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The IAU Commission 4 Working Group on Standardizing Access to Ephemerides recommends the use of the Spacecraft and Planet Kernel (SPK) format as a standard format for the position ephemerides of planets and other natural solar system bodies, and the use of the Planetary Constants Kernel (PCK) format for the orientation of these bodies. It further recommends that other supporting data be stored in a text PCK. These formats were developed for use by the SPICE Toolkit by the Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The CALCEPH library developed by the Institut de mecanique celeste de calcul des ephemerides (IMCCE) is also able to make use of these files. High accuracy ephemerides available in files conforming to the SPK and PCK formats include: the Development Ephemerides (DE) from JPL, Integrateur Numerique Planetaire de lObservatoire de Paris (INPOP) from IMCCE, and the Ephemerides Planets and the Moon (EPM), developed by the Institute for Applied Astronomy (IAA). The bulk of this report is a description of the portion of PCK and SPK formats required for these ephemerides. New SPK and PCK data types, both called Type 20: Chebyshev (Velocity Only), have been added. Other changes to the specification are (i) a new object identification number for coordinate time ephemerides and (ii) a set of three new data types that use the TCB rather than the TDB time scale for the ephemerides, but are otherwise identical to their T
As part of a reorganization of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Commission 4 (Ephemerides) went out of existence after the IAU General Assembly in August 2015. This paper presents brief discussions of some of the developments in fundamental astronomy that have influenced and been influenced by the work of Commission 4 over its 96-year history. The paper also presents notes about some of the publications of the national institutions that have played an essential role in the commissions mission. The contents of this paper were submitted for Commission 4s final report, to appear in IAU Transactions Vol. XXIX-A.
Brief summaries are given of the following subjects of interest to IAU Commission 30: Large-scale radial-velocity surveys; The role of radial-velocity measurements in studies of stellar angular momentum evolution and stellar age; Radial velocities in open clusters; Toward higher radial-velocity precision; High-precision radial velocities applied to studies of binary stars; Doppler boosting effect; Working groups (Stellar radial velocity bibliography; Radial velocity standards; Catalogue of orbital elements of spectroscopic binaries [SB9]).
Commission 8 has regularly published triennial reports in the past and the current OC therefore voted to adopt a traditional format also for this special Legacy issue of the IAU Transactions. The outgoing President is grateful for the support of many Commission members who contributed to this report. Our contribution consists of 3 parts: 1) this introduction, providing a general overview and highlights of recent research in astrometry, 2) a summary of the astrometry business and science meeting at the 2015 IAU General Assembly, and 3) the activity report of our Commisson covering the mid-2012 to mid-2015 period.
Precise mass measurements of exoplanets discovered by the direct imaging or transit technique are required to determine planet bulk properties and potential habitability. Furthermore, it is generally acknowledged that, for the foreseeable future, the Extreme Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) measurement technique is the only method potentially capable of detecting and measuring the masses and orbits of habitable-zone Earths orbiting nearby F, G, and K spectral-type stars from the ground. In particular, EPRV measurements with a precision of better than approximately 10 cm/s (with a few cm/s stability over many years) are required. Unfortunately, for nearly a decade, PRV instruments and surveys have been unable to routinely reach RV accuracies of less than roughly 1 m/s. Making EPRV science and technology development a critical component of both NASA and NSF program plans is crucial for reaching the goal of detecting potentially habitable Earthlike planets and supporting potential future exoplanet direct imaging missions such as the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) or the Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR). In recognition of these facts, the 2018 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Exoplanet Science Strategy (ESS) report recommended the development of EPRV measurements as a critical step toward the detection and characterization of habitable, Earth-analog planets. In response to the NAS-ESS recommendation, NASA and NSF commissioned the EPRV Working Group to recommend a ground-based program architecture and implementation plan to achieve the goal intended by the NAS. This report documents the activities, findings, and recommendations of the EPRV Working Group.
It is widely accepted that stars do not form in isolation but result from the fragmentation of molecular clouds, which in turn leads to star cluster formation. Over time, clusters dissolve or are destroyed by interactions with molecular clouds or tidal stripping, and their members become part of the general field population. Star clusters are thus among the basic building blocks of galaxies. In turn, star cluster populations, from young associations and open clusters to old globulars, are powerful tracers of the formation, assembly, and evolutionary history of their parent galaxies. Although their importance had been recognised for decades, major progress in this area has only become possible in recent years, both for Galactic and extragalactic cluster populations. Star clusters are the observational foundation for stellar astrophysics and evolution, provide essential tracers of galactic structure, and are unique stellar dynamical environments. Star formation, stellar structure, stellar evolution, and stellar nucleosynthesis continue to benefit and improve tremendously from the study of these systems. Additionally, fundamental quantities such as the initial mass function can be successfully derived from modelling either the H-R diagrams or the integrated velocity structures of, respectively, resolved and unresolved clusters and cluster populations. Star cluster studies thus span the fields of Galactic and extragalactic astrophysics, while heavily affecting our detailed understanding of the process of star formation in dense environments.This report highlights science results of the last decade in the major fields covered by IAU Commission 37: Star clusters and associations.