This paper presents a systematic study of the photoionization and thermodynamic properties of the cool circumgalactic medium (CGM) as traced by rest-frame ultraviolet absorption lines around 26 galaxies at redshift z less than or similar to 1. The study utilizes both high-quality far-ultraviolet and optical spectra of background QSOs and deep galaxy redshift surveys to characterize the gas density, temperature, and pressure of individual absorbing components and to resolve their internal non-thermal motions. The derived gas density spans more than three decades, from log(n(H)/cm(-3)) approximate to -4 to -1, while the temperature of the gas is confined in a narrow range of log (T/K) approximate to 4.3 +/- 0.3. In addition, a weak anticorrelation between gas density and temperature is observed, consistent with the expectation of the gas being in photoionization equilibrium. Furthermore, decomposing the observed line widths into thermal and non-thermal contributions reveals that more than 30 per cent of the components at z less than or similar to 1 exhibit line widths driven by non-thermal motions, in comparison to <20 per cent found at z approximate to 2-3. Attributing the observed non-thermal line widths to intra-clump turbulence, we find that massive quenched galaxies on average exhibit higher non-thermal broadening/turbulent energy in their CGM compared to star-forming galaxies at z less than or similar to 1. Finally, strong absorption features from multiple ions covering a wide range of ionization energy (e.g. from Mg II to O IV) can be present simultaneously in a single absorption system with kinematically aligned component structure, but the inferred pressure in different phases may differ by a factor of approximate to 10.

In the hierarchical view of star formation, giant molecular clouds (GMCs) undergo fragmentation to form small-scale structures made up of stars and star clusters. Here we study the connection between young star clusters and cold gas across a range of extragalactic environments by combining the high resolution (1 '') PHANGS-ALMA catalogue of GMCs with the star cluster catalogues from PHANGS-HST. The star clusters are spatially matched with the GMCs across a sample of 11 nearby star-forming galaxies with a range of galactic environments (centres, bars, spiral arms, etc.). We find that after 4 - 6 Myr the star clusters are no longer associated with any gas clouds. Additionally, we measure the autocorrelation of the star clusters and GMCs as well as their cross-correlation to quantify the fractal nature of hierarchical star formation. Young (<= 10 Myr) star clusters are more strongly autocorrelated on kpc and smaller spatial scales than the > 10 Myr stellar populations, indicating that the hierarchical structure dissolves over time.

The chromatin associated with the nuclear lamina (NL) is referred to as lamina-associated domains (LADs). Here, we present an adaptation of the tyramide-signal amplification sequencing (TSA-seq) protocol, which we call chromatin pull down-based TSA-seq (cTSA-seq), that can be used to map chromatin regions at or near the NL from as little as 50 000 cells. The cTSA-seq mapped regions are composed of previously defined LADs and smaller chromatin regions that fall within the Hi-C defined B-compartment containing nuclear peripheral heterochromatin. We used cTSA-seq to map chromatin at or near the assembling NL in cultured cells progressing through early G1. cTSA-seq revealed that the distal ends of chromosomes are near or at the reassembling NL during early G1, a feature similar to those found in senescent cells. We expand the use of cTSA-seq to the mapping of chromatin at or near the NL from fixed-frozen mouse cerebellar tissue sections. This mapping reveals a general conservation of NL-associated chromatin and identifies global and local changes during cerebellar development. The cTSA-seq method reported here is useful for analyzing chromatin at or near the NL from small numbers of cells derived from both in vitro and in vivo sources.

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) Commissioning Camera (ComCam) is an all-refractive, focal reducing camera intended for the evaluation of telescope performance in both natural seeing and ground layer adaptive optics modes across a six arcminute field of view. As the first purpose-built, large imager for the GMT, it also provides unique public outreach functions and scientific research opportunities by enabling both narrowband and broadband imaging and photometric measurements at wavelengths between 360 and 950 nm. In addition to a discrete set of narrowband and broadband filters, inclusion of a deployable Fabry-Perot etalon will greatly enhance ComCam's capabilities. With an image scale of 0.06 arcseconds per pixel, ComCam will be able to take full advantage of the GMT's GLAO-corrected image quality under the best predicted conditions. ComCam has undergone a conceptual design review and is now under development in the preliminary design phase. Instrumental first light will be concurrent with that of the GMT.

The Magellan Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph (MIRMOS) is a near-infrared (NIR) multi-object spectrograph (MOS) and integral field unit (IFU) to be deployed at the Magellan 6.5-meter telescopes at Las Campafias Observatory. MIRMOS is designed to address frontier scientific questions in extragalactic, cosmological, and exoplanetary science. These scientific questions led us to spectrograph with an instantaneous wavelength range from 0.89-2.4 mu m with a spectral resolution > 3, 700. The spectrograph is fed by a front end that switches between a robotic mechanical slit mask capable of deploying nearly 90 slits over a 13' x 3' field, or by an image slicer IFU with a wide field of 26 '' x 20 ''. MIRMOS is currently under design at the Carnegie Observatories.