In this short review we briefly discuss all the extensive low dispersion objective-prism spectral surveys carried out in the last fifty years for the study of the surface and space distributions of late-type giant stars, namely C stars. In the light of data obtained and new discoveries, the expediency of undertaking a deep mI low dispersion spectral survey in the near-infrared spectral region is considered.

The ongoing research carried out by the solar community has been reported in the proceedings of several recent symposia, seminars and workshops, as well as in scientific journals (Kane et al. 1983, Švestka et al. 1982a, Shea et al. 1984, Kundu S Woodgate 1984, Simon 1984). We summarize here some of the novel results with reference to flare research as far as SMM data analysis is concerned. Understanding of impulsive phase phenomena was one of the primary goals of the SMM. The early reports from the analysis of the first ever obtained high-resolution images in the <30 keV energy range stressed the fact that some flares showed hard x-ray (HXR) bright sources at the feet of coronal loops (Hoyng et al. 1981a, b, Machado et al. 1982, Duijveman et al. 1982), the so-called HXR “footpoints,” favoring the thick-target beam mechanism for the production of HXRs, and indicating acceleration efficiencies >20% during the early impulsive phase. This phenomenon was shown to be accompanied by soft x-ray (SXR) line broadening, indicative of strong turbulence, and the immediate appearance of blue shifted spectral lines, which shows that plasma heated to >10-1 K rises from the footpoints of loops with velocities to 300 km s-1 (Antonucci et al. 1982, Antonucci et al. 1984a). This result provides a strong indication of the chromospheric evaporation phenomenon, which has been confirmed in analyses of combined SXR and Ha observations (Acton et al. 1982, Gunkler et al. 1984).

I am afraid the best I can do on the next few pages is to convey the personal impressions that I have been left with after listening to sixty odd talks on almost every topic connected with pulsars. It is obviously impossible even to mention, leave alone comment on, each one of the papers that have been presented in these four packed days. Those few I touch upon will naturally reflect my personal biases for which I ask that you please bear with me.

The problem of the existence of high-order clustering of galaxies is a basic one in extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. In a conventional formulation this problem consists of indicating the largest configurations in the spatial distribution of galaxies.

All treatments are carried out generally on the material presented in the catalogues of Abell (1958) and Zwicky et al. (1961-1968). However catalogues of the Jagellonian type (Rudnicki et al. 1973) may turn out to be extremely valuable. The nature of the observational material demonstrates that only statistical methods may be applied effectively. It is already clear that the expected effects are not large even if high-order clustering is a basic property in the Universe.

I review the observational properties of Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGRs) and Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs), two unusual manifestations of neutron stars. I summarize the reasoning for SGRs being “magnetars,” neutron stars powered by the decay of a very large magnetic field, and the now compelling evidence that SGRs and AXPs are in fact members of the same source class, as predicted uniquely by the magnetar model. I discuss some open issues in the magnetar model, and the prospects for future work.

We propose that many of the denser dust clouds represent transient stages between the initiation of gravitational collapse of ordinary interstellar clouds by passage through a spiral galactic shock and the appearance of a stellar association. The interstellar gas is not processed at too rapid a rate (1) because the time spent between galactic shocks is appreciably longer than the free-fall collapse time of a typical dust cloud, and (2) because only a small fraction of the total mass of gas of a given collapsing cloud is converted into stars – the rest is presumably redispersed by various dynamical processes which accompany the formation of massive stars. We note that the residue of atomic hydrogen observed to exist in dark dust clouds is compatible with the interpretation that they are transient objects whose lifetimes are not longer than ~ 107 yr.

Over the last dozen years, I have written textbooks on a variety of levels, starting with books for university students, proceeding to work with Naomi Pasachoff on books on the junior-high level, and, most recently, working with her and with others on an elementary-school series. I can testify that, in the United States, at least, the world of college and university texts is as different from the world of “el-hi” (elementary-high) texts as night is from day.

I wish to begin by saying a few words on an instrument which has been utilized thus far only to observe the sun, with a very small telescope of about 5cm diameter. This may appear to stand far away from the main topic of this meeting but in fact, the scientific program which is successfully being developed on the sun would be of major interest for stellar astronomy if it could be extended to at least a few bright stars. I will therefore describe also a possible extrapolation of an instrument to be used on the largest available telescopes for stellar observations.

The principal motivation behind the work summarized below was to define the nature of a “typical” galactic nucleus and thereby determine whether such nuclei differ from active nuclei in a qualitative or only quantitative sense. I hoped that such a study would then yield clues as to the origin and duration of nuclear activity and the effects such activity might have on the structure and evolution of the surrounding galaxy. For a more complete discussion of the results below, see my Ph. D. dissertation (Heckman, 1978) or the series of three papers (Heckman, 1979) to be published elsewhere.

During the past several years, the radio astronomical detection of a large number of complex organic and inorganic molecules has led to an entirely new concept of the chemical composition, kinematics and excitation of the interstellar medium. The microwave molecular transitions detected thus far fall into two natural categories: 1. „normal“ (i.e. nearly LTE) emission and absorption lines, and 2. anomalous or „masered“ emission lines. The first category includes molecules found in both high and low excitation regions whose intensity, linewidth and other characteristics may be described in terms of a physically realistic excitation temperature. Nearly all of the known microwave lines fall into this category. Typically, molecular lines of this type are found in HII regions, dark nebulae and, occasionally, extended circum-stellar shells. Only two molecules populate the second category: OH and H20. Emission from OH lambda doublet transitions in several rotational states and from the 618—523 rotational transition of H20 exhibits many strange characteristics: tremendous intensity, narrow line-width, non LTE distribution of hyperfine intensities, linear and circular polarization, and rapid variability. OH and H20 emission originates from extremely localized regions, often as small as a few A.U. in diameter, in or near some HII regions and some cool, late type stars. The behavior of OH and H20 emission lines is best explained by assuming that the microwave radiation is amplified by some narrow band non-linear process in the sources.

A self-consistent analysis of near-UV, HST/FOC images of the elliptical galaxy NGC 4552 is used to show that its central spike has brightened by a factor ˜ 4.5 between 1991 and 1993, and has decreased its luminosity by a factor ˜ 2.0 between 1993 and 1996. A strong UV continuum over the energy distribution of the underlying galaxy is concurrently revealed shortward of λ ˜ 3200 Å by our FOS spectra extending from the near-UV to red wavelengths. Nuclear emission-line profiles of both permitted and forbidden lines are best modelled with a combination of broad and narrow components, with FWHM of ˜ 3000 km s−1 and ˜ 700 km s−1, respectively. Current diagnostics based on the emission line intensity ratios definitely places the spike among AGNs, just at the border between Seyferts and LINERs. This evidence argues for the variable central spike being produced by a modest accretion event onto a central massive black hole (BH), with the accreted material having possibly being stripped from a star in a close fly-by with the BH. In this regard, one has to look at NGC 4552 as the faintest known AGN.

Recent CO studies of spiral galaxy NGC 4258 have revealed a close relationship between the molecular gas and the anomalous arms, recently interpreted as jets (Cecil et al. 1992, Martin et al. 1990). An IRAM single dish study by Krause et al. (1991) showed the CO to be concentrated around the Hα arms. Interferometrie imaging of the inner 1’ by Martin et al. (1990) showed the molecular gas confining the arms; they suggested that the jet had initially plowed a tunnel through the disk gas, producing a free path for subsequent ejections. This data also shows strong evidence for a jet-cloud collision along the N W arm (Piante et al. 1991).

To learn more about the jets, we are motivated to exploit the jet-gas relationship with multi-field imaging of the CO along the anomalous arms using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array. We present preliminary results from our first 60” field, centered on the SE Hα arm, 43.5” from the nucleus. Observations in the two most compact configurations (C and D) produced a 4” x 6” beam.

We present the results of a study to determine the co-evolution of the virial and stellar masses for a sample of 83 disk galaxies between redshifts z = 0.2 − 1.2. the virial masses of these disks are computed using measured maximum rotational velocities from Keck spectroscopy and scale lengths from Hubble Space Telescope imaging. We compute stellar masses based on stellar population synthesis model fits to spectral energy distributions including K(2.2μm) band magnitudes. We find no apparent evolution with redshift from z = 0.2 − 1.2 in the relationship between stellar masses and maximum rotational velocities through the stellar mass Tully-Fisher relationship. We also find no evolution when comparing disk stellar and virial masses. Massive disk galaxies therefore appear to be already in place, in terms of their virial and stellar masses, out to the highest redshifts where they can be morphologically identified.

Recent observational constraints restrict the strict applicability of stellar dynamics in spirals to a few rotation periods. However, stellar dynamics concepts such as periodic orbits are invaluable for understanding the various dynamical processes occurring during much more periods. A distinction of two instability types in stellar systems is pointed out, the first one being well illustrated by the bar instability, and the second one by the bar bending instability. In bars the third dimension brings essential dynamical effects which modify the views about the history of bulges and the spiral secular evolution. Bars may grow, bend, thicken, and dissolve into spheroidal bulges, and spirals may evolve along the Hubble sequence in the sense Sd→Sa. This leads to a much more dynamical picture of isolated galaxies than imagined before.

We report on the first results of our ground-survey of H2O masers to establish a list of suitable candidates for space-VLBI observations. Due to the large VSOP/HALCA baselines and its limited sensitivity only very strong and compact sources will be detected. The best candidates from this survey will be part of The VSOP Survey which intends to observe a large number of continuum and maser sources. This systematic and uniform survey, of a large number of sources, will be invaluable in determining the properties of the sub-milliarcsecond emission from maser sources.

The notion of the local Macroscopic Volume Element (MVE) is introduced in order to facilitate the application of hydro-dynamical methods of treating internal motions in stellar systems and in particular in our Galaxy. The MVE must characterize the properties of the stellar system in a given point within the system. Hence the diameter of the MVE must be taken as small as possible; it must, however, contain a sufficiently large number of stars in order that the laws of statistics might be applied. The greater is the local star density the smaller can be made the size of the MVE.

Modern catalogues of nearby stars by Gliese (1969) and Woolley et al. (1970) afford a good collection of data for a determination of local characteristics of the Galaxy in the immediate neighbourhood of the Sun. In the first section we discuss such characteristics as the local stellar density, the local luminosity function and the influence of observational selection upon them. In the second section we consider the local solar motion and the effect of the asymmetry of stellar motions. The responsibility for the content of paragraph 1 lies primarily upon T. A. Agekjan while that for paragraph 2 upon K. F. Ogorodnikov. We both are indebted to G. V. Ishkhanov and to L. V. Chuvicova for substantial help in numerical computations.

The use of Stellar Speckle Interferometry has been extended to the near infrared using a single element detector. Preliminary measurements indicate that diffraction limited information is available in this wavelength region.

Relativistic outflows from AGN can be parameterized by θ, the angle subtended by the direction of the outflow and the line of sight to the observer, and γ, the bulk Lorentz factor of the outflow. The Doppler factor, δ, and the apparent speed in the plane of the sky, β app , are combinations of θ and γ. The Doppler factor can be estimated using either the equipartition Doppler factor, δ eq (Readhead 1994), or the inverse Compton Doppler factor, δ IC . These Doppler factor estimates are combined with observed β app to solve for θ and γ for different categories of AGN.

Ghisellini et al. (1993) compute δ IC for 105 compact radio sources, and Güijosa & Daly (1996) compute δ eq for the same sample. Daly, Guerra, & Güijosa (1996) estimate θ and γ for the 43 sources that have β app listed by Vermeulen & Cohen (1994) and δ eq computed by Güijosa & Daly (1996).

Solutions and errors for θ and γ are presented in Figures 1 and 2 using δ eq and δ IC respectively. Guerra & Daly (1996) discuss these estimates and errors in greater detail. These AGN fall into the following categories: BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs), core-dominated high-polarization quasars (CDHPQ), core-dominated low-polarization quasars (CDLPQ), core-dominated quasars with no polarization information (CDQ(NPI)), lobe-dominated quasars (LDQ), and radio galaxies (RG).

Nearly all the star formation in the Milky Way and nearby spiral galaxies occurs in the giant molecular clouds (GMC). Inside the GMC's the units of star formation are the high density (≥ 103 cm –3) and high mass (≥ 103 M ⊙) clumps (Blitz, 1991). Once a GMC is “infected” by star formation many clumps form stars producing a star forming region. The formation of massive stars induces destructive processes, such as H2 dissociation, HI ionization, stellar winds and supernova explosions, thus self-limiting the lifetime of GMC to ∼ 3 107 years.

The formation of the resonance doublet lines of Li6 and Li7 in sunspots is discussed. It is shown that the magnetic splitting of the lines must be determined according to the (partial) Paschen-Back pattern. As a first approximation to the problem a detailed calculation of the line profile is given for the case of pure absorption and local thermodynamic equilibrium.