Recent years have seen substantial progresses in our understanding of solar type protostellar structure, and particularly of the chemical structure of the protostellar envelopes. On the one hand, the cold outer regions keep intact the memory of the previous pre-collapse phase, when the dust is so cold and dense that almost all molecules freeze out onto the dust grain mantles. The gas-phase chemical composition undergoes dramatic changes, the most spectacular aspect of which is the huge increase of the molecular deuteration degree, which can reach 13 orders of magnitude with respect to the elemental D/H ratio. On the other hand, in the innermost regions of the envelope – the so-called hot corinos – the grain mantles evaporate when the dust temperatures exceed 100 K, injecting into the gas phase hydrogenated molecules, such as formaldehyde and methanol. Those molecules probably undergo chemical reactions that form more complex organic molecules, which have now also been observed in low-mass hot corinos. In this contribution, I review what we have and have not recently understood concerning both the cold envelopes and the hot corinos of solar-type protostars.

Quasar absorption lines have long been recognised to be a sensitive probe of the abundances, physical conditions, and kinematics of gas in a wide variety of environments including low-density intergalactic regions that probably cannot be studied by any other means. While some pre-Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations indicated that Mg II absorption lines arise in gaseous galactic halos with a large covering factor, many early QSO absorber studies were hampered by a lack of information about the context of the absorbers and their connections with galaxies. By providing access to crucial ultraviolet resonance lines at low redshifts, deployment of HST and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer enabled detailed studies of the relationships between QSO absorbers and galaxies. The advent of large surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has also advanced the topic by greatly improving the size of absorber and galaxy samples. This paper briefly reviews some observational results on absorber-galaxy connections that have been obtained in the HST/SDSS era, including Mg II absorbers, the low$-z$ Ly$\alpha$ forest, Lyman limit and damped Ly$\alpha$ absorbers, and O VI systems.

This report from Commission 30 covers the salient areas in which major progress has been made in the triennium covered by the present volume. The principal scientific areas are: The Milky Way, star clusters, spectroscopic binaries, extrasolar planets, pulsating stars and stellar oscillations. Following these, an account is given of the progress in techniques and methodology for radial velocity determinations. Finally, a summary is given of the progress made by the working groups of the Commission, followed by a list of key papers in the triennium. A more extensive report also covering extragalactic work, which due to unforeseen circumstances could not be included here, can be found at the web page of Commission 30 (http://www.iau.org/IAU/Organization/divcom/).

As the number of large scale ground- and space-bound planet detection and imaging projects is growing, the need for theoretical guidance in order to optimize instrumental design is rapidly mounting. In an effort to provide this required framework, we present the results of Monte Carlo simulations of the formation of giant planets and compare them with the current population of exoplanets. Our models show that due to the severe current observational detection bias only a small percentage (3.6 %) of the potentially existing planets can be detected. Indeed, a large number of planetary embryos never grow enough to become giant planets giving raise to a large populations of bodies with masses smaller than ${\simeq} 5 M_{\hbox{\it \scriptsize jup}}$. In addition, this observational bias, coupled with the fact that systems enriched in heavy elements tend to form more massive planets, explains the currently observed correlation between stellar metallicity and likelihood to host planets. Finally, we show that the disk gas delivery rate during the late stages of formation actually determines the maximum planetary mass.

Properties of small, heliocentric bodies in the solar system share many attributes because of their small sizes, yet vary in other ways because of their different locations of formation and the diverse subsequent evolutionary processes that have affected them. Our insights concerning their properties range from highly detailed knowledge of a few specific bodies (like Eros), to rich knowledge about unspecific bodies (meteorite parent bodies), to no knowledge at all (other than existence and rough limits on size) concerning much smaller and/or more distant bodies. Today's state of learning about physical properties of TNOs is analogous to that for main-belt asteroids 35 years ago. This invited review attempts to elucidate linkages and differences concerning these populations from the highly heterogeneous data sets, emphasizing basic properties (size, shape, spin, density, metal/rock/ice, major mineralogy, presence of satellites) rather than the highly detailed knowledge we have of a few bodies or their dynamical properties. The conclusion is that there are vital interrelationships among these bodies that reinforce the precept that guided the original ACM meetings, namely that we should all think about small bodies in an integrated way, not just about subsets of them, whether divided by size, composition, or location.

This contribution retraces the scientific careers of Monique and François. It highlights the impressive contributions that they have brought to astrophysics, from the discovery of the lithium plateau in subdwarfs the second year of operation of the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, to the exceptional contribution of Monique to the ESO VLT Large Programme “First Stars”, passing by several other findings which have marked our knowledge of the nuclear evolution of our Galaxy and of the Magellanic Clouds.

The recently completed Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is a low cost, innovative, 10 m class optical telescope, which began limited scientific operations in August 2005, just 5 years after ground-breaking. This paper describes the design and construction of SALT, including the first-light instruments, SALTICAM and the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS). A rigorous systems engineering approach has ensured that SALT was built to specification, on budget, close to the original schedule and using a relatively small project team. The design trade-offs, which include an active spherical primary mirror array and a fixed altitude telescope with a prime focus tracker, although restrictive in comparison to conventional telescopes, have resulted in an affordable 10 m class telescope for South Africa and its ten partners. Coupled with an initial set of two seeing-limited instruments that concentrate on the UV-visible region (320 – 900 nm) and featuring some niche observational capabilities, SALT will have an ability to conduct some unique science. This includes high time resolution studies, for which some initial results have already been obtained. Many of the versatile modes available with the RSS - which is currently being commissioned - are unique and provide unparallelled opportunities for imaging polarimetry and spectropolarimetry. Likewise, Multi-Object Spectroscopy (with slit masks) and imaging spectroscopy with the RSS, the latter using Fabry-Perot étalons and interference filters, will extend the multiplex advantage over resolutions from 300 to 9000 and fields of view of 2 to 8 arcminutes. Future instrumentation plans include an extremely stable, fibre-fed, high resolution échelle spectrograph and a near-IR (to between 1.5 to 1.7 $\mu$m) extension to the RSS. Future development possibilities include phasing the primary mirror and AO. Finally, extrapolations of the SALT/HET designs to ELT proportions remain viable and are surely more affordable than conventional, fully steerable, designs.

The Local Group offers an excellent laboratory for near-field cosmology by permitting us to use the resolved stellar content of its constituent galaxies as probes of galaxy formation and evolution, which in turn is an important means for testing cosmological models of hierarchical structure formation. In this review, we discuss the the least massive, yet most numerous type of galaxy in the Local Group, the dwarf spheroidal galaxies, and compare their properties to cosmological predictions. In particular, we point out problems found with a simple building block scenario and with effects expected from reionization. We show that the star formation histories of dSphs are inconsistent with the predicted cessation of star formation after reionization; instead, extended star formation episodes are observed. The Galactic dSphs contain in part prominent intermediate-age populations, whereas the Galactic halo does not. Conversely, the M31 dSphs are almost entirely old, while the M31 halo contains a substantial intermediate-age population. These differences in the population structure as well as the differences in the modes of star formation inferred from [α/Fe] ratios make dSphs unlikely major contributors to the build-up of the Galactic and M31 halo unless most of the accretion occurred at early epochs. On the other hand, there is clear evidence for ongoing harassment and accretion of a number of dSphs.

The importance of massive stars in astrophysics is self-evident to all of us. However the full scope of this role has only become apparent over the last few years, as we begin to understand the central role that massive star formation and evolution plays in phenomena ranging from the structure and evolution of the interstellar medium, galaxy formation and evolution, nuclear activity in galaxies, and even the reionization of the universe itself. This paper briefly reviews this broad relevance of massive star formation, and the wide range in massive star formation environments found in the local universe.

The original idea for this IAU Symposium arose from realizing that present-day X-ray satellites, XMM-Newton and Chandra, are now allowing us to conduct studies of individual X-ray sources in other galaxies, much like this was until recently mostly confined to sources in our own Galaxy and in the Magellanic Clouds. In addition, $\gamma$-ray astronomy is catching up as it were, now being able to study well-defined sources in our own Galaxy with the INTEGRAL satellite, and also the highest-energy sources accessible, at TeV, with the newly constructed Cherenkov receiver array(s).

We review processes leading to the orbital migration of bodies ranging from dust particles up to protoplanets in the earth mass range in protoplanetary disks. The objects most at risk of being lost from the disk have dimensions of the order of metres. To retain these it may be necessary to invoke either strong turbulence or trapping due to special flow features such as vortices. Migration also becomes important for protoplanets with mass exceeding $0.1M_{\oplus}$. In this case it can also lead to the attainment of commensurabilities for pairs of protoplanets. Such pairs could be left behind after disk dispersal. We review some recent work on the attainment of commensurabilities for protoplanets in the earth mass range.

Some of the achievements and capabilities of the current generation of 8–10 metre optical-infrared telescopes are reviewed. The challenges of building yet larger optical-infrared telescopes in the diameter range 30 to 100 metres are discussed.

IAU Division I includes Commission 4 (Ephemerides), Commission 7 (Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy), Commission 8 (Astrometry), Commission 19 (Rotation of the Earth) and Commission 31 (Time). The Division has in addition five Working Groups on, respectively, Future Development of Ground-Based Astrometry, Nomenclature for Fundamental Astrometry, Definition of Coordinated Universal Time, and Precession and the Ecliptic.

Since the discovery of the “Spite plateau” in 1982, lithium observations in halo stars have been used to deduce the primordial $^{7}Li$ abundance. Compared with the results of Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) it provided an estimate of the baryonic density of the Universe, together with the other cosmological isotopes. However, recently, the observations of the anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, by the WMAP satellite, has provided a determination of this baryonic density ($\Omega_bh^2$) with an unprecedented precision. There is a very good agreement with deuterium observed in cosmological clouds, but we note a discrepancy between the deduced $^{7}Li$ abundance and the one observed in halo stars. The origin of this discrepancy, observational, stellar, nuclear or more fundamental remains to be clarified. A recent nuclear physics experiment provided new results on the $^{7}{\rm Be}({\rm d,p})2\alpha$, an up to now neglected reaction in BBN. Unfortunately, this cannot solve the $^{7}Li$ discrepancy.

We expand upon the results of Close et al. 2005 regarding the young, low-mass object AB Dor C and its role as a calibration point for theoretical tracks. We argue for a new 70$\pm$30 Myr age estimate and present two additional detections of C with the Simultaneous Differential Imaging (SDI) camera. Our improved analysis (Nielsen et al. 2005) confirms our spectral type of M8 ($\pm$1) and mass of 0.090 $\pm$0.003 M$_{\hbox{\it \scriptsize sun}}$ for AB Dor C. However, Luhman & Potter (2006) argue for a hotter spectral type (M6$\pm$1). Here we adopt the consistent spectral range of M7$\pm$1 in this paper as a final spectral type. Plotting AB Dor C (and all other young (${<}0.12$ Myr), low-mass ($0.3-0.05 M_{\hbox{\it \scriptsize sun}}$) objects with accurate dynamical masses) on the HR diagram suggests a trend where current evolutionary models tend to over-predict the temperature (or under-predict the mass) for young low-mass stars and high-mass brown dwarfs. With our uncertainties, there is a $\sim$90% chance that the mass of AB Dor C is underestimated by the DUSTY tracks in the HR diagram.

Recent progress in our knowledge of stellar populations in local dwarf spheroidal galaxies is briefly discussed. A few results are summarized including wide field observations of stellar populations and their spatial variations, studies of AGB and variable stars, extension to near-infrared wavelengths, and the interpretation effort based on synthetic color-magnitude diagrams and chemical evolution models.

Observations of the nearest regions of massive star formation such as Orion are reviewed. Early-type stars in the local OB associations, as well as their superbubbles and supershells provide a fossil record of massive star birth in the Solar vicinity over about the last 40 Myr. This record shows that most massive stars are born from dense, high-pressure, hot cores which spawn transient clusters that dissipate into the field soon after formation. A large fraction (15 to 30%) of massive stars are high-velocity runaways moving at more than 20 km s$^{-1}$. High-mass stars have a larger companion fraction than their lower-mass siblings. The Orion star forming complex contains the nearest site of on-going massive star formation. Studies of the Orion Nebula and the dense molecular cloud core located immediately behind the HII region provide our sharpest view of massive star birth. This region has formed a hierarchy of clusters within clusters. The Trapezium, OMC-1S, and OMC-1 regions represent three closely spaced sub-clusters within the more extended Orion Nebula Cluster. The oldest of these sub-clusters, which consists of the Trapezium stars, has completely emerged from its natal core. The OMC-1S and OMC-1 regions, are still highly embedded and forming clusters of additional moderate and high mass stars. Over a dozen YSOs embedded in OMC-1S are driving jets and outflows, many of which are injecting energy and momentum into the Orion Nebula. Recent proper motion measurements indicate that the Becklin-Neugebauer object is a high-velocity star moving away from the OMC1 core with a velocity of 30 km s$^{-1}$, making it the youngest high-velocity star known. Source I may be moving in the opposite direction with a velocity of about 12 km s$^{-1}$. The projected separation between source I and BN was less than few hundred AU about 500 years ago. The spectacular bipolar molecular outflow and system of shock-excited H$_2$ fingers emerging from OMC-1 has a dynamical age of about 1100 years. It is possible that a dynamical interaction between three or more stars in OMC-1 led to the formation of this eruptive outflow.

The current status and remaining questions of MgII absorbers are reviewed with an eye toward new results incorporating high quality Hubble Space Telescope images of the absorbing galaxies. In the end, we find that our current picture of extended gaseous regions around galaxies at earlier epochs is in need of some revision; MgII absorbing “halos” appear to be patchier and their geometry less regular than previously inferred. We also find that the so-called “weak” MgII absorbers are associated with normal galaxies over a wide range of impact parameters, suggesting that this class of absorber does not strictly select low surface brightness, dwarf galaxies, or IGM material. We emphasise the need for a complete survey of the galaxies in quasar fields, and the importance of obtaining rotation curves of confirmed absorbing galaxies.

Our understanding of the physical and chemical structure of pre-stellar cores, the simplest star-forming sites, has significantly improved since the last IAU Symposium on Astrochemistry (South Korea, 1999). Research done over these years has revealed that major molecular species like CO and CS systematically deplete onto dust grains in the interior of pre-stellar cores, while species like N2H+ and NH3 survive in the gas phase and can usually be detected toward the core centers. Such a selective behavior of molecular species gives rise to a differentiated (onion-like) chemical composition, and manifests itself in molecular maps as a dichotomy between centrally peaked and ring-shaped distributions. From the point of view of star-formation studies, the identification of molecular inhomogeneities in cores helps to resolve past discrepancies between observations made using different tracers, and brings the possibility of self-consistent modelling of the core internal structure. Here I present recent work on determining the physical and chemical structure of two pre-stellar cores, L1498 and L1517B, using observations in a large number of molecules and Monte Carlo radiative transfer analysis. These two cores are typical examples of the pre-stellar core population, and their chemical composition is characterized by the presence of large ‘freeze out holes’ in most molecular species. In contrast with these chemically processed objects, a new population of chemically young cores has begun to emerge. The characteristics of its most extreme representative, L1521E, are briefly reviewed.

The proliferation of X-ray astronomy missions over the last 10 years has had a major impact on our knowledge of Galactic X-ray binaries. More recently, Chandra and XMM-Newton have provided a dramatically improved census of extra-galactic X-ray binaries. In this talk I will provide an overview of the various populations and observational properties of X-ray binaries in our Galaxy, in an effort to “set the scene” for a comparison with their extra-galactic counterparts.