IAU symposium 165 'Compact Stars in Binaries' was held from 15 through 19 August 1994, as part of the 22nd General Assembly of the IAU in The Hague. The symposium, supported by IAU Commissions 35,37,44 and 48, and co-sponsored by Commission 42, was attended by about 400 to 500 participants. This symposium received support from: - The International Astronomical Union; - The Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences; - The Netherlands Ministery of Education and Science; - The Leids Kerkhoven Bosscha Fonds; - The Stichting Fysica. The field of compact stars in binaries is one of the most active areas of present-day astrophysics. An absolute highlight of the last few years was the 1993 Nobel Prize of physics, awarded to Taylor and Hulse for their discovery of the binary pulsar PSR 1913+ 16, and the measurement of the orbital decay of this system due to the emission of gravitational waves. The aim of the organizers of the symposium was to present an overview of the most significant observational discoveries of the past decade, in com bination with a review of the most important theoretical developments. We were very happy that most of the world's leading experts in observation and theory were present at the symposium to review the various aspects of the subject. The contents of their oral presentations are now published in the form of these proceedings, which we expect to become an important source of reference for the coming years."

Originally published in English in 1973. This volume traces the development of the revolution which so drastically altered man's view of the universe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The "astronomical revolution" was accomplished in three stages, each linked with the work of one man. With Copernicus, the sun became the centre of the universe. With Kepler, celestial dynamics replaced the kinematics of circles and spheres used by Copernicus. With Borelli the unification of celestial and terrestrial physics was completed by abandonment of the circle in favour the straight line to infinity.

This book presents the proceedings of the IVth Azores International Advanced School in Space Sciences entitled "Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New Worlds". The school addressed the topics at the forefront of scientific research being conducted in the fields of asteroseismology and exoplanetary science, two fields of modern astrophysics that share many synergies and resources. These proceedings comprise the contributions from 18 invited lecturers, including both monographic presentations and a number of hands-on tutorials.

This NATO AS was the third in the series of Advanced Study Institutes on neutron stars, which started with 'Timing Neutron Stars', held in Qe me near izmir, Turkey (April 1988), followed by 'Neutron Stars, an Interdis ciplinary Subject', held in Agia Pelagia on the island of Crete (September 1990). The first school centered on our main observational access to neu tron stars, i. e. the timing of radio pulsars and accretion powered neutron stars, and on what timing of neutron stars teaches us of their structure and environment. The second school had as its theme the interplay between diverse areas of physics which find interesting, even exotic applications in the extreme conditions of neutron stars and their magnetospheres. As the field has developed, with the number of observed neutron stars rapidly in creasing, and our knowledge of many individual neutron stars getting deeper and more detailed, an evolutionary picture of neutron stars has started to emerge. This led us to choose 'The Lives of the Neutron Stars' as the uni fying theme of this third Advanced Study Institute on neutron stars. Different types of neutron star activity have been proposed to follow one another in stages during the lives of neutron stars in the same basic population; the evolutionary connection between low-mass X-ray binaries and millisecond radio pulsars is perhaps the prime example."

The SOHO and Cluster missions form a single ESA cornerstone. Yet they observe very different regions in our solar system: the solar atmosphere on one hand and the Earth's magnetosphere on the other. The Ulysses mission provides observations in the third dimension of the heliosphere, and many others add to the picture from the Lagrangian point L1 to the edge of the heliosphere. It is the aim of this ISSI volume to tie these observations together in addressing the topic of Solar Dynamics and its Effects on the Heliosphere and Earth, thus contributing to the International Living With a Star program. The volume starts out with an assessment of the reasons for solar dynamics and how it couples into the heliosphere. The three subsequent sections are each devoted to following one chain of events from the Sun all the way to the Earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere. The final section is devoted to common physical processes occurring both at the Sun and in the magnetosphere.

Proceedings of International Meeting held in Trieste, Italy, April 10-13, 1985

This book summarizes the gathering of information on and the growing understanding of M33 from the 1920s, when Hubble first determined its true nature, to the 21st century, when the Hubble Telescope probed deeply into its many secrets. With its regular symmetrical spiral structure, and its being not tilted too much and near enough to allow detailed studies of its stars, M33 is well-suited for the study of a typical spiral galaxy. In this work, Paul Hodge places current research on M33 (and similar galaxies) in both historical and global perspectives. The book is written in a language accessible for specialists and non-specialists, for professional and amateur astronomers, for scientists and the curious public and, most importantly, for students.

The Almagest, by the Greek astronomer and mathematician Ptolemy, is the most important surviving treatise on early mathematical astronomy, offering historians valuable insight into the astronomy and mathematics of the ancient world.
Pedersen's 1974 publication, A Survey of the Almagest, is the most recent in a long tradition of companions to the Almagest. Part paraphrase and part commentary, Pedersen's work has earned the universal praise of historians and serves as the definitive introductory text for students interested in studying the Almagest.
In this revised edition, Alexander Jones, a distinguished authority on the history of early astronomy, provides supplementary information and commentary to the original text to account for scholarship that has appeared since 1974. This revision also incorporates various corrections to Pedersen's original text that have been identified since its publication.
This volume is intended to provide students of the history of astronomy with a self-contained introduction to the Almagest, helping them to understand and appreciate Ptolemy's great and classical work.

The NATO ASI held in the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, June 17-28, 1991 was, we believe, the first attempt to bring together geoscientists from all the disciplines related to the solar system where fluid flow is a fundamental phenomenon. The various aspects of flow discussed at the meeting ranged from the flow of ice in glaciers, through motion of the solar wind, to the effects of flow in the Earth's mantle as seen in surface phenomena. A major connecting theme is the role played by convection. For a previous attempt to review the various ways in which convection plays an important role in natural phenomena one must go back to an early comprehensive study by 1. Wasiutynski in "Astro physica Norvegica" vo1. 4, 1946. This work, little known now perhaps, was a pioneering study. In understanding the evolution of bodies of the solar system, from accretion to present-day processes, ranging from interplanetary plasma to fluid cores, the understanding of flow hydrodynamics is essentia1. From the large scale in planetary atmospheres to geological processes, such as those seen in magma chambers on the Earth, one is dealing with thermal or chemical convection. Count Rumford, the founder of the Royal Institution, studied thermal convection experimentally and realized its practical importance in domestic contexts."

Since 1967, the main scientific events of the General Assemblies of the International Astronomical Union have been published in the separate series, Highlights of Astronomy. The present Volume 11 presents the major scientific presentations made at the XXIIIrd General Assembly, August 18-30, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan. The two volumes (11A + B) contain the text of the three Invited Discourses as well as the proceedings or extended summaries of the 21 Joint Discussions and two Special Sessions held during the General Assembly.

This is the first book to give a comprehensive overview of recent observational and theoretical results on solar wind structures and fluctuations and magnetohydrodynamic waves and turbulence, preference being given to phenomena in the inner heliosphere. Emphasis is placed on the progress made in the past decade in the understanding of the nature and origin of especially small-scale, compressible and incompressible fluctuations. Turbulence models describing the spatial transport and spectral transfer of the fluctuations in the inner heliosphere are discussed. Intermittency of solar wind fluctuations and their statistical distributions are investigated. Studies of the heating and acceleration effects of the turbulence on the background wind are critically surveyed. Finally, open questions concerning the origin, nature and evolution of the fluctuations are listed, and perspectives for future research are outlined. The book is for graduate students and researchers in the field. Other target groups are scientists and professionals interested in space plasma physics and/or MHD turbulence.

ThlS volume contalns a serles of lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Study Instltute on Hlgh Energy Phenomena Around Collapsed Stars, held ln Cargese, CorSlca from September 2 tlll Septemcer 13, 1985. The course was planned ln collaboratlon wlth a SClentlflC Organiz ing Commlttee (C. Cesarsky, France; A. Lyne, U.K.; D. Plnes, USA; J. Trlimper, W. Germany; E. Van den Heuvel, The Netherlands and L. Wolt]er, E.S.O., Mlinlch) and was fully supported by the NATO SClentlflc Affalrs Dlvlsion. It was organized wlth the alm of provldlng students and young researchers with an up-to-date account on the subject of galactlc hlgh energy astrophyslCS and was attended by about 60 researchers from many countrles. The lectures and seminars dld represent a complete coverage of our present knowledge and understandlng of Supernovae, Supernovae Remnants, Pulsars, sources of hlgh energy photons and partlcles. Most of them are reproduced ln thlS volume although unfortunately a few speakers chose not to submlt thelr text Slnce they felt that the materlal was already amply avallable ln the eXlstlng llterature. I wlsh to express my gratltude to the SClentlflc Affalrs Dlvislon of the North Atlantlc Treaty Organlzatlon for the generous support glven to the Instltute and to the lecturers and particlpants who contributed so much to the success of the course."

This book reproduces the proceedings of the last of a series of "Euroconferences" dedicated to the ongoing near-infrared sky surveys DENIS and 2MASS. It presents the current status of both projects and some of the most outstanding results they have recently achieved in various areas of galactic and extragalactic astronomy. The book contains substantial articles by researchers directly involved in the survey data processing and interpretation which thoroughly describe the astrophysical context in which deep and homogeneous near-infrared surveys will eventually bring about significant breakthrough. They deal with the determination of basic parameters of the galactic structure, the stellar content of the bulge, the construction of unbiased and statistically significant samples of isolated very low mass stars and brown dwarfs, the improvement of the low-end of the stellar luminosity and mass functions, the complete census of young stellar objects in nearby giant molecular clouds, the accurate determination of the luminosity function of late-type giants in the Magellanic Clouds and the structure of the local universe. The analysis of a very small subsample of the full expected set of data promises an extraordinary harvest of discoveries in the 21st century, especially when these data are merged with the results of major related space missions such as Hipparcos and ISO. This book would be of general interest to graduate students in astronomy and professional astronomers involved in most areas of observational astronomy.

The astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort (1900-1992) left behind an extensive collection of notes and correspondence, both on his research and on matters that concerned him in a variety of official functions. Upon Oort's death, the collection was augmented by more personal papers, letters, journals, and diaries. The resulting collection forms a rich source of information on many aspects of twentieth-century astronomy, in which Oort played such an important role. The scientific and personal material covers the entire span of time from Oort's early youth until his death. To make these papers accessible to a wide circle of users, the collection has now been catalogued and described; the result is presented in this volume. A name index and a subject index have been added to facilitate access. The inventory is accompanied by a short biographical sketch, and a number of photographs, mostly relating to Oort's career as a scientist. The original papers themselves are archived in the Leiden University Library.

Here it is, in a nutshell: the history of one genius's most crucial work - discoveries that were to change the face of modern physics. In the early 1900s, Albert Einstein formulated two theories that would forever change the landscape of physics: the Special Theory of Relativity and the General Theory of Relativity. Respected American academic Professor Tai Chow tells us the story of these discoveries. He details the basic ideas of Einstein, including his law of gravitation. Deftly employing his inimitable writing style, he goes on to explain the physics behind black holes, weaving into his account an explanation of the structure of the universe and the science of cosmology.

''An atteJDpt has been made to cOll1PlJte the numbers of certain JI10lecules in interstellar space , . . . . A search for the bands of CH, O/{, DR, en and C2 would appear to be proIDising" P Swings and L Rosenfeld Astrophysical Journal 86,483(1937) This may have been the first attempt at modelling interstellar chemistry. As with models today, the methods used lacked reliability, but the speculation was impressive! Mark Twain might well have said of this infant subject "One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact". The detection of unidentified lines around the period that Swings and Rosenfeld were writing provoked much interest, but even the most optimistic speculator could hardly have imagined developments which would occur during the next 50 years. By 1987 about 70 varieties of molecule had been identified in the interstellar and circumstellar regions, They range in complexity from simple diatomics such as H2 and CO to such species as ethanol C2HeDH, acetone (CHs)2CO, and the largest interstellar molecule detected so far, cyano-penta acetylene HC11N, The study of these molecules in astronomy has developed enormously, especially over the last 20 years, and is now codified in the new subject of astrochemistry, That such a variety of chemical species should exist in tenuous regions of the Galaxy is fascinating.

This book presents a collection of focused review papers on the advances in topics in modern astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and planetary science. The chapters are written by expert members of an EU-funded ERASMUS+ program of strategic partnership between several European institutes. The 13 reviews comprise the topics: Space debris, optical measurements Meteors, light from comets and asteroids Extrasolar enigmas: from disintegrating exoplanets to exo-asteroids Physical conditions and chemical abundances in photoionized nebulae from optical spectra Observational Constraints on the Common Envelope Phase A modern guide to quantitative spectroscopy of massive OB stars Explosion mechanisms of core-collapse supernovae and their observational signatures Low-mass and substellar eclipsing binaries in stellar clusters Globular cluster systems and Galaxy Formation Hot atmospheres of galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxies The establishment of the Standard Cosmological Model through observations Exploiting solar visible-range observations by inversion techniques: from flows in the solar subsurface to a flaring atmosphere Starburst galaxies The book is intended for the general astronomical community as well as for advanced students who could use it as a guideline, inspiration and overview for their future careers in astronomy.

Proceedings of the 17th General Assembly, Montreal, 1979

This text should appeal to all researchers who have an interest in Leonid showers. It contains over 40 research papers that present some of the first observational results of the November 1999 Leonid meteor storm, the first storm observed by modern observing techniques. The book is a glimpse of the large amount of information obtained during NASA's Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign and groundbased campaigns throughout the world. It provides an overview on the state of meteor shower research for any professional researcher or amateur meteor observer interested in studies of meteors and meteoroids and their relation to comets, the origin of life on Earth, the satellite impact hazard issue, and upper atmosphere studies of neutral atom chemistry, the formation of meteoric debris, persistent trains, airglow, noctilucent clouds, sprites and elves.

The book highlights the personal and scientific struggles of Arthur Erich Haas (1884-1941), an Austrian Physicist from a wealthy Jewish middle-class family, whose remarkable accomplishments in a politically hostile but scientifically rewarding environment deserve greater recognition. Haas was a fellow student of both Lise Meitner and Erwin Schroedinger and was also one of the last doctoral students of Ludwig Boltzmann. Following Boltzmann's suicide, Haas was forced to submit a more independent doctoral thesis in which he postulated new approaches in early quantum theory, actually introducing the idea of the Bohr radius before Niels Bohr. It is the lost story of a trailblazer in the fields of quantum mechanics and cosmology, a herald of nuclear energy and applications of modern science. This biography of Haas is based on new and previously unpublished family records and archived material from the Vienna Academy of Science and the University of Notre Dame, which the author has collected over many years. From his analysis of the letters, documents, and photos that rested for nearly a century in family attics and academic archives, Michael Wiescher provides a unique and detailed insight into the life of a gifted Jewish physicist during the first half of the twentieth century. It also sheds light on the scientific developments and thinking of the time. It appeals not only to historians and physicists, but also general readers. All appreciate the record of Haas' interactions with many of the key figures who helped to found modern physics.

This book addresses a broad range of problems related to observed manifestations of chaotic motions in galactic and stellar objects, by invoking basic theory, numerical modeling, and observational evidence. For the first time, methods of stochastic dynamics are applied to actually observed astronomical objects, e.g. the gaseous disc of the spiral galaxy NGC 3631. In the latter case, the existence of chaotic trajectories in the boundary of giant vortices was recently found by the calculation of the Lyapunov characteristic number of these trajectories.

The reader will find research results on the peculiarities of chaotic system behaviour; a study of the integrals of motion in self-consistent systems; numerical modeling results of the evolution process of disk systems involving resonance excitation of the density waves in spiral galaxies; a review of specific formations in stars and high-energy sources demonstrating their stochastic nature; a discussion of the peculiarities of the precessional motion of the accretion disk and relativistic jets in the double system SS 433; etc.

This book stands out as the first one that deals with the problem of chaos in real astrophysical objects. It is intended for graduate and post-graduate students in the fields of non-linear dynamics, astrophysics, planetary and space physics; specifically for those dealing with computer modeling of the relevant processes.

This volume addresses the history and epistemology of early modern cosmology. The authors reconstruct the development of cosmological ideas in the age of 'scientific revolution' from Copernicus to Leibniz, taking into account the growth of a unified celestial-and-terrestrial mechanics. The volume investigates how, in the rise of the new science, cosmology displayed deep and multifaceted interrelations between scientific notions (stemming from mechanics, mathematics, geometry, astronomy) and philosophical concepts. These were employed to frame a general picture of the universe, as well as to criticize and interpret scientific notions and observational data. This interdisciplinary work reconstructs a conceptual web pervaded by various intellectual attitudes and drives. It presents an historical-epistemological unified itinerary which includes Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Huygens, Newton and Leibniz. For each of the scientists and philosophers, a presentation and commentary is made of their cosmological views, and where relevant, outlines of their most relevant physical concepts are given. Furthermore, the authors highlight the philosophical and epistemological implications of their scientific works. This work is helpful both as a synthetic overview of early modern cosmology, and an analytical exposition of the elements that were intertwined in early-modern cosmology. This book addresses historians, philosophers, and scientists and can also be used as a research source book by post-graduate students in epistemology, history of science and history of philosophy.

This book is an important text of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics, probably composed in the 16th century. In the Indian astronomical tradition, the karana texts are essentially computational manuals, and they often display a high level of ingenuity in coming up with simplified algorithms for computing planetary longitudes and other related quantities. Karanapaddhati, however, is not a karana text. Rather, it discusses the paddhati or the rationale for arriving at suitable algorithms that are needed while preparing a karana text for a given epoch. Thus the work is addressed not to the almanac maker but to the manual maker. Karanapaddhati presents the theoretical basis for the vakya system, where the true longitudes of the planet are calculated directly by making use of certain auxiliary notions such as the khanda, mandala and dhruva along with tabulated values of changes in the true longitude over certain regular intervals which are expressed in the form of vakyas or mnemonic phrases. The text also discusses the method of vallyupasamhara, which is essentially a technique of continued fraction expansion for obtaining optimal approximations to the rates of motion of planets and their anomalies, involving ratios of smaller numbers. It also presents a new fast convergent series for which is not mentioned in the earlier works of the Kerala school. As this is a unique text presenting the rationale behind the vakya system and the computational procedures used in the karana texts, it would serve as a useful companion for all those interested in the history of astronomy. The authors have provided a translation of the text followed by detailed notes which explain all the computational procedures, along with their rationale, by means of diagrams and equations.

Our planet exists within a space environment affected by constantly changing solar atmosphere producing cosmic particles and electromagnetic waves. This "space weather" profoundly influences the performance of our technology because we primarily use two means for transmitting information and energy; namely, electromagnetic waves and electricity. On an everyday basis, we have developed methods to cope with the normal conditions. However, the sun remains a fiery star whose 'angry' outbursts can potentially destroy spacecrafts, kill astronauts, melt electricity transformers, stop trains, and generally wreak havoc with human activities. Space Weather is the developing field within astronomy that aims at predicting the sun??'s violent activity and minimizing the impacts on our daily lives. Space Weather, Environment, and Societies explains why our technological societies are so dependent on solar activity and how the Sun disturbs the transmission of information and energy. Footnotes expand specific points and the appendices facilitate a more thorough command of the physics involved.