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The main AB pair of the nearby Alpha Centauri triple system has one of the most extensive X-ray records of any cosmic object, stretching over three decades. The primary, α Cen A (G2V), is a near twin of the Sun, with a similarly soft (1–2 MK) corona. The secondary, α Cen B (K1V), is more active than the Sun, with a generally harder coronal spectrum. Here, spatially resolved measurements of the pair by Chandra's High Resolution Camera are compared, on a common basis, with previous pointings from ROSAT and XMM-Newton. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The business meeting of IAU Commission 36 took place during the GA in Beijing on August 27th, and its major topic was the re-structuring of the IAU Divisions and consequences for our Commission. The meeting was conducted by the new president, Joachim Puls, since the past president (still in charge during the GA), Martin Asplund, could not participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The business meeting of Commission 36 was held during the General Assembly in Prague on 16 August. It was attended by about 15 members. The issues presented included a review of the work made by members of Commission 36, and the election of the new Organising Committee. We note that a comprehensive report on the activities of the commission during the last triennium has been published in Reports on Astronomy, Transactions IAU Volume XXVIA. The scientific activity of the members of the commission has been very intense, and has led to the publication of a large number of papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The solar “COmosphere” is an enigmatic region of cold gas (temperatures as low as ~3500 K) coexisting in the low chromosphere with plasma much hotter (~7000 K). This zone probably consists of patchy clouds of cool gas, seen readily in off-limb emissions of CO 4667 nm lines, threaded by hot gas entrained in long-lived magnetic filaments as well as transient shock fronts. The COmosphere was not anticipated in classical 1D models of the solar outer atmosphere, but is quite at home in the contemporary 3D highly dynamic view, which one might call the Magnetic Complexity Zone. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]