Standard stellar evolution predicts that F stars should retain their initial surface lithium (Li) abundance because their convection zones are too shallow to destroy it at their base. Yet, observations reveal a severe Li depletion (the “Boesgaard Gap”), perhaps by as much as about two orders of magnitude, in a narrow Teff range. Several physical mechanisms, not usually included in stellar evolution calculations, have been proposed to account for this Li deficiency. These include diffusion, mass loss, meridional circulation, and rotationally-induced mixing driven by angular momentum loss. Identifying which of these (if any) might really be at work is not only of vital interest to stellar evolution, but may also have serious implications elsewhere (e.g. cosmology, Deliyannis et al. 1991). We bring attention to beryllium (Be) observations in F stars, which are crucial for discriminating between scenarios. Particularly important is the star 110 Her, which is depleted in Be by about a factor of 5 -10, but still has a detectable Li abundance (depleted by a factor of 100 - 200). Depleting surface Be without having depleted nearly all of the surface Li requires specific circumstances; we discuss how this depletion property severely constrains or eliminates most of the proposed mechanisms. One mechanism, rotationally-induced mixing, predicts relative depletions for these elements that agree well with what is observed.

We review what species remain to be seen for several types of astrochemistry: Thermochemical Equilibrium (TE) in circumstellar envelopes (CSEs); photo- and ion-molecule chemistry in CSEs; ion-molecule chemistry in cold interstellar clouds; grain chemistry (passive, catalytic, disruptive); and shock chemistry. In CSEs, a rich Si gas-phase chemistry is now recognized, and two predicted species (SiN, SiH2) have been seen. Others are predicted. In the ISM, a global picture of refractory-element chemistry predicts that compounds of Mg, Na, Fe, and possibly Al occur with detectable gas-phase abundance. Predicted species require laboratory synthesis and spectroscopy. Reactions of hydrocarbon ions with neutral species dominate the formation of the families CnH, HCnN, H2Cn, and CnO in both interstellar (TMC-1) and circumstellar (IRC10216) cases, and readily explain the favored values of n in each case as well as predicting which higher-n species remain to be seen. Confirmation of H3O+ (interstellar) is discussed.

We review the present status of our knowledge about observational evidence of the influence of rotation on the evolution and chemical surface enrichment of OB Main Sequence stars. We pay special attention to the CNO elements and show that luminosity class IV-V OB stars provide a good reference point for abundance analyses.

While there is clear evidence of rotationally induced mixing in OB stars, we show that fast rotation is not a guarantee of enrichment. A comparison of observed data with present evolutionary models indicates that the observed facts can be explained assuming that the stars are born with a distribution of rotational velocities, and that depending on the stellar mass the surface abundance changes will be dominated by rotation or mass loss. Only the existence of a large number of B supergiants beyond the Main Sequence cannot be explained in this scenario. We show that current evolutionary models including rotation do not adequately account for the transfer of angular momentum from the interior to the surface.

We point out that the difficulty in determining He abundances and in knowing the present or past binary status of many stars leads us to consider the above conclusions as preliminary.

Non-radial pulsations in isolated white dwarfs have been known for 25 years and it has been shown that the hydrogen-rich (DA) white dwarfs have a high probability of pulsating if they lie in the instability strip with effective temperature between 11500 and 13200 K - the ZZ Ceti stars (e.g. Kepler and Nelan 1993). Analysing techniques developed for such stars allow derivation of masses, luminosities, rotation periods, hydrogen surface layer masses and other properties (e.g. Kepler and Bradley 1995). A number of binary systems are known in which the primary is a white dwarf; dominant in this class are the cataclysmic variable (CV) stars. Until now no CV primary has been found to have non-radial pulsations.

Recent observations of impulsive microwave and hard X-ray emissions during the early phase of the flares are briefly reviewed in order to deduce the dynamics of energetic electrons consistently from two view points of the microwaves and X-rays. An emphasis is put on the necessity of distinction between temporal and spatial variations so far confused in the interpretation of the time histories of the X-ray and radio emissions. The role of plasma turbulence on the dynamics of the energetic electrons is shown to be important in deducing the model of X-ray and radio sources.

The MESSIER surveyor is a small mission designed at exploring the very low surface brightness universe. The satellite will drift-scan the entire sky in 6 filters covering the 200–1000 nm range, reaching unprecedented surface brightness levels of 34 and 37 mag arcsec−2 in the optical and UV, respectively. These levels are required to achieve the two main science goals of the mission: to critically test the ΛCDM paradigm of structure formation through (1) the detection and characterisation of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, which are predicted to be extremely abundant around normal galaxies, but which remain elusive; and (2) tracing the cosmic web, which feeds dark matter and baryons into galactic haloes, and which may contain the reservoir of missing baryons at low redshifts. A large number of science cases, ranging from stellar mass loss episodes to intracluster light through fluctuations in the cosmological UV-optical background radiation are free by-products of the full-sky maps produced.

Galileo spacecraft data suggest that a global ocean exists beneath the frozen ice surface Jupiter's moon Europa. Since the early 1970s, planetary scientists have used theoretical and observational arguments to deliberate the existence of an ocean within Europa and other large icy satellites. Galileo magnetometry data indicates an induced magnetic field at Europa, implying a salt water ocean. A paucity of large craters argues for a surface on average only ~40-90 Myr old. Two multi-ring structures suggest that impacts punched through an ice shell ~20 km thick. Europa's ocean and surface are inherently linked through tidal deformation of the floating ice shell, and tidal flexing and nonsynchronous rotation generate stresses that fracture and deform the surface to create ridges and bands. Dark spots, domes, and chaos terrain are probably related to tidally driven ice convection along with partial melting within the ice shell. Europa's geological activity and probable mantle contact permit the chemical ingredients necessary for life to be present within the satellite's ocean. Astonishing geology and high astrobiological potential make Europa a top priority for future spacecraft exploration, with a primary goal of assessing its habitability.

Observed periods of pulsating stars provide information about the properties of the stars. As examples I here consider double-mode pulsators, solar-like oscillations and δ Scuti stars. The ongoing expansion in the observational efforts in this area may be expected to lead to increasingly detailed tests of stellar evolution theory.

Recent data have revealed a clear distinction between the abundance patterns of the Milky Way (MW) thick and thin disks, suggesting a different origin for each of these components. In this work we first review the main ideas on the formation of the thin disk. From chemical evolution arguments we show that the thin disk should have formed on a long timescale. We also show clear signs that the local stellar samples are contaminated by stars coming from inner radii. We then check what would have to be changed in such a model in order to explain the observables in the thick disk. We find that a model in which the thick disk forms on a much shorter timescale than thin disk and with a star formation efficiency of around a factor of 10 larger than that in the thin disk can account for the observed abundance ratio shifts of several elements between thick and thin disk stars. Moreover, the lack of scatter in the abundance ratio patterns of both the thick and thin disks suggest both components to have been formed in situ by gas accretion and not by mergers of smaller stellar systems. Especially for the thick disk, this last constraint becomes a strong one if its metallicity distribution extends to, at least, solar. Finally, we briefly discuss the interplay between present deuterium abundance and present infall rates in connection with the thin disk evolution.

Important problems to which we would like to find answers are:

1. • What are the distances to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)?

2. • What is the present distribution of stars, gas and dark matter in the Clouds, and how did it evolve?

3. • How, and where, did the Magellanic Clouds form, and how have their orbits evolved?

4. • Finally the recent discovery of numerous microlensing events in the Clouds provides answers to questions that we have only recently started to ask.

The overall frequency and other statistical properties of binary systems suggest that star formation is intrinsically a complex and chaotic process, and that most binaries and single stars actually originate from the decay of multiple systems. Interactions between stars forming in close proximity to each other may play an important role in the star formation process itself, for example via tidally induced accretion from disks. Some of the energetic activity of newly formed stars could be due to bursts of rapid accretion triggered by interactions with close companions.

We review the properties of proto-planetary nebulae, highlighting the advances in our quantitative knowledge of these objects. The discussion focuses on the chemistry and morphology of their circumstellar envelopes and the chemistry and variability of their central stars.

Many of the newly discovered exoplanets are gas giants in close proximity to their parent stars. Therefore, they raise tides on their host stars, and (if similar to Jupiter) will likely have substantial magnetospheres which can interact with stellar magnetic field. Both tidal and magnetospheric interactions can enhance stellar activity levels. An initial search for such planet-induced activity using the Ca ii IR triplet found no clear signal, but recently a more sensitive study using the Ca ii H and K lines has uncovered evidence for planet-enhanced emission on HD 179949, and hints of it in other systems. The phase dependence of the enhanced emission for HD 179949 suggests a magnetospheric interaction. We discuss a simple model of this interaction, the implications of this possible detection for diagnosing exoplanetary magnetospheres, and future observations.

The active regions of FK Comae Berenices show a flip-flop behaviour, i.e. the concentrated part of spot-activity shifts exactly to the other side of stellar surface, and then remains on the same longitude for a time interval from a few years to a decade. The activity shows excellent phase coherence with respect to these two active longitudes separated 180 degrees from each other. FK Comae may provide a physical example of a non-linear dynamo, which shows surprisingly simple observational changes in the pattern of the magnetically induced spot configurations.

We present the results of a high-angular resolution spectro-imaging survey of a sample of isolated Herbig Ae-Be (HAeBe) stars aimed at searching for close companions. The fraction of wide binaries is found to be significantly higher in HAeBe stars than in solar-mass field dwarfs, and suggests a companion star fraction possibly larger than 1. The spectral energy distribution of the primaries and secondaries is derived independently from multi-wavelength resolved photometry of the systems. It is found that young low-mass companions usually do not exhibit infrared excesses, which suggests that the lifetime of their circumstellar disk might have been shortened by the influence of the massive primary.

Asteroseismology has been recognized for a long time as a very powerful mean to probe stellar interiors. The oscillations frequencies are closely related to stellar internal structure properties via the density and the sound speed profiles. Since these properties are in turn tightly linked with the mass and evolutionary state, we can expect to determine the age and mass of a star from the comparison of its oscillation spectrum with the predictions of stellar models. Such a comparison will of course suffer both from the problems we face when modeling a particular star (for instance the uncertainties on its global parameters and chemical composition) and from our general misunderstanding of the physical processes at work in stellar interiors (for instance the various transport processes that may lead to core mixing and affect the ages predicted by models). However for stars where observations have provided very precise and numerous oscillation frequencies together with accurate global parameters and additional information (as the radius or the mass of the star if it is member of a binary system, the radius if it observable in interferometry or the mean density if the star is an exoplanet host), we can also expect to better constrain the physical description of the stellar structure and transport processes and to finally get a more reliable age estimation.

After a brief survey of stellar pulsations, we present some general seismic diagnostics that can be used to infer the age of a pulsating star as well as their limitations. We then illustrate the ability of asteroseismology to scrutinize stellar interiors on the basis of a few examples. In the years to come, extended very precise asteroseismic observations are expected, either in photometry or in spectroscopy, from present and future ground-based (HARPS, CORALIE, ELODIE, UVES, UCLES, SIAMOIS, SONG) or spatial devices (MOST, CoRoT, WIRE, Kepler, PLATO). This will considerably enlarge the sample of stars eligible to asteroseismic age determination and should allow to estimate the age of individual stars with a 10-20% accuracy.

Three areas of current progress relevant to the theme of this Symposium will be discussed. (1) New spectroscopic observations of the 30 Doradus central cluster, obtained independently by the author and by J. Melnick, confirm the presence of numerous very early O-type members, including several of type O3. In combination with sophisticated new direct imagery of the luminous central object R136 by A. Walker and by G. Weigelt, these results have evident implications for understanding the ionization of the supergiant H II region, as well as for the interpretation of R136 itself and of the apparently similar regions seen in more distant galaxies. In particular, no evidence remains for a supermassive object in 30 Doradus, but its central cluster is revealed as a spectacular grouping of very massive hot stars. (2) A further member of the Ofpe/WN9 category in the LMC has been identified, bringing their number to seven, with no exact spectroscopic counterparts yet known in the Galaxy. One of these objects is currently in a state of outburst and has been interpreted by O. Stahl et al. as the hottest known Hubble-Sandage variable. (3) An extensive survey of IUE high-resolution data has revealed a strong correlation between the ultraviolet stellar wind features and the optical spectral classifications for the majority of normal O stars. These results are relevant to future studies with the High Resolution Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, which may observe restricted UV wavelength ranges in faint extragalactic OB stars lacking optical data of comparable quality.

The Chinese Spectral Radioheliograph (CSRH) with two arrays in 400MHz-2GHz/2-15GHz ranges with 64/520 frequency channels have been established in Mingantu Observing Station, Inner Mongolia of China, since 2013 and is in test observations now. CSRH is renamed as Mingantu Ultrawide SpEctral Radioheliograph (MUSER) after its accomplishment. We introduce the progress and current status of MUSER. The first burst imaging results of MUSER is presented.