We make a case for the usefulness of small telescopes astrometry.

The seismology and physics of localized structures beneath the surface of the Sun takes on a special significance with the completion in 2006 of a solar cycle of observations by the ground-based Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) and by the instruments on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Of course, the spatially unresolved Birmingham Solar Oscillation Network (BiSON) has been observing for even longer. At the same time, the testing of models of stellar structure moves into high gear with the extension of deep probes from the Sun to other solar-like stars and other multi-mode pulsators, with ever-improving observations made from the ground, the success of the MOST satellite, and the recently launched CoRoT satellite. Here we report the current state of the two closely related and rapidly developing fields of helio- and asteroseimology.

The questions addressed in this large and popular meeting were: What mature proposals for the new large astronomical facilities of the next decade are available? When can they be funded? What international planning is underway?

The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an international effort to construct an instrument capable of matching the exquisite imaging properties of optical space telescopes at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. ALMA science will transform our vision of the cold, dusty, and gaseous universe, from extrasolar planets to the youngest galaxies.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the scientific successor to the Hubble and Spitzer missions. Its wavelength range (1 - 28μm) and sensitivity (1 nJy - 1 μJy) complement the submillimeter facilities of the coming decade, Herschel and ALMA. The JWST development is on schedule for a June 2013 launch to L2 on an Ariane 5.

The European initiative for an Extremely Large Telescope is presented. During the past year the transition from the 100 m OWL concept to a 30 m to 42 m diameter telescope has been made. The history and the current status of this development is described.

Currently a network of interferometric gravitational wave detectors is in operation around the globe, in parallel with existing acoustic bar-type detectors. Searches are underway aimed at the first direct detection of gravitational radiation from astrophysical sources. This paper briefly summarizes the current status of operating gravitational wave facilities, plans for future detector upgrades, and the status of the planned space-based gravitational wave detector LISA.

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.

After a brief description of the ESA Science Programme, the long-term plan for Astrophysics is described, as well as possible strategies for its implementation.

The status of Japan's planning of the optical/infrared astronomy projects for the 2010's is briefly reviewed. The road map shows a 30 m class extremely large ground based telescope project with advanced adaptive optics capability, JELT, and a mid-infrared optimized 3.5 m space telescope project, SPICA, as the top-priority major project to be accomplished probably on international collaboration basis.

This report is a general introduction to Chinese major astronomical projects. It includes the ongoing project ‘Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope’ (LAMOST), and three major projects which have finished their feasibility study and development of key technologies: Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical (radio) Telescope (FAST); Space Solar Telescope (SST); Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT). Among them, FAST and HXMT have been approved by government in 2006, and SST is pending for the next five years plan. Besides these major projects, a site survey in the west of China, a plan for developing Antarctic Dome A for astronomy, and a preliminary study of Chinese future giant optical/infrared telescopes are also briefly introduced.

ASTRONET is an ERA-NET led by a group of European funding agencies, including ESO and ESA. Its aim is to establish a comprehensive, long-term planning process for all of European astronomy – at all wavelengths, from the ground and from space, and for all of Europe. By addressing both long-term scientific goals, infrastructure needs, and resource management procedures, ASTRONET seeks to consolidate the continued development of European astronomy as a front-line player in the field.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a global project to design and build a new generation radio telescope at metre to centimetre wavelengths.

On August 17 and 18, 2006, Commission 46 on Astronomy Education and Development held a Special Session at the IAU XXVI General Assembly in Prague. The session, on Innovation in Teaching/Learning Astronomy, was organized around four themes: (i) general strategies for effective teaching, (ii) connecting astronomy with the public, (iii) effective use of instruction and information technology, and (iv) practical issues connected with the implementation of the 2003 IAU Resolution that recommended including astronomy in school curricula, assisting schoolteachers in their training and backup, and informing them about available resources. Approximately 40 papers were presented orally; in addition, 60 poster papers were displayed.

The vision of the Virtual Observatory (VO) is to make access to astronomical databases as seamless and transparent as browsing the World Wide Web is today. It will federate the data flows from current and future facilities and large scale surveys, and the computational resources and new tools necessary to fully exploit them. This requires both technological developments and an international commitment to standardisation and working culture. Increasingly, it will alter the way that astronomers do science, and the way that future facilities and projects plan for their data management, and the scientific exploitation of their data. It will make an impact on a wide variety of astronomical topics, but especially those using very large databases, and those needing a multiwavelength approach, or more generally the use of multiple archives.

The Virtual Observatory (VO) is driven partly by new science goals, partly by external technological changes, and partly by the flood of data coming our way. More astronomy is done on line through organised ‘science ready’ archives, and with processed data (source catalogues etc) from large survey projects. Users assume on-line availability of anything useful. The normal methods to date are to download files and analyse them at home, but very likely in the future data will be analysed in situ and analysis software will be as standardised as data reduction software is now. Many science goals require combining data from multiple archives (e.g. crossmatching different wavelengths), and often demand the processing of huge amounts of data, e.g. rare object searches, computing correlation functions, etc. All users want to be ‘power users’.

Increasingly, large surveys of the sky in multiple wavelength bands are becoming an important part of how astronomy is being done. These surveys produce huge homogeneous datasets, and as such are prime material for dissemination and analysis through the VO. As an example, the KIDS survey (see Fig. 1), which will map 1500 square degrees of sky in ugriZYJHK using ESO's VST and VISTA telescopes, and which is expected to start in 2007, will generate some 15 TB of pixel data, as well as several TB of derived source parameters. More than 100 TB of raw data will have to be processed.

We use VO facilities to study AGNs with X-ray emission. We present a sample of 1744 of Type 1 AGNs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 (SDSS DR4) spectroscopic catalog with X-ray counterparts in the White-Giommi-Angelini catalogue (WGACAT) of ROSAT-pspc pointed observations. Of 1744 X-ray sources, 1410 (80.9%) are new AGN identifications. Of 4,574 SDSS DR4 AGNs for which we found radio matches in the catalogue of radio sources from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty (FIRST) cm survey, 224 turned up in our sample of SDSS X-ray AGN.

Recent high-resolution imaging observations with Chandra have unveiled a striking similarity between the Narrow Line Region (NLR) and the diffuse soft (0.1-keV) emission-line dominated X-ray morphologies in a number of obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) on scales as large as 0.1-2kpc (Bianchi et al., 2006, A&, 448, 499). This discovery suggests a strong link between these components, which points toward a common physical origin. AGN photo-ionization is a natural explanation, consistent with soft X-ray high-resolution spectroscopy (Guainazzi & Bianchi, 2006, submitted). However, the possibility that the bulk of this component is generated by ‘local’ photo-ionization induced by shocks in the interaction between a radio jet and the interstellar matter, or by mechanical heating in regions of intense star formation cannot be ruled out yet.