The HyperLeda database (!http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr) is a tool to study the physics of galaxies. It is based on compilations of heterogeneous data (from large surveys and literature) which are cross-identified and homogenized to produce a uniform representation of the galaxies. We have added in the database a characterization of the nuclear and starburst activity from the Véron and Véron catalogue.

It is now possible to retrieve an activity type for the HyperLeda galaxies having this attribute, and to select list of objects from constraints on activity type. For example, one may select all Sy2 galaxies within some magnitude limits and/or redshift.

We present results of a numerical model for studying the dynamics of Jupiter's equatorial jet. The computed domain is a piece of spherical shell around the equator. The bulk of the region is convective, with a thin radiative layer at the top. The shell is spinning fast, with a Coriolis number = ΩL/V on the order of 50. A prominent super-rotating equatorial jet is generated, and secondary alternating jets appear in the higher latitudes. The roles of terms in the zonal momentum equation are analyzed. Since both the Reynolds number and the Taylor number are large, the viscous terms are small. The zonal momentum balance is primarily between the Coriolis and the Reynolds stress terms.

The observational record of turbulence within the molecular gas phase of the interstellar medium is summarized. We briefly review the analysis methods used to recover the velocity structure function from spectroscopic imaging and the application of these tools on sets of cloud data. These studies identify a near-invariant velocity structure function that is independent of the local environment and star formation activity. Such universality accounts for the cloud-to-cloud scaling law between the global line-width and size of molecular clouds found by Larson (1981) and constrains the degree to which supersonic turbulence can regulate star formation. In addition, the evidence for large scale driving sources necessary to sustain supersonic flows is summarized.

The development process of astronomy in Cuba is analysed from the point of view of a person actually working in astrophysics. It is concluded that the key word for astronomy development is “engagement” between a mature partner and the new developing group. It can not be forgotten that only astronomers do astronomy and that should be the main goal: to develop people working in astronomy.

The year 2006 marks the 1000th anniversary of the supernova of 1006 C.E., the brightest supernova in all of recorded human history. This is also a time of great excitement in the supernova community: Observations from space observatories including Hubble, Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Spitzer, together with ones from powerful new ground-based telescopes and instruments, are revealing supernova remnants in the Galaxy and beyond in unprecedented detail. Fully three-dimensional computational codes and simulations running on powerful new machines are providing insight into the physics of supernovae freed from the simplifying assumptions that have restricted past understanding. Automated supernova searches are discovering hundreds of new supernovae every year, some at redshifts of 1 or beyond. And supernovae have revolutionized cosmology through the discovery of an accelerating universe, and they hold promise for deepening our understanding of the ‘dark energy’ that drives the acceleration.

Extremely red objects were identified in the early Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the bright-rimmed globule IC 1396A; they were classified as Class I protostars Class II T Tauri stars with disks based on their colors. New spectroscopic observations covering 5.5–38 μ confirm this identification. The Class I sources have extremely red continua, still rising at 38 μm, with a deep silicate absorption at 9–11 μm, weaker silicate absorption around 18 μm, and weak ice features including CO2 at 15.2 μm and H2O at 6 μm. The Class II sources have warm, luminous disks, with a silicate emission feature at 9–11 μm. Optical spectra with the Palomar Hale 200-inch telescope show the Class II sources to be actively accreting, classical T Tauri stars with bright Hα and other emission lines. The Class I sources are located within the molecular globule, while the Class II sources are more widely scattered. This suggests two phases of star formation occurred in the region, the first one leading to the Class II sources including LkHα 349a, c that are located in the center of the globule, and a very recent one (less than 100,000 yr ago) that is occurring within the globule. This second phase was likely triggered by the wind and radiation of the central O star of the IC 1396 H II region, with possible additional contributions from the outflows of LkHα 349a, c and some nearby B stars.

We argue that the outburst of CI Cam (XTE J0421+560), probably containing a black hole, was caused by the thermal instability of the accretion disk. Applying the model of King & Ritter (1998), we obtain a realistic disk mass and radius. The differences from soft X-ray transients belonging to the low-mass X-ray binaries can be explained if the disk in CI Cam heats up an extended envelope and/or a strong jet is formed. We resolve several spectral components in the optical colors in quiescence after the outburst; they vary in a complicated way during a possible 1350 d cycle.

We find indications that the variations of the source of the optical light can be related to those of the X-ray source in quiescence. The accretion disk seems to refill at present. Nowadays, only non-periodic intra-night optical (∼0.02 mag) fluctuations are present. As regards the absence of coherent changes in the optical band, we point out the similarities in the situation of CI Cam and the microquasar LS5039/RX J1826–1450.

Over the last five years, enormous progress in accurate distance measurements for nearby galaxies has been attained. The Hubble Space Telescope allows us to estimate distances of about 7–10% accuracy using red giant branch (RGB) up to 8 Mpc. Now we have very accurate distances for more than 200 galaxies within ~6 Mpc.

The stellar population synthesis method is used to model the stellar contribution for a sample of 209 type II AGNs at 0.3>z>0.83 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The reliable stellar velocity dispersions are obtained for 33 type II AGNs with significant stellar absorption features. We use the formula of Greene & Ho to obtain the corrected stellar velocity dispersions (σ*c). 20 of which can be classified as type II quasars. The SMBHs masses and the Eddington ratios are calculated. We measure the gas velocity dispersion (σg) from NLRs, and find that the relation between σg and σ*c becomes much weaker at higher redshifts than at smaller redshifts. We find that the deviation of σg from σ*c is correlated with the Eddington ratio.

Preliminary results of the study of the X-ray spectral variability of 12 Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies are presented. Rms spectra are calculated and compared for the whole sample to search for possible variations with black hole mass. A larger sample of AGN is under investigation.

We present the size-luminosity relation (SLR) for disk galaxies observed in eight clusters from the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS). These clusters, at redshifts 0.4 < z < 0.8, were observed with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. While we observe a change in the SLR with redshift, namely that there is an absence of low surface brightness galaxies at high redshift, we demonstrate that this could be a product of selection effects and thus is not a confirmation of evolution. We also compare the SLR for cluster and field galaxies in each redshift bin and see no significant effects of environment on the SLR.

We investigate upon the change of an asteroid orbit caused by an impact. We find that, given the assumption of two dimensional motion, the asteroid displacement may be described by an analytic and explicit expression that is the vectorial sum of a radial component and a component along the asteroid velocity. The new formulation bridges the gap between the study of short-term effects, using numerical methods and the analytic study of secular changes of the asteroid orbit. The relation of the method to the established formulations is described and the known results are derived as limiting cases.

The application of the new method for the performance evaluation of an asteroid deflection demonstration mission is illustrated. In such a mission the measurement of the change of the asteroid orbit by an impact will be conducted by radio-ranging to a spacecraft orbiting the deflected asteroid. Hence the measurement will primarily be sensitive to the deflection projected onto the Earth-asteroid line of sight. We discuss how the new formulation of the deflection can conveniently be employed for the estimation of the measurement accuracy and the optimal planning of a deflection demonstration mission.

The International Virtual Observatory Alliance is briefly introduced as a concensus-based group to construct International Virtual Observatory – a new, planet-wide research infrastructure for the 21st century astronomy. Standardized protocols by the IVOA were used to interconnect more than 10 astronomical obsrvatories and data centers to provide astronomers with multiwavelength astronomical data. The priority areas for technical development and planned developments are described.

We study convective overshooting by means of local 3D convection calculations. Using a mixing length model of the solar convection zone (CZ) as a guide, we determine the Coriolis number (Co), which is the inverse of the Rossby number, to be of the order of ten or larger at the base of the solar CZ. Therefore we perform convection calculations in the range Co = 0. . .10 and interpret the value of Co realised in the calculation to represent a depth in the solar CZ. In order to study the dependence on rotation, we compute the mixing length parameters αT and αu relating the temperature and velocity fluctuations, respectively, to the mean thermal stratification. We find that the mixing length parameters for the rapid rotation case, corresponding to the base of the solar CZ, are 3-5 times smaller than in the nonrotating case. Introducing such depth-dependent α into a solar structure model employing a non-local mixing length formalism results in overshooting which is approximately proportional to α at the base of the CZ. Although overshooting is reduced due to the reduced α, a discrepancy with helioseismology remains due to the steep transition to the radiative temperature gradient.

In comparison to the mixing length models the transition at the base of the CZ is much gentler in the 3D models. It was suggested recently (Rempel 2004) that this discrepancy is due to the significantly larger (up to seven orders of magnitude) input energy flux in the 3D models in comparison to the Sun and solar models, and that the 3D calculations should be able to approach the mixing length regime if the input energy flux is decreased by a moderate amount. We present results from local convection calculations which support this conjecture.

We have applied the Tremaine-Weinberg method to the SB(r)b galaxy NGC 2523 and the SB(r)0/a galaxy NGC 4245 using the Calcium Triplet in order to determine their bar pattern speeds. Assuming an inclination of 53° and a distance of 49.5 Mpc, the pattern speed of NGC 2523 is 26.2 ± 6.1 km s−1 kpc−1. The pattern speed of NGC 4245 is 75.3 ± 31.2 km s−1 kpc−1, assuming an inclination of 35.4° and a distance of 12.7 Mpc. The ratio of the corotation radius to the bar radius of NGC 2523 and NGC 4245 is 1.3 ± 0.3 and 1.1 ± 0.5, respectively.

Summary of the round table discussion following Session IV on “Stellar evolution, nucleosynthesis, and convective mixing”.

The growth and the evolution of the bar instability in stellar-gaseous disks embedded in a dark matter halo evolving in a cosmological framework is explored. We point out the impact of different gas fractions on the bar formation, inside disks of different disk-to-halo mass ratio.

We have used Spitzer IRAC and MIPS observations of N44 to identify young stellar objects (YSOs). Sixty YSO candidates with masses ≳4M are identified. We have compared the distribution of YSOs with those of the ionized gas, molecular clouds, and HI gas to study the properties of star formation.

We report on previously unpublished diffraction-limited NIR observations of the young binary star T Tauri South. Orbital elements have been estimated by a least–squares fit to the relative positions. Although the parameters are not well constrained by the observations, we can derive a minimum system mass of about 3 M⊙.

With the most recent astrometric measurements by Duchêne et al. (2006), hyperbolic (unbound) orbits can be excluded with high confidence. We conclude that T Tauri Sb is not in the process of being ejected from the system.

We present a study of the nature of the blue early-type galaxies found in the HST/ACS images of the GOODS north and south fields.