The first astronomical photographic survey, the Carte du Ciél was initiated in 1887 by a group of French astronomers. The observational campaign was started in 1891, while the last of more than 22,000 total plates were photographed in 1950; most of observations (more than 90%) were performed prior to 1920. Detailed description of the Carte du Ciél development can be found elsewhere (Kolchinsky 1989, Eichhorn 1974, Debarbat et al. 1987).

The asymmetric rotor molecule methanol (CH3OH) has hundreds of transitions at centimeter-, millimeter-, and submillimeter wavelengths. Many of these are excited in the hot (T ≳ 150 K), dense (n ≳ 106 cm−3) molecular cloud cores surrounding newly formed massive stars or protostars. The high temperatures in these cores cause evaporation of icy grain mantles, releasing copious amounts of complex molecules, such as methanol, in the gas phase, which in hot cores has abundances (up to 10−6 relative to H2) that are two or more orders of magnitude higher than in cold dark clouds.

We have carried out a search for obscured AGB stars in the LMC, observing fields in the vicinity of faint IRAS sources. About 25 heavily reddened AGB stars were found, with bolometric magnitudes close to the classical AGB limit of Mbol = −7.1. 10−µm. photometry for 5 sources show that these are oxygen-rich; they are similar to the Galactic OH/IR stars. Mass-loss rates vary between 5×10−4 and 2×10−6 M⊙ yr−1. We find no evidence that the mass-loss rates vary with luminosity. Neither do the mass-loss rates differ in a clear systematic way between the SMC and the LMC. The expansion velocities appear to be slightly lower in the LMC than in the Galaxy. All of the luminous stars for which periods are available have luminosities significantly above the period-luminosity relation derived for optical LMC Miras.

In the past twenty years there has been a great amount of growth in radiometric observing methods, as well as in classical optical observations. Through radar ranging and Doppler observations of the planets and spacecraft, we have been able to improve our knowledge of the location and motion of the planets by several orders of magnitude and have succeeded in planning and executing space missions which would have been difficult if not impossible to plan and to perform utilizing the classical ephemerides. We will outline the goals and methods employed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in its effort to develop improved ephemerides which accurately reflect the motions of planets in an inertial system.

Palomar and Tautenburg Schmidt plates with a base line of about 35 years have been measured with the Automated Photographic Measuring (APM) system in Cambridge (UK) in order to obtain the proper motions of the Galactic dwarf spheroidal satellites (dSph) in Draco and Ursa Minor with respect to a well defined extragalactic reference frame. The investigations were encouraged by the accuracy level achieved for the mean absolute proper motions of galactic globular clusters (0.05 arcsec/century from 25 years base line Tautenburg plate pairs) which is comparable to the expected proper motion of the Draco and Ursa Minor dSph assuming tangential motions of about 100 km/s. Different methods for the removal of systematic errors in the absolute proper motion introduced by the measuring and reduction process are discussed. The more accurate relative proper motions of individual stars in both dSphs obtained by Stetson (1980) and by Cudworth, Olszewski & Schommer (1986) provide an external comparison and are also used to obtain the mean absolute proper motion of the dSphs.

The cosmic infrared background (CIB) radiation was a long-sought fossil of energetic processes associated with structure formation and chemical evolution since the Big Bang. The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) and Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) were specifically designed to search for this background from 1.25 μm to millimeter wavelengths. These two instruments provided high quality, absolutely calibrated all-sky maps which have enabled the first detections of the CIB, initially at far infrared and submillimeter wavelengths, and more recently in the near infrared as well. The aim of this paper is to review the status of determinations of the CIB based upon COBE measurements. The results show that the energy in the CIB from far infrared to millimeter wavelengths is comparable to that in the integrated light of galaxies from UV to near infrared wavelengths: the universe had a luminous but dusty past. On the assumption that nucleosynthesis in stars is the energy source for most of this light, the results also imply that 1–8% of cosmic baryons has been converted to helium and heavier elements in stars. The integrated background light from UV to millimeter wavelengths, 60–120 nW m−2 sr−1, is about 10% of that in the cosmic microwave background. Current knowledge of the CIB provides significant new constraints on models of the history of star formation and galaxy evolution.

The paper presents an overview of the problems astronomical data centers are facing today.

When one organizes a colloquium, one can do some fairly outrageous things, like putting ones own contribution first . However as an excuse for such a procedure, I shall say that I want really not to discuss that much what the C.D.S. itself does, but what problems we have been confronted with, specially those which came up since the last Strasbourg colloquium, or which got more complicated to handle.

We used our database of ESO VLT-UVES spectra of quasars to build up a sample of 67 damped Lyman-$\alpha$ (DLA) systems with redshifts $1.7<z_{\rm abs}<3.7$. For each system, we measured average metallicities relative to Solar, [X/H] (with either ${\rm X}={\rm Zn}$, S, or Si), and the velocity widths of low-ionisation line profiles, $W_{1}$. We find that there is a tight correlation between the two quantities, detected at the $5\sigma$ significance level. The existence of such a correlation, over more than two orders of magnitude spread in metallicity, is likely to be the consequence of an underlying mass-metallicity relation for the galaxies responsible for DLA absorption lines. The best-fit linear relation is $[{\rm X}/{\rm H}]=(91.35\pm 0.11)\log W_{1} -(3.69\pm 0.18)$ with $W_{1}$ expressed in km s$^{-1}$. While the slope of this velocity-metallicity relation is the same within uncertainties between the higher and the lower redshift bins of our sample, there is a hint of an increase in the intercept point of the relation with decreasing redshift. This suggests that galaxy halos of a given mass tend to become more metal-rich with time. Moreover, the slope of this relation is consistent with that of the luminosity-metallicity relation for local galaxies. The DLA systems having the lowest metallicities among the DLA population would therefore, on average, correspond to the galaxies having the lowest masses. In turn, these galaxies should have the lowest luminosities among the DLA galaxy population. This may explain the recent result that the few DLA systems with detected Ly$\alpha$ emission have higher than average metallicities.

Establishing the role of active galactic nuclei (AGN) during the formation of galaxies remains one of the greatest challenges of galaxy formation theory. Towards addressing this, we summarise our recent work investigating: (1) the physical drivers of ionised outflows and (2) observational signatures of the impact by jets/outflows on star formation and molecular gas content in AGN host galaxies. We confirm a connection between radio emission and extreme ionised gas kinematics in AGN hosts. Emission-line selected AGN are significantly more likely to exhibit ionised outflows (as traced by the [O iii] emission line) if the projected linear extent of the radio emission is confined within the spectroscopic aperture. Follow-up high resolution radio observations and integral field spectroscopy of 10 luminous Type 2 AGN reveal moderate power, young (or frustrated) jets interacting with the interstellar medium. We find that these sources live in highly star forming and gas rich galaxies. Additionally, by combining ALMA-derived dust maps with integral field spectroscopy for eight host galaxies of z ≈ 2 X-ray AGN, we show that Hα emission is an unreliable tracer of star formation. For the five targets with ionised outflows we find no dramatic in-situ shut down of the star formation. Across both of these studies we find that if these AGN do have a negative impact upon their host galaxies, it must be happening on small (unresolved) spatial scales and/or an observable galaxy-wide impact has yet to occur.

Stellar yields are a key ingredient in chemical evolution models. Stars with masses as low as 0.9M⊙, which have an age less than that of our Galaxy at low metallicity, can contribute to the chemical evolution of elements. Stars less than about 8–10M⊙ experience recurrent mixing events that can significantly change the surface composition of the envelope. Evolved stars are observed with surface enrichment in carbon, nitrogen, fluorine, and heavy elements synthesized by the slow neutron capture process (the s-process). These stars release their nucleosynthesis products through stellar outflows or winds, in contrast to massive stars that explode as core-collapse supernovae. Here I review stellar yields for stars up to 10M⊙, including a brief discussion of their uncertainties and shortcomings. Finally, I discuss efforts by various groups to address these issues and to provide homogeneous yields for low and intermediate-mass stars covering a broad range of metallicities.

The observation of prominences with ground-based telescopes suffers from poor image quality due to atmospheric turbulence when compared with space-borne instruments which, for solar observations, are of similar apertures. To make ground-based instruments competitive, they should rely on spectropolarimetry and the measurement of prominence magnetic fields, a task which no foreseable space instrument will perform. But spectropolarimetry alone does not suffice, and we argue that future instrumentation should combine it with imaging in a large field of view and good temporal resolution. We place numbers on those requirements and give examples of instrumental accomplishments already at work today that forecast a new generation of instruments for the observation of prominences from ground-based telescopes.

Cir X-1 is a young X-ray binary exhibiting X-ray flux changes of four orders of magnitude over several decades. It has been observed many times since the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory with high energy transmission grating spectrometer and each time the source gave us a vastly different look. At its very lowest X-ray flux we found a single 1.7 keV blackbody spectrum with an emission radius of 0.5 km. Since the neutron star in Cir X-1 is only few thousand years old we identify this as emission from an accretion column since at this youth the neutron star is assumed to be highly magnetized. At an X-ray flux of 1.8×10−11 erg cm−2 s−1 this implies a moderate magnetic field of a few times of 1011 G. The photoionized X-ray emission line properties at this low flux are consistent with B5-type companion wind. We suggest that Cir X-1 is a very young Be-star binary.

Evidence for magnetic surface activity among cool stars of low gravity is discussed.

A basic-level summary is provided of work since late 1993 to control light pollution in Chile. The purpose of this article is to stimulate such work inside Chile and to promote good lighting in developing countries in general. Chile is selected as the case study because of its critical importance to optical and radio astronomy, and the related economic and cultural benefits for Chile and the world. Examples are presented in some detail in order to illustrate adjustments that have been made to accommodate local scientific, cultural and economic realities and to show that it is necessary to anticipate the issues involved in controlling light pollution several decades before it would otherwise become a problem. It is hoped that international organizations such as the IAU, the IDA and the CIE can soon promote programmes in Chile that can serve as pilot programmes for other parts of the developing world.

We present the distribution of luminous and dark matter in a set of strong lensing (early-type) galaxies. By combining two independent techniques – stellar population synthesis and gravitational lensing – we can compare the baryonic and dark matter content in these galaxies within the regions that can be probed using the images of the lensed background source. Two samples were studied, extracted from the CASTLES and SLACS surveys. The former probes a wider range of redshifts and allows us to explore the mass distribution out to ~ 5Re. The high resolution optical images of the latter (using HST/ACS) are used to show a pixellated map of the ratio between total and baryonic matter. We find dark matter to be absent in the cores of these galaxies, with an increasing contribution at projected radii R ≳ Re. The slopes are roughly compatible with an isothermal slope (better interpreted as an adiabatically contracted NFW profile), but a large scatter in the slope exists among galaxies. There is a trend suggesting most massive galaxies have a higher content of dark matter in the regions probed by this analysis.

The eclipsing binaries UW CMa, AO Cas, and V729 Cyg have been systems of great interest for over fifty years. The light curves are complex and suffer significant changes on a time scale of months, but the primary attraction of these systems is that both components have O-type spectra; thus they present us with some of the few possibilities for direct measurement of absolute dimensions of very massive stars. Much effort has been expended on these systems, but no really consistent model has emerged.

We investigate the properties of the dark halo of the dust-lane elliptical galaxy NGC 3108. This galaxy contains a large massive gaseous disk, which shows rapid and regular rotation. That makes NGC 3108 a target for measurements usually feasible only for spriral galaxies. Combining spectroscopic measurements of the disk in the optical- and the radio regime, we provide a reliable rotation curve of the galaxy out to 3 Reff and show that the rotation curve does not decline up to a radius of 5.5 Reff corresponding to 28 kpc.

Galactic D/H evaluations from observations completed in the far UV with first the Copernicus satellite then followed by IUE and the GHRS on the HST studies already suggest that D/H variations may be present in the interstellar medium. More recent IMAPS (the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph) observations confirm that conclusion while new STIS (which replaced the GHRS on board HST) studies seem to indicate the contrary. The situation is discussed here.

Hopefully FUSE (the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, launched the 24th of June 1999) will give access to the D/H ratio in many different galactic sites. This will help us reach a better global view of the evolution of that key element, and thus better constrain any evaluation of its primordial abundance.