The SAURON integral-field survey reveals that small (~0.1,Re) kinematically decoupled cores (KDCs) in early-type galaxies are increasingly young toward the center and are typically found in fast-rotating galaxies, while large KDCs (~0.5 Re) have homogeneously old stars and are present in non-rotating galaxies (McDermid et al. 2006). GALEX UV imaging further allows the direct identification of regions of recent star formation (≤0.5 Gyr). In NGC 2974 for example, young stars are identified in the center and an outer ring Jeong et al. 2006). Nuclear and inner ionised-gas rings (Sarzi et al. 2006) then suggest that current star formation is bar-driven. The CO detection rate of SAURON early-type galaxies is ≈40% (Combes et al. in prep.). Synthesis imaging reveals that it is generally contained in a well-ordered central disk, both in galaxies with a (young) central stellar disk (e.g. NGC 4459, NGC 4526) or a (young) KDC (e.g. NGC 3032, NGC 4150) (Young et al. in prep.). CO also traces well the young stellar populations and ionised gas distribution and kinematics, but in KDCs not always the stellar kinematics Emsellem et al. 2004; Sarzi et al. 2006; Kuntschner et al. 2006).

Of the nearly 3900 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) known as of June 2006, 325 have estimated rotation periods, with most of those determined by lightcurve analysis led by a few dedicated programs. NEAs with diameters down to 10 meters have been sampled. Observed spin distribution shows a major changing point around diameter of 200 meters. Larger NEAs show a barrier against spins faster than 11 d−1 (period about 2.2 h) that shifts to slower rates (longer periods) with increasing lightcurve amplitude (i.e., with increasing equatorial elongation). The spin barrier is interpreted as a critical spin rate for bodies in a gravity regime; NEAs larger than 200 meters are predominantly bodies with tensile strength too low to withstand a centrifugal acceleration for rotation faster than the critical spin rate. The cohesionless spin barrier disappears at sizes less than 200 meters where most objects rotate too fast to be held together by self-gravitation only, so a cohesion is implied in the smaller NEAs.

The distribution of NEA spin rates in the cohesionless size range (D0.2 km) is highly non-Maxwellian, suggesting that mechanisms other than just collisions have been at work. There is a pile up just in front of the barrier, at periods 2–3 h. It may be related to a spin up mechanism crowding asteroids to the barrier. An excess of slow rotators is observed at periods longer than 30 hours. A spin-down mechanism has no obvious lower limit on spin rate; periods as long as tens of days have been observed.

Most NEAs appear to be in their basic spin states with rotation around principal axis with maximum moment of inertia. Tumbling objects (i.e., bodies in excited, non-principal axis rotation) are present and actually predominate among slow rotators with estimated damping timescales longer than the age of the solar system. A few tumblers observed among fast rotating coherent objects appear to be either more rigid or younger than the larger (cohesionless) tumblers.

An abundant population of binary systems has been found among NEAs. The fraction of binaries among NEAs larger than 0.3 km has been estimated to be 15 ± 4%. Primaries of binary systems concentrate at fast spin rates (periods 2–3 h) and low amplitudes, i.e., they lie just below the cohesionless spin barrier. The total angular momentum content in binary systems suggests that they formed from parent bodies spinning at the critical rate. The fact that a very similar population of binaries has been found among small main belt asteroids suggests a binary formation mechanism that may not be related to close encounters with the terrestrial planets.

We present results from an investigation where the long-term photometry of several magnetically active RS CVn binaries is studied to see whether or not they show permanent active longitudes and the flip-flop phenomenon. We confirm that it is very common for the active regions to occur on permanent active longitudes. Many of our target stars also show clear flip-flop phenomenon, but often the data set is not long enough for reliable determination of the flip-flop period.

We present a mission overview and science possibilities of space astrometry with the Milli-Arcsecond Pathfinder Survey (MAPS).

The runaway O-type stars HD 14633 and HD 15137 are both SB1 systems that were probably ejected from the open cluster NGC 654. Were these stars dynamically ejected by close gravitational encounters in the dense cluster, or did the binaries each receive a kick from a supernova in one member? We present new results from our investigation of the optical, X-ray, and radio properties of these binary systems to discuss the probable ejection scenarios. We argue that these binaries may have been ejected via dynamical interactions in the dense cluster environment.

We use a semi-analytical approach to simulate absorption spectra of QSOs at high redshifts with the aim of constraining the cosmic reionization history. More details are given in Gallerani et al. (2006) and references therein.

Wulff Dieter Heintz, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Swarthmore College, passed away at his home on 10 June 2006, following a two-year battle with lung cancer. He had just turned 76 a week earlier. Wulff was one of the leading authorities on visual double stars, and was also a chess master. A prominent educator, researcher, and scholar, Wulff was noted for being both succinct and meticulous in everything he did. Wulff Heintz was born on 3 June 1930 in Würzburg (Bavaria), Germany. Naturally left-handed, the young Wulff's elementary school teachers forced him to learn to write “correctly” using his right hand, and so he became ambidextrous. During the 1930s, Wulff's family saw the rise of Adolph Hitler and lived under the repressive Nazi regime. Conditions were austere, and it was often difficult to find fuel to keep the house warm. As a teenager during World War II, Wulff listened to his family radio for any news from the outside world. He used to say that he loved the blackouts during the bombing runs because it made it much easier to see the stars. One night, an incendiary bomb landed on the roof of his family home, and Wulff climbed up to the roof and extinguished it. The next morning, he saw that his high school had been completely leveled by Allied bombs. As Germany continued to suffer massive losses on the Russian Front, primarily due to unexpectedly severe winters, teenage boys were inducted into the military and sent off to replenish the troops. To avoid an uncertain fate, Wulff hid out in a farmhouse in the countryside outside Munich. When the Allied troops invaded Germany in 1945, the young Wulff volunteered to translate information from the American and British soldiers to the local villagers. During this time, the soldiers taught Wulff how to smoke cigarettes, a habit which he continued until his final days, even after having been diagnosed with lung cancer.

We present an analysis of the fine–scale structure of the neutral ISM as traced via the 21-cm line of atomic hydrogen (HI) in the nearby galaxy M 81. The data show a stunning amount of detail in the form of 330 expanding shells and holes in the neutral ISM of M 81. A comparison with similar structures found in two other spirals and two dwarf galaxies (M 31, M 33, IC 2574 and Holmberg II) reveals that the ISM in M 81 shares a lot of similarities with the two spirals, whereas the structure of its ISM is different to that in dwarf galaxies. The sizes of the HI holes in M 81 range from 80 pc (close to the resolution limit) to 600 pc; the expansion velocities can reach 20 km s−1; estimated ages are 2.5 to 35 Myrs and the energies involved range from 1050 to 3.5 x 1052 ergs. The amount of neutral gas involved is of order 104 to 106 solar masses.

The purpose: to emphasize, that there are some specific features of the development of science in the New Independent States (NIS) of the Former Soviet Union. These features demand enhanced attention of the organizers of the IHY. It is necessary to create effective mechanisms for the stimulation of the connection to world science of the dormant part of fundamental scientific knowledge of these countries, which has been saved up for fifty of years. Probably, the IHY is the last opportunity of rescuing the dormant part of this knowledge from full oblivion.

The method adopted is to discuss and analyse the general tendencies in science in the NIS by reference to individual cases, in particular for meteor astronomy.

Results: The features and history of the development of meteor astronomy during the existence of the Soviet Union and the subsequent period give a key to understanding of the problem. Meteor astronomy can be assumed to be a young science. It is an example of a cross-disciplinary science. It is an example of a science having a sharp rise, due to the project of the IGY and to subsequent geophysical projects. Meteor astronomy is a science directly connected with the launching of the first space satellite of the Earth and the evaluation of problems of meteoroid danger to space missions.

Commission 22 (Division III) of the IAU coordinated the development of meteor astronomy during the IGY. The known Soviet researcher of meteors V. Fedynskiy headed this Commission during four years since 1958. In the USSR numerous meteor centres were created and activated. The general management was concentrated in Moscow. Despite the close interaction under global projects of the Soviet Union with other countries, there still existed a language barrier. The language barrier, together with other reasons, has led to the creation in the USSR of a powerful meteor science, but only in the Russian language.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the meteor centres have remained, but without ordinary central management. The scientific results have remained but as an isolated, inaccessible science published in English.

Conclusion: Reunification of the scientific achievements of the last few years in the NIS with international science should become the task of the IHY. Revival of the activity of the some of the centres will be useful.

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are considered to be due to the death of massive stars. Therefore, GRBs are closely associated with the star formation of host galaxies. Since GRBs can be detected at cosmological distances, they are expected to be probes of the star formation history of the Universe. In order to determine the use of GRBs, it is essential to understand the star formation of their hosts. Multi-wavelength observations have shown that the star formation rates (SFRs) of GRB hosts derived from submillimeter/radio observations are generally higher than those from optical/UV observations (Berger et al. 2003). This implies that GRB hosts have a large amount of molecular gas and massive star formation obscured by dust. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to derive the SFRs in a method which is independent of existing methods and not affected by dust extinction.

We observed 12CO (J = 3–2) line emission from the host galaxy of GRB 980425 using the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE). Five points were observed covering the entire region of the galaxy, and we find possible emission features (S/N ~ 3 σ) at the velocity range corresponding to the redshift of the galaxy. By combining all spectra of five points, we obtain a global spectrum with a ~4 σ emission feature. If the features are real, this is the first detection of CO among GRB hosts. We derive the total gas mass of M(H2)=7 ± 2× 108M⊙ assuming a CO-to-H2 conversion factor of αCO = 8.0M⊙ (K km s−1 pc2)−1, which is deduced using the correlation between the αCO and the metallicity. The dynamical mass is calculated to be Mdyn=2× 1010M⊙, and M(H2)/Mdyn~3% is consistent with those of nearby dwarfs and normal spirals. The derived SFR is 0.5 ± 0.1 M⊙ yr−1 based on the Schmidt law. This SFR agrees with the results of previous Hα observations, suggesting that there is no significant obscured star formation in this host galaxy. This result implies that there is a variety of GRB hosts in terms of the presence of obscured star formation.

The convection-driven MHD dynamo in a rotating spherical shell is simulated numerically. Convection cells are regarded as a connecting link between the global and local electromagnetic processes. Local (in many cases, bipolar) magnetic structures are regularly produced by convection cells. Dynamo regimes in “thick” and “thin” shells are discussed. In the first case, the “general” magnetic field maintained by the dynamo has a sign-alternating dipolar component, which varies cyclically, although not periodically. The local structures, as they disintegrate, change into background fields, which drift toward the poles. From time to time, reversals of the magnetic fields in the polar regions occur, as “new” background fields expel the “old” fields. In the second case, the system settles down to a nearly stationary regime without polarity reversals.

We analyzed the 2MASS images of a sample of 148 bright, nearby and unbarred galaxies to derive the photometric parameters of their bulge and disk by applying an accurate 2D decomposition algorithm. As a model for the bulge we have considered a system where the surfaces of equal density of light are coaxial and concentric ellipsoids with independent values of the principal axes A > B > C. If the emitting surfaces are concentric, coaxial but non-homologous ellipsoids, their projection on the plane of the sky will be concentric, non-homologous and non-coaxial ellipses (Stark 1977). Therefore if we identify the projected ellipses with the isophotal contours of a bulge, the observed twist between the position angle of the bulge and disk components can be understood as a hint for triaxiality.

Following the procedure described by Simonneau et al. (1998), we are able to express the intrinsic semi-axis values (A, B, C) of the triaxial ellipsoid as a function of the semi-axis measured on to its projected ellipse (a, b), position angle of the ellipse (δ), and angles which define the line of sight with respect to the ellipsoid (θ, φ).

However, since the φ angle is observationally undetermined, the intrinsic shape of bulges is still an ambiguous problem. Thus, it is customary to resort to a statistical approach for deducing the probability distribution function (PDF) of the intrinsic axis ratio of bulges. Since we have already inverted the problem, putting the intrinsic variables as a function of the measured variables (E, δ) and the variables (θ, φ) which are defined in a probabilistic way, and we have assumed that they are independent, the PDF can be determined simply by the multiplication of the integrated single probabilities of these variables.

We have found that integrating the derived PDF over the different ellipsoid regions (prolate, triaxial and oblate), ~45% of bulges have a triaxial structure, about 26% are oblate ellipsoids, 23% are prolate ellipsoids and the remaining 5% are spherical.

A typical bulge from our PDF, calculated as the mean value of the axis ratios of the ellipsoids weighted with the PDF, have axis ratios <P>=1.66 and <Q>=1.34. This means that the axis ratio in the equatorial plane of the galaxy is B/A=0.81, the ratio between the major and the polar axis is C/A=0.60 and the triaxiality parameter is T=0.55, which is in good agreement with the previous results by Bertola et al. (1991).

We also found a correlation between the Sérsic index and the intrinsic flattening of the bulges. We observed that bulges tend to be less flattened (C/A=0.64) in more-concentrated galaxies (n > 2) and more flattened (C/A=0.54) in less-concentrated galaxies.

In 1984 an INTELSAT antenna of 32 m of diameter was constructed at 3 370 metres above the sea level on the Peruvian Andes. At the time Entel Perú the Peruvian tele-communications company managed the antenna station, of almost 12 hectares in extension. In 1993 the government transferred the station to the private telecommunications company Telefónica del Perú. Since transoceanic fiber optics replaced radically satellite communications in 2002, a beautiful 32- metre parabolic antenna was finished its tele-communications mission and become available for other use. So in cooperation with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan we began coordination to transform the antenna into a radio-telescope.

Researches on interstellar medium around Young Stellar Objects (YSO) are possible using methanol maser that emits at 6.7 GHz, so initially we will monitor and survey maser sources at the southern sky. An ambient temperature receiver with Trx = 60 K was developed at Nobeyama Radio Observatory and is ready to be installed. The antenna will be controlled by the Field System FS9 software installed in a PC within a Linux environment. An interface between antenna and PC was developed at Kashima Space Research Center in Japan by Mr E. Vidal.

In the near future S-band (2 GHz), X-band (8GHz), 12 GHz and 22 GHz observations are planned.

The peculiar position and altitude of the Peruvian Radio Observatory will be useful for VLBI observations with the VLBA for astronomical observation and geodetic measurements. For Peru where few or almost non astronomical observational instruments are available for research, implementation of the first radio observatory is a big step to foster sciences at graduate and postgraduate levels of universities.

Worldwide tele-communications antennas recently tend to finish their role as tele-communications antennas. Several of them are transformed into useful observational instruments.

DS or Integral-Field Spectroscopy (IFS) provides multiple spectra for each point of a 2-D field, rather than along a narrow, 1-D spectrograph slit only. Therefore, IFS does not require very accurate telescope pointing, nor do pre-assumptions about slit or aperture sizes have to be made. It avoids any ‘slit-losses’ due to seeing or atmospheric dispersion, which eliminates the need for any parallactic alignment or a dispersion compensator (see Fig. 1).

We observed a sample of three Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs), Abell 1836-BCG, Abell 2052-BCG, and Abell 3565-BCG, with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on board the Space Telescope. For each target galaxy we obtained high-resolution spectroscopy of the Hα and [N II] λ6583 emission lines at three slit positions, to measure the central ionized-gas kinematics. ACS images in three different filters (F435W, F625W, and FR656N) have been used to determine the optical depth of the dust, stellar mass distribution near the nucleus, and intensity map. We present supermassive black hole (SBH) mass estimates for two galaxies which show regular rotation curves and strong central velocity gradients, and an upper limit on the SBH mass of the third one. For the SBHs of Abell 1836-BCG and Abell 3565-BCG, we derived M• = 4.8+0.8−0.7 × 109 M⊙ and M• = 1.3+0.3−0.4 × 109 M⊙ at 1 σ confidence level, respectively. For the SBH of Abell 2052-BCG, we found M• ≤ 7.3 × 109 M⊙.

We provide results from an extended 3D numerical simulation study of Reynolds stress models of stellar convection and probe the modelling of compressibility, pressure fluctuations, and dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy.

We have analysed publicly available MACHO observations of 6833 variable stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, classified as eclipsing binaries. After finding that a significant fraction of the sample was misclassified, we redetermined periods and variability class for all stars, producing a clean sample of 3031 eclipsing binaries. We have investigated their distribution in the period-color-luminosity space, which was used, for example, to assign a foreground probability to every object and establish new period-luminosity relations to selected types of eclipsing stars. We found that the orbital period distribution of LMC binaries is very similar to those of the SMC and the Milky Way. We have also determined the rate of period change for every star using the O-C method, discovering about 40 eclipsing binaries with apsidal motion, 45 systems with cyclic period changes and about 80 stars with parabolic O-C diagrams. In a few objects we discovered gradual amplitude variation, which can be explained by changes in the orbital inclination caused by a perturbing third body in the system.

We report our on-going observational project to search for population III (Pop III) stars in high-z galaxies. We searched Lyα emitters (LAEs) with a large equivalent width (EW), by our new selection technique ‘NB921-depressed i′-dropout selection’. We found eight photometric candidates and spectroscopically identified five LAEs with EW0(Lyα) > 100 Å. We then carried out a very deep near-infrared spectroscopy for a LAE among the above five, to search for the redshifted He iiλ1640 emission from Pop III stars in the galaxy, but obtained only an upper limit.