We discuss implications of a strong flare event observed in the Seyfert galaxy MCG–6-30-15 assuming that the emission is due to localized magnetic reconnection. We conduct detailed radiative transfer modeling of the reprocessed radiation for a primary source that is elevated above the disk. The model includes relativistic effects and Keplerian motion around the black hole. We show that for such a model setup the observed time-modulation must be intrinsic to the primary source. Using a simple analytical model we then investigate time delays between hard and soft X-rays during the flare. The model considers an intrinsic delay between primary and reprocessed radiation, which measures the geometrical distance of the flare source to the reprocessing sites. The observed time delays are well reproduced if one assumes that the reprocessing happens in magnetically confined, cold clouds.

IZw18 has been recurrently claimed to be a young galaxy, but stars of increasingly older ages are found every time deeper magnitude levels are reached with high-resolution photometry: from the original few Myrs to, possibly, several Gyrs. We summarize the history of IZw18's age and an HST project which will allow us to derive both its distance and age.

Observations of the large scale magnetic field in the photosphere taken at the Wilcox Solar Observatory since 1976 up to 2005 have been analyzed to deduce its latitudinal and longitudinal structures, its differential rotation, and their variability in time. Basic topology of solar magnetic field was reconstructed in coordinate system rotating with different rate.

In 1984 an INTELSAT antenna of 32 m of diameter was constructed at 3 370 metres above the sea level on the Peruvian Andes. At the time Entel Perú the Peruvian tele-communications company managed the antenna station, of almost 12 hectares in extension. In 1993 the government transferred the station to the private telecommunications company Telefónica del Perú. Since transoceanic fiber optics replaced radically satellite communications in 2002, a beautiful 32- metre parabolic antenna was finished its tele-communications mission and become available for other use. So in cooperation with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan we began coordination to transform the antenna into a radio-telescope.

Researches on interstellar medium around Young Stellar Objects (YSO) are possible using methanol maser that emits at 6.7 GHz, so initially we will monitor and survey maser sources at the southern sky. An ambient temperature receiver with Trx = 60 K was developed at Nobeyama Radio Observatory and is ready to be installed. The antenna will be controlled by the Field System FS9 software installed in a PC within a Linux environment. An interface between antenna and PC was developed at Kashima Space Research Center in Japan by Mr E. Vidal.

In the near future S-band (2 GHz), X-band (8GHz), 12 GHz and 22 GHz observations are planned.

The peculiar position and altitude of the Peruvian Radio Observatory will be useful for VLBI observations with the VLBA for astronomical observation and geodetic measurements. For Peru where few or almost non astronomical observational instruments are available for research, implementation of the first radio observatory is a big step to foster sciences at graduate and postgraduate levels of universities.

Worldwide tele-communications antennas recently tend to finish their role as tele-communications antennas. Several of them are transformed into useful observational instruments.

We review the problem of particle acceleration in relativistic shocks or shear flows. We propose a converter mechanism, which operates via continuous conversion of accelerated particles from charged into neutral state and back, and show that it is capable of producing the highest energy cosmic rays.

TV cameras equipped with image intensifiers are suitable and often used instruments for observing faint meteors. Our regular double-station observations with image intensifiers Dedal (type Dedal 41) started in 1998. Since 2006 we perform observations using new Mullard XX1332 intensifiers. In this paper we present an overview of the eight years of Dedal era. The amount of observing hours, number of meteors, statistics how many meteors were recognized using the automatic system MetRec or found manually, etc. are presented for each year. We also briefly overview the science results from these observations.

We have redetermined the absolute dimensions of the mid B-type eclipsing binary U Oph from new light and radial-velocity curves, accounting for both the apsidal motion and the light-time orbit around the third star. The stars in U Oph have masses of 5.27 and 4.74 M⊙(±1.5%) and are located in the middle of the main-sequence band for an an age of ∼50 Myr. U Oph and three other systems (V760 Sco, MU, Cas and DI Her) all have components within 10% of 5M⊙ and ages below 100 Myr; we find significant heavy-element abundance differences between these young nearby stars.

The narrow line QSO PG1211+143 has been a focus of recent attempts to understand the soft excess in AGN, while the 2001 XMM-Newton observation of this luminous AGN also provided evidence for a massive and energetic outflow. Here we consider a physical link between the energetic outflow and the variable soft excess.

We are in the process to transform a 32m antenna in Peru, used for telecommunications, into a Radio Telescope to perform Radio Astronomy in Peru. The 32m antenna of Peru constructed by NEC was used for telecommunications with communications satellites at 6 GHz for transmission, and 4 GHz for reception.

In collaboration of National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) Japan, and National Observatory of Japan we developed an Antenna Control System for the 32m antenna in Peru. It is based on the Field System FS9, software released by NASA for VLBI station, and an interface to link PC within FS9 software (PC-FS9) and Antenna Control Unit (ACU) of the 32 meters antenna.

The PC-FS9 controls the antenna, commands are translated by interface into control signals compatibles with the ACU using: an I/O digital card with two 20bits ports to read azimuth and elevation angles, one 16bits port for reading status of ACU, one 24bits port to send pulses to start or stop operations of antenna, two channels are analogue outputs to drive the azimuth and elevation motors of the antenna, a LCD display to show the status of interface and error messages, and one serial port for communications with PC-FS9.

The first experiment of the control system was made with 11m parabolic antenna of Kashima Space Research Center-NICT, where we tested the right working of the routines implemented for de FS9 software, and simulations was made with looped data between output and input of the interface, both test were done successfully.

With this scientific instrument we will be able to contribute with researching of astrophysics. We expect to into a near future to work at 6.7GHz to study Methanol masers, and higher frequencies with some improvements of the surface of the dish.

We present the essential features of the ANTARES code. ANTARES has been developed to perform the simulation of astrophysical flows in one, two, or three dimensions. Using, in particular, the option of grid refinement, we present results for solar granulation achieved at very high spatial resolution.

We present preliminary results from a large-scale survey of the neutron(n)-capture elements Se and Kr in Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe). These elements may be produced in PN progenitors by s-process nucleosynthesis, and brought to the stellar envelope by third dredge-up (TDU). We have searched for [Kr iii] 2.199 and [Se iv] 2.287 $\mu$m in 120 PNe, and detected one or both lines in 79 objects, for a detection rate of 66%. In order to determine abundances of Se and Kr, we have added these elements to the atomic database of the photoionization code CLOUDY, and constructed a large grid of models to derive corrections for unobserved ionization stages. Se and Kr are enriched in $\sim$73% of the PNe in which they have been detected, and exhibit a wide range of abundances, from roughly solar to enriched by a factor of 10 or more. These enrichments are interpreted as evidence for the operation of the s-process and TDU in the progenitor stars. In line with theoretical expectations, Kr is more strongly enhanced than Se, and the abundances of both elements are correlated with the carbon abundance. Kr and Se are strongly enhanced in Type I PNe, which may be evidence for the operation of the $^{22}$Ne neutron source in intermediate-mass AGB stars. These results constitute the first broad characterization of s-process enrichments in PNe as a population, and reveal the impact of low- and intermediate-mass stars on the chemical evolution of trans-iron elements in the Galaxy.

The spectral and source characteristics of a complex radio burst observed with the spectrometers of China and the Nobeyama Radio Heliograph are analyzed. This burst presents two separate burst peaks occurred in different frequency range (broad-band microwave and narrow-band decimeter wavelengths). We stress that the late phase radio bursts in decimeter wavelength corresponding to the post-flare loops may be the radio homologous flare.

Integrated spectra of 10 concentrated Galactic open clusters were obtained in the (3600-6800)Å range using the CASLEO (Argentina) 2.15 m telescope. The method used to determine ages and reddening of the clusters consists of the following steps: (1) Estimation of the cluster age from equivalent widths of the Balmer lines. This age is practically independent of the reddening. (2) Choice of the template whose spectral features better resemble those of the observed spectrum. This choice was made by using the libraries of template spectra which were available at the moment of making use of this methodology. In a first approach, the age inferred by the previous method was adopted. (3) Variation of the reddening of the observed spectrum until obtaining the best match to the chosen template. The reddening corrections were done using the normal reddening law. In Table 1 we show the parameters derived here, where the ages values are in Myr.

Five out of the ten studied clusters have not been the subject of previous studies so that their fundamental parameters determined turn out to be the first of their kind. For the remaining clusters, the parameters derived exhibit good agreement with those determined in previous studies.

With the exception of ESO429-SC2, the remaining Galactic open clusters are located within two 90°. sectors centered at l = 343° and l = 253°, respectively. A comparison of the properties of the Galactic open clusters here studied to those of well-known clusters located in the above mentioned sectors, shows that, unless major star forming events had occurred in the Galactic disk in the last 100 Myr or so, the present results would favour an important dissolution rate of star clusters in the above mentioned Galactic sectors.

In order to elucidate star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a complete survey of the molecular clouds was carried out by NANTEN. In this work, we compare 230 giant molecular clouds (GMCs), whose physical quantities are well determined, with young clusters and Hii regions. We find that about 76% of the GMCs are actively forming stars or clusters, while 24% show no signs of massive star or cluster formation. Effects of supergiant shells (SGSs) on the formation of GMCs and stars are also studied. The number and surface mass densities of the GMCs are higher by a factor of 1.5–2 at the edge of the SGSs than elsewhere. It is also found that young stellar clusters are more actively formed in the GMCs facing to the center of the SGSs. These results are consistent with the previous studies by Yamaguchi et al. and suggest the formation of GMCs and the cluster is triggered by dynamical effects of the SGSs.

Spectra in the range 4000-7000 Å were obtained for a sample of bulge stars using the GMOS-Gemini low resolution spectrograph. The sample stars were selected from a VLT-FLAMES project for the observation of 1000 bulge stars, for which abundance ratios have been derived. Our aim is to study old stellar populations in external galaxies.

Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) in test-particle approximation is used for explaining the radio emission from shell-type SNRs.

Transport of the solar background large-scale magnetic regions is followed between individual consecutive magnetic synoptic charts derived from observing data of Kitt Peak NSO. During many solar rotations the horizontal magnetic flux displacement was described by large-scale horizontal transport velocities, inferred in many points over the whole solar photosphere. Large-scale transport velocities contains from both axially symmetric and non-axially symmetric components. The first one describes zonal and meridional global transport studied in time interval during three last solar activity cycles. Cycle dependent global velocities are found as values varying in heliographic latitude and in the phase of the solar cycle.

It is quite well established that shocks accelerate particles via the Fermi mechanism. We discuss common features of various extragalactic sources, ranging from Gamma-Ray Bursts and jets of Active Galactic Nuclei to Large-Scale Structure shocks and address how they affect particle acceleration. In particular, we address constraints on the maximum energy of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. Interestingly, some recent studies indicate that Fermi acceleration in relativistic shocks (and GRBs, in particular) faces severe difficulties. We will address this issue and demonstrate that the ‘observed’ shock acceleration of electrons may have nothing to do with Fermi acceleration, but may rather be associated with micro-physics of collisionless shocks.

Black hole masses in Active Galactic Nuclei have been determined in 35 objects through reverberation mapping of the emission line region. I mention some uncertainties of the method, such as the “scale factor” relating the Virial Product to the mass, which depends on the unknown structure and dynamics of the Broad Line Region.

When the black hole masses are estimated indirectly using the empirical size-luminosity relation deduced from this method, the uncertainties can be larger, especially when the relation is extrapolated to high and low masses and/or luminosities. In particular they lead to Eddington ratiosof the order of unity in samples of Narrow Line Seyfert 1. As the optical-UV luminosity is provided by the accretion disk, the accretion rates can be determined and are found to be much larger than the Eddington rates.

So, accretion must be performed at a super-critical rate through a slim disk, resulting in rapid growth of the black holes. The alternative is that the mass determination is wrong at this limit.

The method of spectra disentangling has been applied in many studies of different stellar systems up to the distance of Andromeda Galaxy. In some of these applications the underlying assumptions are not precisely satisfied. This is why new generalizations of the method are needed. Ways to overcome these problems are discussed here.