We have performed photometric analysis of four Galactic globular clusters (GGCs): NGC 4147, NGC 4590, NGC 5053 and NGC 7492 using far-UV and near-UV filters of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) on-board AstroSat. With the help of color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs), we have identified ~150 blue horizontal branch stars (BHBs), and ~40 blue straggler stars (BSS) in the four GGCs. We study the temperature and radial distribution of BHBs and BSS for the four GGCs.

Division XI, the predecessor to Division D until 2012, was formed in 1994 at the IAU General Assembly in The Hague by merging Commission 44 Astronomy from Space and Commission 48 High Energy Astrophysics. Historically, space astrophysics started with the high energy wavelengths (far UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray astronomy) which are only accessible from space. However, in modern astronomy, to study high energy astrophysical processes, almost all wavelengths are used (including gamma-ray, X-ray, UV, optical, infrared, submillimeter and radio). In addition other ground-based facilities, including gravitational wave antennas, neutrino detectors and high-energy cosmic ray arrays are joining in this era of multi-messenger astrophysics, as well as space missions with the primary goals to discover and study exoplanets, are under the umbrella of Division XI.

Commission 21 was one of the oldest and smallest in the IAU yet one which underwent the most evolution since its inception. It began in 1955 as Light of the Night Sky (Lumière du Ciel Nocturne) under the Presidentship of Jean Dufay (University Observatory at Lyon). As the name suggested, in the years before space observations, its focus was on observations of atmospheric light which, at the time, was the domain of astronomers. Thus the early proceedings of the Commission were dominated by reports of the daytime and nighttime emission as observed from different locations and different conditions. Our knowledge of the Earth's atmosphere is still shaped by these early observations (Meier R.R., 1991, Space Sci. Rev. 58, 1). Members of Commission 21 were key to organizing interational collaborations to set up atmospheric stations at different latitudes, including in the Souther hemisphere and in ensuring a consistent calibration between the instruments. The Commission also bought in results from Soviet scientists in an era where communication was limited by both politics and language.

A knowledge of the three dimensional distribution of interstellar dust is critical in interpreting all observations of the sky, particularly in the understanding of the structure and morphology of our Galaxy. It has been much easier to map the integrated dust extinction through the Galaxy, which is needed in modeling extragalactic sources, but this yields an overestimate of reddening to Galactic objects. Massive surveys, such as Gaia, present both a problem in that the distribution of interstellar dust must be known in order to model the internal structure of the Galaxy and an opportunity in that multi-color data may be used to deconvolve the dust distribution. I will present the current state of the modeling, which is yet in its early stages.

We have presented the observations of O VI absorption at 1032 Å towards 22 sightlines in 10 superbubbles (SBs) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using the data obtained from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). The estimated abundance of O VI in the SBs varies from a minimum of (1.09 ±0.22)×1014 atoms/cm2 in SB N206 to a maximum of (3.71±0.23)×1014 atoms/cm2 in SB N70. We find about a 46% excess in the abundance of O VI in the SBs compared to the non-SB lines of sight. Even inside a SB, O VI column density (N(O VI)) varies by about a factor of 2 to 2.5. These data are useful in understanding the nature of the hot gas in SBs.

Originally, Division XI concerned itself only with high-energy astrophysics (in particular UV, X-ray and gamma rays), to which was later added the domain of lower-energy astrophysics where observations are generally performed from space (optical, infrared, submillimeter and parts of the radio spectrum). The Division also includes ground-based high energy gamma ray and cosmic ray experiments, gravitational wave, and Moon-based astronomical observations. The individual expertise of the present OC reflects primarily the UV and higher energy domains. However, since there are plans within the IAU to restructure divisions, we propose that, following the changes in the Divisional structure and renewal of the OC, the new members will be recruited to broaden the spectral range of research covered by the Division.

Division IX provides a forum for astronomers engaged in the planning, development, construction, and calibration of optical and infrared telescopes and instrumentation, as well as observational procedures including data processing. A few years ago, discussions were started about changes in the structure of Division IX, with the aim of bringing it more in line with today's world of large coordinated projects and multi-national observatories. The course of this process, and further steps to be taken in the period from 2009 to 2012, were at the focus of the deliberations at the business meeting of Division IX at the IAU General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro.

Commission 21 consists of IAU members and consultants with expertise and interest in the study of the light of the night sky and its various diffuse components, at all accessible electromagnetic frequencies. In cosmic distance scales, the subjects of Commission 21 range from airglow and tropospheric scattering in Earth's atmosphere, through zodiacal light in the solar system, including thermal emission from interplanetary dust, integrated starlight in the Milky Way galaxy, diffuse galactic light due to dust scattering in the galactic diffuse interstellar medium, thermal emissions from interstellar dust and free free emission from ionized interstellar gas, to various diffuse extragalactic background sources, including the cosmologically important cosmic microwave background (CMB). Observations of the diffuse night sky brightness at any frequency typically include signals from several of these sources, and it has been the historic mandate of Commission 21 to foster the necessary collaboration of experts from the different astronomical sub-disciplines involved.

We present our recent results from the observation of the O VI λ λ1032,1038 emission doublet in Seyfert galaxies of type 2 with the FUV spectrograph on the FUSE satellite. These observations are part of our investigation to contrast the properties of the OVI emission line and the absorbing outflows in a sample of rigorously matched Seyfert 1s and 2s, in the framework of the Unified Scheme. The OVI emission line is an excellent diagnostic of the outflowing hot gas at temperatures of ∼106K. In the Unified Scheme, Seyferts of type 2 are those whose central regions are obscured by the ubiquitous dusty torus. We interpret our results in this framework.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

The UVX experiment has resulted in confirmation that the diffuse ultraviolet background is low in intensity everywhere and that it is fairly uniform in intensity, both spatially and spectrally. There is no clear evidence that any significant portion of the moderate galactic latitude diffuse cosmic background originates in galactic plane starlight scattering from interstellar dust.