New Views of the Magellanic Clouds: IAU Symposium 19011Conference was held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, in 1998 July. Proceedings will be edited by Y.‐H. Chu, J. E. Hesser, and N. B. Suntzeff and published in the ASP Conference Series.

Abstract

The Clouds of Magellan are the most massive satellites of the Galaxy. They therefore provide a laboratory in which the evolution of stars and clusters can be studied in much more detail than is possible in more distant galaxies. Furthermore, the Magellanic Clouds are arguably the most important stepping stones on the path that leads to the extragalactic distance scale. In view of their importance to modern astronomy, the International Astronomical Union devoted IAU Symposium 108 (Structure and Evolution of the Magellanic Clouds, ed. S. van den Bergh & K. S. de Boer [Dordrecht: Reidel, 1984]) and IAU Symposium 148 (The Magellanic Clouds, ed. R. Haynes & D. Milne [Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1984]) to the study of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). IAU Symposium 190, which was held in Victoria, British Columbia, 1998 July 13–17, formed a continuation of this series of IAU symposia. The meeting was attended by ∼170 astronomers from five continents. Because of the worst July weather in at least two decades, most of the intensive discussions of subjects related to the Magellanic Clouds took place indoors. Local arrangements were ably taken care of by Jim Hesser and his Local Organizing Committee from the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and the University of Victoria. Among the most important scientific questions about the Magellanic Clouds that need to be answered are the following: