The halo masses of nearby individual elliptical galaxiescan be estimated by using the kinematics of their stars, planetary nebulae, and globularclusters–ideally in combination.With currently improving coverage of galaxies of ordinary luminosities and morphologies,systematic trends may be identified.Bright, boxy ellipticals show strong signatures of dark matter,while faint, disky ones typically do not.The former result is problematic for the MOND theory of gravity, and the latter is a challenge to explain in theΛCDM paradigm of galaxy formation.

Direct imaging searches have begun to detect planetary and brown dwarf companions and to place constraints on the presence of giant planets at large separations from their host star. This work helps to motivate such planet searches by predicting a population of young giant planets that could be detectable by direct imaging campaigns. Both the classical core accretion and the gravitational instability model for planet formation are hard-pressed to form such planets in situ. Therefore, direct imaging searches have traditionally appealed to the possibility of in situ planet formation via a large scale gravitational instability. Here, we show that dynamical instabilities among planetary systems that originally formed multiple giant planets much closer to the host star could produce a population of giant planets at large separations. The number and distribution of such planets is a strong function of time, complicating the statistical analysis of direct imaging surveys. The number and radial distribution of such planets is related to the number of giant planets formed per host star and the timescale for the disk evolution. Thus, direct imaging programs with sufficient sensitivity and survey size could place interesting constraints on planet formation models.

The emission properties of the components of the multiphase interstellar medium (ISM) require observations at very different wavelengths covering the range from X-rays for the hot phase to radio emission for the non-thermal component. This contribution gives an overview of the observational evidence for the presence of a multiphase ISM in halos of spiral galaxies. It is shown that the presence of halo gas correlates with the starformation rate in the disk. Recent radiocontinuum observations for NGC 253 are discussed with regard to the propagation of cosmic rays into the halos.

GAIA will be of paramount importance to understand the Galacticstructure. Here we focus on the determination of the star formationhistory (SFH) of the Galactic disk and bulge. We discuss whether GAIAwill be able to isolate a sample of stars with the samecharacteristics of Hipparcos data (completeness over a certaincritical magnitude and high precision in the distance) which will castlight on the SFH of the whole disk. We analyze the expected results intwo directions, namely the BW and the Galactic pole. Finally wediscuss the contribution of GAIA to the study of the SFH of the bulge.

The BATSE experiment on the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory was the first large detectorsystem designed for the study of gamma-ray bursts. The eight large-area detectors allowedfull-sky coverage and were optimized to operate in the primary energy region of emissionof most GRBs. BATSE provided detailed observations of the temporal and spectralcharacteristics of several thousand GRBs, and it was the first experiment to provide rapidnotifications of the coarse location of many them. It also provided strong evidence forthe cosmological distances to GRBs through the observation of the sky distribution andintensity distribution of numerous GRBs. The large number of GRBs observed with the high-sensitivity BATSE detectors continues to provide a database of GRB spectral and temporalproperties in the primary energy range of GRB emission that will likely not be exceededfor at least another decade. The origin and development of the BATSE experiment, somehighlights from the mission and its continuing legacy are described in this paper.

We report on spectropolarimetric observations of 7 A-type supergiantstaken with the MuSiCoS echelle spectropolarimeter mounted at the 2 m Bernard Lyot telescope at the Pic du Midi, during June-July 1999 and June-July 2002. We present the values of the derived longitudinal component of the magnetic field. The significance of the results isdiscussed.

Recent observations of broad-band afterglow of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) suggest that thestandard external shock model cannot account for all the data. The observed “afterglow” ofsome GRBs includes the contributions from at least three emission components.Theoretically, there are naturally three emission sites. Besides the traditional externalforward shock, the existence of X-ray flares demands late central engine activities of theGRB central engine, so that an “internal dissipation” region of the late wind is anotheremission site. After dissipation, this late wind would inevitably catch up with theblastwave, giving rise to a third emission site at a long-lasting reverse shock. Somerecent efforts in understanding the broadband afterglow are reviewed.

The original title of this contribution was "Magnetic Fields in theVicinity of Young Stars". One of the goals was to show the impact ofthe large scale magnetic field on the gravitational collapse leadingto star formation, and also to discuss some of Jean-Louis Leroy'scontributions to the measurement of the polarisation, hence thedirection of the magnetic in the interstellar medium made withSTERENN, the polarimeter he and Jean-François Leborgne built for thePic-du-Midi observatory. Another goal of the talk was to survey thestate of our knowledge of the magnetic field in the immediatecircumstellar environment of young stars. In doing that we discoveredan interesting correlation. Therefore, this paper presents only abrief overview of the original talk presented at theconference. Instead, it emphasizes largely on what we consider to bethe most interesting aspect of what was presented, namely, thealignement of YSO, and in particular T Tauri stars, with the localmagnetic field in Taurus.

Spectral data reduction is a crucial step, as so important as the acquisition process. Rigor shall be as well applied at this stage to not degrade the quality of the data acquired. It is the last step before the computation of the astrophysical quantities. It is thus necessary to understand what is involved in each processing steps and the underlying limitations. Thus limitations or limit conditions are usually embedded and then hidden in a specific software command that everyone use without completely mastering what is really at stake. In this chapter we will introduced the different type of processing and spectral analysis which can dispose an amateur in several software packages. The first processing will treat about basic images correction which are linked to the CCD acquisition and the processes pipeline. We will then describe the different strategy to calibrate the spectral profile in wavelength and the few corrections driven by the earth environment to increase the accuracy of the future measurements. We will end with the description of few tools on quantitative spectral analysis and their limitations. The practice of spectral acquisition and processing is just at its beginning in amateur world. We hope that this section will demystify the essential step of spectral processing and will motivate the amateur to go beyond the contemplative watching of sky wonders.

Radiative accelerations are crucial quantities to study element diffusion instars. They strongly depend on atomic properties of ions in a way more or lesssimilar to opacities or synthetic spectra. Computations of radiativeaccelerations however have also some specific requirements which make them verysensitive to the quality of atomic data. We shall present various aspects of theradiative accelerations computations and discuss, through examples, how they areso closely related to the knowledge of atomic data.

In this talk I have presented the data analysis results of extracting properties of halo WIMPs: the mass and the (ratios between the) spin–independent and spin–dependent couplings/cross sections on nucleons by the amidas website. Although non–standard astronomical setup has been used to generate pseudodata sets for our analyses, it has been found that, without prior information/assumption about the local density and velocity distribution of halo Dark Matter, these WIMP properties have been reconstructed with  ~5% to ≲40% deviations from the input values.

The photometric instruments in space (most, corot)are going to open new insights on the knowledge of stellar interiors. However,ground-based asteroseismic observations remain justified as they can bring complementary velocity measurements, and allow the study of much more targets. A competitive instrument must make it possible the observation of a representative set of solar-like starswith magnitude down to 5, and a velocity precision as low as a few cm s-1 after 5 nights behind a 2-m class telescope. The siamois project based on a Fourier interferometer has emerged as asuitable solution to fulfil the specifications for a ground-basedasteroseismic network. The photon noise limitedperformances have been examined and compared to those of a gratingspectrometer (Mosser et al.  2003) showingthat this type of instrument can reach the required specifications. With a design based on a monolithic interferometer, with a compactinstrument easy to set up, to operate remotely with a limited data-flow, it can fit well the harsh conditions of Dome C. Main advantage, a single unit is needed due to the circumpolar position of the targets for the Doppler detection of stellaroscillations on solar-type stars.As a test bed, siamois could be put on 0.8-m class telescope like irait (Busso et al.   these proceedings).

Submillimeter dust continuum emission traces high molecular column densities and, thus,dense cloud regions in which new stars are forming. Surveys of the Galactic plane in suchemission have the potential of delivering an unbiased view of high-mass star formationthroughout the Milky Way. The location of the APEX telescope on the Chajnantor plateau inChile is ideally suited for mapping the inner Galaxy. ATLASGAL, The APEX Telescope LargeArea Survey of the Galaxy at 870 μm, is a survey of the Galactic planeusing the Large APEX Bolometer Camera (LABOCA), in the Galactic longitude and latituderanges of  ±60 and  ±1.5°, respectively. This survey is providing an unbiased sample ofcold dusty clumps in the Galaxy at submillimeter wavelength and a variety of molecularline follow-up observations have been started to characterize the physical and chemicalconditions in the newly found clumps. Here, first results from this survey and itsfollow-up programs are described.

The ESA space mission Gaia, planned to be launched at the end of 2013, will make astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic measurements of about 1 billion sources in our Galaxy. Amongst these sources will be numerous multiple systems. In the processing chain eclipsing binaries (EBs) will be detected and, if possible, their period and characteristics determined. Here we summarize the various steps that are foreseen to automatically classify and characterise these EBs.

We include a Chern-Simons term in a GL(3,R) gauge formulation ofgravity with a cosmological contribution in 2+1 dimension and weexplore consistence showing that excitations must be causal andstandard topological massive gravity is recovered from this typeof construction at the torsionless limit.

We present the Gaia-Groundbased Observation Service for Asteroids (Gaia-GOSA) which release is planned for April 2015. This web service aims to lay the foundation of a worldwide collaborative network of observers with the goal of collecting lightcurves around isolated photometric observations by the European Space Agency (ESA) Gaia mission. Such data will allow us to extract physical parameters of the observed asteroids, such as rotational period. Moreover, we will obtain a minimum threshold of the asteroid's lightcurve amplitude. The resulting catalogue might be used to enhance some of the problematic inversion scenarios or also for validation purposes.

Interstellar gas is thought to be heated by photoelectronsejected by small grains and PAHs. This process is reviewed and evidence for its importance is examined.In particular, the importance of the PAH charge for the photo electric effect and for the spectral characteristics of interstellar PAHs is discussed.

Open clusters are laboratories for testing theories of binary evolution and dynamics against detailed observations. As part of the WIYN Open Cluster Study (WOCS), we are currently observing several open clusters spanning a wide range in age and metallicity, with primary goals of determining the binary frequencies and distributions of binary orbital parameters for their solar-type stars. Currently, the three WOCS clusters with the most complete data sets are M35 (0.15 Gyr), M67 (4 Gyr) and NGC 188 (7 Gyr). Despite the large differences in age, we find that all three of these rich clusters have remarkably similar solar-type binaries that are also consistent with comparable binaries in the Galactic field. These data have been critical for guiding our sophisticated open cluster N-body simulations, which enable us to investigate the dynamical evolution of rich binary populations and the production of exotic stars, like blue stragglers, within open clusters.

The internal antarctic plateau revealed in the last years to be a site with interesting potentialities for the astronomical applications due to the extreme dryness and low temperatures, the typical high altitude of the plateau, the weak level of turbulence in the free atmosphere down to a just few tens of meters from the ground and the thin optical turbulence layer developed at the ground. The main goal of a site testing assessment above the internal antarctic plateau is to characterize the site (optical turbulence and classical meteorological parameters) and to quantify which is the gain we might obtain with respect to equivalent astronomical observations done above mid-latitude sites to support plans for future astronomical facilities. Our group has been involved, since a few years, in studies related to the assessment of this site for astronomical applications that include the characterization of the meteorological parameters and optical turbulence provided by general circulation models as well as mesoscale atmospherical models and the quantification of the performances of Adaptive Optics (AO) systems. In this talk I will draw the status of art of this site assessment putting our studies in the context of the wide international site testing activity that has been done in Antarctica. I will focus on the site assessment relevant to astronomical applications to be done in the visible up to the near infrared ranges, i.e. those ranges for which the optical turbulence represents a perturbing element for the quality of the images and the AO techniques an efficient tool to correct these wavefront perturbations.