We present a statistical analysis of the relative orientation between the plane-of-sky magnetic field and the filaments associated with the Galactic Cold Clumps. We separated polarization parameters components of the filaments and their background using thin optical medium assumption, the filaments were detected using the Rolling Hough Transform algorithm and we separated the clump and the filament contributions in our maps. We found that in high column density environments the magnetic fields inside the filaments and in the background are less likely to be aligned with each other. This suggests a decoupling between the inner and background magnetic fields at some stage of filaments’ evolution. A preferential alignment between the filaments and their inferred magnetic fields is observed in the whole selection if the clumps’ contribution is subtracted. Interestingly, a bimodal distribution of relative orientation is observed between the filamentary structures of the clumps and the filaments’ magnetic field. Similar results are seen in a subsample of nearby filaments. The relative orientation clearly shows a transition from parallel to no preferential and perpendicular alignment depending on the volume densities of both clumps and filaments. Our results confirm a strong interplay between the magnetic field and filamentary structures during their formation and evolutionary process.

We present the current status update of the Herschel Planetary Nebula Survey Plus project (HerPlaNS+) based on the original General Observer HerPlaNS survey program during the OT1 cycle and the follow-up exhaustive archival search of PN observations using the PACS and SPIRE instruments on-board the Herschel Space Observatory.

Protoplanetary disks are expected to form through the gravitational collapse of magnetized rotating dense cores. We discuss the structure and emission of models of accretion disks threaded by a poloidal magnetic field and irradiated by the central star, expected to form in this process (Shu et al. 2007; Lizano et al. 2016). The poloidal magnetic field produces sub-keplerian rotation of the gas which can accelerate planet migration (Adams et al. 2009). It can make the disk more stable against gravitational perturbations (Lizano et al. 2010). Also, the magnetic compression can reduce the disk scale height with respect to nonmagnetic disks. We find that the mass-to-flux ratio λ is a critical parameter: disks with a weaker magnetization (high values of λ) are denser and hotter and emit more at millimeter wavelengths than disks with a stronger magnetization (low values of λ). Applying these models to the millimeter observations of the disk around the young star HL Tau indicate the large grains are present at the external radii in order to reproduce the observed 7 mm emission that extends up to 100 AU (Tapia & Lizano 2017). In the near future, observations with ALMA and VLA will be able to determine the level of magnetization of protoplanetary disks, which will be important to understand their formation and evolution.

Radio galaxies of intermediate power dominate the radio-power injection in the Universe as a whole, due to the break in the radio luminosity function, and so are of special interest. The population spans FR I, FR II, and hybrid morphologies, resides in a full range of environmental richness, and sources of all ages are amenable to study. We describe structures and interactions, with emphasis on sources with deep high-resolution Chandra X-ray data. As compared with low-power sources there is evidence that the physics changes, and the work done in driving shocks can exceed that in evacuating cavities. A range of morphologies and phenomena is identified.

The Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) is one of the payloads in Astrosat, the first Indian Space Observatory. The UVIT instrument has two 375 mm telescopes: one for the far-ultraviolet (FUV) channel (1300-1800 Å), and the other for the near-ultraviolet (NUV) channel (2000-3000 Å) and the visible (VIS) channel (3200-5500 Å). We shall discuss the issues with standardization in the UV with reference to Astrosat Observations (Cycle A04). I shall discuss the problems faced in data-analysis and how these in turn lead to serious issues dealing with the color-magnitude diagarms, membership and age of the young embedded clusters studied.

Discovered periodic sublimation activity on four main-belt primitive asteroids led us to conclusions about possible origin of those and similar bodies (or their parent bodies) near or beyond the snow line in the early Solar System making incorporated in them a considerable water ice stock. Water differentiation of the bodies owing to 26A1 decay and their internal thermal evolution might have created conditions for water soluble organics and prebiotic compounds formation. Subsequent longtime periodic changing temperature and other physico-chemical parameters (due to spinning and moving around the Sun) in the near-surface layers of primitive asteroids have led probably to formation of more complex organic compounds of astrobiological significance.

In star-forming environments, shock-compressed magnetic fields occur in cloud-cloud collisions, in molecular clouds exposed to supernova remnants (SNRs), and in photo-dissociation regions (PDRs). Besides their dynamical role, they increase the cosmic ray flux above the Galactic average, and the trapped particles contribute to the heating of the shocked gas. The associated dust emission is polarized perpendicularly to the sky plane projection of the field, Bsky. In edge-on viewed shock planes, highly ordered polarization patterns are expected. In search of such a signature, the dust emission from the Orion bar (a prototypical PDR) and from a molecular cloud/SNR interface (IC443-G) was studied with a λ870μm polarimeter at the APEX (Wiesemeyer etal 2014 and references therein). While our polarization map of OMC1 confirms the hourglass shape of Bsky (e.g., Schleuning 1998, Houde etal 2004), a deep integration towards the Orion bar reveals an alignment of Bsky with the shock forming in response to the wind and to the ionizing radiation from the Trapezium cluster (Fig. 1). This structure suggests a compressed magnetic field accelerating cosmic-ray particles, a scenario proposed by [Pellegrini et al. (2009)] to explain the high excitation temperature of rotationally warm H2 and CO (Shaw et al. 2009, Peng et al. 2012, respectively).

The phase-space correlation of dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy pose a serious challenge to our understanding of structure formation. Recently, another planar structure was discovered around Cen A, the major galaxy of the Centaurus group. We have surveyed this galaxy group for new dwarf galaxies and presented the discovery of 57 new dwarf member candidates. Furthermore, we have studied the kinematics of previously known dwarfs and again found a kinematic coherence in their movement, similar to the Local Group satellites. In CDM simulations, such an alignment appears in less than 0.5 percent.

Astronomy and Space topics are perceived as holding universal fascination. It is widely considered that exposure to such topics inspires people, changes their perspective and leads to an uptake in science and STEM subjects. But very rarely is the impact of such communication evaluated rigorously and scientifically. There is a need for more rigorous evaluation methods which would reveal the successes and failures of current methods and tools of astronomy communication and whether they might lead to any inadvertent harm. The IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) and Hosei University together with the South African Astronomical Observatory conducted a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in Cape Town, South Africa to test whether exposure to an astronomy intervention affects empathy and altruism in children. The pilot demonstrated that it is possible to use such methods to evaluate impact of science communication in an inexpensive manner.

We present a database of galaxies in the Local Volume (LV) (https://www.sao.ru/lv/lvgdb/) Kaisina et al. (2012) having individual distance estimates within 11Â Mpc or corrected radial velocities VLG < 600 km s-1. It collects data on the following galaxy observables: angular diameters, apparent magnitudes in far-UV, B, and Ks bands, Hα and HI fluxes, morphological types, HI -line widths, radial velocities, and distance estimates. It also contains a consolidated set of optical images of all the galaxies from the SDSS and DSS surveys and Hα images of galaxies that were derived with the 6-m BTA telescope. The latest version of the Updated Nearby Galaxy Catalog (UNGC) Karachentsev et al. (2013) contains 869 objects, now the database consist of 1175 objects. We present basic relations, describing the updated LV sample: Hubble flow, distribution galaxies according to their distance estimates and on the sky, et al.

We present gas-phase metallicity gradients of 84 star-forming galaxies between 0.08 < z < 0.84. Using the galaxies with reliably determined metallicity gradients, we measure the median metallicity gradient to be negative ( $\[ - 0.039_{ - 0.009}^{ + 0.007}{\kern 1pt} dex/kpc\]$ ). Underlying this, however, is significant scatter: (8 ± 3)% [7] of galaxies have significantly positive metallicity gradients, (38 ± 5)% [32] have significantly negative gradients, (31 ± 5)% [26] have gradients consistent with being flat. (The remaining (23 ± 5)% [19] have unreliable gradient estimates.)

We analyse the evolution with redshift of the radial gradient of oxygen abundances in spiral disks resulting from our MULCHEM chemical evolution models, computed for galaxies of different sizes or masses, studying the relationships between the gradients and galaxy characteristics as the stellar mass, the size, the gas fraction or the star formation rate for z < 4.

It is shown that spatial ordering of the Solar planetary system can be described by simple wave algorithms. It is detected that the dependence “mean density – global period” reflects the ordering of this system and has signs of an evolutionary diagram.

I present a subjective list of what I think are the most serious problems in the modelling of AGB stars. Because AGB stars represent the last phase of stellar evolution, they suffer from the accumulation of the effects of uncertainties in all the earlier phases. The complexity of AGB evolution adds further uncertainties specific to the evolutionary behaviour of those stars. Most of the problems are associated with mixing, specifically the boundaries of mixed regions. The nature of the “extra-mixing” remains a mystery, let alone how to model it reliably. Other problems are briefly mentioned and I finish with some hopes of making progress in the future.

he Chromospheric Telescope (ChroTel) observes the entire solar disk since 2011 in three different chromospheric wavelengths: Hα, Ca ii K, and He i. The instrument records full-disk images of the Sun every three minutes in these different spectral ranges. The ChroTel observations cover the rising and decaying phase of solar cycle 24. We started analyzing the ChroTel time-series and created synoptic maps of the entire observational period in all three wavelength bands. The maps will be used to analyze the poleward migration of quiet-Sun filaments in solar cycle 24.

Dwarf galaxies make ideal laboratories to test galaxy evolution paradigms and cosmological models. Detailed studies of dwarfs across the spectrum allow us to gauge the efficacy of astrophysical processes at play in the lowest mass halos such as gas accretion, feedback, turbulence and chemical enrichment. Future observational studies will deliver unprecedented insights on the orbits of dwarf companions around the Milky Way, on their star formation histories and on the 3-D internal motions of their stars. Over large volumes, we will assess the impact of local environment on baryon cycling and star formation laws, leading to a full picture of the evolution of dwarfs across cosmic time. In combination, future discoveries promise to trace the history of assembly within the Local Group and beyond, probe how stars form under pristine conditions, and test models of structure formation on small scales.

Self-Consistent 2D modelling of stellar wind interaction with the upper atmosphere of WASP-12b has been performed. The two case-scenarios of the planetary material escape and interaction with the stellar wind, namely the ‘blown by the wind’ (without the inclusion of tidal force) and ‘captured by the star’ (with the tidal force) have been modelled under different stellar XUV radiations and stellar wind parameters. In the first scenario, a shock is formed around the planet, and the planetary mass loss is controlled completely by the stellar radiation energy input. In the second scenario, the mass loss is mainly due to the gravitational interaction effects. The dynamics of MGII and related absorption were modelled with three sets of different stellar wind parameters and XUV flux values.

The chemistry within the outflow of an AGB star is determined by its elemental C/O abundance ratio. Thanks to the advent of high angular resolution observations, it is clear that most outflows do not have a smooth density distribution, but are inhomogeneous or “clumpy”. We have developed a chemical model that takes into account the effect of a clumpy outflow on its gas-phase chemistry by using a theoretical porosity formalism. The clumpiness of the model increases the inner wind abundances of all so-called unexpected species, i.e. species that are not predicted to be present assuming an initial thermodynamic equilibrium chemistry. By applying the model to the distribution of cyanopolyynes and hydrocarbon radicals within the outflow of IRC+10216, we find that the chemistry traces the underlying density distribution.

Galactic microquasars have been detected at very-high-energies (VHE) (> 100 GeV) and the particle acceleration mechanisms that produce this emission are not yet well-understood. Here we investigate a hadronic emission scenario where cosmic-rays (CRs) are accelerated in magnetic reconnection events by the turbulent, advected-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) believed to be present in the hard state of black hole binaries. We present Monte Carlo simulations of CR emission plus γ-γ and inverse Compton cascades, injecting CRs with a total energy consistent with the magnetic energy of the plasma. The background gas density, magnetic, and photon fields where CRs propagate and interact are modelled with general relativistic (GR), magneto-hydrodynamical simulations together with GR radiative transfer calculations. Our approach is applied to the microquasar Cygnus X-1, where we show a model configuration consistent with the VHE upper limits provided by MAGIC collaboration.