Dwarf galaxies offer a valuable insight into the physical processes that govern galaxy formation and evolution at high redshift. These elusive stellar systems are helping astronomers to find answers to some of the most burning questions in extragalactic astronomy. Present-day dwarf galaxies, the easily studied survivors of the primordial galaxy population, are important targets for research in the quest to provide local benchmarks for cosmological studies, in particular theories of structure formation. The proceedings of IAUC198 offer an exciting multidisciplinary collection of research...

Planetary nebulae represent the brief transition between Asymptotic Giant Branch stars and White Dwarfs. As multi-wavelength laboratories they have played a key role in developing our understanding of atomic, molecular, dust and plasma processes in astrophysical environments. The means by which their wonderfully diverse morphologies are obtained is currently the subject of intense research, including hydrodynamical shaping mechanisms and the role of binarity, stellar magnetic fields and rotation. Their contribution to the chemical enrichment of galaxies is another very active research area,...

Near Earth Objects (NEOs), asteroids and comets, are the closest neighbors of the Earth-Moon system. They allow research not yet possible on more distant bodies. The IAU Symposium 236 focused on the specific observation and modeling techniques for NEOs, including radar, exploration by spacecraft, measurement of non-gravitational perturbations; also on the next generation surveys expected to increase a hundred-fold the NEO discovery rate. With data from first generation NEO surveys, we now understand how they formed and evolve, dynamically and physically, opening a window on the universal...

New stars form in the dense turbulent gas clouds of galaxies. A wide variety of processes, with scales ranging from the size of a galaxy to the size of an individual star, drive interstellar turbulence and trigger dense cloud formation. The formation of these clouds is the subject of the IAU S237. This book is the most up-to-date review of all aspects of cloud and star formation. It summarizes the current state of understanding of triggered star formation in a turbulent interstellar medium. Topics covered range from observations and theory of turbulence in the ISM, to the formation of shells...

This volume presents papers concerning astronomy education and research in developing countries presented at a special session at the IAU 26th General Assembly in Prague. It gives a picture of the present state of astronomy in five major developing regions of the world: Latin America, Africa, Central Asia, the Far East and Eastern Europe. The book covers education and research, and also public outreach. New astronomy projects in developing countries are described, and initiatives to promote astronomy and space science from the UN and organizations other than the IAU are also covered. It...

Provides the most complete and up-to-date account of our understanding of the Magellanic Clouds and the astrophysical processes within them.

General relativity provides our best description of gravitation in modern physics currently all observations and tests of gravitational theories have agreed with it. GR is applied in fields as diverse as fundamental astronomy, astrophysics, geodesy, physics, and space sciences, where high-accuracy observations and measurements are taken or modeled. IAU Symposium 261 summarizes the present state of applied relativity. It considers the applications of general relativity in a wide range of disciplines: geodesy, navigation, solar system ephemerides, space missions, pulsar timing, high-accuracy...

IAU S258 discusses the problem of estimating ages of stars and stellar populations, a difficult challenge in astrophysics.

A complete record of the formal organisational and administrative proceedings of the XXVII General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union.

IAU Symposium 269 celebrates the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's discovery of the Medicean Moons, Jupiter's four largest satellites, exploring the impact his findings have had on science and the humanities. Galileo's instrumental discovery and his belief that the planets and moons in our Solar System could be habitable worlds encouraged a deeper understanding of our place in the Universe. Today, ongoing space missions to Jupiter's moons, our own Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Enceladus, reveal our continued fascination with the possibilities of alien life, but this time with a focus on...