In a survey of 18 nearby Seyfert nuclei, we find evidence for geometrically thick gas disks on scales of tens of parsecs. Mapping the interstellar medium traced by H2 ν = 1–0 S(1) emission using the infrared integral field spectrometers OSIRIS and SINFONI reveals general disk rotation with an additional significant component of random bulk motion implied by the high local velocity dispersion. The size scale of the typical nuclear gas disk is ~30 pc in radius with a comparable vertical height, and the distribution and kinematics suggest the gas is spatially mixed with the nuclear stellar population. Based on the estimated characteristic gas mass fraction of 10%, the average gas mass within this region is ~107M⊙. This suggests column densities of NH ~ 5 × 1023 cm−2, but the significantly lower densities implied by the stellar continuum extinction indicate that the gas distribution on these scales is dominated by dense clumps. We discuss the feasibility of constraining the masses of the central black holes via modeling of the gas disk kinematics, highlighting the importance of properly accounting for the gas velocity dispersion, and the use of these direct mass estimates to calibrate masses derived from the method of reverberation mapping.

China, a country with a long history and a specific culture, has also a long and specific astronomy. Ancient Chinese astronomers observed the stars, named and distributed them into constellations in a very specific way, which is quite different from the current one. Around the Zodiac, stars are divided into four big regions corresponding with the four orientations, and each is related to a totem, either the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger or the Murky Warrior. We present a general pattern of the ancient Chinese constellations, including the four totems, their stars and their names.

Responsibility for the definition of time scales left the astronomical community some 40 years ago when, in 1967, the second became defined by an atomic transition in the International System of units SI and when International Atomic Time (TAI) was defined as the primary international time scale in 1971.

We apply two nonlinear techniques, kurtosis and phase coherence index, to analyze magnetic field measurements from SOHO MDI solar images, ACE and Cluster data in the solar wind, and ground magnetometers in Brazil. We focus on two events: a non-ICME event in February 2002 and an ICME event in January 2005. Finite degree of non-Gaussianity and phase synchronization are observed in all datasets. The nonlinear response of the Earth's geomagnetic field to an ICME event in the solar wind is discussed.

Deep recent surveys have considerably improved our picture of the outer Galactic halo by unveiling a complex level of substructuring in the form of streams, stellar clouds and debris systems. Here I discuss some of the recent findings and present their general properties.

Using spectropolarimetric data acquired with the ESPaDOnS and NARVAL instruments at CFHT and at TBL, we present a detailed spectral synthesis analysis of HD 232 862, a field giant classified as a G8II star hosting a magnetic field. This star is the first lithium-rich field giant hosting a magnetic field. Stellar evolution models suggest that HD 232 862 should be a 1.5 to 2.0 M⊙ star at the bottom of the red giant branch. Its unsually high lithium content (A(Li) = 2.45 ± 0.25 dex) is even more puzzling and challenges our understanding of the evolution of this star.

During the last decade, the development of more sophisticated surveys allows the exploration of the chemical enrichment of galaxies and their environment at different cosmic times. In this context, it has been suggested that galactic winds play a fundamental role in the regulation of the star formation and the transportation of metals outside the galaxies. In this work, we study the influence of Supernovae winds in the chemical evolution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium by employing cosmological numerical simulations within a hierarchical Universe. We focus on the origin and evolution of the mass-metallicity relation (MZR).

Two pairs of solid test-masses have been considered to perform in space the test of the universality of free fall with an accuracy of at least 10−15. These cylindrical masses are precisely at the heart of the MICROSCOPE mission instrument comprising two differential electrostatic accelerometers. These masses shall exhibit material quality, shapes, positions and alignments in regard to stringent experimental requirements. Indeed the space experiment is based on the control of the two masses submitted to the same gravity acceleration along the same orbit at 810 km altitude with an accuracy of 10−11 m. Thus effects of Earth and satellite gravity gradients shall be contained as well as any other disturbances of the mass motions induced by their magnetic susceptibility or electrical dissymmetries, by outgassing of the materials or radiation emissivity. Furthermore, the electrostatic levitation of the two masses depends dramatically on the mass shapes and electrical properties in particular for the definition of the sensitive axes orientation. All these aspects will be presented from the mass characteristics to the space MICROSCOPE experiment performance.

This paper presents a detailed kinematic and chemical analysis of 16 members of the Kapteyn moving group. The group does not appear to be chemically homogenous. However, the kinematics and the chemical abundance patterns seen in 14 of the stars in this group are similar to those observed in the well-studied cluster, ω Centauri. Some members of this moving group may be remnants of the tidal debris of ω Cen, left in the Galactic disk during the merger event which deposited ω Cen into the Milky Way. A more detailed version of this work can be found in Wylie de-Boer et al. 2009.

Monitoring the Earth rotation is essential in various domains linked to reference frames firstly with applications in orbit determination, space geodesy or Astronomy. Secondly for geophysical studies where are involved mass motions within the different external fluid layers, atmosphere, hydrosphere, core and mantle of the earth, this on time scales ranging from a few hours to decades. The Earth Orientation Centre of the IERS is continuously monitoring the earth orientation variations from results derived from the various astro-geodetic techniques. It has in particular the task of deriving an optimal combined series of UT1 which is now based mainly on Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) with some contribution of LOD derived from GPS. We give here a brief summary concerning the contribution of the various techniques to UT1 and in aprticular how the use of LOD derived from GPS can improve the combination. More details are available in Gambis (2004) and Bizouard and Gambis (2009) and the website http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc/

We present a proper-motion program that we have developed at ESO to measure, for the first time, proper motions of members of the nearby (125 pc), very young (4 × 105 yr) infrared ρ Ophiuchi cluster. Repeated imaging over an extended period will allow us to measure the global proper motion of the cluster and its velocity dispersion and will provide access to the ~ 1 km s−1 velocities for objects as faint as K = 15.7 mag. Access to the velocity field of such an extremely young cluster is of crucial importance to investigate the origin and early evolution of open cluster systems.

We apply single- and multi-spacecraft techniques to search for currents sheets in the solar wind during the ICME event of 21 January 2005, using the Cluster magnetic field data. Two large-scale currents sheets are detected at the leading boundary of the ICME ejecta using the single-spacecraft technique, which exhibit physical characteristics typical of magnetic reconnection exhausts in the solar wind.

In the last decade, a variety of high-precision experiments have searched for miniscule violations of Lorentz symmetry. These searches are largely motivated by the possibility of uncovering experimental signatures from a fundamental unified theory. Experimental results are reported in the framework called the Standard-Model Extension (SME), which describes general Lorentz violation for each particle species in terms of its coefficients for Lorentz violation. Recently, the role of gravitational experiments in probing the SME has been explored in the literature. In this talk, I will summarize theoretical and experimental aspects of these works. I will also discuss recent lunar laser ranging and atom interferometer experiments, which place stringent constraints on gravity coefficients for Lorentz violation.

The communal tombs (‘dolmens’) constructed through Europe and the Mediterranean region in the late Neolithic nearly always had an entrance to permit the introduction of further bodies, and hence an orientation. Extensive fieldwork shows that the builders always felt constrained to observe a custom of orientation, and in most of Western Europe the custom may well have been to face the rising Sun at some time of year, or the Sun after it had risen. But at Fontvieille near Arles the local custom was quite different, with tombs facing sunset or the Sun when descending. In southwest France and neighbouring parts of Cataluña the two customs are in conflict.

To constrain the origin of scaling relations between black hole mass and galaxy properties, i.e., stellar velocity dispersion and bulge luminosity, we investigate the evolution of scaling relations in the past 6 Gyrs. Over the last three years, we have obtained high signal-to-noise ratio Keck spectra of ~ 50 intermediate luminosity broad-line AGNs at z ~ 0.4 and z ~ 0.6, to measure stellar velocity dispersion, and HST (ACS and NICMOS) images of the same objects (~ 40 so far), to measure bulge luminosity from the two-dimensional AGN-galaxy decomposition analysis. In this paper, we will summarize the main results on the MBH–σ and MBH–bulge luminosity relations and their evolution to the present-day universe. The measured scaling relations show that the relations have evolved significantly in the past 6 billion years, and that black hole growth predates the final galaxy assembly.

The Tully-Fisher Relation (TFR) is of fundamental importance for galaxy formation as it provides information about the relation between the baryonic content of galaxies and the depth of their dark halos potential wells. In recent years, it has been possible to study this relation at different redshifts. However, there are still controversies about its origin and evolution. In this work, we try to address the origin of the Tully-Fisher Relation by employing cosmological hydrodynamical simulations.

In metal-rich stars as cool as the Sun, beryllium abundance determinations are difficult due to heavy line blanketing in the near-UV 3130 Å region where the accessible Be II lines reside. We can now attempt such determinations based on improved lists of atomic line identifications and gf-values in the near-UV. Here we report Be determinations for three metal-rich A, F, and G stars plus three solar-metallicity standards. All six stars have beryllium-to-hydrogen ratios at or below solar. More such determinations would provide stronger constraints on trends in Be abundance with temperature, metallicity, and age.

Celestial events often exerted a great or even decisive influence on the life of ancient communities. They may provide some of the foundations on which an understanding of the deeper meaning of mythologies, religious systems and even folk tales can be based. These influences are reflected and may be detected in the archaeological material as well. There is good evidence that celestial (especially solar and perhaps lunar) phenomena played a particularly important rôle in the worldview of prehistoric Europe. To reveal the social and ideational significance of concepts relating to the celestial bodies in the prehistory of the Carpathian Basin, complex investigations on orientations of houses and graves, prestige archaeological finds and iconography have been accomplished. The results indicate ideological and/or social changes, which developed into a likely organized ideological system in large part of Central Europe including the Carpathian Basin by the Late Bronze Age. It might also be the first period in prehistory when people became really interested in celestial phenomena.

The lithium problem in Ap-CP stars has been, for a long time, a subject of debate. Individual characteristics of CP stars, such as high abundance of the rare-earth elements presence of magnetic fields, complicate structure of the surface distribution of chemical elements, rapid oscillations of some CP-stars, make the detection of the lithium lines and the determination of the lithium abundance, a difficult task. During the International Meeting in Slovakia in 1996, the lithium problem in Ap-CP stars was discussed. The results of the Li study carried out in CrAO Polosukhina (1973–1976), the works of Hack & Faraggiana (1963), Wallerstein & Hack (1964), Faraggiana et al. (1992–1996) formed the basis of the International project ‘Lithium in the cool CP-stars with magnetic fields’. The main goal of the project was, using systematical observations of Ap-CP stars with phase rotation in the spectral regions of the resonance doublet Li I 6708 Å and subordinate 6104 Å lithium lines with different telescopes, to create a database, which will permit to explain the physical origin of anomalous Li abundance in the atmospheres of these stars.

Magnetic activity on cool stars expresses itself in a bewildering variety of radiative and particle output originating from magnetic regions between the photosphere and the corona. Given its origin in evolving magnetic fields, most of this output is variable in time. Radiation in the ultraviolet, the extreme ultraviolet, and the X-ray ranges are important for heating and ionizing upper planetary atmospheres and thus driving atmospheric evaporation. Additionally, stellar winds interact with the upper atmospheres and may lead to further erosion. The stellar high-energy output is therefore a prime factor in determining habitability of planets. We summarize our knowledge of magnetic activity in young solar analogs and lower-mass stars and show how the stellar output changes on evolutionary timescales.