleges. A struggle was resolved in 1434 by a tribunal set up by the Pope, in which the Prior of the monastery of Barnwell heard both sides and decided that the University and its colleges were to be exempt from the supervision of the Archbishop of Canterbury and of the Bishop of Ely, in whose diocese the University was situated. This became known as the Barnwell Process. It established the University and it colleges as peculiars defined as having an Ordinary other than the diocesan bishop. Colleges founded later but before the Reformation claimed the same privileges. At the Reformation, the authority of the Pope was replaced by that of the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the privileges that the University and its colleges enjoyed continued to apply. Post-Reformation foundations of colleges tended to claim the same exemptions from episcopal jurisdiction, but without documented evidence. This article argues that the continued acceptance by the Bishop of Ely of the University and its colleges as extra-diocesan confirms them to be peculiars within the legal definition.

There are only a few “dark galaxy” candidates discovered to date in the local Universe. One of the most prominent of them is the SW component of a merging system HI 1225+01. On the other hand, the number of known very metal-poor gas-rich dwarfs similar to I Zw 18 and SBS 0335–052 E, W has grown drastically during the last decade, from a dozen and a half to about five dozen. Many of them are very gas-rich, having from ~90 to 99% of all baryons in gas. For some of such objects that have the deep photometry data, no evidences for the light of old stars are found. At least a half of such galaxies with the prominent starbursts have various evidences of interactions, including advanced mergers. This suggests that a fraction of this group objects can be a kind of very stable protogalaxies (or “dark galaxies”), which have recently experienced strong disturbances from nearby massive galaxy-size bodies. Such a collision caused the gas instabilities and its collapse with the subsequent onset of starburst. We briefly discuss the morphology and gas kinematics for the subsample of the most metal-poor dwarfs that illustrate this picture. We discuss also the relation of these rare galaxies to the processes by which “dark galaxies” can occasionally transform to optically visible galaxies.

We review some properties of ultra compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) in Fornax and of their brighter counterparts in Abell 1689, among which are two M32 twins, and discuss various possible UCD formation scenarios. We note that it is indispensable to carefully take into account the bright end of the globular cluster luminosity function when estimating the number density of UCDs. It is suggested that the search for more luminous UCDs in dense and rich galaxy clusters is the best way towards establishing UCDs as a new class of galaxies.