This 15th volume in the annual series on recent developments and scientific progress in astronomy and astrophysics contains fourteen invited reviews presented during the Joint European and National Astronomical Meeting JENAM 2001, held in Munich, Germany. Readers also learn about the lecture on macro- and microscopic views of nearby galaxies given by Keiichi Kodaira, Japan, who was awarded the Karl Schwarzschild medal 2001. Further contributions on the topic provide the latest results on the search for extra-solar planets, formation of stars and galaxies, physics of active galactic nuclei, as well as new telescopes and sensor technologies for various wavelengths.
Karl Schwarzschild Lecture: Macro-- and Microscopic Views of Nearby Galaxies By Keiichi Kodaira (With 6 Figures). Ludwig Biermann Award Lecture: X--ray Evidence for Supermassive Black Holes at the Centers of Nearby, Non--Active Galaxies By Stefanie Komossa (With 10 Figures). Supermassive Black Holes By Douglas O. Richstone (With 3 Figures). The Distant Universe Seen with Chandra and XMM--Newton By Gunther Hasinger (With 11 Figures). Seeing the Universe in the Light of Gravitational Waves By Karsten Danzmann and Albrecht Rudiger (With 9 Figures). Observations of Weak Polarisation Signals from the Sun By Achim Gandorfer (With 8 Figures). A Statistical Analysis of the Extrasolar Planets and the Low--Mass Secondaries By Tsevi Mazeh and Shay Zucker (With 7 Figures). Radiative Transfer in Turbulent Molecular Clouds By Michael Hegmann (With 11 Figures). Seeing the Light through the Dark: The Initial Conditions to Star Formation By Joao F. Alves (With 8 Figures). Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei By Roberto Maiolino (With 11 Figures). Cosmological Evolution of AGN -- A Radioastronomer's View By Silke Britzen (With 11 Figures). The Epoch(s) of Early--Type Galaxy Formation in Clusters and in the Field By Daniel Thomas, Claudia Maraston, and Ralf Bender (With 7 Figures). Modelling the Spectral Energy Distribution of Galaxies from the Ultraviolet to Submillimeter By Cristina C. Popescu and Richard J. Tuffs (With 7 Figures). Nature of the Cosmic Infrared Background and Cosmic Star Formation History: Are Galaxies Shy? By David Elbaz (With 8 Figures). Index of Contributors. General Table of Contents. General Index of Contributors.
Reinhard E. Schielicke, Ph.D. Universitatss--Sternwarte Jena, University of Jena, Germany in association with the The Astronomical Society of Germany and The European Astronomical Society (current issue)