The All-Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) appeared to be extremely useful in establishing the census of bright variable stars in the sky. A short review of the characteristics of the ASAS data and discoveries based on these data and related to pulsating stars is presented here by an enthusiastic user of the ASAS data.

After the Big Bang, production of heavy elements in the early Universe takes place in the first stars and their supernova explosions. The nature of the first supernovae, however, has not been well understood. The signature of nucleosynthesis yields of the first supernovae can be seen in the elemental abundance patterns observed in extremely metal-poor stars. Interestingly, those abundance patterns show some peculiarities relative to the solar abundance pattern, which should provide important clues to understanding the nature of early generations of supernovae. We review the recent results of the nucleosynthesis yields of massive stars. We examine how those yields are affected by some hydrodynamical effects during the supernova explosions, namely, explosion energies from those of hypernovae to faint supernovae, mixing and fallback of processed materials, asphericity, etc. Those parameters in the supernova nucleosynthesis models are constrained from observational data of supernovae and metal-poor stars.

Supermassive black holes (BHs) live at the heart of essentially all massive galaxies with bulges, power AGN, and are thought to be important agents in the evolution of their hosts. Observations of high-redshift quasars demonstrate that supermassive BHs must start out with masses considerably in excess of normal stellar-mass BHs. However, we do not know how the initial “seed” BHs formed in the early Universe, how massive they were originally, or what types of galaxies they formed in. While direct observations of distant seed BHs and their hosts in the infant Universe are unobtainable with current capabilities, models of BH growth in a cosmological context indicate that present-day dwarf galaxies can place valuable constraints on seed masses and distinguish between various seed formation mechanisms at early times. Using optical spectroscopy from the SDSS, we have systematically assembled the largest sample of dwarf galaxies hosting AGN to date. These dwarf galaxies have stellar masses comparable to the Magellanic Clouds and contain some of the least-massive supermassive BHs known. I will present results from this study and discuss our ongoing efforts to find additional examples of AGN in dwarfs and help constrain theories for the formation of the first seed BHs at high redshift.

Titan longitudinal librations are dependent on the satellite internal structure and the elastic behavior of the surface. The elastic deformation of the surface is related to the perturbing potential through the Love theory. In a previous paper, we described the deformation as a response to the tidal potential exerted by Saturn at orbital frequency. Here we improve the tidal deformation reponse by including the effect of the libration angle and the orbital perturbations. We then provide the libration amplitudes associated with the rotational model of a tidally deformed three-layer Titan evolving on a non-Keplerian orbit.

We present 10 μm – 35μm Spitzer spectra of the interstellar medium in the central molecular zone (CMZ), the central 210 pc × 60 pc of the Galactic center (GC). We present maps of the CMZ in ionic and H2 emission, covering a more extensive area than earlier spectroscopic surveys in this region. We compare diagnostic line ratios measured in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey to our data. Previous work shows that forbidden line ratios can distinguish star-forming galaxies from low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Our GC line ratios agree with star-forming galaxies and not with LINERs or AGNs.

The status of DIB research (Herbig 1995) has strongly advanced since the DIB conference in Boulder in 1994. In the same year we reported the discovery of two near IR diffuse bands coincident with C60+, that was confirmed in subsequent years. Since then a number of DIB observational studies have been published such as DIB surveys, measurements of DIB families, correlations and environment dependences as well as DIBs in extra-galactic sources. Resolved substructures were measured and compared to predicted rotational contours of large molecules. Polarisation studies provided constraints on possible carrier molecules and upper limits. DIBs carriers have been linked with several classes of organic molecules observed in the interstellar medium, in particular to the UIR bands (assigned to PAHs), the Extended Red Emission (ERE) or the recently detected Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME, assigned to spinning dust). In particular fullerenes and PAHs have been proposed to explain some DIBs and specific molecules were searched for in DIB spectra. DIB carriers could be present in various dehydrogenation and ionization states. Experiments in the laboratory and in space contribute to our understanding of the photo-stability of possible DIB carriers. In summary, the status of DIB research in the last 20 years has strongly advanced. We review DIB observational results and their interpretation and introduce the relevant plenary discussion.

In the race to break the SMC frontier and reach metallicity conditions closer to the First Stars the information from UV spectroscopy is usually overlooked. New HST-COS observations of OB stars in the metal-poor galaxy IC1613, with oxygen content ~1/10 solar, have proved the important role of UV spectroscopy to characterize blue massive stars and their winds. The terminal velocities (υ∞) and abundances derived from the dataset have shed new light on the problem of metal-poor massive stars with strong winds. Furthermore, our results question the υ∞-υesc and υ∞-Z scaling relations whose use in optical-only studies may introduce large uncertainties in the derived mass loss rates and wind-momenta. Finally, our results indicate that the detailed abundance pattern of each star may have a non-negligible impact on its wind properties, and scaling these as a function of one single metallicity parameter is probably too coarse an approximation. Considering, for instance, that the [α/Fe] ratio evolves with the star formation history of each galaxy, we may be in need of updating all our wind recipes.

Spectropolarimetric observations combined with tomographic imaging techniques have revealed that all pre-main sequence (PMS) stars host multipolar magnetic fields, ranging from strong and globally axisymmetric with ≳kilo-Gauss dipole components, to complex and non-axisymmetric with weak dipole components (≲0.1 kG). Many host dominantly octupolar large-scale fields. We argue that the large-scale magnetic properties of a PMS star are related to its location in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. This conference paper is a synopsis of Gregory et al. (2012), updated to include the latest results from magnetic mapping studies of PMS stars.

Recently, Clarkson et al. (2012) measured the intrinsic velocity dispersion of the Arches cluster, a young and massive star cluster in the Galactic center. Using the observed velocity dispersion profile and the surface brightness profile of Espinoza et al. (2009), they estimate the cluster's present-day mass to be ∼ 1.5×104 M⊙ by fitting an isothermal King model. In this study, we trace the best-fit initial mass for the Arches cluster using the same observed data set and also the anisotropic Fokker-Planck calculations for the dynamical evolution.

This work presents the main results from a selection of optical spectra of Seyfert and LINER galaxies taken from the 9th release of the SDSS with detectable coronal emission. A catalogue of 345 Seyfert 1 (Sy1) and Seyfert 2 (Sy2) galaxies with Forbidden High Ionization Lines (FHILs) emission is presented. By analysing their spectra as well as utilising data from the literature we found evidence of anisotropy in optical FHIL emissions between Sy1 and Sy2 galaxies for the following lines: [Ne v] λ3426, [Fe vii] λ6087, [Fe x] λ6374 and [Fe xi] λ7892. Results continue indicating that optical FHILs are not observed in LINER type galaxies.

In and around the Milky Way halo there are a number of low mass low luminosity dwarf galaxies. Several of these systems have been studied in great detail. I describe recent photometric and spectroscopic studies of the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy made as part of the DART survey of nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Supernova statistics, establishing a direct link between stellar populations and explosion scenarios, is a crucial test of stellar evolution theory. Nowadays, a number of SN searches in the local Universe and at high redshifts are allowing observational probes of long standing theoretical scenarios. I will briefly review some of the most interesting results in particular for what concern the evolution with cosmic time of the SN rate, which is one of the topic that in the last few years had a most rapid development.

A moon in synchronous rotation has longitudinal librations because of its non-spherical mass distribution and its elliptical orbit around the planet. We study the librations of Titan with periods of 14.7y and 29.5y and include deformation effects and the existence of a subsurface ocean. We take into account the fact that the orbit is not Keplerian and has other periodicities than the main period of orbital motion around Saturn due to perturbations by the Sun, other planets and moons. An orbital theory is used to compute the orbital perturbations due to these other bodies.

We numerically evaluate the amplitude of the long-period librations for many interior structure models of Titan constrained by the mass, radius and gravity field. Measurements of the librations may give constraints on the interior structure of the icy satellites.

The highly successful SuperWASP planetary transit finding programme has surveyed a large fraction of both the northern and southern skies. There now exists in its archive over 420 billion photometric measurements for more than 31 million stars. SuperWASP provides good quality photometry with a precision exceeding 1% per observation in the approximate magnitude range 9 < V < 12. The archive enables long-baseline, high-cadence studies of stellar variability to be undertaken. An overview of the SuperWASP project is presented, along with results which demonstrate the survey's asteroseismic capabilities.

The Milky Way appears as a typical barred spiral, and comparisons can be made between its nuclear region and those of structurally similar nearby spirals. Maffei 2, M83, IC 342 and NGC 253 are nearby systems whose nuclear region properties contrast with those of the Milky Way. Stellar masses derived from NIR photometery, molecular gas masses and star formation rates allow us to assess the evolutionary states of this set of nuclear regions. These data suggest similarities between nuclear regions in terms of their stellar content while highlighting significant differences in current star formation rates. In particular current star formation rates appear to cover a larger range than expected based on the molecular gas masses. This behavior is consistent with nuclear region star formation experiencing episodic variations. Under this hypothesis the Milky Way's nuclear region currently may be in a low star formation rate phase.

We summarize the properties of the new periodic, small-amplitude, variable stars recently discovered in the open cluster NGC 3766. They are located in the region of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram between δ Sct and slowly pulsating B stars, a region where no sustained pulsation is predicted by standard models. The origin of their periodic variability is currently unknown. We also discuss how the Gaia mission, launched at the end of 2013, can contribute to our knowledge of those stars.

We present a preliminary 3D potential field extrapolation model of the joint magnetosphere of the close accreting PMS binary V4046 Sgr. The model is derived from magnetic maps obtained as part of a coordinated optical and X-ray observing program.

Here we review how binary interactions affect the final pre-supernova structure of massive stars and the resulting supernova explosions. (1) Binary-induced mass loss and mass accretion determine the final envelope structure, the mass, radius and chemical composition, which are mainly responsible for the supernova appearance and supernova (sub-)type. (2) Mass loss can also drastically change the core evolution and hence the final fate of a star; specifically, around 10 M⊙, it determines whether a star explodes in a supernova or forms a white dwarf, while for larger masses it can dramatically increase the minimum main-sequence mass above which a star is expected to collapse to a black hole. (3) Mass loss before the supernova directly affects the circumstellar medium (CSM) which can affect the supernova spectrum (e.g. account for the IIn phenomenon), produce powerful radio emission and, in extreme cases, lead to a strong interaction with the supernova ejecta and thus strongly modify the lightcurve shape; it may even be responsible for some of the superluminous supernovae that have recently been discovered.

Tidal dissipation is known as one of the main drivers of the secular evolution of planetary systems. It directly results from dissipative mechanisms that occur in planets and stars' interiors and strongly depends on the structure and dynamics of the bodies. This work focuses on the mechanism of viscous friction in stars and planetary layers. A local model is used to study tidal dissipation. It provides general scaling laws that give a qualitative overview of the different possible behaviors of fluid tidal waves. Furthermore, it highlights the sensitivity of dissipation to the tidal frequency and the roles played by the internal parameters of the fluid such as rotation, stratification, viscosity and thermal diffusivity that will impact the spins/orbital architecture in planetary systems.

We present a comprehensive and sensitive unbiased survey of interstellar features in the near-UV range (3040-3700 Å). We combined a large number of VLT/UVES archival observations of a sample of highly reddened early type stars – typical diffuse interstellar band (DIB) targets. We stacked the individual observations to obtain a spectrum with a signal-to-noise ratio exceeding 1500. Careful inspection of this spectrum reveals tens of absorption features of interstellar nature, most of which can be identified with various atomic and molecular features. We furthermore detect four weak unidentified features, but we cannot establish their interstellar nature. Our sensitivity is limited by telluric and instrumental residuals; this precludes us from detecting broader features (e.g. DIBs). For each detected feature, we measured fundamental parameters (radial velocities, line widths, and equivalent widths). We also compare our co-added spectrum to cold gas-phase laboratory measurements of small, neutral polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules.