Results of double-station TV meteor observations which were carried out during autumnal equinox in 2001 and 2003 are used for the confirmation of existing meteor showers and for a search for probable new micro-showers. Seven existing September showers were confirmed, two of them by meteors from both years. Fourteen new groups were proposed to be considered as new meteor micro-showers. Taking into account similar kinematical parameters two of them can be supposed to be a part of already existing showers.

In preparation for observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we have identified new members of the nearby, young M dwarf sample and compiled an up to date list of these stars. Here we summarize our efforts to identify young M dwarfs, describe the current sample, and detail its demographics in the context of direct planet imaging. We also describe our investigations of the unprecedented sensitivity of the JWST when imaging nearby, young M dwarfs. The JWST is the only near term facility capable of routinely pushing direct imaging capabilities around M dwarfs to sub-Jovian masses and will provide key insight into questions regarding low-mass gas-giant properties, frequency, formation, and architectures.

The supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way, Sgr A*, displays a nearly flat radio spectrum which is typical for jets in Active Galactic Nuclei. Indeed, time dependent, magnetized models of radiatively inefficient accretion flows, which are commonly used to explain the millimeter, near-infrared, and X-ray emission of Sgr A* also often produce jet-like outflows. However, the emission from these models so far has failed to reproduce the flat radio spectrum. We show that current GRMHD simulations can naturally reproduce the flat spectrum, when using a two-temperature plasma in the disk and a constant electron temperature plasma in the jet. This assumption is consistent with current state-of-the art simulations, in which the electron temperature evolution is not explicitly modeled. Stronger magnetization and stronger shearing seen in the jet sheath could possibly explain the difference in electron heating between jet and disk. The model images and spectra are consistent with the radio sizes and spectrum of Sgr A*.

The recent immense volume of observation data has urged us to recognize solar features and to analyze their correlation with automation methods, and many of these automation methods are closely related to statistical methods. Author investigations the extensive literatures to sum up the function of statistical methods and their advantages in recognizing automatically solar features and analyzing their correlation. The review lists the results and summarizes conclusions of the investigations. The results and conclusions will be helpful to promote the further automation processing.

The MIRAGE sample (Merging & isolated high-redshift AMR galaxies; Perret 2014, PhD dissertation; Perret et al. 2014, AA 562, 1) has been built in order to understand the contribution of the merger processes to the mass assembly in the MASSIV (Mass Assembly Survey with SINFONI in VVDS, Contini et al. 2012, AA 539, 91) sample. It consists of a sample of idealized simulations based on the RAMSES code; the initial conditions were designed to reproduce the physical properties of the most gas-rich young galaxies. The sample is composed of 20 simulations of mergers exploring the initial parameters of mass and orientation of the disks with a spatial resolution reaching 7 parsecs.

Large photometric galaxy surveys allow the study of questions at the forefront of science, such as the nature of dark energy. The success of such surveys depends on the ability to measure the photometric redshifts of objects (photo-zs), based on limited spectral data. A new major version of the public photo-z estimation software, ANNz, is presented here. The new code incorporates several machine-learning methods, such as artificial neural networks and boosted decision/regression trees, which are all used in concert. The objective of the algorithm is to dynamically optimize the performance of the photo-z estimation, and to properly derive the associated uncertainties. In addition to single-value solutions, the new code also generates full probability density functions in two independent ways.

I present a highly biased and skewed summary of IAU Symposium 314, “Young Stars and Planets Near the Sun,” held in May 2015. This summary includes some takeaway thoughts about the rapidly evolving state of the field, as well as some crowd-sourced predictions for progress over the next ~10 years. We predict the elimination of 1–2 of the currently recognized young moving groups, the addition of 3 or more new moving groups within 100 pc, the continued lack of a predictive theory of stellar mass, robust measurements of the gas and dust content of circumstellar disks, and an ongoing struggle to achieve a consensus definition for a planet.

High frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (HF QPOs) are observed in the X-ray power-density spectra (PDS) of several microquasars and low mass X-ray binaries. Many proposed QPO models are based on oscillations of accretion toroidal fluid structures orbiting in the vicinity of a compact object. We study oscillating accretion tori orbiting in the vicinity of a Kerr black hole. We demonstrate that significant variation of the observed flux can be caused by the combination of radial and vertical oscillation modes of a slender, polytropic, perfect fluid, non-self-graviting torus with constant specific angular momentum. We investigate two combinations of the oscillating modes corresponding to the direct resonance QPO model and the modified relativistic precession QPO model.

The Dawn spacecraft orbited Asteroid (4) Vesta for a year, and returned disk-resolved images and spectra covering visible and near-infrared wavelengths at scales as high as 20 m/pix. The visible geometric albedo of Vesta is ~ 0.36. The disk-integrated phase function of Vesta in the visible wavelengths derived from Dawn approach data, previous ground-based observations, and Rosetta OSIRIS observations is consistent with an IAU H-G phase law with H=3.2 mag and G=0.28. Hapke's modeling yields a disk-averaged single-scattering albedo of 0.50, an asymmetry factor of -0.25, and a roughness parameter of ~20 deg at 700 nm wavelength. Vesta's surface displays the largest albedo variations observed so far on asteroids, ranging from ~0.10 to ~0.76 in geometric albedo in the visible wavelengths. The phase function of Vesta displays obvious systematic variations with respect to wavelength, with steeper slopes within the 1- and 2-micron pyroxene bands, consistent with previous ground-based observations and laboratory measurement of HED meteorites showing deeper bands at higher phase angles. The relatively high albedo of Vesta suggests significant contribution of multiple scattering. The non-linear effect of multiple scattering and the possible systematic variations of phase function with albedo across the surface of Vesta may invalidate the traditional algorithm of applying photometric correction on airless planetary surfaces.

We performed 3D N-body/hydrodynamic simulations of local and high-z (z ∼ 2) star-forming galaxies (SFGs) to investigate the structure and kinematic properties of the different ISM phases (i.e., ionized, atomic, and molecular gases). We took into account, for the first time, a fully non-equilibrium radiative cooling by solving the non-equilibrium chemistries of atoms (H, He, C and O) and molecules (H2 and CO), as well as radiative heating, star formation, heating by HII region and supernova explosions.

A challenge in cosmological simulations is to formulate a physical model of star-formation (SF) and supernovae (SN) feedback which produces galactic outflows like that widely observed. In several models an outflow velocity (vout) and mass loading factor (η) are input to the sub-resolution recipe. We present results from our MUPPI model, which uses local properties of gas, and is able to develop galactic outflows whose properties correlate with global galaxy properties, consistent with observations; demonstrating a significant improvement in such work.

We present an inhomogeneous synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model for active parts of jets in low mass microquasars. We compare results of our model computed, for typical parameters of microquasars, with the sensitivity of Fermi-LAT.

Previous comet flyby missions enabled detailed studies of the photometric properties of several cometary nuclei from disk-resolved images, including 9P/Tempel 1, 19P/Borrelly, and 81P/Wild 2. Two recent missions, DIXI and Stardust-NExT, encountered Comets 103P/Hartley 2 and Tempel 1 respectively, expanding the pool of sampled cometary nuclei in their unique ways: Hartley 2 is a hyperactive comet; Tempel 1 was visited and impacted by the Deep Impact dual-spacecraft during its previous perihelion passage. Photometric modeling shows that the global photometric properties of the nuclei of Hartley 2 and Tempel 1 are similar to those of other cometary nuclei. The photometric variation of the hyperactive nucleus of Hartley 2 is about 15%, similar to that of weakly active comets Tempel 1 and Wild 2. The photometric properties of Tempel 1 measured by NExT suggest little change from those measured by DI. These results, together with the photometric properties of Wild 2 and Borrelly, indicate that the photometric properties of cometary nuclei are independent of the activity level and gross geomorphology of cometary nuclei. Instead, cometary nucleus photometric properties might be determined by its outgassing, which leaves low-albedo deposit on the surface and forms similar photometric texture. The time scale for the photometric alteration on cometary nuclei due to outgassing should be much shorter than the dynamic time scale.

We describe an approach to automate the classification of Cepheid variable stars into two subtypes according to their pulsation mode. Automating such classification is relevant to obtain a precise determination of distances to nearby galaxies, which in addition helps reduce the uncertainty in the current expansion of the universe. One main difficulty lies in the compatibility of models trained using different galaxy datasets; a model trained using a training dataset may be ineffectual on a testing set. A solution to such difficulty is to adapt predictive models across domains; this is necessary when the training and testing sets do not follow the same distribution. The gist of our methodology is to train a predictive model on a nearby galaxy (e.g., Large Magellanic Cloud), followed by a model-adaptation step to make the model operable on other nearby galaxies. We follow a parametric approach to density estimation by modeling the training data (anchor galaxy) using a mixture of linear models. We then use maximum likelihood to compute the right amount of variable displacement, until the testing data closely overlaps the training data. At that point, the model can be directly used in the testing data (target galaxy).

It is now common practice to constrain cosmological parameters using supernovae (SNe) catalogues constructed from several different surveys. Before performing such a joint analysis, however, one should check that parameter constraints derived from the individual SNe surveys that make up the catalogue are mutually consistent. We describe a statistically-robust mutual consistency test, which we calibrate using simulations, and apply it to each pairwise combination of the surveys making up, respectively, the UNION2 catalogue and the very recent JLA compilation by Betoule et al. We find no inconsistencies in the latter case, but conclusive evidence for inconsistency between some survey pairs in the UNION2 catalogue.

One of the interesting aspects of optical meteor studies is that the spectral composition of the brightness reveals information about the element composition of the solid particles that enter Earthfs atmosphere from interplanetary space. Deriving composition from optical spectra requires understanding the entry process during which the entering solid interacts with atmospheric species. This is especially so, because most meteors are observed at altitudes where the mean free path changes from tens of meters to millimeters, that is in the 120 km to 80 km altitude range within the atmosphere. The ionization that causes optical emission also reflects radio waves, so that meteors are observed with different kinds of radar instruments. Incoherent scatter radar facilities are in particular designed to study the upper atmosphere by using the backscattering from free electrons and are basically High Power Large Aperture radars. During the past 15 years they have been increasingly used for meteor studies. The phased-array incoherent scatter radars that are currently under development, such as the planned EISCAT-3Dsystem in northern Scandinavia, will further improve the spatial and time resolution of radar observations and will allow simultaneous measurements of the meteors and of the parameters of the surrounding ionosphere. Radar backscattering is also sensitive to objects that are smaller than those detected optically, so that the observations also permit studying the extension of the meteoroid size distribution to smaller sizes. In this presentation we consider the possibilities for measurements with the future EISCAT-3D as a new path of studying the physics of meteor phenomena with high accuracy.

The properties of the host galaxies of quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) are essential for the understanding of the suspected coevolution of central supermassive black holes (BHs) and their host galaxies. In Busch et al. (2014), we present a study of 20 low-luminosity type-1 QSOs (LLQSO; Busch et al.2012) that have been selected from the Hamburg/ESO survey for bright UV-excess QSOs (z ≤ 0.06). Performing careful decomposition of deep near-infrared J,H,K images, we found that the observed sources do not follow published MBH – Lbulge relations for inactive galaxies, supporting similar results found for type-1 AGN in the optical. This can be explained by overluminous bulges with very young stellar populations or undermassive black holes that are observed in a phase of growth. We use 3d-spectroscopy in the optical and near-infrared as a powerful tool to analyze gas and stellar kinematics, determine gas masses, star formation rate, trace underlying stellar continuum, etc. (e.g., Smajić et al.2014) and thereby constrain possible evolution scenarios. The results will be interpreted in the context of galaxy evolution and particularly the still unknown role of the AGN in this process. Here, we show first results for HE 1029-1831.

A jet model represents well different X-ray states of the bright ULX IC342 X-1.