The launch of STEREO spacecraft in October 2006 provided an opportunity to view filament eruptions from two viewpoints giving new insights into their three-dimensional (3D) geometry and true trajectory. The kinematical parameters (velocity and acceleration vectors), the rotation motion, non-radial motion and the helical twist around the filament axis in 3D space have been obtained for the first time. All these properties of erupting filaments are very important to our understanding of the physical phenomena triggering the eruption and their early evolution. In the present paper we review different reconstruction techniques of erupting filaments and the main results obtained using the STEREO observations.

ASTEP (Antarctic Search for Transiting Exo Planets) is a research program funded mainly by French ANR grants and by the French Polar Institute (IPEV), dedicated to the photometric study of exoplanetary transits from Antarctica.

The preliminary “pathfinder” instrument ASTEP–South is described in another communication (Crouzet et al., these proceedings), and we focus in this presentation on the main instrument of the ASTEP program: “ASTEP–400”, a 40 cm robotized and thermally-controlled photometric telescope operated from the French-Italian Concordia station (Dome C, Antarctica).

ASTEP–400 has been installed at Concordia during the 2009-2010 summer campaign. Since, the telescope has been operated in nominal conditions during 2010 and 2011 winters, and the 2012 winterover is presently in progress. Data from the first two winter campaigns are available and processed. We give a description of the ASTEP–400 telescope from the mechanical, optical and thermal point of view. Control and software issues are also addressed. We end with a discussion of some astronomical results obtained with ASTEP–400.

The connection between the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and the assembly of their host galaxies is termed ‘co-evolution’. Understanding co-evolution is one of the most fundamental issues in modern astrophysics. In this contribution, we review recent progress in addressing how the growth of SMBHs is linked to the properties of their host galaxies in the context of galaxy evolution, from the observational point of view. Although a coherent picture has not yet emerged, multiple pathways of co-evolution appear to be favored with a probable dependence on AGN luminosity and redshift.

Recently, PSR J0738-4042 has grown a bright new emission component in its average pulse profile. Using data from Parkes and HartRAO, spanning back to the early 1980s, and applying statistical techniques to model the pulse profile shape with time, we have uncovered unexpected long-term variability, which is very well correlated with changes in the spin-down rate. We present these findings in the context of a growing population of radio-variable pulsars with correlated timing irregularities, including the intermittent pulsars, state-changing pulsars and other individual examples.

Studying the inner regions of protoplanetary disks (1-10 AU) is of importance to understand the formation of planets and the accretion process feeding the forming central star. Herbig AeBe stars are bright enough to be routinely observed by Near IR interferometers. The data for the fainter T Tauri stars is much more sparse. In this contribution we present the results of our ongoing survey at the VLTI. We used the PIONIER combiner that allows the simultaneous use of 4 telescopes, yielding 6 baselines and 3 independent closure phases at once. PIONIER's integrated optics technology makes it a sensitive instrument. We have observed 22 T Tauri stars so far, the largest survey for T Tauri stars to this date.

Our results demonstrate the very significant contribution of an extended component to the interferometric signal. The extended component is different from source to source and the data, with several baselines, offer a way to improve our knowledge of the disk geometry and/or composition. These results validate an earlier study by Pinte et al. 2008 and show that the dust inner radii of T Tauri disks now appear to be in better agreement with the expected position of the dust sublimation radius, contrary to previous claims.

We have conducted deep optical spectroscopic follow up of a sample of radio galaxies with redshifts z < 0.7. The spectra were used to construct robust sub-samples of low excitation and high excitation AGN and perform stellar population analysis via line indices and spectral fitting. While the high excitation objects have lower luminosity-weighted ages and lower metallicities than the low excitation galaxies, this can be explained by the different stellar mass distributions of the samples. When stellar mass is taken into account the age and metallicity distribution of both populations are consistent with the galaxy population as a whole.

VERA is a Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) array for astrometry, composed of four 20 m radio telescopes. They are located over a range of around 2300 km in Japan. VERA consists of a two-beam system equipped with 2, 6.7, 8, 22, and 43 GHz receivers. The two-beam system is used for phase referencing of the VLBI observations, to compensate for atmospheric-turbulence effects between two nearby objects. It has achieved measurements of annual parallaxes within 5 kpc with 10% accuracy. Observed sources are water, SiO, and methanol masers, which are found in molecular gas around star-forming regions and evolved stars. We have carried out a large program of astrometry to reveal the Galaxy's structure and velocity field. VERA has already measured trigonometric parallaxes of more than 30 sources and observed around a hundred sources using the two-beam astrometry technique. Maser sources are associated with high-mass star-forming regions, which are thought to trace the arm structure of the Galaxy. Using annual parallax and proper-motion measurements, their structure will be shown without kinematic distance assumptions. Some sources exhibit large differences between trigonometric-parallax measurements and kinematic distances. We present the status of the VERA project as well as recent results.

The ASTEP project aims at detecting and characterizing transiting planets from Dome C, Antarctica, and qualifying this site for photometry in the visible. The first phase of the project, ASTEP South, is a fixed 10 cm diameter instrument pointing continuously towards the celestial South Pole. Observations were made almost continuously during 4 winters, from 2008 to 2011. The point-to-point RMS of 1-day photometric lightcurves can be explained by a combination of expected statistical noises, dominated by the photon noise up to magnitude 14. This RMS is large, from 2.5 mmag at R = 8 to 6% at R = 14, because of the small size of ASTEP South and the short exposure time (30 s). Statistical noises should be considerably reduced using the large amount of collected data. A 9.9-day period eclipsing binary is detected, with a magnitude R = 9.85. The 2-season lightcurve folded in phase and binned into 1,000 points has a RMS of 1.09 mmag, for an expected photon noise of 0.29 mmag. The use of the 4 seasons of data with a better detrending algorithm should yield a sub-millimagnitude precision for this folded lightcurve. Radial velocity follow-up observations reveal a F-M binary system. The detection of this 9.9-day period system with a small instrument such as ASTEP South and the precision of the folded lightcurve show the quality of Dome C for continuous photometric observations, and its potential for the detection of planets with orbital periods longer than those usually detected from the ground.

We explore conditions and structure of accretion disks in the short-period Cataclysmic Variables, which have evolved beyond the period minimum. We show that the accretion disk in a system with extreme mass ratio grows in the size reaching 2:1 resonance radius and are relatively cool. They also become largely optically thin in the continuum, contributing to the total flux less than the stellar components of the system. In contrast, the viscosity and the temperature in spiral arms formed at the outer edge of the disk are higher and their contribution in continuum plays an increasingly important role. We model such disks and generate light curves which successfully simulate the observed double-humped light curves in the quiescence.

We investigate first ionization potential (FIP) bias levels in an anemone active region (AR) - coronal hole (CH) complex using an abundance map derived from Hinode/EIS spectra. The detailed, spatially resolved abundance map has a large field of view covering 359″ × 485″. Plasma with high FIP bias, or coronal abundances, is concentrated at the footpoints of the AR loops whereas the surrounding CH has a low FIP bias, ~1, i.e. photospheric abundances. A channel of low FIP bias is located along the AR's main polarity inversion line containing a filament where ongoing flux cancellation is observed, indicating a bald patch magnetic topology characteristic of a sigmoid/flux rope configuration.

Many planets have been detected in close binary stars with separation only ~20 AU. These discoveries challenge the current theory of planet formation because binary stars with such an close separation are thought to have strong perturbations and thus inhibit planet formation around them. To address this issue, another scenario had been suggested: the binary separation was wider enough for binary formation in early stages, but it shrank to the present one after a transient triple star phase (stellar scattering phase). Here, we investigate how could planet survive or be ejected under this scenario. We find that (1) the odds of planetary survival are significantly reduced if scatterings between planets and/or planetesimals are included (2) circumbinary planets/planetesimals could be readily formed during such a transient phase.

We have mapped an extensive sample of molecular clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) at 11 pc resolution in the CO(1-0) line as part of the Magellanic Mopra Assessment (MAGMA). We identify clouds as regions of connected CO emission and determine their sizes, line widths, and fluxes. We find that GMCs are not preferentially located in regions of high Hi line width or velocity gradient, and that there is no clear Hi column density threshold for CO detection. The luminosity function of CO clouds is steeper than dN/dL ∝ L−2, suggesting a substantial fraction of mass in low-mass clouds. The correlation between size and linewidth, while apparent for the largest emission structures, breaks down when those structures are decomposed into smaller structures. The virial parameter (the ratio of a cloud's kinetic to gravitational energy) shows a wide range of values and exhibits no clear trends with the likelihood of hosting young stellar object (YSO) candidates, suggesting that this parameter is a poor reflection of the evolutionary state of a cloud. More massive GMCs are more likely to harbor a YSO candidate, and more luminous YSOs are more likely to be coincident with detectable CO emission, confirming GMCs as the principal sites of massive star formation.

We present and discuss VLA-EVLA high-sensitivity and spatial resolution observations of Water Vapor MASERs and continuum emission towards two sources that have been proposed in the literature to be high-mass star forming regions: IRAS 19217+1651 and 23151+5912. Our results indicate the presence of disks which can confirm that these regions are high-mass star forming regions.

Rotation is a fundamental physical parameter in stellar astrophysics, playing an important role on the formation and evolution of stars. This parameter may also offer valuable information on stellar magnetism, mixing in the stellar interior, tidal interactions in close binary, as well as on angular momentum transfer and rotational breaking due to planets. The present work brings the results of an unprecedented study on the behavior of the distribution of the projected rotational velocity (v sin i) as a function of galactic position, on the basis of an unique sample of 14000 main-sequence field stars, along the spectral regions F and G. The vsini measurements used in this analyses were obtained from observations carried out with the CORAVEL spectrometers, with a precision better than about 1 km/s.

The Baade–Becker–Wesselink (BBW) method remains one of most often used tools to derive a full set of Cepheid astrophysical parameters. The surface brightness version of the BBW technique was preferentially used during the past few decades to calculate Cepheid radii and to improve period–luminosity–colour relations. Its implementation requires a priori knowledge of Cepheid reddening values. We propose a new version of the BBW technique, which allows one to independently determine the colour excess and the intrinsic colour of a radially pulsating star, in addition to its radius, luminosity and distance. The new technique is a generalization of the Balona light curve-modelling approach. The method also allows calibration of the function F(CI0) = BC(CI0) + 10 log [Teff (CI0)] for the class of pulsating stars considered. We apply this technique to a number of classical Cepheids with very accurate light and radial-velocity curves. The new technique can also be applied to other pulsating variables, e.g., RR Lyrae stars. We also discuss the possible dependence of the projection factor on the pulsation phase.

CARMENES (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths with Near-infrared and optical Echelle Spectrographs) is a next-generation instrument under construction for the 3.5 m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory by a consortium of eleven Spanish and German institutions. The scientific goal of the project is a five-year exoplanet survey targeting 300 M stars with the completed instrument. The CARMENES hardware consists of two separate échelle spectrographs covering the wavelength range from 0.55 to 1.7 μm at a spectral resolution of R = 82,000, fed by fibers from the Cassegrain focus of the telescope. Both spectrographs are housed in a temperature-stabilized environment in vacuum tanks, to enable a long-term radial velocity precision of 1 m s−1 employing a simultaneous calibration with Th-Ne and U-Ne emission line lamps.

Three pulsar timing arrays are now producing high quality data sets. As reviewed in this paper, these data sets are been processed to 1) develop a pulsar-based time standard, 2) search for errors in the solar system planetary ephemeris and 3) detect gravitational waves. It is expected that the data sets will significantly improve in the near future by combining existing observations and by using new telescopes.

Radio Source I in the Orion BN/KL region provides the closest example of high mass star formation. It powers a rich ensemble of SiO and H2O masers, and is one of only three star-forming regions known to display SiO maser emission. Previous monitoring of different SiO masers with the VLBA and VLA has enabled the resolution of a compact disk and a protostellar wind at radii <100 AU from Source I, which collimates into a bipolar outflow at radii of 100-1000 AU (see contribution by Greenhill et al., this volume). Source I may provide the best case of disk-mediated accretion and outflow recollimation in massive star formation. Here, we report preliminary results of sub-arcsecond resolution 325 GHz H2O maser observations made with the SMA. We find that 325 GHz H2O masers trace a more collimated portion of the Source I outflow than masers at 22 GHz, but occur at similar radii suggesting similar excitation conditions. A velocity gradient perpendicular to the outflow axis, indicating rotation, supports magneto-centrifugal driving of the flow.

We present the dynamics of two filaments and a C-class flare observed in NOAA 11589 on 2012 October 16. We used the multi-wavelength high-resolution data from SDO, as well as THEMIS and ARIES ground-based observations. The observations show that the filaments are progressively converging towards each other without merging. We find that the filaments have opposite chirality which may have prevented them from merging. On October 16, a C3.3 class flare occurred without the eruption of the filaments. According to the standard solar flare model, after the reconnection, post-flare loops form below the erupting filaments whether the eruption fails or not. However, the observations show the formation of post-flare loops above the filaments, which is not consistent with the standard flare model. We analyze the topology of the active region's magnetic field by computing the quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) using a linear force-free field extrapolation. We find a good agreement between the photospheric footprints of the QSLs and the flare ribbons. We discuss how slipping or slip-running reconnection at the QSLs may explain the observed dynamics.

In 2008 January the 24th Chinese expedition team successfully deployed the Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) to Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic plateau. CSTAR consists of four 14.5cm optical telescopes, each with a different filter (g, r, i and open) and has a 4.5°×4.5° field of view (FOV). Based on the CSTAR data, initial statistics of astronomical observational site quality and light curves of variable objects were obtained. To reach higher photometric quality, we are continuing to work to overcome the effects of uneven cirrus cloud cirrus, optical “ghosts” and intra-pixel sensitivity. The snow surface stability is also tested for further astronomical observational instrument and for glaciology studies.