Every 10 years the National Research Council releases a survey of astronomy and astrophysics outlining priorities for the coming decade. The most recent survey, titled New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics, provides overall priorities and recommendations for the field as a whole based on a broad and comprehensive examination of scientific opportunities, infrastructure, and organization in a national and international context. Panel Reportsâ€"New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics is a collection of reports, each of which addresses a key sub-area of the field, prepared by specialists in that subarea, and each of which played an important role in setting overall priorities for the field. The collection, published in a single volume, includes the reports of the following panels: Cosmology and Fundamental Physics Galaxies Across Cosmic Time The Galactic Neighborhood Stars and Stellar Evolution Planetary Systems and Star Formation Electromagnetic Observations from Space Optical and Infrared Astronomy from the Ground Particle Astrophysics and Gravitation Radio, Millimeter, and Submillimeter Astronomy from the Ground The Committee for a Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics synthesized these reports in the preparation of its prioritized recommendations for the field as a whole. These reports provide additional depth and detail in each of their respective areas. Taken together, they form an essential companion volume to New Worlds, New Horizons: A Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The book of panel reports will be useful to managers of programs of research in the field of astronomy and astrophysics, the Congressional committees with jurisdiction over the agencies supporting this research, the scientific community, and the public.

IAU Symposium 285 addresses studies of variability among the whole gamut of cosmic objects. While new fields involving transients, blazars, gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei and quasars are still emerging, the puzzles posed by longer-term sources of variability still remain. This volume adopts an interdisciplinary theme, examining different manifestations of variability to gain new scientific insights that may be missed when one type of object or variability is studied in isolation. By integrating discussions from participants across the breadth of astronomical science, it addresses the core question: 'How can technology and collaboration be better harnessed to enhance the science requirements and outcomes?' With major new transient surveys coming online soon to lay the groundwork for LSST, the results, research tools and visions presented here will help both researchers and database managers collaborate in the exciting challenges of time-domain astronomy.

Driven by discoveries, and enabled by leaps in technology and imagination, our understanding of the universe has changed dramatically during the course of the last few decades. The fields of astronomy and astrophysics are making new connections to physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science. Based on a broad and comprehensive survey of scientific opportunities, infrastructure, and organization in a national and international context, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics outlines a plan for ground- and space- based astronomy and astrophysics for the decade of the 2010's. Realizing these scientific opportunities is contingent upon maintaining and strengthening the foundations of the research enterprise including technological development, theory, computation and data handling, laboratory experiments, and human resources. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics proposes enhancing innovative but moderate-cost programs in space and on the ground that will enable the community to respond rapidly and flexibly to new scientific discoveries. The book recommends beginning construction on survey telescopes in space and on the ground to investigate the nature of dark energy, as well as the next generation of large ground-based giant optical telescopes and a new class of space-based gravitational observatory to observe the merging of distant black holes and precisely test theories of gravity. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics recommends a balanced and executable program that will support research surrounding the most profound questions about the cosmos. The discoveries ahead will facilitate the search for habitable planets, shed light on dark energy and dark matter, and aid our understanding of the history of the universe and how the earliest stars and galaxies formed. The book is a useful resource for agencies supporting the field of astronomy and astrophysics, the Congressional committees with jurisdiction over those agencies, the scientific community, and the public.

: The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will provide more than one order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity compared with any existing radio telescope over a wavelength range of several hundred to one, from decametric to microwave wavelengths. It will revolutionize the study of the most abundant element in the Universe, hydrogen, from the epoch of reionisation to the present-day, probing the onset formation period of the very first stars, will closely scan proto-planets and, through the precision timing of pulsars, will detect the distortions of space-time due to gravitational radiation. The SKA is a sensing network spanning 3000 km from its centre and with a collecting area of more than 1 square kilometre, using technologies of the 21st century. The SKA will make the study of a wide range of phenomena initially studied at other wavelengths possible at radio wavelengths, as well as opening a new discovery window on new phenomena at radio wavelengths. Symposium 7 of the JENAM 2010 aimed at bringing these diverse opportunities to the attention of both theoretical and observational astronomers working at all wavelengths, including the potential for synergies with other facilities. The meeting highlighted the scientific potential of the SKA, discussed scientific priorities and their impact on the design of the SKA, explored the synergies between the SKA and other next-generation astronomical facilities in different wavelength domains such as the ALMA, ELTs, LSST, JWST, GRE, IXO, Gaia and Euclid, and high-energy facilities (Auger), explored the “cyber–infrastructure” that may become available for the distribution and distributed analysis of SKA data.

Large area sky surveys are now a reality in the radio, IR, optical and X-ray passbands. In the next few years, new surveys using optical, UV and IR mosaic cameras with high throughput digital detectors will expand the dynamic range and accuracy of photometry and astrometry of objects over a significant fraction of the entire sky. Parallel X-ray and radio surveys over the same areas will produce astronomical image and spectroscopic databases of unprecedented size and quality. The combined data sets will provide significant new constraints on star formation, stellar dynamics, Galactic structure, the evolution of galaxies and large scale structure, as well as new opportunities to identify rare objects in the solar system and the Galaxy. Large area surveys have formidable data acquisition, processing, archiving, and data distribution demands and this meeting provided a forum for sharing experiences amongst workers specializing in different wavebands as well as discussing how multiband observations can reveal fundamental relationships in our understanding of the Universe.

New astronomical facilities, such as the under-construction Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and planned 30-meter-class telescopes, and new instrumentation on existing optical and infrared (OIR) telescopes, hold the promise of groundbreaking research and discovery. How can we extract the best science from these and other astronomical facilities in an era of potentially flat federal budgets for both the facilities and the research grants? Optimizing the U.S. Ground-Based Optical and Infrared Astronomy System provides guidance for these new programs that align with the scientific priorities and the conclusions and recommendations of two National Research Council (NRC) decadal surveys, New Worlds, New Horizons for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Vision and Voyages for Planetary Sciences in the Decade 2013-2022, as well as other NRC reports. This report describes a vision for a U.S. OIR System that includes a telescope time exchange designed to enhance science return by broadening access to capabilities for a diverse community, an ongoing planning process to identify and construct next generation capabilities to realize decadal science priorities, and near-term critical coordination, planning, and instrumentation needed to usher in the era of LSST and giant telescopes.

ASTROPHYSICS The new edition of the popular textbook for undergraduate astronomers, covers the “how” of astrophysics Astrophysics: Decoding the Cosmos, Second Edition, describes how information about the physical nature of stars and other celestial bodies is obtained and analyzed to gain a better understanding of the universe. This acclaimed introductory textbook makes the complex principles and theories underlying astrophysics accessible to students with basic knowledge of first-year calculus-based physics and introductory astronomy. Reader-friendly chapters explore physical processes using relevant examples and clear explanations of how radiation and particles are analyzed. Such analysis leads to the density, temperature, mass, and energy of astronomical objects. In the time since the first publication of Astrophysics, the power of telescopes has increased considerably. Reflecting advancements in the field, this new edition includes carefully reviewed and updated material throughout, including recent GAIA satellite results, new information from subatomic particles, neutrinos, and cosmic rays, and brand-new case studies on Gamma-ray bursters, soft repeaters, fast radio bursts, exoplanets, and signals from exoplanetary atmospheres. Retaining its focus on electromagnetic radiation, the second edition now covers more of the ways that information about the universe is acquired, such as particles, gravitational radiation, and meteoritics. This textbook: Describes complex processes in a clear and accessible manner Provides relevant background information on the physics and examples of the theory in practice to place the subject into context Includes new figures, case studies, examples, further readings, end-of-chapter problems of varying difficulty levels, and open-ended “Just for Fun” problems Features a companion website containing information required to solve the designated web-based problems in the text and a range supplementary learning material Astrophysics: Decoding the Cosmos, Second Edition, is the ideal intermediate textbook for second- and third-year undergraduate students in Astrophysics courses, as well as a useful resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students looking to refresh their knowledge in basic concepts.