The stellar populations give traces of the formation history of the bulges. The metallicity distribution of K-giants in the Galactic bulge resembles to that of the giant ellipticals. There seems to be no conspicuous colour-magnitude relation intrinsic to the bulges. This can be explained if the bulges formed by the dissipative collapse of central regions of proto-galaxies followed by the supernova-driven bulge wind which was induced later than the dwarf ellipticals of the similar mass (the biased wind). Unfortunately, the observational data available at present of stellar populations of the bulges are not yet sufficient to get a firm conclusion on the origin of the bulges.

We recall the concepts and nomenclature associated with the IAU 2000 definition of UT1 as function of the Earth rotation angle (ERA). We comment on the complications that arise when UT1 is regarded as both an angle and a time scale. We review the IAU 2006 expressions for the position of the celestial intermediate origin (CIO) and the equation of the origins, and the associated CIO and equinox based procedures for the celestial-to-terrestrial transformation.

The characteristics of large-scale two-ribbon flares and dark points observed in He I λ10830 are summarized and compared with observations of these phenomena at other wavelengths and with the underlying magnetic field.

The complex radio source Sgr A is embedded in a region near our Galactic Center. The dynamical center of our Galaxy is considered to be Sgr A*, the compact non-thermal radio source. Dynamical mass within ~0.1 pc from Sgr A* has been estimated to be ~ 3×106 M⊙. This places Sgr A* to be a candidate of a massive blackhole (Eckart and Genzel, 1997 and reference therein).

Observations have shown that the Sun's magnetic field has helical structures. The helicity content in magnetic field configurations is a crucial constraint on the dynamical evolution of the system. Since helicity is connected with the number of links we investigate configurations with interlocked magnetic flux rings and one with unlinked rings. It turns out that it is not the linking of the tubes which affects the magnetic field decay, but the content of magnetic helicity.

We have obtained estimates of the solar internal rotational velocity from measurements of the frequency splittings of p-mode oscillations. Specifically, we have analyzed a 10-day time series of full-disk Dopplergrams obtained during July and August 1984 at the 60-Foot Tower Telescope of the Mt. Wilson Observatory. The Dopplergrams were obtained with a Na magneto-optical filter and a 244 × 248-pixel CID camera. From the time series we computed power spectra for all of the prograde and retrograde sectoral p-modes from ℓ = 0 to 200 and for all of the tessaral harmonics up to ℓ = 89. We then applied a cross-correlation analysis to the resulting sectoral power spectra to obtain estimates of the frequency splittings. From ℓ = 4 to ℓ = 30 we obtained a mean value of the frequency spitting of roughly 450 nHz (sidereal) in close agreement with most previously published results, while from ℓ = 40 to ℓ = 140 we obtained a mean value of about 470 nHz. We believe that the latter value is slightly higher than the surface rotational splitting of 461 nHz because of possible confusion due to the temporal sidelobes introduced by the day/night observing cycle. Confirmation of this possibility will have to await our computation of tesseral power spectra for degrees greater than our current limit of 89. Finally, for degrees between 140 and 200, the frequency splittings are indistinguishable from the surface rotation rate.

The results of longtime systematic UBV-observations of 6 hot protoplanetary nebulae (PPN) with early B spectra are given. Fast stochastic brightness variations in the range of 0.$^{m}$2-0.$^{m}$4 (in $V$-band) have been found. The minimal time scale of the oscillations is from several hours to one day. The repeated spectral observations of hot protoplanetary nebulae have shown obvious variability in the hydrogen emission lines. It is suggested that the stellar wind from the future planetary nebula nucleus with variable $\dot{M}$ is responsible for variations observed in hot PPNs.

The impressive transition from an era of scientific data scarcity to an era of overproduction has become particularly noticeable in archaeoastronomy. The collection of astronomical information about prehistoric societies allows the accumulation of global data on: – the oldest traces of astronomical activity on Earth, emotional and rational display of celestial phenomena in astronomical folklore, “folk astronomy” and timekeeping, in fine arts and architecture, in everyday life; – the most ancient applied “astronomy” – counting the time by lunar phases, accumulation and storage of ancient databases in drawings and pictographic compositions in caves and artificially constructed objects; – “horizon” astronomy as an initial form of observational cult astronomy, preserved only in characteristic material monuments (the oldest cult observatories) with indisputable astronomical orientations. The report shows the importance of collecting the maximum number of artifacts and monuments from prehistory associated with the early emergence of interest in celestial phenomena. Spiritual, emotional and rational (including practical) needs that have aroused interest in Heaven are discussed. The huge variety of activities in realizing the regularity (cyclicity) of celestial phenomena as a stimulus for their use for orientation in space and time is shown.

The topic (Seidelmann, 1986) is one of the unresolved questions in the field of celestial mechanics because the definitions of an inertial system are all controversial (Mach, 1893; Eichhorn, 1984). Eichhorn's definition enlarges its connotation and is not acceptable either. Connotation of a concept is endowed through defining it. One of the reasons why the existing definitions of an inertial system are all controversial is that the connotations that are endowed by them are not unique, in other words, they do not draw up the same area of ideas. Taking the interplay of all of them for its connotation is an acceptable solution.

We present a study of the structure of the Galactic Bulge in the region −6° < b < 3°,−17° < l < 17° using 2MASS archive data. More than 100 fields are used. We make use of the red clump method to derive the distance of the Bulge in the studied regions. We derive a position angle of the Galactic Bulge going from 42° ± 11 to 35° ± 10 depending on the adopted bulge mass distribution.

The yellow D lines from neutral sodium are some of the most useful interstellar absorption features for tracing out low density optically thin interstellar material. Hobbs (1978) compared column densities of Nal as determined from the D lines with HI column densities derived from ultraviolet observations and found values of N(NaI)/N(H)<6.3x10-9 in 18 sight-lines with very low reddening, with the exact value of the ratio apparently a function of temperature. If this ratio limit holds for diffuse clouds in nearby space, we expect that observations of the Nal D2 lines at the 3 mA level can be used to trace out nearby clouds with column densities in the range of ≥2.5x1018 cm-2. Thus sensitive measurements of the Nal D lines are a useful way of observing nearby neutral cloud material. With this in mind, we have chosen high-resolution observations of the yellow sodium lines as a means of locating and mapping nearby low density interstellar clouds.

Evolution of rotating globular clusters with embedded black holes is presented. The interplay between velocity diffusion due to relaxation and black hole star accretion is followed together with cluster rotation, using 2-dimensional, in energy and z-component of angular momentum, Fokker Planck numerical methods. Gravogyro and gravothermal instabilities drive the system to a faster evolution leading to shorter collapse times and a faster cluster dissolution in the tidal field of a parent galaxy.

Angular momentum transport and star accretion support the development of central rotation in relaxation time scales. Two-dimensional distribution (in the meridional plane) of kinematical and structural parameters (density, dispersions, rotation) are reproduced, with the aim to enable the use of set of models for comparison with observational data.

Stellar evolution models are a cornerstone of young star astrophysics, which necessitates that they yield accurate and reliable predictions of stellar properties. Here, I review the current performance of stellar evolution models against young astrophysical benchmarks and highlight recent progress incorporating non-standard physics, such as magnetic field and starspots, to explain observed deficiencies. While addition of these physical processes leads to improved agreement between models and observations, there are several fundamental limitations in our understanding about how these physical processes operate. These limitations inhibit our ability to form a coherent picture of the essential physics needed to accurately compute young stellar models, but provide rich avenues for further exploration.

The classical problem of determining the secular retardation of the Earth's rotation due to the effect of tides (oceanic and bodily) has an important geophysical value in determining the possible existence of processes inside the Earth, which lead to secular variations of rotation of the whole Earth or its external layers.

Using new cotidal charts of the world ocean calculated by Bogdanov for the main tidal waves M2, S2, K1 and O1 and using the method of moments of tidal forces the retarding moment was found to be 8.3 × 1023 dyn cm. This is twice the amount of previous evaluations. (This method is superior to the method of calculating the dissipation of energy or the moments of frictional forces). This amount corresponds to a retardation of 3.8 μs/century in the speed of the Earth's rotation. But the observations of the Sun give only 1.9 μs/century for the retardation. Thus, there seem to be nontidal and probably internal processes, which accelerate the Earth's rotation by about 2 μs/century. And this is without taking account of additional smaller effects of bodily tides. The search for these processes is an important problem.

The full text of the paper will be published in the magazine Physics of the Earth, No. 2, 1972.

A systematic search is reported for phenomena associated with circumstellar matter in interacting binary systems of the Algol and W Serpentis type. Ultraviolet emission lines have been detected by the author in 10 Algols and 6 Serpentids. No conspicuous difference exists between systems with disk accretion and those with direct stream impact. Evidence is indicated that the lines are formed predominantly by scattering in an induced stellar wind. Relative intensity of Fe II and Fe III emissions appears to be correlated with the spectral type of the gainer. It is suggested that in the Serpentids we see a thick disk nearly edge–on, but that the emission lines indicate the nature of the gainer inside.

A number of problems concerning the motions and orbital statistics of comets are suggested for numerical discussion.

We present a simple two-wind model for the evolution of the Magellanic Cloud planetary nebulae (PN) which reproduces the observed density / radius / ionised mass relationships, and serves to define the geometrical relationship between the ionised nebula and the star. From self-consistent photoionisation modelling of 78 Magellanic Cloud PN, we have constructed the H-R Diagram for the central stars, and have derived both the chemical abundances and the nebular parameters. We find that the central stars have masses generally between 0.55 and 0.7 M⊙. Type I PN have more massive precursors, and show clear evidence for the Third dredge-up episode and for the dredge-up of ON processed material. The expansion velocity of the nebula is closely correlated with the position of the central star on the H-R Diagram, proving that the nebula undergoes continuous acceleration. Excluding Type I PN, the mean abundances derived for the LMC and the SMC agree with those derived from H II regions and evolved, radiative SNR.

The major cornerstone of future ground-based astronomy is imaging and spectroscopy at the diffraction limit using adaptive optics. To exploit the potential of current AO systems, we have begun a survey around bright stars to study intermediate redshift galaxies at high resolution. Using ALFA to reach the diffraction limit of the 3.5-m telescope at Calar Alto allows us to study the structure of distant galaxies in the near-infrared at scales of 100-150 pc for z=0.05 and at scales 1.0-1.5 kpc at z=1. In this contribution we present the initial results of this project, which hint at the exciting prospects possible with the resolution and sensitivity available using an AO camera on the 8-m class VLT.

KIC 4851217 is a short period eclipsing binary (P = 2.47 days) in the field of the Kepler K1 mission. As well as variability caused by the eclipses, low-amplitude pulsations are also present in the data. A frequency analysis of the residual light-curve revealed δ Sct pulsations in the frequency range from 15–21 d−1 with amplitudes up to 3.5 mmag. Strong linear coupling (fi = fp + kforb) to orbital frequency was found, indicating tidally locked modes. From an analysis of 5 selected groups of frequencies we identified a radial mode on the secondary component, 3 dipole modes (l = |m| = 1), one of them present on the secondary component, and a quadrupole mode (l = |m| = 2), also located on the secondary component.

The massive O and B-type stars will be among the first targets of the new generation of long baseline optical interferometers (such as the CHARA Array, a 400-m diameter distributed array of five 1-m telescopes). Many of these objects are binary stars for which joint astrometric and spectroscopic observations will provide masses and distances (e.g., 15 Mon; Gies et al. 1993), but there is also great interest in resolving disks of single stars. Early interferometric observations have already resolved the flattened circumstellar disks around some Be stars (Quirrenbach et al. 1994).