The general background of this monograph and the aim of it is described in detail in Chapter I. As stated in 1.7 it is written according to the principle that "when rigour appears to conflict with simplicity, simplicity is given preference", which means that it is intended for a rather broad public. Not only graduate students but also advanced undergraduates should be able to understand at least most of it. This monograph is the result of many years of inspiring discussions with a number of colleagues, for which I want to thank them very much. Especially I should mention the groups in...

This book contains the lectures presented at the International Workshop on Relation between Laboratory and Space Plasmas held at Gakushi-Kaikan (University Alumni Association) Kanda in Tokyo, Japan on 14 - 15 April, 1980. Its aim was to bring together laboratory, fusion and space plasma physicists and to highlight the communality of basic plasma phenomena, similarities and differences observed in the laboratory and in space, thus exchanging information tnd views on new ideas to link both areas. Although similar type of conferences were held in Europe and recently in the States, this is the...

This is the latest effort in a sequence of presentations begun in 1949 with a series of lectures on long-focus photographic astrometry given by the author as Fulbright professor in Paris at the invitation by the late H. Mineur, at that time Director of the Institut d' Astrophysique. These earlier lectures were published as a series of review articles in Popular Astronomy (1951) and appeared both as Contributions de l'Institut d'Astrophysique, Serie A, No. 81 and as reprint No. 75 of Sproul Observatory. A more elaborate presenta tion was given in 1963 in Stars and Stellar Systems, which was...

Riccardo Giacconi Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics The meeting of the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts on January 28- 30, 1980, marks the coming of age of X-ray astronomy. In the 18 years since the discovery of the first extrasolar X-ray source, Sco X-l, the field has experienced an extremely rapid instrumentation development culminating with the launch on November 13, 1978 of the Einstein Ob servatory (HEAO-2) which first introduced the use of high resolution imaging telescopes to the study of galactic and...

In recent years, it has become clear that the red-giant phase is one of the most dramatic periods in a star's life, when all of its parts become involved in ways that have both direct and indirect observational consequences. This is most particularly true of low- and intermediate mass stars during the second ascent of the giant branch. Such stars bring to their surfaces products of nucleosynthesis currently taking place in their deep interiors, they pulsate as Mira variables, develop extended outward-flowing atmospheres that may exhibit maser properties, and shed great quantities of matter,...

The IAU Colloquium No. 59, "The effects of mass loss on Stellar Evolution" was held on September 15-19, 1980 at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Miramare, Trieste (Italy), under the auspices of the IAU Executive Co~ mittee and the Italian National Council of Research. The planning of this conference began two years ago du- ring the IAU Symposium No. 83 "Mass loss and evolution of 0 type stars" (Qualicum Beach, Victoria, Canada) when we felt that mass loss and its effects on the evolution of stars was too broad a subject for being confined to 0 type stars only. Therefore we...

Professor Zdenek Kopal is sixty-seven this year even though his scientific activity, enthusiasm and springy step hardly betray the ad- vancement in years. He carne to Manchester as Professor of Astronomy thirty years ago after a very fruitful association of fourteen years with the Harvard Observatory. Much impressed with the young man, Harlow Shapley, who with characteristic insight had recognised in Kopal the qualities that have since made him an outstanding leader in ec1ipsing binary research, had invited him over as a Research Associate. In the subsequent decade Kopal set about the task of...

A meeting on "Astrophysics. from Spacelab" was held at the Internatio- nal Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, in the Autumn of 1976. Scope of the meeting was to bring to the attention of an increasing number of physi- cists and astrophysicists, including scientists from developing countries, the new facil ities made available by the combination of the Shuttle and the Spacelab programmes. This book starts from that meeting and includes, together with reports presented in Trieste, duly updated, a few additional reviews on selected to- pi cs. In the first part, D.J.Shapland and G.Giampalmo...

Since their first detection 15 years ago, radio recombination lines from several elements have been observed in a wide variety of objects including HII regions, planetary nebulae, molecular clouds, the diffuse interstellar medium, and recently, other galaxies. The observations span almost the entire range from 0.1 to 100 GHz, and employ both single djsh and aperture synthesis techniques. The theory of radio recombination lines has also advanced strongly, to the point where it is perhaps one of the best-understood in astro physics. In a parallel development, it has become possible over the...

The 4th European Regional Meeting in Astronomy, entitled "Stars and Star Systems", was held in Uppsala, Sweden, on August 7 -12, 1978. It was attended by 228 participants from 24 countries. Over 100 papers were presented; this required parallel sessions throughout the Meeting. Financial support was given by the IAU, the Swedish Department of Education, the Swedish Natural Science Research Council, the Swedish Institute and the University of Uppsala. The members of the Scientific and Local Organizing Committees are listed below, and I thank all of them for their contributions to the Meeting....