I will review some of the recent work on the RR Lyrae populations in Local Volume galaxies. The capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope and 10-meter class ground-based telescopes have made it possible to reliably identify and characterize RR Lyrae variables out to a few Mpc. This is important because RR Lyraes are the 'Swiss Army knives' of astronomy in the sense that they have multiple and varied uses for probing the formation and evolution of galaxies. I will describe the diversity of ways that RR Lyraes are useful in this regard and what they reveal about the properties of galaxies such as M31, M32, and M33.

The National Geographical Institute is in charge of the Space Geodesy and astronomy developments in Spain. Most of the activities are carried out at Yebes Observatory where the 40 meter radiotelescope operates from 2 to 120 GHz, and participates since 2006 in rutinary EVN and IVS sessions. IGN also participates in VGOS (VLBI Geodetic Observing Systems) with the RAEGE project (An Atlantic Network of geodynamical and Spatial Stations) which consists on the installation of four geodetic fundamental stations placed in Yebes and Canary Islands in Spain and Santa Maria and Flores islands in Azores, Portugal. Each one of the stations will have a VGOS radiostelescope, gravimeters, permanent GNSS and SLR in Yebes. IGN develops its own radioastronomical instrumentation and also for others. Several areas like cryogenical receivers, feeds and LNA (low noise amplifiers) are covered since the eighties.

Recent infrared surveys have shown that the luminosity functions of protostars peak near one solar luminosity, and have a larger fraction of objects at sub-solar luminosities, which seem too low given the need to accrete the central protostar in typical estimated lifetimes. One plausible solution to this “luminosity problem'' is that mass infall occurs first to the disk, and subsequent disk accretion is low for the most of the time, with occasional short-lived, rapid accretion outbursts. In this talk I will present our recent numerical results of gravitational instability (GI)-induced, magnetorotational instability (MRI)-driven accretion outbursts in protoplanetary disks. Our results emphasize the importance of following the propagation of mass into innermost disk radii for predicting the resulting accretion luminosity as a function of time and thus addressing the protostellar luminosity problem.

A key unknown in lunar science is to what extent is the Moon is a melted, radially layered planet like Earth or a primordial relic of the early solar system, like many asteroids. A new era of lunar exploration is underway, offering major new insights into this decades-old question. Although the Moon today has no global magnetic field, new laboratory and spacecraft measurements strongly indicate that remanent magnetization in lunar rocks is the product of an ancient core dynamo. This confirms that the Moon is a highly differentiated object that formed an advecting, liquid metallic core. The dynamo field persisted from at least 4.25 to 3.56 billion years ago with an intensity reaching that of the present Earth. The field then declined by at least an order of magnitude by 3.3 Ga. The mechanisms for sustaining such an intense and long-lived dynamo are uncertain but may include exotic mechanisms like mechanical stirring by the processing mantle.

Lunar swirls are some of the most beautiful yet mysterious features on the Moon. They are characterized by their unusual albedo markings, which are wispy or sinuous in form. Swirls are often associated with the invisible presence of notable magnetic anomalies. They are found without any topographic expression of their own and occur across mare or highland terrain. We have recently re-examined the spectroscopic properties of swirls using data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper in order to determine whether there are compositional distinctions associated with their bright and dark markings. The data are consistent with the features being locally derived (rather than addition of a significant foreign component), but their albedo variations do not follow any common alteration or mixing pattern for lunar materials. Specifically, the spectral properties of swirls are not consistent with normal ‘space weathering’ of exposed lunar materials that results from the accumulation of nanophase metallic iron on soil grains when exposed to the harsh environment on the lunar surface. Instead, the observed characteristics of swirls argue for a difference in micro-scale texture of swirl regolith structure compared to that of nearby local soils. Some rearrangement of the fine components is also likely at swirls. Key issues to explore in the lunar environment are the effects that a relatively strong local magnetic field may have on small electrostatic forces that control interaction between soil grains. The mobility of the finest fraction is another key question. In addition, all regolith evolution processes occur in the strong diurnal cycling involving solar radiation ? exposure from visible to near-infrared electromagnetic radiation (heat) and solar wind energetic particles. If we could understand the direct cause and effect between the magnetic anomalies and the character and patterns in these enigmatic swirls, we would go a long way toward constraining the origin of the magnetic signatures themselves ? which in turn would ultimately constrain the early history of the Moon

There exist strong evidence supporting the co-evolution of central supermassive black holes and their host galaxies; however it is still under debate how such a relation comes about and whether it is relevant for all or only a subset of galaxies. An important mechanism connecting AGN to their host galaxies is AGN feedback, potentially heating up or even expelling gas from galaxies. AGN feedback may hence be responsible for the eventual quenching of star formation and halting of galaxy growth. A rich multi-wavelength dataset ranging from the X-ray regime (Chandra), to far-IR (Herschel), and radio (WSRT) is available for the North Ecliptic Pole field, most notably surveyed by the AKARI infrared space telescope, covering a total area on the sky of 5.4 sq. degrees. We investigate the star-formation properties and possible signatures of radio feedback mechanisms in the host galaxies of 237 radio sources below redshift z=2 and at a radio 1.4 GHz flux density limit of 0.1 mJy. Using broadband SED modelling, the nuclear and host galaxy components of these sources are studied simultaneously as a function of their radio luminosity. Here we present results concerning the AGN content of the radio sources in this field, while also offering evidence showcasing two, potentially competing, links between AGN activity and host galaxy star formation. In particular, I will show results supporting a ``maintenance'' type of feedback from powerful radio-jets. Finally, I will present preliminary results based on the stacking analysis of Herschel far-IR data of the most radio-luminous AGN in the AKARI-NEP field.

In the era of precision cosmology and redshift-deepening observation, probing the astrophysical objects in their infancy is getting ever more important. Difficulty of drop-out techniques to probe high-redshift stellar objects at z>~7 can be compensated by high-sensitivity radio telescopes, strating from several precursors (LOFAR, MWA, PAPER, 21CMA, etc.) but ending ultimately by the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) aiming to probe the Universe down to z~28. Cosmic microwave background (CMB) also bears important information on this high-redshift epoch, in terms of anisotropy in temperature and polarization. I will brief on recent theoretical developments in the astrophysics and cosmology at such high-redshift epoch, and describe how radio astronomy can perform both of these disciplines, with biased focus on SKA.

In recent years, variable sky has been intensively studied by wide-field survey observations. Such transient surveys have discovered many supernovae and also previously unknown transient events. After briefly introducing transient surveys in these years, I will introduce our activity for two optical transient surveys in Japan. One is Kiso Supernova Survey (KISS) using a 4 deg^2 wide-field camera of the 1.05m Kiso Schimidt telescope, This survey focuses on short-timescale phenomena, such as shock breakout of supernovae. The other is a planned transient survey using Hyper Suprime Cam (HSC) of the 8.2m Subaru telescope.

I will briefly introduce the space-based radio astronomical missions suggested by SHAO, i.e., the Space mm-wavelength VLBI Array, and the Space Ultra-Low Frequency Radio Observatory. The overall concept design and progress will be presented.

Molecular emissions are tools for diagnosing the nature of the emitting regions. The interpretation of these emissions has become an essential key for understanding star-formation, the ISM, starburst and AGN activity, galaxy evolution, and cosmology. This talk will consider the interpretation of the signatures of thermal molecular line emissions and non-thermal maser emissions and what these mean for the emitting regions.

I will demonstrate that, contrary to expectations, early-types galaxies contain a significant amount of cold molecular gas, and that the spatially-resolved kinematics of this gas can be used to establish its origin. More importantly, the molecular gas turns out to be an excellent, arguably the best tracer of the circular velocity in early-type galaxies, thus allowing accurate total/dynamical mass measurements. I will exploit this principally in two ways. First, to show that an accurate CO Tully-Fisher (luminosity-circular velocity) relation can easily be derived for early-type galaxies. This opens the way to probe the mass growth of galaxies of all types to significant redshits, with a unique and simple method. Second, to show that CO can be used to accurately measure the mass of the supermassive black holes lurking at galaxy centres. This opens the way for literaly hundreds of measurements across the Hubble sequence, potentially revolutionising our understanding of the co-evolution of galaxies and black holes.

Supernova remnants are an excellent laboratory to study many fundamental subjects of modern astronomy and astrophysics such as the nature of stellar evolution, explosion, interstellar chemical evolution, and cosmic-ray acceleration. With the emergence of modern X-ray observatories supernova remnant study has been revolutionized for the last decade. We briefly introduce recent results from deep X-ray observations of Type Ia supernova remnants, Kepler and G299.2-2.9. We detect Fe-peak ejecta elements Mn, Cr, Fe, and Ni in Kepler. Our estimated mass ratios among these elements show that Kepler's supernova was a thermonuclear explosion of a relatively young white dwarf with a supersolar metallicity. G299.2-2.9 apparently shows an elongated, strong outflow-like ejecta feature. This particular emission feature may suggest an asymmetric explosion or a significantly modified environment, unlike the traditional picture of Type Ia supernova.

In recent years, various optical surveys revealed large samples of quasars out to z of 6. Studies have shown that at such high redshifts we are approaching the Epoch of Reionization, when the first stars and massive black holes were formed. High redshift quasars provide both interesting constraints on the growth of the first supermassive black holes, and light sources with which to probe the ionization history of the Universe. While observations at radio wavelengths show that only a few of these high-z quasars are radio-loud, (sub)mm studies reveal a significant fraction (20-30%) of these most distant sources to be copious emitters of far-IR radiation with FIR luminosities > 10^12 Lsun. VLBI, with its unprecedented resolving power, can be utilized to study the highest redshift quasars to 1) look at their physical structures at milliarcsecond resolution, 2) test for strong gravitational lensing to address the high mass values of their supermassive black holes, and 3) test, by direct imaging, whether the dominant power source at radio frequencies is an AGN or starburst, particularly in those sources that are strong FIR emitters. In this talk I will give an overview of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the High Sensitivity Array (HSA), and present observational results obtained on various radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars at redshifts z > 4 with the VLBA and the HSA. I will also provide a summary on a similar work that targets sum-mm galaxies at z~2.

Clusters of galaxies are great laboratories for many astrophysical processes on galaxy scale and have become one of the key probes in today's cosmology. Especially their mass function redshift distribution helps unveiling the effect of the mysterious driving force on the expansion of the universe - dark energy. In order to step forward to even higher precision cosmology using clusters, one not only needs to build good analysis tools, such as cluster finders, but also understands their systematics. In this talk, I will map out a round trip from understanding systemactics in large cluster samples to improving those tools for better cosmology. I will present a way to improve the understanding of the Universe as an interlocking element between real data and simulations. This will include, 1) building an empirically-motivated mock catalog using high-resolution N-body simulations to test various analysis tools, 2) understanding contamination and incompleteness using cross match of multi-wavelength cluster samples from large sky survey data. These projects are crucial in interpreting data from cluster surveys, such as South Pole Telescope (SPT), Dark Energy Survey (DES), as well as an upcoming survey from the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT).

For understanding the relationship between star formation and the interstellar medium properties, measuring the disk thickness of a galaxy is very important since it allows us to derive the volume density, a quantity that may be better correlated with star formation rate (SFR) than surface density. In this talk, I present a study of the vertical structure of the gaseous and stellar disks in a sample of edge-on galaxies (NGC 891, 4157, 4565, and 5907) using BIMA/CARMA CO (J = 1-0), VLA HI, and Spitzer 3.6 micron data. In order to take into account projection effects when measuring the disk thickness as a function of radius, I obtain the inclination by modeling the radio data. Using the measurement of the disk thicknesses and the derived radial profiles of gas and stars, I estimate the corresponding volume densities and vertical velocity dispersions. Both stellar and gas disks have smoothly varying scale heights and velocity dispersions, contrary to assumptions of previous studies. Using these scale heights and velocity dispersions, the gravitational instability parameter Q follows a fairly uniform profile with radius and is greater than or similar to 1 across the star forming disk. The star formation law has a slope that is significantly different from those found in more face-on galaxy studies, both in deprojected and pixel-by-pixel plots and this is likely due to IR opacity. Midplane density appears to be a better predictor of molecular-to-atomic ratio than midplane gas pressure.

New physics associated with the cosmic acceleration can be probed at cosmological scales as well as in laboratory experiments. I will begin by discussing the formation of large-scale cosmic structure, whose statistics will allow us to constrain cosmic expansion and new forces along with the masses of neutrinos. Using higher-order cosmological perturbation theories, I compute the power spectrum of large-scale structure, the Fourier transform of the two-point correlation function, for a universe with massive neutrinos and a cosmic acceleration driven by a time-varying dark energy density. Comparison with N-body dark matter simulations shows that perturbation theory is accurate to a few percent at distances of interest to upcoming galaxy surveys, and predicts a shift in the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations. Next, I will discuss laboratory constraints on couplings between dark energy and Standard Model particles, which are complementary to cosmological probes. Several models predict fifth forces at the dark energy scale, of order 100 microns, which are accessible to the next generation of laboratory experiments. Dark energy may also couple to photons, allowing for the production of dark energy particles in the Sun or the laboratory. The combination of information from the megaparsec and the micron scales will provide comprehensive constraints on dark energy over the next decade.

The origin of high energy emission has always been a key question in AGN physics. The gamma-ray bright blazars constitute a unique laboratory to probe jet formation and its relation to radio-to-gamma-ray variability. A combination of high-resolution VLBI images associated with densely time sampled multi-frequency flux measurements of the extreme BL Lac object S5 0716+714 over the past four years allow us to study its broad-band variability, allowing us to probe the jet acceleration zone, with emphasis on the location and size of the emitting regions and the evolution with time. We study the characteristics of some prominent mm-/gamma-ray flares in the context of (1) the shock-in-jet models, (2) broadband spectral modeling, (3) and jet kinematics, to probe the location of the high energy emission region. Here, I will present and discuss the main results of the study.

Globular Cluster (GC) cores have long been speculated to contain Intermediate-Mass Black Holes (IMBHs). Claims stemming from indirect detection methods abound, however there are still no definitive detections of radio or X-ray emission from accreting matter on IMBHs in GCs. Due to the high mass of IMBHs, an important criterium for distinguishing an IMBH candidate from other sources is based on how central the source is. I will briefly discuss analytical predictions and numerical simulation results about how far an IMBH can wander from the center of a typical GC, and the consequences in terms of potential false negatives in direct detection attempts.

Tidal disruption flares are thought to be evidences for quiescent supermassive black holes at the centers of inactive galaxies, because of those characteristic time variations with large luminosities. However, there is poorly known about tidal disruption and subsequent mass fallback process for stars approaching supermassive black holes on bound orbits. We perform three dimensional Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations of those processes with a pseudo-Newtonian potential. We find that the mass fallback rate decays with the expected -5/3 power of time for parabolic orbits, albeit with a slight deviation due to the self-gravity of the stellar debris. For eccentric orbits, however, there is a critical value of the orbital eccentricity, significantly below which all of the stellar debris is bound to the supermassive black hole. All the mass therefore falls back to the supermassive black hole in a much shorter time than in the standard, parabolic case. The resultant mass fallback rate considerably exceeds the Eddington accretion rate and substantially differs from the -5/3 power of time. We also show that general relativistic precession is crucial for accretion disk formation via circularization of stellar debris from stars on moderately eccentric orbits. We also discuss how a black hole spin affects the debris circularization by SPH simulations with Post-Newtonian corrections.

The AAO has always been a pioneer of innovative instrumentation for cosmology, and especially survey cosmology involving fiber-based massive multiplexing over large fields. I will review the instruments the AAO has developed, both for our own own use, and for other observatories including ESO, Subaru and GMT. I will also review the technologies under development by the Instrument Science group. I will also look forward to projects still in the future, and how AAO and KASI might be able to work together for mutual benefit.

The New Solar Telescope (NST) in Big Bear is the first facility-class an off-axis solar telescope built in the US in a generation. The NST is in regular operation with adaptive optics (AO) correcting the light currently feeding photometric and near-IR polarimetric systems, as well as an imaging spectrograph. In this presentation I will review the existing and planned NST instrumentation and improvements. In the second part of my presentation I will review scientific results and findings based on the NST data.

We present our investigation of the characteristics of Class II protoplanetary disks in Orion A star-forming region. Our major goal is to analyze a large sample of protoplanetary disks with near- and mid-IR spectra, by statistical approaches, to understand protoplanetary disk evolution in Orion A. For this work, 303 protoplanetary disks in Orion A region observed by IRS/Spitzer and the follow-up observation of 120 objects from SpeX/IRTF are used to reveal the characteristics of Class II disks in Orion A. For clues on environmental effects on disk evolution and planet formation, we compare the disk properties and dust properties of Orion A disks to that of Taurus disks and examine trends with respect to position within Orion A. We extract spectral indices, equivalent widths, and integrated fluxes from IRS spectra of Class II objects in Orion A which pertain to disk structure and dust composition. We measure mass accretion rates using hydrogen recombination lines in SpeX spectra of our targets. Utilizing the properties, we analyze the general distribution of properties of disks in ONC, L1641, and Taurus from their histograms. Our main findings are as follows. (1)Transitional disks ? those protoplanetary disks for which deficits of infrared excess signify sharp-edged gaps in the dust distribution ? are produced gravitationally by companions to the central star. (2) From the high frequency (>20%) of transitional disks and the similar vertical structure of the Orion A disks to those of Taurus, we infer that giant planet formation and dust sedimentation is well under way, if not complete, even in the youngest Class II objects. (3) Less grain processing ? crystallization and growth of grains to diameter of 1?10 μm ? has occurred among the dust grains in the Orion A disks than in Taurus. The time scales for dust processing must therefore lie in the range of ages of the nearby clouds like Orion, NGC 1333, Taurus, Ophiuchus and Chamaeleon. (4) We detected PAH emission at 6?14 μm from disks around low-mass and low-luminosity young stars, excited externally by UV from the Trapezium stars. (5) As others have found for the Trapezium region of Orion, the disks of the surrounding Orion Nebular Cluster suffer reduced emission at long infrared wavelengths. The reduction tracks distance from the most luminous Trapezium star, θ1 Ori C, so this appears to be the effect of UV oblation of the outer part of the disks.

현재까지 인류가 소유한 운석의 약 80% 정도(60,000여개)가 1970년대 중반부터 자국 정부의 지원을 받는 운석탐사대에 의해 남극에서 회수되고 있다. 남극에서 운석탐사를 지속적으로 수행하는 나라는 미국, 일본, 이태리, 중국 등 4개국이고, 우리나라는 2006년부터 시작하였다. 2006년부터 현재까지 6 차례의 탐사를 통해 남극대륙의 청빙지대에서 달운석 1개를 포함 총 180여개의 운석을 확보하였다. 미국을 제외한 나머지 나라는 남극연구 전문기관에서 운석을 체계적으로 관리하고 있다. 남극운석은 연구용으로만 사용되기 때문에 남극운석을 회수한 기관은 일정기간 내에 정해진 기준에 의해 운석을 분류하고, 적절한 절차를 거쳐 전 세계 연구자들에게 분배하여야 한다. 현재 극지연구소는 남극운석 회수-보관-분류-등록-분배 임무를 총괄하는 큐레이션시스템(koreamet.kopri.re.kr)을 가동 중에 있고, 운석 연구 역량을 강화하기 위해 최신 분석장비 확보에 전력을 기울이고 있다. 극지연구소는 2009년부터 새로 건조한 쇄빙연구선 ‘아라온’을 매년 남극 탐사에 투입하고 있고, 2014년 2월 완공을 목표로 제2 남극기지 ‘장보고과학기지‘를 동남극 테라노바만에 건설하고 있다. 2014년 장보고과학기지 준공 원년부터 새로운 융복합 연구를 착수하고자 신규 정부 R&D 사업을 추진하고 있다. 신규 R&D 사업의 제2 세부과제는 운석학, 행성지질학, 우주생물학, 우주기상 연구의 기반 구축을 목표로 설정하고 다양한 산-학-연 협력연구를 추진할 예정이다. 또 이 세부과제는 남극내륙 고원에서 빙하시추와 천문/우주관측을 목표로 하는 제3 내륙기지 후보지를 탐색하는 임무도 수행할 예정이다. 이상에서와 같이 극지연구소는 현재 2020년 정부주도의 달 탐사 프로젝트 추진 동력을 뒷받침할 수 있는 기관 고유 임무를 남극에서 적극적으로 모색하는 단계에 있다. 따라서 문을 열고 출연연, 대학 등과 협력을 통해 발전을 도모해야 하는 중요한 전환기를 맞고 있다

I will present new results of cosmological galaxy formation with cosmic magnetic fields. The new simulations are quite unique because of its usage of adaptive mesh refinement to cover a broad range of spatial/time scale and its tests of cosmological primordial magnetic fields. I will also introduce a new approach of stochastic models to incorporate sub-grid physics of astrophysical magnetic fields in cosmological galaxy formation simulation. Various applications of the new simulation results will be briefly explained in the talk, encouraging further usages of the results by the KASI people.

Dark energy and dark matter are fundamental mysteries in understanding our universe. With upcoming cosmic surveys they are ripe for advances. I highlight some new handles on dark energy and new cosmic probes that test both cosmic acceleration and the dark matter distribution. Time delays from strongly lensed active galactic nuclei give precision distances complementary to those from supernovae or large scale clustering. Redshift space distortions of the 3D pattern of galaxy clustering probe the matter growth rate and laws of gravity. Both require techniques and surveys that KASI is well positioned to contribute to, ready to make new discoveries in cosmology and astrophysics.

Phase referencing is the main observational tool that is used by radio arrays in order to make high resolution images of extended radio sources, or to determine the precise position of celestial objects, natural and man-made. The fundamentals of phase referencing, examples of results, second-order corrections, and the problems when the phase stability is limited are discussed. Examples of projects that are in progress or ready-to-go will be outlined. Special phase referencing problems and possible solutions for high resolution ALMA observations at high frequencies are also discussed.

The formation of molecular gas is a critical step in the conversion of interstellar gas into stars, yet the physical processes involved still remain unclear. With a goal of providing observational constraints on the formation of molecular gas, I perform two high-resolution, multi-wavelength studies of the Perseus molecular cloud in the Milky Way. In the first study, I investigate the transition from atomic (HI) to molecular hydrogen (H2) on sub-parsec scales and find that the HI distribution is surprisingly uniform. As a result, the H2-to-HI ratio linearly increases with the total gas column density. These results are consistent with the theoretical model by Krumholz et al. (2009), where the formation and photodissociation of H2 are in balance and the abundance of H2 is controlled by the minimum HI column density required for H2 shielding. In the second study, I examine the relation between the H2 column density and the carbon monoxide (CO) integrated intensity and show that the ratio of the two, so called "X-factor", varies spatially by up to a factor of 100. I then compare the HI, H2, CO, and X-factor data with two contrasting theoretical models, i.e., PDR model by Wolfire et al. (2010) and MHD model by Shetty et al. (2011). I find that the steady state and equilibrium chemistry model (PDR) reproduces the observations very well but requires an extended halo around a dense core. While agreeing with the observations reasonably well, the macroturbulent and non-equilibrium chemistry model (MHD) shows interesting discrepancies, including a broader range of HI column density

Radio pulsars are highly magnetized, rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit synchrotron radiation along the magnetic axes at their spin frequencies. A compact, strongly gravitating object that emits narrow, regular pulses 1-1000 times per second provides us with a laboratory to test Einstein’s general relativity by, for instance, long-term observations of pulse arrival times. Pulsars in tight binaries are of particular interests as they are important sources of gravitational waves. For example, NS-NS binaries are one of the prime targets for the advanced gravitational-wave detectors on Earth. Since the first discovery made by Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish in 1967, more than 2000 radio pulsars are known to-date in our Galaxy. Discoveries of new population and precision timings made in the past decade not only shed light on existing questions, but also arose new ones. Radio pulsar spectrum follows a power-law with a negative slope of -2. Hence, observations have often been done at low frequencies (MHz up to a few GHz). More recently, high-frequency pulsar observations (several GHz and above) have been practically possible, when a broad-band spectrometer and fast computers became available. The main driving force toward higher frequencies is to find pulsars in the vicinity of Sgr A*, which is one of the holy grails of pulsar astronomy. In this talk, I will overview the Galactic pulsar population and discuss how we can utilize the Korean VLBI Network for pulsar observations. I will also present the on-going efforts at KASI.

I give an update on three major exoplanetary science initiatives being pursued by Australian-based planet-search teams. Further observations from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search (AAPS) have revealed that some systems previously thought to contain a single, moderate-eccentricity planet are better fit by two planets on nearly-circular orbits. We have investigated apparent single-planet systems to see if the available data can be better fit by two lower-eccentricity planets. We identify nine promising candidate systems and perform detailed dynamical tests to confirm the stability of the potential new multiple-planet systems. In addition to the AAPS, I describe the Pan-Pacific Planet Search, a radial-velocity survey of Southern hemisphere evolved, intermediate-mass stars using the 3.9m Anglo- Australian Telescope. We currently achieve velocity precisions of 3-6 m/s, and there are several planet candidates emerging as more data are obtained. I then describe a plan for Minerva: an installation of four 0.7m telescopes feeding a high-resolution spectrograph, sited at Mt Hopkins in Arizona. Minerva will give exoplanetary scientists the ability to pursue dedicated radial-velocity searches for planets orbiting the nearest bright stars. In addition, a Southern hemisphere Minerva could be used to follow up on objects of interest from Antarctic telescopes such as the Chinese AST-3. I will describe the diverse science cases for this highly cost-effective facility. Finally, I present results from our recent series of papers in which we have performed extensive suites of dynamical simulations to test the veracity of proposed multiple-planet systems. We show that some systems are strongly constrained by protected low-order resonances, while others are wildly unstable on short timescales. This work highlights the critical need to include dynamical stability analysis as an integral part of the discovery process for candidate multi-planet systems.

We studied the structure of two old open clusters, NGC 1245 and NGC 2506, from a wide and deep VI photometry data acquired using the CFH12K CCD camera at Canada?France?Hawaii Telescope. We derived the physical parameters using detailed theoretical isochrone fittings using χ2 minimization. We devised a new method for assigning cluster membership probability to individual stars using both spatial positions and positions in the colour?magnitude diagram. From analyses of the luminosity functions at several cluster-centric radii and the radial surface density profiles derived from stars with different luminosity ranges, we found that the two clusters are dynamically relaxed to drive significant mass segregation and evaporation of some fraction of low-mass stars. There seems to be a signature of tidal tail in NGC 1245 but the signal is too low to be confirmed. We will discuss the halo and the tidal tail structure in the open cluster in this talk.