Highlights of Astronomy: As Presented at the XVth General Assembly and the Extra Ordinary General Assembly of the I. A. U. 1973

The year 1973 marked the highest peak of IAU activity up to now. Besides the Gen­ eral Assembly in Sydney, and the Extraordinary General Assembly in Poland, there were held eleven IAU Symposia and one Colloquium. Several IAU Publications cover this activity. The Proceedings of the Symposia are published in separate Volumes, while the Transactions of the General Assembly and of the Extraordinary General Assembly contain short reports of the Commission meetings, the administrative sessions, and the opening ceremonies. The present Volume covers some of the scientific Highlights of the General As­ sembly and of the Extraordinary General Assembly. It contains five Invited Dis­ courses given in Sydney and Poland, some selected papers, and the Joint Discussions at the General Assembly of Sydney. Of course, there were many more papers of special interest presented in Sydney that could not be included in this Volume. Their titles can be seen in the reports of the various Commissions. It is regrettable that the Invited Discourses of C. H. Townes (Interstellar Molecules) and F. J. Low (Infrared Astronomy) were not submitted for publication. Also only five papers or abstracts of the Joint Discussion on the 'Origins of the Moon and Satellites' have been available. Despite these minor shortcomings, I believe that the present Volume is faithful to its title: it gives a substantial part of the Highlights of Astronomy in 1973. Front Matter....Pages I-IX Front Matter....Pages 1-1 A New Look at the Sun....Pages 3-19 Early Stages of the Universe....Pages 21-35 The Physics of the Interstellar Matter....Pages 37-49 Galaxies and Their Nuclei....Pages 51-66 The Astronomy and Cosmology of Copernicus....Pages 67-85 Front Matter....Pages 87-87 X-Ray Sources in Close Binary Systems....Pages 89-107 The Next Decade in Stellar Atmospheres Theory....Pages 109-120 The Future of Observational Stellar Atmospheres....Pages 121-132 The Next Decade of Theoretical Solar Physics....Pages 133-148 The Next Decade in Observational Solar Research....Pages 149-169 Asymmetry in Solar Spectral Lines....Pages 171-203 Front Matter....Pages 205-205 Introductory Remarks....Pages 209-210 Pro and Contra Changes in the Conventional Values of Precession....Pages 211-219 The Calculation of the Nutations....Pages 221-222 Planetary Ephemerides....Pages 223-227 Astronomical Units, Constants and Time-Scales....Pages 229-232 Introduction....Pages 235-235 High Resolution Interferometry of Cool Stars....Pages 237-254 Presentation and Interpretation of High Resolution Infrared Spectra of Late-Type Stars....Pages 255-268 High Resolution Spectra of M and C Stars by Fourier Transform Spectroscopy....Pages 269-284 Front Matter....Pages 205-205 Scans and Narrow-Band Photometry of Late-Type Stars in the One-Micron Region....Pages 285-306 Medium Resolution Stellar Spectra in the Two-Micron Region....Pages 307-326 Fourier Transform Spectrophotometry and Its Application to the Study of K-Giants....Pages 327-339 Interpretation of Carbon Stars Spectra from Model Atmospheres Computations....Pages 341-356 Stellar Spectroscopy at 1.1μ....Pages 357-359 Open Discussion....Pages 361-363 Preface....Pages 367-367 The Ages of Stars in the Neighbourhood of the Sun....Pages 369-379 Gould’s Belt....Pages 381-385 Red Variables and Their Main Sequence Progenitors....Pages 387-387 Low Luminosity Stars and White Dwarfs....Pages 389-393 The Kinematics and Ages of Stars in Gliese’s Catalogue....Pages 395-407 The Third and Fourth Moments of the Local Stellar Velocity Distribution....Pages 409-413 The Abundance and Age Distribution of 500 F Stars in the Solar Neighbourhood....Pages 415-415 The Space Density of Faint M-Dwarfs....Pages 417-418 The Correlation Between Kinematical Properties and Ages of Stellar Populations....Pages 419-421 Space Distribution and Motion of the Local H i Gas....Pages 423-440 Influence of a Spiral Gravitational Field on the Observational Determination of Galactic Structure....Pages 441-450 Solar Neighbourhood as the Local Macroscopic Volume Element Within the Galaxy....Pages 451-456 How Can it All be Stable?....Pages 457-464 Front Matter....Pages 205-205 Closing Remarks....Pages 465-465 On the Growth of the Earth-Moon System....Pages 469-473 Evidence for Lunar-Type Objects in the Early Solar System....Pages 475-481 The Movement of Small Particulate Matter in the Early Solar System and the Formation of Satellites....Pages 483-485 Gravitational Collapse and the Formation of the Solar Nebula....Pages 487-487 The Principle of Least Interaction Action....Pages 489-489 Summary....Pages 493-498 The Chemical Composition of the Envelopes of Novae....Pages 501-508 The Shell of V603 Aql and the Early Stages of the Nova Event....Pages 509-532 Spectrophotometry of Supernovae....Pages 533-544 On the Physical Model of Supernovae Close to Light Maximum....Pages 545-557 Supernova Remnants....Pages 559-563 Soft X-Ray Observations of Supernova Remnants....Pages 565-572 Report on the Lecce Conference on Supernovae....Pages 573-574 The year 1973 marked the highest peak of IAU activity up to now. Besides the GenƯ eral Assembly in Sydney, and the Extraordinary General Assembly in Poland, there were held eleven IAU Symposia and one Colloquium. Several IAU Publications cover this activity. The Proceedings of the Symposia are published in separate Volumes, while the Transactions of the General Assembly and of the Extraordinary General Assembly contain short reports of the Commission meetings, the administrative sessions, and the opening ceremonies. The present Volume covers some of the scientific Highlights of the General AsƯ sembly and of the Extraordinary General Assembly. It contains five Invited DisƯ courses given in Sydney and Poland, some selected papers, and the Joint Discussions at the General Assembly of Sydney. Of course, there were many more papers of special interest presented in Sydney that could not be included in this Volume. Their titles can be seen in the reports of the various Commissions. It is regrettable that the Invited Discourses of C.H. Townes (Interstellar Molecules) and F.J. Low (Infrared Astronomy) were not submitted for publication. Also only five papers or abstracts of the Joint Discussion on the 'Origins of the Moon and Satellites' have been available. Despite these minor shortcomings, I believe that the present Volume is faithful to its title: it gives a substantial part of the Highlights of Astronomy in 1973