At the 2006 General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a proposal was adopted to form the Working Group (WG) for Numerical Standards of Fundamental Astronomy (NSFA). The goal of the WG is to update the “IAU Current Best Estimates" conforming with IAU Resolutions, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) Conventions, and the Système International d'Unités (SI). The need for changes to the numerical standards are due mainly to the adoption of a new precession model, the redefinition of Barycentric Dynamical Time (TDB), and the significant improvement of the accuracy of recent estimates for a number of constants. The work from the first triennium culminated in the acceptance at the 2009 IAU General Assembly of Resolution B2 which adopted the NSFA list of Current Best Estimates as the IAU (2009) System of Astronomical Constants.

The Hubble Space Telescope has served the critical roles of microscope and movie camera in the past 20 years of research on planetary nebulae (“PNe”). We have glimpsed the details of the evolving structures of neutral and ionized post-AGB objects, built ingenious heuristic models that mimic these structures, and constrained most of the relevant physical processes with careful observations and interpretation. We have searched for close physical binary stars with spatial resolution ~50 AU at 1 AU, located jets emerging from the nucleus at speeds up to 2000 km s−1 and matched newly discovered molecular and X-ray emission regions to physical substructures in order to better understand how stellar winds and ionizing radiation interact to form the lovely symmetries that are observed. Ultraviolet spectra of CNO in PNe help to uncover how stars process deep inside AGB stars with unstable nuclear burning zones. HST broadband imaging has been at the forefront of uncovering surprisingly complex wind morphologies produced at the tip of the AGB, and has led to an increasing realization of the potentially vital roles of close binary stars and emerging magnetic fields in shaping stellar winds.

Every model for the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) requires that binaries pass through an epoch during which a white dwarf (WD) orbits a non-degenerate star. Depending on the mass of the WD, the radius of its companion, and the orbital separation, the WD may lens its companion. The lensing event would be an antitransit, an increase in light from the companion that can rise to the level of a percent or more, during an interval of hours. Antitransits are periodic. By studying them we can determine the properties of both the WD and its companion, as well as the characteristics of the orbit. Lensing events of this type are almost certain to be observed by the Kepler mission, while some can even be detected by ground-based surveys. Antitransits and transits will both provide valuable insight into the end states of common envelope evolution and of stable mass transfer, resolving issues that must be understood before we can fully unravel the progenitor puzzle.

The dynamic transient gamma-ray sky is revealing many interesting results, largely due to findings by Fermi and Swift. The list includes new twists on gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), a GeV flare from a symbiotic star, GeV flares from the Crab Nebula, high-energy emission from novae and supernovae, and, within the last year, a new type of object discovered by Swift—a jetted tidal disruption event. In this review we present highlights of these exciting discoveries. A new mission concept called Lobster is also described; it would monitor the X-ray sky at order-of-magnitude higher sensitivity than current missions can.

We have fully characterized the NGSL stellar spectral library, which allows us to open the UV stellar spectral range for stellar population studies. We have performed the necessary steps to prepare this library for its implementation in models synthesizing SEDs of stellar cluster and galaxy spectra. We have determined and homogenized the atmospheric parameters of the stars of this library with the aid of a full spectrum-fitting algorithm, using the MILES spectral library as a template. We also have characterized the resolution of this library and corrected systematic effects in the optical spectral range to achieve a precision of 10% of the dispersion.

Bipolar outflows constitute some of the best laboratories to study shock chemistry in the interstellar medium. A number of molecular species have their abundance enhanced by several orders of magnitude in the outflow gas, likely as a combined result of dust mantle disruption and high temperature gas chemistry, and therefore become sensitive indicators of the physical changes taking place in the shock. Identifying these species and understanding their chemical behavior is therefore of high interest both to chemical studies and to our understanding of the star-formation process. Here we review some of the recent progress in the study of the molecular composition of bipolar outflows, with emphasis in the tracers most relevant for shock chemistry. As we discuss, there has been rapid progress both in characterizing the molecular composition of certain outflows as well as in modeling the chemical processes likely involved. However, a number of limitations still affect our understanding of outflow chemistry. These include a very limited statistical approach in the observations and a dependence of the models on plane-parallel shocks, which cannot reproduce the observed wing morphology of the lines. We finish our contribution by discussing the chemistry of the so-called extremely high velocity component, which seems different from the rest of the outflow and may originate in the wind from the very vicinity of the protostar.

In this paper, we present a study about cultural astronomy among European colonists who settled in the northern area of the Argentinean province of Santa Fe, which is part of the southern Chaco. These colonists arrived among waves of immigration occurring in Argentina in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Ethnographic field research among these rural immigrants and their descendants revealed that a set of asterisms were distributed according to the origins of the different European communities and also according to their uses in agriculture, animal husbandry and meteorology.

Red supergiants (RSGs) are progenitors of Type IIP supernovae (SNe). It is suggested that RSGs can experience a mass loss with a very high mass-loss rate (even as high as 0.01 M⊙ yr−1) due to, e.g., dynamical instabilities of their envelopes (e.g., Yoon & Cantiello (2010)). Because of the extensive mass loss, RSGs can have very dense circumstellar medium (CSM) around them. If a SN explosion occurs soon after the extensive mass loss of a RSG, the SN ejecta will collide with the dense CSM. Due to the collision, the kinetic energy of the ejecta is converted to radiation energy and such SNe with collision can be brighter than usual Type IIP SNe. By performing one-dimensional multi-group radiation hydrodynamical calculations, we investigate the effects of the collision on Type IIP SN LCs. We show that if RSGs explode within a dense CSM, the SN will be very bright, especially in ultraviolet, at early epochs. We also compare our models with the ultraviolet-bright Type IIP SN 2009kf and show that the progenitor of SN 2009kf can be a massive RSG which experienced extensive mass loss just before its explosion. We conclude that this is evidence that massive RSGs experience extensive mass loss and the existence of such mass loss can actually be the cause of the contradiction between theoretical and observational mass ranges of Type IIP SN progenitors.

CCD photometric observations of the Algol-type eclipsing binary AT Peg have been obtained. The light curves are analyzed with modern techniques and new geometric and photometric elements are derived. A new orbital period analysis of the system, based on the most reliable timings of minima found in the literature, is presented and apparent period modulations are discussed with respect to the Light-Time effect (LITE) and secular changes in the system. The results of these analyses are compared and interpreted in order to obtain a coherent view of the system's behaviour.

Helioseismology is a very powerful tool that allows us to explore the interior of the Sun. Here we give particular emphasis to the justification for the likely location of the zone that is most sensitive to cycle-related changes. For the low degree modes we find that more than one timescale for changes in the oscillations is discovered. We also note the successive cycles have differing sensitivities to the activity. We end with a warning of the risk of being misled with short datasets such as are seen with stellar data.

Multiwavelength observations of gamma-ray burst afterglows are presented, in particular those in the optical and millimetre wavelengths. I will focus on the observations mostly carried out at Spanish ground-based observatories (mainly the 10.4m GTC) and at the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in the French Alps. The importance of global networks of robotic telescopes (like BOOTES, established worldwide) for early time observations in order to put constraints on the physical mechanisms of the GRB early time emission phase is also discussed. The overall observational efforts provide additional clues for a better understanding of the reverse and forward shock. Finally I will report on the Lomonosov/UFFO-p capabilities taking into account its launch in 2012.

The radio band is known to be rich in variable and transient sources, but exploration of it has only begun only in the last few years. Relevant time scales are as small as a fraction of a nanosecond (giant pulses from the Crab pulsar). Short transients (less than one second, say) have signal structure in the time-frequency plane at the very least because of interstellar plasma propagation effects (dispersion and scattering), and in some cases due to emission structure. Optimal detection requires handling a range of signal types in the time-frequency plane. Short bursts by necessity have very large effective radiation brightness temperatures associated with coherent emission processes. This paper surveys relevant source classes and summarizes propagation effects that must be considered to optimize detection in large-scale surveys. Scattering horizons for the interstellar and intergalactic media are defined, and the role of the radio band in panchromatic and multimessenger studies is discussed.

Combining recent mass determinations of Galactic CO white dwarfs and their progenitors with the latest evolutionary models for Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars, I review the initial-final mass relation (IFMR) of low- and intermediate-mass stars. In particular, I analyze the impact on the IFMR produced by a few critical processes characterizing the AGB phase, namely: the second and third dredge-up events, hot-bottom burning, and mass loss. Their dependence on metallicity and related theoretical uncertainties are briefly discussed.

As in the past, the primary activity of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements has been to prepare and publish a triennial (“2009”) report containing current recommendations for models for Solar System bodies (Archinal et al. (2011a)). The authors are B. A. Archinal, M. F. A'Hearn, E. Bowell, A. Conrad, G. J. Consolmagno, R. Courtin, T. Fukushima, D. Hestroffer, J. L. Hilton, G. A. Krasinsky, G. Neumann, J. Oberst, P. K. Seidelmann, P. Stooke, D. J. Tholen, P. C. Thomas, and I. P. Williams. An erratum to the “2006” and “2009” reports has also been published (Archinal et al. (2011b)). Below we briefly summarize the contents of the 2009 report, a plan to consider requests for new recommendations more often than every three years, three general recommendations by the WG to the planetary community, other WG activities, and plans for our next report.

New transit light curves of the third body in the system AV CMi have been obtained. The eclipsing pair's light curves were re-analysed with the W-D code and new absolute elements were derived for the two components. Moreover the new light curves (together with those given by Liakos & Niarchos 2010) of the third body transiting one of the components were analysed with the Photometric Software for Transits (PhoS-T). The results from both analyses are combined with the aim to study the nature of the third component.

TTauri disks located in nearby star-forming regions (e.g. Taurus-Auriga at 140 pc) are thought to be the site of planet formation, since proto-planetary disks orbiting around active (still accreting) TTauri stars should contain, in many cases, enough gas to form giant gaseous planets. As such, circumstellar disks are ideal laboratories to study planet formation, provided the gas and dust observations have enough sensitivity and resolving power. I will focus in these proceedings, on recent results of molecular observations which unveil the physical conditions of gas disks and reveal the weakness of our current understanding and modeling.

Post-AGB stars are key objects for the study of the dramatic morphological changes of low- to intermediate-mass stars on their evolution from the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) towards the planetary nebula stage. There is growing evidences that binary interaction processes may very well have a determining role in the shaping process of many objects, but so far direct evidence is still weak. We aim at a systematic study of the dust distribution around a large sample of post-AGB stars as a probe of the symmetry breaking in the nebulae around these systems. We used imaging in the mid-infrared to study the inner part of these evolved stars to probe direct emission from dusty structures in the core of post-AGB stars in order to better understand their shaping mechanisms. We imaged a sample of 93 evolved stars and nebulae in the mid-infrared using VISIR/VLT, T-Recs/Gemini South and Michelle/Gemini North. We found that all the the proto-planetary nebulae we resolved show a clear departure from spherical symmetry. 59 out of the 93 observed targets appear to be non resolved. The resolved targets can be divided in two categories. The nebulae with a dense central core, that are either bipolar and multipolar. The nebulae with no central core have an elliptical morphology. The dense central torus observed likely host binary systems which triggered fast outflows that shaped the nebulae.

Extracting star formation histories from spectra is a process plagued by numerous degeneracies among the parameters that contribute to the definition of the underlying stellar populations. Traditional approaches to overcome such degeneracies involve carefully defined line strength or spectral fitting procedures. However, all these methods rely on comparisons with population synthesis models. This paper illustrates alternative approaches based on the statistical properties of the information that can be extracted from uniformly selected samples of observed spectra, without any prior reference to modelling. Such methods are more useful with large datasets, such as surveys, where the information from thousands of spectra can be exploited to classify galaxies. An illustrative example is presented on the classification of early-type galaxies with optical spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

Sky observation in sub-tropical Andean areas, part of ancient Collasuyu, during the Inca empire (ca. 1470 A.D.) was characterized by the combined use of geographical, social, psychological and natural elements of the entorno (environment or landscape). From a phenomenological perspective, it would be understood as: the place (point of observation), the path (line or relation), the horizon (calendrical marker) and the zenith/anti-zenith (vertical projection) as an expression of ‘dwelling or living in the world’. I present results obtained from a spatio-temporal analysis of mountain worship which took place at the Atacama Indian community of Socaire, northern Chile (23° 35′ 28″S, 67° 52′ 36″W, 3274m AMSL). These indicate the existence of an animistic relationship between astronomical observations, the worship of mountains, and agricultural practices. The psychological phenomena of pareidolia, apophenia and hierophany also contribute to explain the mimetolith of the ‘Hand of God’ (formed by the Tumisa, Lausa, Chiliques, Ipira and Miñiques mountains) and the social categories of space and time in Socaire: ‘above, here, and down’; ‘right and left’; ‘female and male’; ‘noon and midnight’; ‘north and south’; and ‘visible and invisible’ (as complementary opposites or yanantin).

The time-latitude diagram of the photospheric magnetic field of the Sun during 1975-2011 (Kitt Peak NSO, SOLIS NSO, SOHO MDI data) is analyzed using Gnevysvev's idea of impulsed structure of sunspot cycle and a flux transport concept. It is demonstrated that poleward migrations of magnetic trailing polarities are closely associated with the impulses of sunspot activity. We use a fitting procedure to reconstruct the sunspot impulses and poleward magnetic field surges. We compare our results for Cycle 22 model with the time-latitude diagram of the photospheric magnetic field of the Sun.