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Starbursts are important features of early galaxy evolution. Many of the distant, high-redshift galaxies we are able to detect are in a starbursting phase, often apparently provoked by a violent gravitational interaction with another galaxy. In fact, if we did not know that major starbursts existed, these conference proceedings testify that we would indeed have difficulties explaining the key properties of the Universe! These conference proceedings cover starbursts from the small-scale star-forming regions in nearby galaxies to galaxy-wide events at high redshifts; one of the major themes of the conference proved to be'scalability', i.e., can we scale up the small-scale events to describe the physics on larger scales. The key outcome of this meeting – and these proceedings – is a resounding'yes'to this fundamental, yet profound question. The enhanced synergy facilitated by the collaboration among observers using cutting-edge ground and space-based facilities, theorists and modellers has made these proceedings a true reflection of the state of the art in this very rapidly evolving field.

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 measurementsMeteors, light from comets and asteroidsExtrasolar enigmas: from disintegrating exoplanets to exo-asteroidsPhysical conditions and chemical abundances in photoionized nebulae from optical spectraObservational Constraints on the Common Envelope PhaseA modern guide to quantitative spectroscopy of massive OB starsExplosion mechanisms of core-collapse supernovae and their observational signaturesLow-mass and substellar eclipsing binaries in stellar clustersGlobular cluster systems and Galaxy FormationHot atmospheres of galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxiesThe establishment of the Standard Cosmological Model through observationsExploiting solar visible-range observations by inversion techniques: from flows in the solar subsurface to a flaring atmosphereStarburst 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.

Our purpose in writing this book is to show how physics has been applied to developing our current understanding of the phase structure, physical condi­ tions, chemical makeup and, evolution of the (thermal) interstellar medium. We hope it provides an up-to-date overview which postgraduates, advanced undergraduates, and professionals in astrophysics can use as a'reference of first resort'before going on to read the more specialist monographs or research literature. We have covered the exciting observational results, but without consideration of the experimental techniques or instruments required. An elementary understanding of mathematical physics and of quantum me­ chanics has been assumed, and a knowledge of basic astrophysics would be helpful. Older textbooks on interstellar physics have tended to develop the subject matter in an order which reflects the historical development of the field. Here a more pedagological approach has been adopted, based on our lecture course experience. We cover successively more complex physical systems found in the diffuse universe. Detailed mathematical rigour is eschewed in favour of provid­ ing the reader with a basic physical insight into these systems. Astrophysical problems are treated as practical applications of the physics. In practice, the material is generally ranked in order of decreasing entropy, since the hottest and most diffuse phases tend to be physically less complex.

Essential Astrophysics is a book to learn or teach from, as well as a fundamental reference volume for anyone interested in astronomy and astrophysics. It presents astrophysics from basic principles without requiring any previous study of astronomy or astrophysics. It serves as a comprehensive introductory text, which takes the student through the field of astrophysics in lecture-sized chapters of basic physical principles applied to the cosmos.This one-semester overview will be enjoyed by undergraduate students with an interest in the physical sciences, such as astronomy, chemistry, engineering or physics, as well as by any curious student interested in learning about our celestial science. The mathematics required for understanding the text is on the level of simple algebra, for that is all that is needed to describe the fundamental principles. The text is of sufficient breadth and depth to prepare the interested student for more advanced specialised courses in the future. Astronomical examples are provided throughout the text, to reinforce the basic concepts and physics, and to demonstrate the use of the relevant formulae. In this way, the student learns to apply the fundamental equations and principles to cosmic objects and situations. Astronomical and physical constants and units as well as the most fundamental equations can be found in the appendix. Essential Astrophysics goes beyond the typical textbook by including references to the seminal papers in the field, with further reference to recent applications, results, or specialised literature.

This is the start of a long process to ultimately operate new advanced capabilities at Paranal that can keep up with the evergrowing need for larger and more complex astrophysical data sets. A modern instrument represents a very significant investment in cash, human resources and time. Such a meeting gives us a precious yardstick to evaluate the competitiveness of 1st-generation instruments and associated current and forthcoming proposals for 1st-generation upgrades. This is also crucial to orient the large research and development effort that will provide the very foundation on which 2nd-generation VLT instrumentation can be built. Finally, it represents a significant step towards defining the hopes and goals for the future Extremely Large Telescope to come. The first outcome of this meeting, already in progress, is outlined in the epilogue.

THE EDITORS: DAVID L. BLOCK AND KENNETH C. FREEMAN (SOC CO-CHAIRS), IVANIO PUERARI, ROBERT GROESS AND LIZ K. BLOCK 1. Harvard College Observatory, 1958 The past century has truly brought about an explosive period of growth and discovery for the physical sciences as a whole, and for astronomy in particular. Galaxy morphology has reached a renaissance.. The year: 1958. The date: October 1. The venue: Harvard College Observatory. The lecturer: Walter Baade. With amazing foresight, Baade penned these words:'Young stars, supergiants and so on, make a terrific splash - lots of light. The total mass of these can be very small compared to the total mass of the system'. Dr Layzer then asked the key question:'... the discussion raises the point of what this classification would look like if you were to ignore completely all the Population I, and just focus attention on the Population II...'We stand on the shoulders of giants. The great observer E. E. Barnard, in his pioneering efforts to photograph the Milky Way, devoted the major part of his life to identifying and numbering dusty'holes'and dust lanes in our Milky Way. No one could have dreamt that the pervasiveness of these cosmic dust masks (not only in our Galaxy but also in galaxies at high redshift) is so great, that their'penetration'is truly one of the pioneering challenges from both space-borne telescopes and from the ground.

Galaxies have a history. This has become clear from recent sky surveys which have shown that distant galaxies, formed early in the life of the Universe, differ from the nearby ones. New observational windows at ultraviolet, infrared and millimetric wavelengths (provided by ROSAT, IRAM, IUE, IRAS, ISO) have revealed that galaxies contain a wealth of components: very hot gas, atomic hydrogen, molecules, dust, dark matter... A significant advance is expected due to new instruments (VLT, FIRST, XMM) which will allow one to explore the most distant Universe. Three Euroconferences have been planned to punctuate this new epoch in galactic research, bringing together specialists in various fields of Astronomy.

Galaxies have a history. This has become clear from recent sky surveys, which have shown that distant galaxies, formed early in the life of the Universe, differ from the nearby ones. New observational windows at ultraviolet, infrared and millimetric wavelengths (provided by ROSAT, IRAM, IUE, IRAS, ISO) have revealed that galaxies contain a wealth of components: very hot gas, atomic hydrogen, molecules, dust, dark matter. A significant advance is expected due to new instruments (VLT, FIRST, XMM) which will allow one to explore the most distant Universe. Three Euroconferences have been planned to punctuate this new epoch in galactic research, bringing together specialists in various fields of Astronomy. The first, held in Granada (Spain) in May 2000, addressed the observational clues. The second will take place in October 2001 in St Denis de la Réunion (France) and will review the basic building blocks and small-scale processes in galaxy evolution. The third will take place in July 2002 in Kiel (Germany) and will be devoted to the overall modelling of galaxy evolution. This book contains the proceedings of the first conference. It is recommended to researchers and PhD students in Astrophysics.

Stellar astrophysics still provides the basic framework for deciphering the imprints left over by the evolving universe on all scales. Advances or shortcomings in the former field have direct consequences in our ability to understand the global properties of the latter. This volume contains the most recent updates on a variety of topics that, though independent by themselves, are inevitably connected on a cosmological scale. These include comprehensive articles by leaders in fields extending from stellar atmospheres through properties of the stellar component in the Milky Way up to the stellar environment in high redshift galaxies. The wide coverage of astrophysical themes makes this volume very valuable for researchers and Ph.D. students in astrophysics.

The Cologne-Bonn-Zermatt symposium is a well established series of conferences, occurring on a 5-year cycle, on the dense interstellar medium and related topics. The main results constitute valuable proceedings that offer everyone working in this field an authoritative and comprehensive source of reference.

Astronomy is a scienti?c discipline that has developed a rapid and impressive growth in Spain. Thirty years ago, Spain occupied a purely anecdotal presence in the international context, but today it occupies the eighth position in the world in publication of astronomical articles, and, among other successes, owns and op- ates ninety per cent of the world's largest optical telescope GTC (Gran Telescopio Canarias). The Eighth Scienti?c Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (Sociedad Espanol ˜ a de Astronom´ a, SEA), held in Santander in July 7–11 2008, whose p- ceedings are in your hands, clearly shows the enthusiasm, motivation and quality of the present Spanish astronomical community. The event brought together 322 participants, who represent almost 50% of Spanish professional astronomers. This percentage, together with the continuously increasing, with respect to previous SEA meetings, number of oral presentations and poster contributions (179 and 127 respectively), con?rms that the SEA conferences have become a point of reference to assess the interests and achievements of astrophysical research in Spain. The most important and current topics of modern Astrophysics were taken into accountat thepreliminarymeeting,aswell as the numberandqualityofparticipants and their contributions, to select the invited speakers and oral contributors. We took a week to enjoy the high quality contributions submitted by Spanish astronomers to the Scienti?c Organizing Committee. The selection was dif?cult. We wish to acknowledge the gentle advice and commitment of the SOC members.

Various kinds of masks obscure our view of our galaxy, the Milky Way, as well as of other galaxies. Masks of interstellar dust affect our measurements within galaxies, on scales ranging from individual supernovae to the galaxies themselves. The “mass mask” (our inability to image mass rather than light) gives astronomers a very incomplete picture of the size and structure of galaxies themselves, because we cannot image the dark matter which provides most of the galactic mass. Another mass is the “dynamical mask”: as galaxies form, much dynamical information is lost in the birthing process. A new thrust in research is to retrieve such information by means of chemical tagging. About 50 astronomers flew into Namibia in April 2010, to celebrate the 70th birthday of Professor K.C. Freeman, Fellow of the Royal Society. At age 70, Freeman, a father of dark matter in galaxies, continues to be one of planet's most highly cited astronomers. The current volume affords readers a unique perspective on galaxies by probing the thoughts of some of the greatest astronomers of our age. Contributions focus on galaxies from within our Local Group to those in our high redshift Universe. Approximately 40 in-depth review and contributed papers are contained in the volume, each written by an expert in the field. Two unusual features of the current volume include the “Star Country” of the San people of southern Africa as well as the introduction into astronomy of “The Treachery of Images” by the Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte. “Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see”, said Magritte. These words resonate the theme of the current volume “Galaxies and their Masks”, which is written at a level to be appreciated by both specialist and doctoral student alike.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), planned for operation in about five years, will have the capability to investigate – and answer – some of the most challenging questions in astronomy. Although motivated and designed to study the very early Universe, the performance of the observatory's instruments over a very wide wavelength range will allow the world's scientific community unequaled ability to study cosmic phenomena as diverse as small bodies in the Solar System and the formation of galaxies. As part of preparation to use JWST, a conference was held in Tucson, Arizona in 2007 that brought together astronomers from around the world to discuss the mission, other major facilities that will operate in the coming decade, and major scientific goals for them. This book is a compilation of those presentations by some of the leading researchers from all branches of astronomy. This book also includes a “pre-history” of JWST, describing the lengthy process and some of the key individuals that initiated early work on the concepts that would evolve to become the premier space observatory of the next decade.

Studies of Nearby Galaxies are currently the focus of many observations and numerical simulations. This book presents an overview of the galaxies within the Local Volume (D < 10 Mpc), including the Local Group (D < 1 Mpc) and our closest neighbours, the Andromeda Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. Presented are the latest results from radio, infrared and optical surveys as well as detailed multi-wavelength studies of individual galaxies. Accurate distances are now available for the majority of Local Volume galaxies providing a true 3-dimensional view of their distribution and flow pattern as well as their star formation.

The existence of soft excess emission originating from clusters of galaxies, de ned as em- sion detected below 1 keV in excess over the usual thermal emission from hot intracluster gas (hereafter the ICM) has been claimed since 1996. Soft excesses are particularly - portant to detect because they may (at least partly) be due to thermal emission from the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium, where as much as half of the baryons of the Universe could be. They are therefore of fundamental cosmological importance. Soft excess emission has been observed (and has also given rise to controversy) in a number of clusters, mainly raising the following questions: (1) Do clusters really show a soft excess? (2) If so, from what spatial region(s) of the cluster does the soft excess or- inate? (3) Is this excess emission thermal, originating from warm-hot intergalactic gas (at 6 temperatures of?10 K), or non-thermal, in which case several emission mechanisms have been proposed. Interestingly, some of the non-thermal mechanisms suggested to account for soft excess emission can also explain the hard X-ray emission detected in some clusters, for example by RXTE and BeppoSAX (also see Petrosian et al. 2008—Chap. 10, this issue; Rephaeli et al. 2008—Chap. 5, this issue).

The study of clusters of galaxies has advanced tremendously in the recent years due to the advent of large or dedicated ground-based telescopes, the increasingly sensitive space observatories and the significant advances in numerical astrophysics and cosmology. The current generations of large spectroscopic and wide-field imaging survey and ongoing multi-wavelength studies, covering a large range of the electromagnetic spectrum from X-rays to the sub-mm and the radio, are making major breakthroughs in our understanding of galaxy aggregation and transformation processes in different environments, on the properties of the tenuous ICM gas, on the starburst activity and on revealing environmental effects on galaxy formation and evolution. The reviews presented in this volume cover a wide-range of cluster of galaxies topics like the physics of the ICM gas, the internal cluster dynamics, the detection of clusters using different observational techniques, the great advances in analytical or numerical modeling of clusters, weak and strong lensing effects, the large scale structure as traced by clusters, the cosmological significance of clusters as well as the formation and evolution of clusters within the new cosmological paradigm. This volume is aimed towards the researchers and senior graduate students in multi-wavelength astrophysics and cosmology.

This volume documents the contributions presented at the Seventh Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (Sociedad Española de Astronomía, SEA). The event bought together 301 participants who presented 161 contributed talks and 120 posters, the greatest numbers up to now. The fact that most exciting items of the current astronomical research were addressed in the meeting proofs the good health of the SEA, a consolidated organization founded fifteen years ago in Barcelona. Two plenary sessions of the meeting were devoted to the approved entrance of Spain as a full member of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and to the imminent first light of the greatest telescope in the world, the GTC (Gran Telescopio de Canarias), milestones that will certainly lead the Spanish Astronomy in the next future.

This is the second edition of my book Galaxy Formation. Many people liked the rst edition which appeared in 1998, just before the explosion of magni cent new data which have completely changed the face of astrophysical cosmology. Many of the agonies which had to be gone through in the rst edition have disappeared and, to many people's amazement, including mine, there is now a concordance model for cosmology, the cosmologist's equivalent of the particle physicist's standard model. Just like the standard model, however, the concordance model creates as many problems as it solves. This is not a cause for concern, but rather one for celebration because we are now able to ask much better and deeper questions than in the past. These questions indicate clearly the need for physics and astrophysics ‘Beyond the Concordance Model'. Theobjectofthisneweditionistobringthisamazingstoryup-to-date,verymuch inthespiritofthe rstedition.Torecapitulatesomeofthepointsmadeintheprevious prefaceabouttheoriginofthebook,IwasaskedbySpringer-Verlagtoexpandtheset of lecture notes that I prepared in 1988 for the First Astrophysics School organised by the European Astrophysics Doctoral Network into a full-length book. The set of notes was entitled Galaxy Formation and was published as a chapter of the volume Evolution of Galaxies: Astronomical Observations (eds. I. Appenzeller, H.J. Habing andP.Lena,pages1to93,Springer-VerlagBerlin,Heidelberg,1989).Inthatchapter, Iattemptedtobridgethegapbetweenelementarycosmologyandthetechnicalpapers appearing in the literature which can seem quite daunting on rst encounter. The objective was to present the physical ideas and key results as clearly as possible as an introduction and guide to the technical literature.

This book contains an up-to-date review of the structure and evolution of disk galaxies from both the observational and theoretical point of view. The book is the proceedings of the'Island Universes'conference held at the island of Terschelling, The Netherlands in July 2005, which attracted about 130 experts and students in the field. The conference was organized as a tribute to Dr. Piet C. van der Kruit for receiving the honorary Jacobus C. Kapteyn Professorship in Astronomy. The eight topical themes discussed at the meeting are reflected in these proceedings: 1) Properties of Stellar Disks, 2) Kinematics and Dynamics of Disk Galaxies, 3) Bars, Spiral Structure, and Secular Evolution in Disk Galaxies, 4) The Outskirts and Environment of Disk Galaxies, 5) Interstellar Matter, 6) (Evolution of) Star Formation in Galactic Disks, 7) Disk Galaxies through Cosmic Time, and 8) Formation Models of Disk Galaxies. These proceedings are concluded with a conference summary reflecting on the most significant recent progress and outstanding problems. This volume is unique in that it brings together such a broad range of aspects of disk galaxies: structure and dynamics, the latest multi-wavelength surveys, low- and high redshift observations, theory and observations. This book is addressed to professional astronomers and their students.

The field of solar physics and solar--terrestrial relation, now called space weather, is evolving rapidly. As in the first edition, it is assumed that it is inevitable for the reader to get some basic knowledge in solar physics since the Sun is the main driver for space weather The term space weather itself has been gaining more and more attention during the past years as our society becomes more and more dependent on satellites, which are vulnerable to varying conditions in space. Space weather efforts and investigations are being made all over the world and more and more is known about the complex relations of processes on the Sun and the Earth and its space environment. The term space climate nowadays includes the long-term variations caused mainly by the Sun on the Earth and the interplanetary space. As in the first edition of the book, this edition also covers these topics but new chapters have been introduced, e. g., a chapter on real-time space weather forecasts and some main space weather data sources. All the chapters have updated information, taking into account the results of new satellite missions and telescopes. The book also includes a great amount of new literature (more than 340 original citations) so that the reader is able to go into more details, if required in the respective chapters.

Starting with the description of our home galaxy the Milky Way, this cogently written textbook introduces the reader to the astronomy of galaxies, their structure, active galactic nuclei, evolution and large scale distribution. Then, from the extensive and thorough introduction to modern observational and theoretical cosmology, the text turns to the formation of structures and astronomical objects in the early universe. The basics of classical astronomy and stellar astrophysics needed for extragalactic astronomy are given in the appendix. In particular, Peter Schneider's Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology has the goal of imparting the fundamental knowledge of this fascinating subfield of astronomy, while leading readers to the forefront of astronomical research. But it seeks to accomplish this not only with extensive textual information and insights. In addition, the author's evident admiration for the workings of the universe that shines through the lines and the many supporting color illustrations will deeply inspire the reader. While this book has grown out of introductory university courses on astronomy and astrophysics, it will not only be appreciated by undergraduate students and lecturers. Through the comprehensive coverage of the field, even graduate students and researchers specializing in related fields will appreciate it as reliable reference.

Modern astronomy has stretched its domains of exploration tremendously. Not only objects at very large distances and very old states of the Universe can be examined, but also all kinds of radiations and phenomena are now accessible. Astronomers constantly move from considerations about very - luted to very dense systems. Hot and energetic systems, being the easiest to observe, have attracted a lot of attention. However the cold and low energetic states have been so- what neglected, either because being harder to observe they appear unexc- ing, or because being less well known they tend to be ignored. However the Universe background radiation has now been determined as the most perfect known case of a black-body spectrum, a substantial fraction of matter spends some time close to the temperature of this universal thermal bath, before - ingtransformedintostarsorplanets. Someobjects,suchasrapidlyexpanding gas shells in planetary nebulae, may even succeed in reaching a temperature well below the background radiation temperature through the mere action of adiabatic expansion. In view of the highly dynamical and turbulent state of the interstellar medium, hot and cold temperature?uctuations must be expected, while the clear observational bias is to observe the hot rather than the cold?uctuations. Fortunately with the accessibility of far-infrared and sub-millimetric instruments such as SCUBA, WMAP, Planck or ALMA, we can expect in the coming years continuous advances in our understanding of these harder to observe cold stages of matter.

This well-illustrated monograph is devoted to classic fundamentals, current practice, and perspectives of modern plasma astrophysics. The first part of the book is unique in covering all the basic principles and practical tools required for understanding and work in plasma astrophysics. The second part represents the physics of magnetic reconnection and flares of electromagnetic origin in space plasmas in the solar system, single and double stars, relativistic objects, accretion disks, their coronae. The level of the book is designed mainly for professional researchers in astrophysics. The book will also be interesting and useful to graduate students in space sciences, geophysics, as well as to advanced students in applied physics and mathematics seeking a unified view of plasma physics and fluid mechanics.

It was with pleasure that CAUP became for three days the core to the cloud of star formation experts all over the world. Close to the celebration of its 15th anniversary – therefore still in the early stages of institutional evolution – we are proud of our multiple activities in Astronomy: a productive research centre, classi?ed as “Institution of excellence” within the Portuguese research units, but also an “Institution of Public Utility” as recognised by the Government. Fifteen years ago we choose to play a role not only in research, as expected from any research centre but also in the training of the future astronomers and the promotion of science and scienti?c culture. This choice is clearly stated in our by-laws and also in the multiple activities we have carried out since. Along the years we have organized on a regular basis international Workshops similar to “Cores to Clusters”. Sometimes we have chosen to organize int- national conferences of a larger size. On other occasions the choice has been for smaller and more informal discussion meetings. Or even doctoral schools with very different objectives. In common all those meetings have always had, besides the formal registered participants, a group of informal participants, our undergraduate students of Astronomy, so eager to be in touch with the real world.