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Many aspects of symbiotic stars have long puzzled astronomers. For instance while most students of the subject have considered them binary, many have at different times supported single star models. The nature of their outbursts is uncertain, while the dividing line between symbiotic stars and novae is unclear. In any case doubts can even be raised as to whether a class of "Symbiotic Stars" really exists. Much new data has been obtained in recent years, in particular from the study of radiation outside the visual region. Many symbiotic stars have been studied in the UV with IUE since 1978, while X-rays were det ected in a few cases with the Einstein satellite. There have been a num ber of in...
Symbiotic stars were identified spectroscopically as M giants with a very strong He II 4686 emission line. After five decades of study by many astronomers, the first internatioinal meetings devoted to symbiotics were held at the University of Colorado (Boulder) and at the Haute Provence Observatory during the Summer of 1981. These conferences emphasized exciting new results obtained by modern satellite (EINSTEIN, IUE) and ground-based observatories. Although the vast majority of the participants were already fairly sure that symbiotics are almost certainly interacting binary systems, and not extremely peculiar single stars, it was not clear exactly which types of physical processes were need...
Since 1967. the most prominent events of a General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union are published in a separate volume. The Highlights of Astronomy (volume 9) report on the major scientific presentations made at the XXIst General Assembly July 23-August 1. 1991. Buenos Aires. Argentina. The present volume contains the texts of the three invited Di scourses and of the papers presented duri ng seven Joi nt Discussion Meetings and eight Joint Commission Meetings. The invited Discourses were arranged by the IAU Executive Committee and the Joint Discourses and Commission Meetings by the respective chairpersons. The overall responsability of the General Assembly was carried out by ...
The same kind of physics is frequently common to very different fields of Astrophysics, so experts in each of these fields have often much to learn from each others. It was therefore logical that the International Astronomical Union should sponsor a colloquium about an ion which pro duces many spectral lines that can be used as a diagnostic for many sorts of objects, and which may sometimes have a major influence on physical processes occurring in astro physical sources. The lines of singly ionized iron (FeII) are present in absorption and emission in the spectra of objects such as the Sun, cool stars, circumstellar envelopes of hot stars, novae, diffuse nebulae including the supernova remnants, and active galactic nuclei. These lines are very often formed far from LTE, and their interpretation is not easy in view of the complex Grotrian diagram for FeII, and the gaps in the knowledge of various physical parameters. In addition, the density of very strong FeII lines becomes very large in the ultraviolet, and the lines can play a major role in the line blanketing. They need therefore to be taken into account in any energy balance argument.
On April 28 1986 Cornelis de Jager reached the age of 65 years. On April 30 he officially retired from the University of Utrecht where he has held a Chair for Stellar Astrophysics, later changed into Space Physics, since 1958. Cees de Jager, as he prefers to be called by his friends, has had an active and successful life in science. His interest in astronomy was raised by his father under the clear skies of Celebes (Indonesia). He started a study in physics and astronomy as a student of the late M. Minnaert in Utrecht during World War II. When in 1943 the occupying forces recruited students who did not want to sign the declaration of loyalty for their war-efforts, Cees and three fellow students went into hiding at the Observatory in Utrecht. During this very "quiet" period van de Hulst developed the theory of the 21 em radiation of neutral hydrogen and de Jager started the observations of variable stars in the pitch dark nights of a country at war. The study of Beta Cepheids rapid ly awoke his interest which was kept throughout the years. In 1958 he organized an international campaign to observe 12 Lac spectroscopically and photometrically, which was a great success.
In 1965 Fritz Zwicky proposed a class of supernovae that he called "Type V", described as "excessively faint at maximum". There were only two members, SN1961v and Eta Carinae. We now know that Eta Carinae was not a true supernova, but if it were observed today in a distant galaxy we would call it a "supernova impostor". 170 years ago it experienced a "great eruption" lasting 20 years, expelling 10 solar masses or more, and survived. Eta Carinae is now acknowledged as the most massive, most luminous star in our region of the Galaxy, and it may be our only example of a very massive star in a pre-supernova state. In this book the editors and contributing authors review its remarkable history, physical state of the star and its ejecta, and its continuing instability. Chapters also include its relation to other massive, unstable stars, the massive star progenitors of supernovae, and the "first" stars in the Universe.
When I became President of International Astronomical Union Commission 44 for the triennial period 1985-1988, several members of the Organizing Committee and I agreed that it would be a good idea for our Commission to host a conference on observatories in space in view of their increasingly important role in astronomi cal research. IAU Colloquium Number 123 "Observatories in Earth Orbit and Beyond" is the first colloquium sponsored by IAU Com mission 44 on Astronomy from Space, although Commission 44 has co-sponsored numerous colloquia and symposia in the past. The past two decades have seen a flourishing of astronomical observatories in space. Over a dozen orbiting observatories have opened...
The controversial question of whether the majority of the narrow absorption lines observed in QSO spectra represent cosmological intervening systems or ejecta from the QSO themselves is settled. QSO absorption line spectroscopy, initially a mere technique, has matured into an essential extragalactic research tool for understanding the content of the Universe at redshifts between 0 and 4, and beyond. The only previous important meeting devoted to "QSO Absorption Lines" was held in May 1987 at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. Since that time, nearly a decade ago, research has been ex tremely active in this now well-established field of astrophysics. Theoretical stud ies and simulations have taken advantage of the constant progress in computer technology, and during these last few years, the observational results have bene fited largely from the new facillities offered by the Hubble Space Telescope in the UV wavelength range and the Keck Telescope for high-resolution spectroscopy.
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