This study sets out to determine if the interest in and study of natural sciences is declining in western countries as scientists currently contend. Part one demonstrates how survey results reveal a decline of interest in scientific news in the EU. Part two explores the decline of interest further through examining data such as the number of students interested in scientific subjects and scientific careers. I explore the hypothesis that the lack of interest in scientific subjects is influenced by the culture of the mass media, and the manner in which the media covers scientific items. I examine a range of media outlets, from reality TV shows and TV series, to movies and the press. Many aspects of this paper have been discussed in depth in my book published in 2008: La razón estrangulada (Reason Strangled: the Crisis of Science in Contemporary Society).

The physical properties of the hot interstellar matter in elliptical galaxies are directly related with the formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies via star formation episodes, environmental effects such as stripping, infall, and mergers, and growth of super-massive black holes. The recent successful Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray space missions have provided a large amount of high spatial/spectral resolution observational data on the hot ISM in elliptical galaxies. At the same time, theoretical studies with numerical simulations and analytical modeling of the dynamical and chemical evolution of elliptical galaxies have made a significant progress and start to predict various observable quantities.

Early abundance measurements established that stars known to host giant planets are metal rich compared to the Sun. More extensive abundance measurements then showed that giant planet hosts are metal rich compared to the parent sample in planet searches. Stars spanning a range of convection zone depths all show the same metallicity effect, ruling out significant abundance enhancements due to selective accretion. Most known planets migrated inwards from the snow line, but subsamples closer to and further from the star have similar iron abundances, so the stopping point of migration does not depend on metallicity. Stars recently discovered to host Neptune mass planets may be metal poor compared to the Sun, particularly if one focusses on stars that do not also host higher mass planets. This would be consistent with core-accretion models of planet formation. Before drawing physical conclusions, it will be necessary to check for metallicity bias in the subsample of stars around which Neptune mass planets could have been found. M dwarf abundances are currently too uncertain to relate planet frequency and host star metallicity, due mainly to missing or incorrect molecular line data.

Several authors have studied the dependence of galaxy properties on environment in order to understand which mechanisms operate in the galaxy evolution. Recently, some of them have proposed that intermediate densities could be sites where local environment influences the transition of galaxies onto the red-sequence, as opposed to mechanisms that operate on cluster scales. Based on the evidence that interacting and merging systems are frequent at intermediate densities, we use the SDSS-DR4 data to analyse the role of close galaxy interactions as an environmental process which could contribute to lead evolutionary transformations. We explore the properties of galaxy pairs at different local and global density environments, comparing them with those of isolate galaxies in an unbiased control sample (CS).

Rapid rotation in red giant stars may be one signature of the past engulfment of a planetary companion. Models of the future tidal interaction of known exoplanet host stars with their planets show that many of these stars will accrete one or more of their planets, and the orbital angular momentum of these accreted planets is sometimes sufficient to spin up the host stars to a level commonly accepted as “rapid rotation” for giant stars. Planets accreted during the red giant phase should leave behind a chemical signature in the form of unusual abundance patterns in the host red giant's atmosphere. Proposed signatures of planet accretion include the enhancement of Li and 12C; both species are generally depleted in giant star atmospheres by convection but could be replenished by planet accretion. Moreover, accreted planets may preferentially enhance the stellar abundance of refractory elements assuming that the refractory nature of these elements leads to their relative enhancements in the planets themselves. Here we present preliminary results of a search for these predicted chemical signatures through high resolution spectroscopic abundance analysis of both rapidly rotating giant stars (i.e., stars with a higher probability of having experienced planet accretion) and normally rotating giant stars. We find that the rapid rotators are enhanced in Li relative to the slow rotators — a result consistent with Li replenishment through planet absorption.

We present new evidence of X-ray absorption variability on time scales from a few hours to a few days for several nearby bright AGNs. The observed NH variations imply that the X-ray absorber is made of clouds eclipsing the X-ray source with velocities in excess of 103 km s−1, and densities, sizes and distances from the central black hole typical of BLR clouds. We conclude that the variable X-ray absorption is due to the same clouds emitting the broad emission lines in the optical/UV. We then concentrate on the two highest signal-to-noise spectra of eclipses, discovered in two long observations of NGC 1365 and Mrk 766, and we show that the obscuring clouds have a cometary shape, with a high density head followed by a tail with decreasing NH. Our results show that X-ray time resolved spectroscopy can be a powerful way to directly measure the physical and geometrical properties of BLR clouds.

This talks reviews the history of the discovery of the hot ISM in elliptical galaxies, and the ensuing debate on the suitability of X-ray observations of these galaxies for mass measurements. How much of the X-ray emission is truly from a hot ISM, and is this ISM in hydrostatic equilibrium? While the debate went on, a deeper understanding on the evolution of the halos was generated. High resolution Chandra observations are providing an answer.

With the availability of nice images and amazing, dramatic stories, the fundamental questions it addresses, and the attraction is exerces on many, it is often assumed that astronomy is an obvious topic for the media. Looking more carefully, however, one realises that the truth is perhaps not as glamorous as one would hope, and that, although well present in the media, astronomy's coverage is rather tiny, and often, limited to the specialised pages or magazines.

We explore the multiwavelength properties of three nearby starburst galaxies: NGC 3079, NGC 7673, and Mrk 08. We established that each of these galaxies has similar rest-frame far-ultraviolet (FUV) morphologies as Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at z ~ 1.5 and 4, when the age of the Universe was ~ 4.3 and ~ 1.6 Gyr, respectively. LBGs are at an important stage in galaxy evolution when the Universe had a peak in the star-formation-rate density. Many LBGs are primarily composed of star-forming clumps, i.e., stellar clusters, with a significant lack of older stellar populations. Here, we present the comparison of the spectral-energy distributions (SEDs) of three nearby starburst galaxies with those of typical LBGs. From our nearby sample, each object has been artificially redshifted to observe what the galaxies would look like at z ~ 1 to 4 in the rest-frame FUV. NGC 3079 is an edge-on Seyfert 2 galaxy. It has a bright bulge and is interacting with two other galaxies, with extended Hi only along NGC 3079. The redshifting process changes its appearance, so that at high z it looks like a chain galaxy with multiple knots of star formation and no bulge. NGC 7673 has extended Hi and the star formation is mostly within the inner optical region in the multiple star-forming clumps defining the galaxy morphology. In the FUV, the galaxy looks highly compact with little detail resolved. As it is artificially redshifted, the galaxy continues to look more spherical. Mrk 8 is a merging pair, with the two galaxies observable in the visible spectrum. It is classified as a Wolf–Rayet galaxy, which suggests a very young burst, and is composed of several large star-forming regions. The FUV image does not resolve the separate galaxies, and the appearance remains similar for each redshift. We use the Gini coefficient, M20, and the Sérsic index to quantify the morphologies. The SEDs of the objects have similarities with LBG stellar population models. Because these local galaxies can be studied in more detail, they act as a bridge between nearby observations of starburst galaxies and high-z starburst galaxies such as LBGs.

For more than 140 years the chemical composition of our Sun has been considered typical of solar-type stars. Our highly differential elemental abundance analysis of unprecedented accuracy (~0.01 dex) of the Sun relative to solar twins, shows that the Sun has a peculiar chemical composition with a ≈20% depletion of refractory elements relative to the volatile elements in comparison with solar twins. The abundance differences correlate strongly with the condensation temperatures of the elements. A similar study of solar analogs from planet surveys shows that this peculiarity also holds in comparisons with solar analogs known to have close-in giant planets while the majority of solar analogs without detected giant planets show the solar abundance pattern. The peculiarities in the solar chemical composition can be explained as signatures of the formation of terrestrial planets like our own Earth.

Several attempts have been made in order to isolate the effect of galaxy interactions by comparing galaxy in pairs with isolated galaxies. However, different authors have proposed different ways to build these control samples (CS). By using mock galaxy catalagues built up from the Millennium Simulation, we show that the set of constrains used to define a CS might introduce biases which could affect the interpretation of results. In this analysis, we make use of the fact that the physics of interactions is not included in the semi-analytic model, so that any difference between the mock control and pair samples can be attributed to selection biases. Thus, we suggest how to build an unique and unbiased CS in order to individualize the effect of interactions. Based on this theoretical findings and using the SDSS-DR4 data, we revise some previous observational results of galaxy in pairs in order to evaluate any possible disagreement. The comparison between simulations and observations suggests an overestimated effect of the DM halo bias in semianalytical models.

XMM-Newton is well suited to the study of the X-ray properties of early-type galaxies: the wide energy band allows a characterization of the different components of the X-ray emission in galaxies, separating the gas from the compact source component through their spectral characteristics, and identifying low-luminosity absorbed AGNs; the large field of view allows a proper understanding of the large scale emission, and the separation between the galaxy and the surrounding group. Nonetheless, in spite of the much improved understanding of the X-ray characteristics of this class of sources, much of the original questions on the global X-ray properties of early-type galaxies remain. One in particular: how can we predict how much gas is there in any given galaxy? We have learned that the individual sources are tightly linked to the stellar component, both field stars and relative frequency of globular clusters. We have also learned that the central group galaxies, brighter and more extended, might represent a specific class of early-type galaxies, rather than the population as a whole. Yet we have not learned how to predict, from the stellar properties, how much hot gas a galaxy will have. Even a well selected class of sources, namely early type galaxies in isolation, where we can exclude the influence of the environment, appear to retain different amounts of the hot ISM produced by the stellar population, and display a wide range of Lx for their gaseous component for a relative narrow range of Lb, or mass [measured through LK], as shown by Fig. 1.

Recently, high-resolution observations made with the help of the near-infrared adaptive optics integral field spectrograph SINFONI at the VLT proved the existence of massive and young nuclear star clusters in the centers of a sample of Seyfert galaxies. With the help of high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations with the pluto code, we follow the evolution of such clusters, especially focusing on mass and energy feedback from young stars. This leads to a filamentary inflow of gas on large scales (tens of parsecs), whereas a turbulent and very dense disk builds up on the parsec scale. Here we concentrate on the long-term evolution of the nuclear disk in NGC 1068 with the help of an effective viscous disk model, using the mass input from the large-scale simulations and accounting for star formation in the disk. This two-stage modeling enables us to connect the tens-of-parsecs scale region (observable with SINFONI) with the parsec-scale environment (MIDI observations). At the current age of the nuclear star cluster, our simulations predict disk sizes of the order 0.8 to 0.9 pc, gas masses of order 106M⊙, and mass transfer rates through the inner boundary of order 0.025 M⊙yr−1, in good agreement with values derived from observations.

Society's view of astronomers has changed over time and from culture to culture. This review discusses some of the many ways that astronomers have been perceived by their societies and suggests ways that astronomers can influence public perception of ourselves and our profession in the future.

We present CCD photometry in the Washington-system C and T1 passbands down to T1 ~ 22.5 mag in the fields of NGC 1697, SL 133, NGC 1997, SL 663, and OHSC 28, five mostly unstudied star clusters in the LMC. Cluster radii were estimated from star counts in appropriately sized boxes distributed throughout the entire observed fields. We perform a detailed analysis of field-star contamination and derive cluster colour–magnitude diagrams (CMDs). Based on the best fits of isochrones computed by the Padova group to the (C − T1, T1) CMDs, the δ(T1) index and the ‘standard giant-branch’ procedure, we derive metallicities and ages for the five clusters. With the exception of NGC 1697 (age = 0.7 Gyr, [Fe/H] = 0.0 dex), the remaining four clusters are of intermediate age (from 2.2 to 3.0 Gyr) and relatively metal poor ([Fe/H] = −0.7 dex). We combine our sample with clusters with ages and metallicities on a similar scale and examine relationships between position in the LMC, age and metallicity. We confirm previous results that clusters younger than ~ 1 Gyr were formed during an outside-in process; this occurred after a burst of cluster formation that took place mainly in the outer disk and peaked ~ 2 Gyr ago. Finally, the cluster and field age–metallicity relations (AMRs) show evidence for a metallicity offset but do overlap, particularly on the upper-envelope side of the cluster AMR.

The metal abundances in the hot X-ray emitting interstellar medium (ISM) of early-type galaxies give us important information about the present metal supply into the ISM through supernovae (SNe) Ia and stellar mass loss. In addition, O and Mg abundances should reflect the stellar metallicity and enable us to directly look into the formation history of these galaxies. The XIS instrument onboard the Suzaku satellite has an improved line spread function due to a very small low-pulse-height tail below 1 keV coupled with a very low background.

We present CCD BVIKC photometry in the field of the open cluster NGC 2587. We developed a new method to clean statistically the colour–magnitude diagrams. NGC 2587 is found to be slightly younger than the Hyades and probably of solar metallicity. From 18 probable members with measured proper motions, we derived the following mean cluster values: μα = −4.3 ± 3.6 mas yr−1 and μδ = −2.5 ± 3.4 mas yr−1. Colour excesses, E(B − V) = 0.10 and E(V − I) = 0.15 mag, and a heliocentric distance of 3.7 ± 0.7 kpc are obtained. The interstellar extinction in the cluster direction is found to follow the normal reddening law.

Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs) represent the bulk of the AGN population in the present-day universe and they trace low-level accreting supermassive black holes. The observational properties of LLAGNs suggest that their central engines are intrinsically different from those of more luminous AGNs. It has been suggested that accretion in LLAGNs occurs via an advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) associated with strong jets. In order to probe the accretion physics in LLAGNs as a class, we model the multiwavelength spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 24 LINERs (taken from a recent compilation by Eracleous et al.) with a coupled accretion-jet model. The accretion flow is modeled as an inner ADAF outside of which there is a truncated standard thin disk. These SEDs include radio, near-IR to near-UV HST data, and Chandra X-ray data. We find that the radio emission is severely underpredicted by ADAF models but can be explained by the relativistic jet. The origin of the X-ray radiation in most sources can be explained by three distinct scenarios: the X-rays can be dominated by emission from the ADAF, the jet, or from both components contributing at similar levels. From the model fits, we estimate important parameters of the central engine of LINERs, such as the mass accretion rate — relevant for studies of the feeding of AGNs — and the mass-loss rate in the jet and the jet power — relevant for studies of the kinetic feedback from jets.

We present an analysis of three years of precision radial velocity measurements of 160 metal-poor stars observed with Keck/HIRES. We report on variability and long-term velocity trends for each star in our sample. We identify several long-term, low-amplitude radial-velocity variables worthy of follow-up with direct imaging techniques. We place lower limits on the detectable companion mass as a function of orbital period. None of the stars in our sample exhibits radial-velocity variations compatible with the presence of Jovian planets with periods shorter than the survey duration (3 yr). The resulting average frequency of gas giants orbiting metal-poor dwarfs with −2.0≤[Fe/H]≤ −0.6 is fp < 0.67%. By combining our dataset with the Fischer & Valenti (2005) uniform sample, we confirm that the likelihood of a star to harbor a planet more massive than Jupiter within 2 AU is a steeply rising function of the host's metallicity. However, the data for stars with −1.0≤[Fe/H]≤ 0.0 are compatible, in a statistical sense, with a constant occurrence rate fp≃1%. Our results usefully inform theoretical studies of the process of giant planet formation across two orders of magnitude in metallicity.

The main goal of this work is to explore the abundance patterns of the very metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]<−2.0) observed by the HERES (Hamburg ESO R-process Enhanced Star - Christlieb et al. 2004) survey. This type of study allows the analysis of the correlations among chemical elements, and place some constraints on the operation of the neutron-capture (r and s) processes in the early Galaxy. This approach makes use of statistical tools, such as agglomerative nesting, which can identify the formation of natural groups based on relations among elemental abundances (e.g. [C/Fe], [Sr/Fe], [Ba/Fe], and [Eu/Fe]), and can also be used in a series of “large-sample like” studies.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of a sample of 326 metal-poor stars, and introduces two new subclasses (r-0 and s-I) for metal-poor stars with determined abundances of neutron-capture elements, aiming to standardize the nomenclature for those objects and, by reproducing previous results, confirms the validity of the statistical method used.