Maria Teresa Vaz Torrão Lago – författare

This volume contains the proceedings of two conferences. The first part covers "The Non-Sleeping Universe: Stars and the ISM", and has activity as the underlying theme. It reviews the 1990s status of astroseismology, stellar rotation and activity. Highlights include the time behaviour of phenomena related to activity, both in the case of the Sun and of its much younger analogues, in view of the results of space missions. It also examines the diagnostic tools and the models, once again for the Sun and young low mass stars, including the jets and flows closely associated with those stars during the extreme phases of pre-main-sequence evolution. The second part comprises "The Non-Sleeping Universe: from Galaxies to the Horizon". It covers topics ranging from high energy phenomena on galactic scales, such as gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei and intense periods of star formation, to competing models which attempt to explain the formation of large-scale structures in the Universe.It also addresses the theory of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation and their present observational status, together with the connection between the evolution of the number density of galaxy clusters with time and the present value of the matter density in the Universe.

This book represents the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Insti­ tute on Formation and Evolution of Low Mass Stars held from 21 September to 2 October 1987 at Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Holding the meeting in Portugal recognized both the historical aspects and the bright future of astronomy in Portugal. In the early sixteenth century, the Portugese played an important role in the critical diffusion of classical and medieval knowledge which formed so large a part of scientific activity at that time. Navigation and course setting, brought to a high level by Portugese explorers, relied on mathematics and astronomy to produce precise tables of solar positions. In contemporary Portu­ gal, astronomy is the focus of renewed interest and support at the universities. It is thus particularly appropriate that the NATO Advanced Study Institute was held on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the friendly surroundings of the Costa Verde.

The "Non-Sleeping Universe" was a conference conceived to commemorate the opening of the new building of the Centro de Astroffsica da U niversidade do Porto (CAUP). It seemed appropriate to include the two major areas of work at CAUP: Stellar Astrophysics and Cosmology. For the organizers the most obvious threading line would be activity. Therefore the choice of the name and contents. The conference lasted for one week, the first three days dealing mainly with the non-sleeping stars, from Asteroseismology to Activity and Flows, involving both young stars and the interstellar medium. It included twenty five oral and thirty four poster presentations and involved 52 participants. The second part of the conference, covered another three days and ad­ dressed "non-sleepiness" at galactic scales and beyond. From gamma-ray bursts to the cosmic background radiation and cosmological models. It in­ cluded twenty three oral and sixteen poster presentations and involved 46 participants. Activity was also the environment dominant note. Only that this time of painters and builders rushing to finish the brand new building ... In any case it was a remarkable week with high level of excitement and interchange as expected from a Non-Sleeping Universe. Even if the Port wine in the cellars were the conference(s) dinner(s) took place seemed quite indifferent to all activity, dormant ( ... or not) in the amazingly large oak casks.