The previous Transits of Venus Working Group report #6, covering the time mid-2006 to mid-2009, was published by the undersigned in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, Vol. 12, p. 254 (2009). The present report #7, covering the time up to mid-2011, has been prepared for the Reports presented at the IAU General Assembly in Beijing, August 2012. It is expected that after a flurry of publications before and after the transit of 2012, the activities in the field will drop dramatically, and it is planned to terminate the activities of the working group after the Beijing General Assembly, and to write a closing report for the subsequent General Assembly.

What follows is a short report on the Business Meeting of the Astronomy and World Heritage Working Group held on Thursday August 6, 2009. This was the first formal Business Meeting of the Working Group since its formation following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the IAU and UNESCO on Astronomy and World Heritage in October 2008.

The nebulosities surrounding SN 1987A have a morphological structure strongly resembling some planetary nebulae (e.g. NGC 2392, NGC 3242).

A high resolution spectroscopy survey of symbiotic stars is conducted in the southern hemisphere by the authors, using the Coudé Echelle Spectrograph (CES), equipped with a CCD at the ESO Coudé Auxiliary Telescope (CAT), and concurrently in the northern hemisphere by Bode, Evans, Meaburn and collaborators, using the UK facilities at La Palma. So far, more than 400 spectra of about 70 stars have been obtained, mostly during 1988 and 1989. The southern part of the work will be described below.

The discussion of symbiotic stars in the context of novae is not far-fetched. A number of symbiotics are known to have nova-like outbursts, and several novae are not easily distinguished from symbiotic stars. A noteworthy example is the most recently recognized recurrent nova, V745 Sco, first observed by Liller on July 24, 1989. It is described here, both because in late decline it represents a link between novae and symbiotic stars, and because of its current interest.

The observed rate and spatial distribution of galactic novae can be explained with the concept of two nova populations, the disc novae of faster outburst development, and the slower bulge novae. Similar populations seem to exist in nearby galaxies. The space density of galactic novae depends strongly on the recurrence time, which is unknown and may lie between 500 and 20 000 years. If the recurrence time is long, the population of quiescent novae must be identified; the hibernation scenario may or may not be a solution.