SIM PlanetQuest is a very high accuracy space astrometric instrument based on a long baseline stellar interferometer. For global astrometry SIM was designed to be accurate to ≈ 4μas (microarcsec) after a 5 year mission. For narrow angle astrometry (≈ 1000 s integration over a 1° radius field) SIM is designed for 1μas precision. The technology program was completed in 2005 and based on laboratory results, the current best estimate of SIM's performance would be 0.6 μas for narrow angle precision and 2.4 μas for global accuracy. This paper describes a variety of science programs that the SIM science team have proposed to conduct from a search for one Earth mass planets in the habitable zone of (≈130) nearby stars to the study of dark matter in the galactic disk, the galactic halo and the local group.

SiO maser emission allows us to study the innermost circumstellar layers around AGB and post-AGB stars, at a few AU from the stellar photosphere, what is crucial to understand the mass loss process in AGB stars and the jet launching mechanisms in post-AGB stars. Observations of SiO masers are also useful to address the question of the pumping mechanism itself, still under debate. In particular, VLBI observations of such emissions enables the study of the innermost shells with extremely high spatial resolution, equivalent (in nearby stars) to a few 1012 cm, about one tenth of the stellar radius. In this contribution, recent results on this topic obtained by our group are summarized.

The motion of a black hole about the centre of gravity of its host galaxy induces a strong response from the surrounding stellar population. We consider the case of a harmonic potential and show that half of the stars on circular orbits in that potential shift to an orbit of lower energy, while the other half receive a positive boost. The black hole itself remains on an orbit of fixed amplitude and merely acts as a catalyst for the evolution of the stellar energy distribution function f(E). We then consider orbits in the logarithmic potential and identify the response of stars near resonant energies. The kinematic signature of black hole motion imprints the stellar line-of-sight mean velocity to a magnitude ≃ 13% the local root mean-square velocity dispersion σ. The high velocity dispersion at the 5:2 resonance hints to an observable effect at a distance ≃ 3 times the hole's influence radius.

The VC2 strip (part of the AGES blind HI survey) spans 5x1 degrees of the Virgo Cluster, from the outskirts of the cluster to its interior. The strip covers part of subcluster A while avoiding the strong continuum source M87. 40 hours of observations were taken in January-February 2007 using the ALFA instrument on the Arecibo telescope, reaching a noise level as low as 0.5 mJy. For a 200 km/s velocity width, this gives a sensitivity limit of 6*106 Msolar at the Virgo distance (16 Mpc). Currently, 36 definite sources have been found, both by eye and with the automatic extractor Polyfind, with an additional 12 requiring follow-up observations, found only by one method.

We numerically investigate the conditions for planetesimal accretion in the circumprimary disk under the perturbing presence of a companion star, with focus on the γ Cephei system. Gas drag is included with a dissipating time scale of 105 years. We show at the beginning(within 103 ∼ 104 years), gas drag damps the ΔV between planetesimals of same sizes and increases ΔV between planetesimals of different sizes. However, after increasing to high values(300∼800m/s), we find the ΔV between bodies of different sizes decrease to very low values (below 10m/s) in a few 105yrs (depending on the gas-dissipating time scale Tdamp, radial size Rp and semi-major axis ap of planetesimals). Hence, the high ΔV is somewhat short-lived, and runaway accretion can be turned on later. We conclude that the conditions for planetary formation in binary systems (even close binary systems) are much better than what we expected before.

The programme International Schools for Young Astronomers, hereafter named ISYA, is organized by IAU COMMISSION 46 on Astronomy Education & Development since 1967. We present here a brief history of the development of this programme since its creation till 2006. Much more data can be found in the Transactions of the IAU, either Vol. A or B, as well as in two papers published in proceedings of meetings; the references of these publications are given at the end of this report.

Highly collimated jets found in AGB and post-AGB stars are expected to play an important role for shaping planetary nebulae. Recent VLBI observations of H2o maser sources have revealed that some of the spatio-kinematical structures of H2o maser sources exhibit stellar jets with extremely spatially and kinematically high collimation. Such stellar H2o maser jets, so-called “water fountains”, have been identified in about 10 sources to date. Here we review recent VLBI observations and relevant observational results of the water fountain sources. They have revealed a typical dynamical age and the detailed kinematical structures of the water fountains, the possibility of the existence of “equatorial flows”, and the evolutionary status of the host stars. The location and kinematics of one of the water fountain sources in the Galaxy is also revealed and shown here.

In this communication we review some properties and applications of mean-motion resonances in extrasolar planetary systems, with particular emphasis on the 2/1 commensurability. A first part is devoted to the dynamical structure of the 2/1 resonance, including (but not restricted to) the so-called apsidal corotations. In a second part we discuss the orbital evolution of resonant systems under the effects of non-conservative forces. Special attention is given to the use of apsidal corotations as markers of largescale orbital decay, possibly due to disk-planet interactions in primordial times. Finally, we analyze the interplay between dynamical analysis and orbital fitting. Using the HD82943 planetary system as an example, we discuss: (i) up to what point present orbital fits allow us to distinguish between different resonant configurations, and (ii) in what ways may the dynamical structure of resonances be used as a complementary part of the orbital fitting process.

SIM will search for planets with masses as small as the Earth's orbiting in the ‘habitable zones’ around more than 100 of the nearest stars and could discover many dozen if Earth-like planets are common. With a planned “Deep Survey” of 100–450 stars (depending on desired mass sensitivity) SIM will search for terrestrial planets around all of the candidate target stars for future direct detection missions such as Terrestrial Planet Finder and Darwin. SIM's “Broad Survey” of 2100 stars will characterize single and multiple-planet systems around a wide variety of stellar types, including many now inaccessible with the radial velocity technique. In particular, SIM will search for planets around young stars providing insights into how planetary systems are born and evolve with time.

In this work, using the database of the university of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory (UMRAO), we determined the brightness temperatures, TB for a sample of 167 radio sources. The value of TB is in a range of log TB(K) = 10.46 to 20.08, which suggested that the boosting factors are in a range of δ = 0.41 to 41.26.

We present the Northern HIPASS Optical/Infrared Catalogue (NOIRCAT), an optical/near-infrared counterpart catalogue for the Northern HIPASS catalogue (NHICAT). Of the 1002 sources in NHICAT, 655 (66%) have optical counterparts with matching optical velocities. A further 87 sources have optical counterparts with matching velocities from previous radio emission line surveys. Assuming a dark galaxy to be an isolated HI source with no detectable stars, no candidate dark galaxies have been confirmed.

Dynamical interactions that occur between objects in dense stellar systems are particularly important for the question of formation of X-ray binaries. We present results of numerical simulations of 70 globular clusters with different dynamical properties and a total stellar mass of 2×107M⊙. We find that in order to retain enough neutron stars to match observations we must assume that NSs can be formed via electron-capture supernovae. Our simulations explain the observed dependence of the number of LMXBs on “collision number” as well as the large scatter observed between different globular clusters. For millisecond pulsars, we obtain good agreement between our models and the numbers and characteristics of observed pulsars in the clusters Terzan 5 and 47 Tuc.

The goal of this unprecedented large scale numerical project is to run state-of-the-art cosmological simulations of galaxy formation with two different numerical techniques: the particle based code GADGET-2 and the Eulerian AMR code RAMSES, starting from the same initial conditions. Both codes are fully parallel with MPI and can make efficient use of thousands of processors of the Marenostrum Supercomputer in Barcelona, where these two numerical experiments are being run.

Extrasolar planet surveys have discovered over two dozen multiple planet systems. As radial velocity searches push towards higher precisions and longer survey durations, they can be expected to discover an even higher fraction of multiple planet systems. Combined with radial velocity data, dynamical studies of these systems can constrain planet masses and inclinations, measure the significance of resonant and secular interactions, and provide insights into the formation and evolution of these systems. Here, we review the dynamical properties of known extrasolar multiple planet systems and their implications for planet formation theory. We conclude by outlining pressing questions to be addressed by a combination of future observations and theoretical research.

We analyzed the distribution and kinematics of the atomic gas (HI) in 16 nearby spiral galaxies. Our results indicate that the morphology of the atomic gas and dynamically disturbed outer disks correlate with the AGN type present (Seyfert, LINER). From the combined HI and CO data (from the NUGA project), 2-dimensional maps of the gas flow are computed and gas inflow rates are derived as a function of radius within the disks.

We have used the Tidbinbilla 70-m antenna to search for 22 GHz H2O maser emission from a sample of 85 evolved stars. 21 detections were made. Of these 15 were from massive AGB stars. High-velocity H2O maser emission was detected from five sources, of which four are post-AGB stars. Three of the high-velocity sources, b292 (IRAS 18043–2116), d46 (IRAS 15445–5449), and d62 (IRAS 15544–5332) were new discoveries. d46 is also a source of non-thermal radio continuum emission. The high-velocity H2O maser emission and the radio continuum from post-AGB stars are probably associated with shocks that form from wind-wind interactions.

Over the past several years, our research group has been measuring proper motions for nearby dwarf satellite galaxies using data taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. In order to measure proper motions with an expected size of several tens of milliarcseconds per century using a time baseline of 2-4 years, our work required that positions of stars and QSOs be measured to an accuracy of ~0.25 mas (~0.005 pixel). This contribution reviews the scientific justification of this work and our methodology. It concludes with a few general results and future directions.

At the IAU XXV General Assembly in Sydney, 2003, a questionnaire on the perception of participation of “young astronomers” at IAU meeting was distributed. Following the conclusions from the analysis of this questionnaire, the IAU EC recommended in 2004 that the “young astronomers” concept at the next GA in Prague should be worked out with specific activities.

We have used far-ultraviolet spectroscopy and broad-band photometry to identify and study dynamically-formed stellar exotica in the core of 47 Tucanane. Here, we present a subset of our main results, including: (i) the spectroscopic confirmation of three cataclysmic variables; (ii) the discovery of stripped sub-giant core in a binary system with a dark primary; (iii) the discovery of a Helium white dwarf; (iv) the discovery of a blue straggler with a white dwarf companion.

We present an analysis of high precision radial velocity (RV) observations of stars hosting multi-planet systems with Jovian companions. We use dynamical stability constraints and quasi-global methods of optimization. As an illustration, we present new results derived for the RV data of the Sun-like dwarfs HD 155358 and τ1 Gruis.