Thus far, Russia backed by China and, to some extent by several European countries and Canada strongly opposes NMD deployment in contravention of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, which it considers the cornerstone of strategic stability. The basic Moscow arguments run as follows: NMD development will undermine “comprehensive “ strategic stability, sap the entire network of international...

Spatial and kinematical correlations between the H i and 12CO(2−1) emission of the southern spiral galaxy NGC4945 are studied with a common angular resolution of ∼ 23′′ (corresponding to 750 pc at D = 6.7 Mpc) and a velocity resolution of ∼7 kms−1. The 1.4 GHz continuum emission is also observed. The H i kinematics yield a galaxy mass of ∼ 1.4× 10 M within radius R=380′′, with molecular and neu...

We present high resolution (∼ 5′′) maps of the J = 1 0 transitions of 13CO and C18O towards the nucleus of NGC 6946, made with the Owens Valley Millimeter Array. The images are compared with existing 12CO(1-0) maps to investigate localized changes in gas properties across the nucleus. As compared to 12CO, both 13CO and C18O are more confined to the central ring of molecular gas associated with ...

We present the kinematics of the ionized gas over the inner 140 (10 kpc) from observations with the HIFI Fabry-Perot interferometer. There is clear evidence for density wave streaming and bar-driven streaming across the field, with bi-symmetric arms that penetrate to within 200 pc of the nucleus. CO maps show linear structures along (although slightly offset from) the bar consistent with a stro...

NGC 206 in the Andromeda Galaxy (M 31) is the largest and perhaps the most massive region in the Local Group with coherent star formation taking place on a timescale of∼30 Myr.We have incorporated observations of the Hi emission and blue stars with our new identifications of Cepheid variables and those from observations by Baade and collaborators to study the star formation history in this regi...

Abstract. Interacting galaxies like the famous Antennae (NGC 4038/4039) or Stephan’s Quintet (HCG 92) show considerable star forming activity in their tidal arms. High resolution images (e.g. from HST-observations) indicate that these regions consist of up to hundreds of massive stellar clusters or tidal dwarf galaxies (TDG). In this paper we want to investigate the future fate of these cluster...

I describe how the dynamics of galactic disks can be inferred by imaging and spectroscopy. Next I demonstrate that the decomposition of the rotation curves of spiral galaxies into the contributions by the various components of the galaxies is highly degenerate. Constraints on the decomposition can be found by considering implications for the dynamics of the galactic disks. An important diagnost...

We present the results of detailed N-body simulations of clusters moving in a realistic Milky Way potential. The strong interaction with the bulge and the disk of the Galaxy leads to the formation of tidal tails, emanating from opposite sides of the cluster. Some characteristic features in the morphology and orientation of these streams are recognized and intepreted. The tails have a complex mo...

We present an X-ray spectral and spatial analysis of the composite starburst/Seyfert galaxy NGC1365. Excellent fits of the ROSAT PSPC spectrum are obtained by combining a soft thermal component with a hard powerlaw. The hard component may be either seen directly or can be explained by scattering of the AGN powerlaw at circumnuclear warm high-column-density gas. A compilation of the multi-wavele...