We have a project, under the aegis of the Nearby Stars (NStars)/Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science Program to obtain the spectra, the spectral types, and, where feasible, the basic physical parameters for the 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 within 40 parsecs of the Sun. There are 66 B-to-early-F stars among the first 664 stars analyzed in the Northern hemisphere, and 38 of the same among a similar number of Southern hemisphere stars. With these we can start looking at the statistics of Ap, Am, $\lambda$ Boötis, and other A-type stars for a volume-limited sample, and we can find out just how well we know our neighbors. The project's data are available on our website, http://stellar.phys.appstate.eduTo search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

We present an overview of the initial data processing of near-IR bi-dimensional spectroscopy of the central region of two nearby (v < 3000 km s−1) Active Galactic Nuclei, obtained using the CIRPASS IFU at Gemini South.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

A cross-dispersed spectrophotometer with a back-illuminated uv-coated CCD detector and its automated 0.5-m telescope at the Fairborn Observatory, Washington Camp, AZ now under construction, should begin scientific observations in the Spring of 2005. The Citadel ASTRA (Automated Spectrophotometric Telescope Research Associates) Telescope will be able to observe Vega the primary standard, make rapid measurements of the naked-eye stars, use 10 minutes per hour to obtain photometric measurements of the nightly extinction, and obtain high quality observations of $V = 10.5$ mag. stars in an hour. The approximate wavelength range is $\lambda$ 3300-9000 with a resolution of 14 Å in first and 7 Å in second order. Filter photometric magnitudes and indices will be calibrated in part for use as quality checks.

First a grid of secondary standards will be calibrated differentially with respect to Vega. They will also be used to find the nightly extinction. The candidates were selected from the most stable bright secondary stars of the grating scanner era, the least variable main sequence B0-F0 band stars in Hipparcos photometry, and metal-poor stars. Continued measurements of secondary stars will be used to improve the quality of the secondary standard fluxes. Science observations for major projects such as comparisons with model atmospheres codes and for exploratory investigations should also begin in the first year of scientific observations. The ASTRA team realizes to deal with this potential data flood that they will need help to make the best scientific uses of the data. Thus they are interested in discussing possible collaborations. In less than a year of normal observing, all isolated stars in the Bright Star Catalog that can be observed can have their fluxes well measured. Some A star related applications are discussed.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

The interplay between stellar populations and gas in local starburst galaxies is analyzed using images from the Hubble Space Telescope to map the ages of the young stellar components and to isolate the contribution of shocks on spatial scales ranging from a few tens of pc to ∼1 kpc. The shocked gas represents a small fraction of the total ionized gas in these objects, yet it can have profound effects on the long–term evolution of the starburst, which may include the triggering of new star formation.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Sub-second time structure of hard X-rays observed during solar flares by spectrometer “IRIS” on a board of CORONAS satellite are discussed. The burst duration of 80ms and FWHM about 30ms are recorded in powerful flare of August 20, 2002 year at 0828:16.77 UT. A confidence level of this peak is 6$\sigma$.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Secular evolution and fueling is driven by bars in spiral galaxies, and the related dynamical processes are reviewed. It is shown that gravity torques dominate over viscous torques, and produce gas infall to the center. In this infall, the bar wave accepts the angular momentum, which produces its destruction. In the end, a central mass concentration is built, which also contributes to this destruction. While gas can be stalled at ILR for a while, secondary bars then take over the fueling. In a galaxy life-time, several bar episodes can successively develop. Through external gas accretion, disks are replenished by intermittence, between two bar phases. While the general trend for a galaxy is to evolve towards early-types, its morphology can oscillate, and turn back transiently to later-types.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

During the period from 19 October to 4 November 2003, there was a sudden and high Solar activity. During this period the sunspot area increased from 1110 10E-6 Hemisphere on 19 October to 5690 10E-6 Hemisphere on 30 October, then decreased to 1110 10 E-6 Hemisphere at 4 November 2003. Also, the radio flux of 10.7 cm increased from 120 sfu on 19 October to 298 sfu on 26 October, then decrease to 168 sfu on 4 November 2003. There were two eruptive solar proton flares released on 26 and 28 October 2003, where the last one is the most eruptive flare recorded since 1976 with importance X17/4B. The proton event affecting the Earth's environment, with energy ¿10 MeV is 29500 particle flux units, on 29 October 2003 as recorded by spacecraft SOHO, due to the solar flares of 28 October. The peak of the Solar cycle 21 was at 1979, but high energetic Solar flares, or secondary peaks, occurred at the declining phase in 1981, 1982, and 1984 before the solar activity minimum in 1986. Also, the peak of the solar cycle 22 was at 1989 but high energetic solar flares occurred at the declining phase in 1991, 1992, and 1994, before the solar activity minimum in 1996. Then the secondary peaks were occurred during 2 to 3 years after the first peak, as deduced from the last five solar cycles. The period of 19 Oct. to 4 Nov. 2003 is the second peak of the solar cycle 23, where the main peak of the solar cycle 23 was at 2001. There are many terrestrial influences, due to the solar activity during Oct.-Nov. 2003. These influences are studied in details, especially the geomagnetic storms and their effects on humankind daily activity.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

We present a progress report on the POLLUX database which contains high resolution echelle spectra of standard stars and a library of synthetic spectra. This set of observed and synthetic spectra provides a broad coverage of the atmospheric parameters and spectral types across the HR diagram.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

New infrared spectroscopy of 22 high-luminosity high-redshift AGNs helps to test several suggestions regarding the mass, composition and size of the emission line regions in active galacic nuclei (AGN). A plot of the metalicity luminosity correlation over more than five orders of magnitude in luminosity shows that most narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies fall outside of the general trend. However, when L/LEdd is plotted instead of luminosity, all sources follow the same trend suggesting this to be the primary driver of the correlation. Regarding the narrow emission lines in the most luminous sources, there is a dichotomy in the observed properties where 2/3 of the sources show very strong [O III] lines while the remaining 1/3 have no detectable NLR. On the basis of this I argue that earlier proposed relations of the type $R_{NLR}\propto L_{{\rm [O III]}}^{1/2}$ must break down for RNLR exceeding a few kpc. Thus, NLRs in high luminosity AGN may be very different from those observed in nearby sources. In particular, some high luminosity sources may be in a phase of violent star-formation that produce a large quantity of high density gas in their central kpc.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

The single-lined 51.420d spectroscopic binary $\alpha$ Dra (HD 123299, Thuban, spectral type A0 III) is a slightly metal poor star. First orbital elements were obtained by Harper in 1907. Mizar A (HD 116656, spectral type A2 V) is a double-lined 20.53 d spectroscopic binary first reported by Pickering in 1890. Its orbital elements were determined by Vogel in 1901. The redetermination of the orbital elements for these two binaries used the spectrum disentangling computer code KOREL (Hadrava 1995, 1997). We present revised orbital elements based on new electronic spectra taken at the Ondřejov Observatory between 1994 and 2003.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

The observations of the bursts with fine structures are one of the best remote sensing probe of the primary energy release sites in solar flares. The Siberian Solar Radiotelescope (SSRT) gives us the unique possibility of direct measurements of their positions with temporal resolution up to 14 ms and spatial resolution of a few arcsec. National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) spectropolarimeters (5.2–7.7 GHz) provide us with the simultaneous spectral data around the SSRT receiving frequency (5.7 GHz). An analysis is made of the subsecond pulses observations: short wide range pulses, U-type microwave bursts, the bursts with zebra pattern.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

More than 30 active regions were observed on the Sun during October-November 2003 by SOHO. Approximately half of such regions induced hard X-ray and $\gamma$-ray emission and some solar flares with class M and X were detected during this time by GOES, RHESSI and other experiments. 5 solar flares were detected by AVS-F instrument onboard CORONAS-F satellite. Nuclear $\gamma$-emission lines were detected during some flares observed in this period, in particular, during all flares on October 29 2003.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Interactions between galaxies are suggested to be a mechanism responsible for feeding Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Theoretical models show that interactions are an efficient way to drive gas from the galaxy to the nucleus, however, the observational evidence on this subject is controversial. Here we review results in this field, discuss possible limitations of previous studies and the importance of dealing with selection effects. We also show that there is no significant difference in the percentage of low luminosity AGN and normal galaxies with companions, and discuss possible interpretations of this result.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Using two different kinds of state-of-the art numerical simulations, we discuss 1) formation of a spiral galaxy and its stellar/gaseous cores, and 2) multi-phase gas models in the circum nuclear region and their ‘pseudo-observations’ using 3-D non-LTE radiation transfer calculations for molecular lines. We found that a galactic core in a spiral galaxy seen in our N-body/SPH simulations coevolves with the galaxy itself, as a result the average mass ratio is about 0.01. The spin-axis of the core is frequently changed associating with major-mergers, where the mass accretion rate for the central 0.5 kpc is also temporally enhanced. We expect that the ‘obscuring molecular tori’ around AGNs is very inhomogeneous and turbulent on a pc-scale, and this could be resolved in the nearby active galaxies using the ALMA. We also found that the CO-to-H2 conversion factor (X-factor) calculated from 12CO (J = 1-0) is NOT uniformly distributed in the central 100 pc region, but $X_{\rm CO (J=3-2)}$ is more uniform, and ∼0.3×1020 cm−2 (K km s−1)−1 is suggested.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

AVS-F instrument (Amplitude-Time Spectrometry of the Sun) is the system of an electronics engineering for onboard data gathering from two detectors: scintillation (CsI (Tl)) detector SONG-D (SOlar Neutrons and Gamma quantums) of complex of detectors SKL (in low and high gamma-band) and from semiconducting detector (X-ray semiconducting spectrometer) XSS-1 (in X-ray band). The experiment is carried out on the satellite CORONAS-F launched on July 31 2001. During more than 2,5 year of apparatus operation more than 30 of solar flares were detected. Characteristics of observed solar flares are presented in this article.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

We report a detailed examination about the relationship between the evolution of the H$\alpha$ flare ribbons and the released magnetic energy during an X2.3 solar flare which occurred on 2001 April 10. We successfully evaluated the released energy quantitatively, based on the magnetic reconnection model. We measured the photospheric magnetic field strengths and the separation speeds of the fronts of the H$\alpha$ flare ribbon, and estimated the released magnetic energy at the flare by using those values. Then, we compared the estimated energy release rates with the nonthermal behaviors observed in hard X-rays and microwaves. We also estimated the magnetic energy released during the flare. The estimated energy release rates in the H$\alpha$ kernels associated with the hard X-ray sources are locally large enough to explain the difference between the spatial distribution of the H$\alpha$ kernels and the hard X-ray sources. Furthermore, we reconstructed the peaks in the nonthermal emission by using the estimated energy release rates.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Magnetic fields are crucial to the generation of turbulence and the dynamics of accretion and energy dissipation in accretion disks. Nevertheless, until now, there has been no self-consistent analytic formalism that puts the evolution of turbulent magnetic fields on the same footing as other dynamical processes such as mass flow and energy generation. We have developed a self-consistent framework for turbulent, magnetized accretion disks with the aim of studying the processes that power hot coronae. Utilizing this framework we have identified the possible magnetic sources of power for the coronae of black hole accretion disks. The most promising is the Poynting flux associated with the azimuthal-vertical magnetic stress. We also determine how the emission from the disk is modified by the processes that power the corona and related winds.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Our recent Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of two high redshift broad absorption line (BAL) quasars have revealed the presence of massive outflows of highly ionized, high-metallicity material driven from near the black hole (a few gravitational radii) with velocities of up to 0.4c. The inferred mass outflow rates of 1–10 $M_{\odot}$ yr−1 and the measured outflow velocities, that significantly exceed the escape velocities of galaxies and clusters of galaxies, imply that quasar winds provide an important feedback mechanism for kinetic energy injection into the IGM. These quasar outflows may also play an important role in the coevolution of black holes and their host galaxies. We present new constraints on the location of the X-ray BAL material based on our analysis of the variability of the ionization properties of the X-ray absorbers. The location and ionization properties of the X-ray BAL material are crucial in inferring the mass outflow rate and rate of kinetic energy injected into the IGM.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

We describe fully consistent NLTE radiation hydrodynamic simulations of the propagation of acoustic waves in sunspot umbrae. In contrast to the case of the quiet internetwork Sun, we find that the observed behavior of the resonance lines of singly ionized calcium (H and K lines) cannot be explained without adding non-acoustic heating. The best agreement with observations is obtained with an extra heating term as a function of height that is constant per volume.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Hard X-ray radiation from several powerful solar flares was detected in October-November, 2003 by the SPR-N hard X-ray polarimeter onboard CORONAS-F satellite. In the October, 29 solar flare (20:40 - 21:00 UT) the X-ray radiation was strongly polarized (more than 70% of photons with energies 40-100 keV). In the flares 28.10.03 and 04.11.03 the emission was not polarized. The upper limits for the part of polarized photons at the level of tens percents were obtained in these flares.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html