The Magellanic Clouds : a European Southern Observatory presentation : principal prospects, current observational and theoretical approaches, and prospects for future research : based on the Symposium on the Magellanic Clouds, held in Santiago de Chile, M

On March 28 and 29, 1969, at the occasion of the dedication of the European Southern Observatory, some 90 astronomers from all over the world gathered at the ESO headquarters at Santiago de Chile for discussing problems of the Magellanic Clouds. They came from Argentina, Australia, Chile, Mexico, South Mrica and the United States as well as from Europe; these latter, naturally, mostly from the member states ofESO. The choice of the subject was an obvious one. When erecting the European Southern Observatory as a joint effort in European astronomy, it was agreed from the beginning that the field of research should be the southern sky, so far hardly explored with large telescopes. Among the objects to be investigated, the Magellanic Clouds rank highest, together with the galactic centre region and the southern spiral structure. Being located ten times closer than the nearest large stellar systems accessible to northern observers, and containing a stellar population ranging in age from the oldest down of star formation, the Clouds provide an ideal laboratory for research on to the stage current problems in astrophysics. Yet, most of the northern observational astronomers were hardly acquainted with the Magellanic Clouds; naturally, they are used to think in terms of research projects that can be conducted at their observatories. A survey of the status of knowledge and research on the Clouds therefore appeared in order now that the first- medium size- telescopes of ESO came into operation. Front Matter....Pages I-XII Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Survey of Principal Characteristics of the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 3-8 Colour-Magnitude Arrays of the Brightest Stars....Pages 9-18 Colour-Magnitude Diagrams of Faint Stars in the Associations and in the Field of the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 19-24 Clusters in the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 25-30 Supernova Remnants, Planetary Nebulae and Red Stars in the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 31-33 Comparison of the Cepheid Variables in the Magellanic Clouds and the Galaxy....Pages 34-46 The Short-Period Variable Stars in the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 47-49 Properties of the Neutral Hydrogen in the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 50-65 Front Matter....Pages 67-67 Intermediate Band Photometry of the Brightest Stars in the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 69-73 A Search for Red Variable Stars in the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 74-78 Preliminary Results of a Photometric Study of the NGC 371 Region in the SMC....Pages 79-87 A Spectroscopic Study of Magellanic Cloud Globular-Type Clusters....Pages 88-91 L’émission Hα Dans Le Grand Nuage de Magellan. Programmes En Développement à Córdoba....Pages 92-94 Optical Aspects of X-ray Sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud....Pages 95-97 Radio Continuum Observations of the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 98-108 Satellites of Stellar Systems in General....Pages 109-113 Front Matter....Pages 115-115 Physical Parameters of Supergiants in the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 117-135 Cepheid Variables and the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 136-143 Evolution of Massive Stars....Pages 144-155 Nucleosynthesis in the Magellanic Clouds and the Galaxy....Pages 156-162 Front Matter....Pages 115-115 Importance of Magellanic Clouds Studies for Extra-Galactic Work....Pages 163-168 Front Matter....Pages 169-169 Possibilities of Narrow-Band Photometry, Especially for Main-Sequence Problems....Pages 171-173 Image Tube Work on the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 174-180 Application of Objective Prism Techniques in the Magellanic Clouds....Pages 181-183 Summary and Desiderata....Pages 184-189 Back Matter....Pages 190-191