Nearby young clusters have distinct advantages for the study of star formation and stellar evolution issues. These issues include the origin of the initial mass function (IMF), binarity, the evolution of proto-planetary disks and the fundamental properties of pre-main sequence (PMS) stars. Such clusters provide for study a population of stars across a wide range of stellar masses at essentially uniform age, distance and metallicity, that are sufficiently bright owing to their youth and proximity for a multitude of precise astrophysical studies that would be difficult for older and/or more-distant cluster populations. In addition, young clusters usefully contribute to the study of cluster formation because their current physical state might a consequence of earlier, and possibly on-going, dynamical or evaporative processes. Our laboratory to study these issues is the Eta Chamaeleontis cluster which was discovered by Mamajek et al.(1999) with a deep ROSAT High-Resolution Imager observation.

We review properties of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) isolated recently in external galaxies. We suggest that ULXs are supercritical accretion disks like that in SS433, but observed close to the disk axes. The SS433 funnel parameters where the relativistic jets formed are estimated. Emergent X-ray spectrum in the proposed model of the multicolor funnel (MCF) is calculated. Another critical idea comes from observations of nebulae around the ULXs. We present results of 3D-spectroscopy of nebulae of several ULXs with the 6-m Russian telescope. We found that the nebulae to be powered by their central black holes.

Microlensing is a relatively new technique for searching for extrasolar planets. One of its main strengths is its ability to detect planets with masses as low as that of Earth. The MOA (Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics) project is a joint New Zealand-Japan collaboration that has been in operation since 1995. I will describe the microlensing technique together with some its special challenges. I will also describe the work of MOA since 1995 and describe the propects for the future with the new MOA 1.8m telescope.