Recent advances in computational power are now enabling scientists to consider problems of population dynamics at an advanced level regarding the small bodies of our solar system, the planets around other stars, dust belts, space debris, etc., and their collective dynamical evolution, stability and instability, order and chaos, aggregations and impacts. Important results on specific populations of celestial bodies, in addition to new methods of computation and analysis, have been obtained in the last few years. This proceedings volume reviews current understanding of the field, and is a...

This volume reviews recent research progress in the field of quasar absorption line systems, from both observational and theoretical perspectives. The seventy-eight papers cover topics ranging from the galaxy-absorber connection, Lyman-alpha systems, abundances and dust, and high redshift studies including re-ionisation, to models and numerical simulations concerning many of these aspects. The papers include detailed reviews by leading researchers in these fields as well as many new results reported here for the first time, and provide a valuable resource for graduate students and...

Until recently, black holes were often considered as exotic objects of dubious existence. In the last decade, observations have provided overwhelming evidence in favour of the presence of supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies, including the Milky Way; of stellar-mass black holes in binary stellar systems; and, possibly, of intermediate-mass black holes in ultraluminous X-ray sources in nearby galaxies. Black holes are now widely accepted as real physical entities, playing an important role in modern astrophysics. IAU S238 brought together observers and theoreticians working in...

Provides the latest summary on the solar coronal heating enigma and magneto-seismology of the solar atmosphere, for solar physics researchers.

Massive stars end their lives in fiery explosions and are manifest as core collapse supernovae (CCSNe) or gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In rare cases, a highly stripped massive star explodes and exhibits properties of both CCSNe and GRBs. In contrast, there are clear cases in which no bright supernova is found to be associated with a GRB, and vice versa. The quest in understanding supernovae and GRBs, and the connection between them, has raised many questions. Since the elements synthesized in the explosion of massive stars are the building blocks for much of the visible Universe, it is important...

Presents an interdisciplinary discussion of stellar and solar astronomy, focussing on the recent findings in stellar magnetism and sunspots.

The Proceedings of IAU S248 reflect the state-of-the-art in the field of astrometry, summarizing the scientific achievements at the tenth anniversary of the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogue release. It shows the latest achievements in ground-based astrometry and details the progress of second-generation astrometric satellites. Currently, the highest accuracies at a micro-arc-second level are reached by interferometric techniques, especially at radio wavelengths. Establishing and maintaining the celestial reference frame at this level, within a relativistic framework, has been identified as one...

Cosmic masers, naturally occurring amplifiers of microwave emission from atoms and molecules in the Milky Way and other galaxies, provide important tools to investigate astrophysical environments. The first, Hydroxyl (OH) masers were discovered in 1965 and since that time several thousand sources of maser emission, from a variety of cosmic molecules have been discovered and studied. Because this natural emission occurs at discrete frequencies, which depend upon specific atomic or molecular transitions, masers are also useful for studying the structure and dynamics of our own galaxy. Masers in...

The lives of massive galaxies are affected by many key processes, including gas accretion and star formation, feedback and quenching, black hole growth, mass assembly, galaxy mergers and interactions, chemical enrichment and stellar populations, dark matter, galaxy haloes, and satellite accretion. These proceedings of IAU Symposium 295 discuss recent progress in galaxy formation and evolution, and plan ahead for future challenges. They cover, from both theoretical and observational perspectives, the lives of massive galaxies from the formation of the first galaxies in the early Universe,...

This discovery of several Earth-like planets within the habitable zones of their host stars has triggered extensive research on the formation, dynamical evolution, interior dynamics, and atmospheric characteristics of extrasolar habitable planets. IAU Symposium 293 presents a collection of articles on the state-of-the-art research on these topics, including new discoveries of habitable exoplanets. The volume starts by reviewing the current state of the detection of habitable planets, and after guiding the reader through the most recent theoretical and observational achievements on the...