These are the Proceedings of Colloquium No. 153 of the International Astro nomical Union, held at Makuhari near Tokyo on May 22 - 26, 1995, and hosted by the National Astronomical Observatory. This meeting was intended to be an interdisciplinary meeting between re searchers of solar and stellar activity, in order for them to exchange the newest information in each field. While each of these areas has seen remarkable advances in recent years, and while the researchers in each field have felt that information from the other's domain would be extremely useful in their own work, there have not been very many opportunities for intensive exchanges of information between these closely related fields. We therefore expected much from this meeting in pro viding stellar researchers with new results of research on the counterparts of their targets of research, spatially and temporarily resolved, as observed on the Sun. Likewise we hoped to provide solar researchers with new results on gigantic ver sions of their targets of research under the very different physical circumstances on other active stars. It was our greatest pleasure that we had wide attendance of experts and active researchers of both research fields from all over the world. This led to extremely interesting talks and very lively discussions, thereby stimulating the exchange of ideas across the fields.

I have felt the need for a book on the theory of solar magnetic fields for some time now. Most books about the Sun are written by observers or by theorists from other branches of solar physics, whereas those on magnetohydrodynamics do not deal extensively with solar applications. I had thought of waiting a few decades before attempting to put pen to paper, but one summer Josip Kleczek encouraged an im mediate start 'while your ideas are still fresh'. The book grew out of a postgraduate lecture course at St Andrews, and the resulting period of gestation or 'being with monograph' has lasted several years. The Sun is an amazing object, which has continued to reveal completely unexpected features when observed in greater detail or at new wavelengths. What riches would be in store for us if we could view other stars with as much precision! Stellar physics itself is benefiting greatly from solar discoveries, but, in tum, our understanding of many solar phenomena (such as sunspots, sunspot cycles, the corona and the solar wind) will undoubtedly increase in the future due to their observation under different conditions in other stars. In the 'old days' the solar atmosphere was regarded as a static, plane-parallel structure, heated by the dissipation of sound waves and with its upper layer expanding in a spherically symmetric manner as the solar wind. Outside of sunspots the magnetic field was thOUght to be unimportant with a weak uniform value of a few gauss.

Magnetohydrodynamics of the Sun is a completely new up-to-date rewrite from scratch of the 1982 book Solar Magnetohydrodynamics, taking account of enormous advances in understanding since that date. It describes the subtle and complex interaction between the Sun's plasma atmosphere and its magnetic field, which is responsible for many fascinating dynamic phenomena. Chapters cover the generation of the Sun's magnetic field by dynamo action, magnetoconvection and the nature of photospheric flux tubes such as sunspots, the heating of the outer atmosphere by waves or reconnection, the structure of prominences, the nature of eruptive instability and magnetic reconnection in solar flares and coronal mass ejections, and the acceleration of the solar wind by reconnection or wave-turbulence. It is essential reading for graduate students and researchers in solar physics and related fields of astronomy, plasma physics and fluid dynamics. Problem sets and other resources are available at www.cambridge.org/9780521854719.

Observations of the solar magnetic field are largely confined to the radiation emitted from the photosphere, the thin layer of the solar atmosphere which we call "the solar surface". It is from solar surface observations that we must infer the internal structure and the internal magnetohydrodynamic processes that lead to the multitude of fascinat ing phenomena of solar magnetic activity, and from solar surface observations we must also infer the interplay of convection and magnetism that regulates field dispersal, drives the heating of the outer-atmospheric plasma, and generates the solar wind. There is much to be learned from solar surface magnetism in physics and astrophysics; currently, there are rapid developments in this exciting field. The workshop of which this volume contains the proceedings aimed at a synthesis between observers and theorists, both with regard to the discrete elements that are the building blocks of solar magnetism and with regard to the larger-scale spatial and temporal patterns in which the magnetic elements emerge and disappear. The workshop was held during November 1-5, 1993 in Soesterberg, The Netherlands. The fifty participants took a very active part in making the workshop quite a lively one. The articles in these proceedings cover most of the oral and poster presentations, excepting a dozen soon to be published elsewhere.

This volume presents a full mathematical exposition of the growing field of coronal seismology which will prove invaluable for graduate students and researchers alike. Roberts' detailed and original research draws upon the principles of fluid mechanics and electromagnetism, as well as observations from the TRACE and SDO spacecraft and key results in solar wave theory. The unique challenges posed by the extreme conditions of the Sun's atmosphere, which often frustrate attempts to develop a comprehensive theory, are tackled with rigour and precision; complex models of sunspots, coronal loops and prominences are presented, based on a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) view of the solar atmosphere, and making use of Faraday's concept of magnetic flux tubes to analyse oscillatory phenomena. The rapid rate of progress in coronal seismology makes this essential reading for those hoping to gain a deeper understanding of the field.

M. KITAMURA Tokyo Astronomical Observatory, Japan and E. BUDDING Carter Observatory, Wellington, New Zealand The Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Astronomical Union was held from 30 September to 5 October, 1984, at the Kyoto International Conference Hall, Kyoto, Japan, under the auspices of the Union and the Astronomical Society of Japan with Kyoto University as host. Three hundred and twenty-seven astronomers from twenty-two countries participated at the meeting and more than two hundred papers were presented. The aim of the meeting was not only to promote scientific developments and cooperation, but also to offer a chance for all participants to become acquainted with major astronomical projects of the Asian-Pacific Region. Therefore, two new sessions of 'A View of Asian-Pacific Astronomy' and 'Astronomical Education in the Asian Pacific Region', which had not been undertaken in the previous two Regional Meetings, were arranged as a first trial, besides the other ordinary scientific sessions. The Scientific Organizing Committee consisted of D.C. Morton (chairman), R.N. Manchester, S.M. Gong, K.J. Feng, C.S. Shen, J.C. Bhattacharyya, G. Swa B. Hidayat, H.M.K. AI-Nairniy, H.S. Yun, J.B. Hearnshaw, S.C. Wolff, I. Ka rup, waguchi, M. Kitamura, M. Morimoto, M. Oda, andJ. P. Swings (IAU, ex officio); and the Local Organizing Committee of T. Kogure (chairman), T.lshizawa, M. Saite, R. Hirata, S.lnagaki, E. Hiei, M. Kitamura, B. Takase, N. Kaifu, H. Maehara, Y. Osaki, and A. Yamasaki.