Astrophysics

The systematic study of the planets has experienced a slow but steady progress from the efforts of a single individual (Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642) to nations that individually and collectively create whole agencies and complex infrastructures devoted to the exploration and understanding of our solar system.

The Symposium entitled: Causality and Locality in Modern Physics and As- tronomy: Open Questions and Possible Solutions was held at York University, Toronto, during the last week of August 1997.

We stand at the threshold of an exciting era of Asteroseismology.

Magnetic Fields play a key role in the physics of star formation on all scales: from the formation of the large complexes of molecular clouds to the formation of solar-like planetary systems.

The Pacific Rim Conferences for the first decade from the mid 1980's to the mid 1990's were primary concerned with binary stars research.

The mono graph contains 8 chapters, and their contents cover all principal aspects of the problem: 1.

After World War II, Professor S.

A star in a binary may interact with its companion and this complicates significantly its structure and evolution.

Stellar pulsations provide a complex system in stars.

The term proto-planetary nebulae (PPNe) in the context of the late stages of stellar evolution was created only slightly more than 20 years ago to express the belief that in the near future these objects will become planetary nebulae (PNe).

It turned out to be really a rare and happy occasion that we know exact1y when and how a new branch of space physics was born, namely, a physics of solar cosmic rays.

In this volume, the authors present theoretical explanations for a few basic problems connected with the propagation of extra wide band, short impulses in linear media, and with the propagation of whistlers and megawhistlers in plasmas.

of the approximation at hand will be outlined from the viewpoint of physics rather than of many possible astronomical applications.

This book contains the proceedings of the Summerschool and Workshop Motions in the Solar Atmosphere held from September 1st to September 12th, 1997, at the Solar Observatory Kanzelh6he, which belongs to the Astronomical Institute of the University of Graz, Austria.

Novel instruments for high-precision imaging polarimetry have opened new possibilities, not only for diagnostics of magnetic fields, but also for exploring effects in radiative scattering, atomic physics, spectral line formation and radiative transfer.

in this work, we must therefore assume several abstract concepts that hardly need defending at this point in the history of mechanics.

The SOHO-7 Workshop was held from 28 September through 1 October 1998 at the Asticou Inn in Northeast Harbor, Maine.

The idea of having a meeting came to the Editors when working on several aspects of galactic Be and B[e] stars.

These are exciting times for exobiology.

The diverse and often surprising new facts about planetary rings and comet environments that were reported by the interplanetary missions oflate 1970s - 1980s stimulated investigations of the so-called dusty plasma.

This is the first book to give a comprehensive overview of recent observational and theoretical results on solar wind structures and fluctuations and magnetohydrodynamic waves and turbulence, preference being given to phenomena in the inner heliosphere.

Magnetic fields are responsible for much of the variability and structuring in the universe, but only on the Sun can the basic magnetic field related processes be explored in detail.

The NATO ASI held in the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, June 17-28, 1991 was, we believe, the first attempt to bring together geoscientists from all the disciplines related to the solar system where fluid flow is a fundamental phenomenon.

After several decades spent in astronomical semi-obscurity, the Moon has of late suddenly emerged as an object of considerable interest to students of astronomy as well as of other branches of natural science and technology; and the reasons for this are indeed of historical significance.

Space, whether interplanetary or interstellar, is filled with plasma or ionized gas.

K.

The Relativists and Cosmologists in India organized an international conference in Goa, India, in 1987, known as the International Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology (ICGC-87).

All theoretical and observational topics relevant to the understanding of the thermonuclear (Type Ia) supernova phenomenon are thoroughly and consistently reviewed by a panel including the foremost experts in the field.

Cluster was one of the two missions - the other being the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) - constituting the Solar Terrestrial Science Programme (STSP), the first `cornerstone' of ESA's Horizon 2000 Programme.

Since its launch in 1991, the Yohkoh satellite has been returning unprecedented observations of solar flares and the dynamic solar corona.

These proceedings are based on the invited talks and selected research reports presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on "e;POLAR CAP BOUNDARY PHENOMENA"e; held at Longyearbyen, Svalbard, June 4 - 13, 1997.

It is not an exaggeration to say that one of the most exciting predictions of Einstein's theory of gravitation is that there may exist "e;black holes"e;: putative objects whose gravitational fields are so strong that no physical bodies or signals can break free of their pull and escape.

The study of white dwarfs has been steadily growing during the last years and now is a mature field extending its influence over many others.

It is now a well established tradition that every four years, at the end of winter, a group of "e;celestial mechanicians"e; from all over the world gather at the "e;Alpen- gasthof Peter Rosegger"e; in the Styrian Alps (Ramsau, Austria).

The NATO ARW on the problems of ground-based observations of Solar Eclipses was held in Sinaia (Romania) between 1 and 5 June 1996.

In June of 1996, at the idyllic seaside resort of Guaruja, Brazil, a renowned group of researchers in space and astrophysical plasmas met to provide a forum on Advanced Topics on Astrophysical and Space Plasmas at a school consisting of some 60 students and teachers, mainly from Brazil and Argentina, but also from all the other parts of the globe.

Interstellar carbon monoxide (CO) was first detected in 1970 with the 36 foot diameter telescope of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory!

The Workshop "e;Optical Detectors for Astronomy"e; was held during October 8-10, 1996 at the headquarters of the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany.

Predicted long ago to be present on the surface of planetary bodies by theoreticians and recently shown by interplanetary spacecraft and ground- based instruments to be ubiquitous in the Solar System, ices in a broad sense have become an extremely important subject in planetary research.

Planetary nebulae present a fascinating range of shapes and morphologies.

Recent results from high-energy scattering and theoretical developments of string theory require a change in our understanding of the basic structure of space-time.

This Symposium began with a proposal for a meeting to honour Emer- itus Professor Robert Hanbury Brown on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Herbig-Haro objects were discovered 50 years ago, and during this half century they have developed from being mysterious small nebulae to be- coming an important phenomenon in star formation.

Solid particles are followed from their creation through their evolution in the Galaxy to their participation in the formation of solar systems like our own, these being now clearly deduced from observations by the Hubble Space Telescope as well as by IR and visual observations of protostellar disks, like that of the famous Beta Pictoris object.