325 Acta Polytechnica CTU Proceedings 2(1): 325–327, 2015 325 doi: 10.14311/APP.2015.02.0325 Golden Era of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects II: Concluding Remarks R. Hudec1,2 1Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-25165 Ondřejov, Czech Republic 2Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Prague, Czech Republic Corresponding author: rene.hudec@asu.cas.cz Abstract The cataclysmic variables continue to represent important part of modern astrophysics, as demonstrated, already second time, by the productive and successful conference Golden Era of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects II held on Mondello (Palermo) in September 2013. Keywords: stars - variable stars - cataclysmic variables. 1 Introduction Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) belong to important tar- gets of modern (and multispectral) astrophysics, as they represent in many aspects the true astrophysical labo- ratory, in which various physical processes and models can be observed, investigated, simulated, and tested. They even may play a significant role in the generation of galactic X-ray background, a consequence of surpris- ingly large fraction of CVs in hard X-ray sources de- tected by ESA satellite INTEGRAL. Despite of large theoretical and experimental progress in the last years there are still numerous important questions to be an- swered. Even for well known and studied objects such as SS Cyg or AE Aqr, there are still different opinions in the astronomical community about their nature and involved physical processes. The CV field is quite com- plex and interdisciplinary, and it is obvious that only such complex approach has a chance to deliver reliable answers to our questions. Many important questions regarding investigation of CVs and related objects were addressed in Mondello, not only during scientific sessions, but also during nu- merous discussions among participants (see Figs. 2 to 11). There were plenty opportunities for such discus- sions during coffee breaks, breakfasts, lunches and din- ners, and also during various social activities, all this enjoying the pleasant atmosphere of Sicily (including delicious food, coffee, and wine). 2 Few Subjective Comments The cataclysmic variables conference in Mondello (Palermo) represents, in my opinion, another successful workshop confirming Prof. Franco Giovanelli/Vulcano theorem (adopted from his famous Vulcano Frascati workshops), namely that one can make serious science even keeping smiling. As already confirmed before by long series of Vulcano Frascati (and analogous) work- shops, the key for successful and highly productive workshop is as follows: nice environment, dining and staying together, enough (and good) wine (or beer in countries like Czech Republic). And great participants and speakers, of course, and last but not least experi- enced conference organizers. There was really wide international participation of both field leaders as well as young scientists in our con- ference - many of them have got the possibility to meet the famous senior scientists they know from the litera- ture for the first time. Personally, I have much appreciated the high qual- ity of most of invited and review talks. In my opinion, this is nowadays not very common as we face the prob- lem of declining quality of such talks at numerous other conferences. There were nice carefully prepared reviews by var- ious key speakers covering both theory as well as ex- periment. These lectures have illustrated and demon- strated the great progress both in theory as well as ob- servation/experiment of CVs (although there was lively discussion this time whether we indeed have enough new observations or not) and related objects over last years. In addition to that, some new and mostly de- tailed observations on particular CVs were presented and discussed, mostly by young scientific fellows. As for the previous CV conference, the frequent con- clusion of numerous speakers was as follows: we need more and better data, as well as better statistics. In addition to that, prospects of some of the new future 325 http://dx.doi.org/10.14311/APP.2015.02.0325 R. Hudec experiments/projects still need to be better formulated. In general, there is a need for better monitoring, multi- lambda observations, and in this direction Robotic Tele- scopes (RTs, e.g. GLORIA) and novel space experi- ments may help, as also proposed and discussed during the workshop. 3 Selected Pictures In my opinion, the following selected pictures taken dur- ing the workshop may much better illustrate the scope, atmosphere, and success of the conference better than any further words. The authors of these pictures are Rene Hudec (21 pictures) and Nataly Katysheva (6 pic- tures). Figure 1: The Japanese delegation wearing traditional kimono during the welcome reception (left). The deli- cious Italian coffee served during the coffee breaks at the hotel terrace (right). Figure 2: Meeting colleagues and having discussions represented, apart from scientific sessions, a key point of the workshop. Figure 3: Scientific talks: the discipline of conference participants in attending was great. Figure 4: Sometimes, the discussion among partici- pants was quite lively Figure 5: The main conference organizers and key per- sons at action (left) and Russian delegation enjoying the delicious wine of Sicily at the dinner (right). Figure 6: The workshop artistic performance (left) and the beautiful sunset observed from the conference hotel terace (right). Figure 7: Are these conference participants both showing their estimate of the accretion disk radius? 326 Golden Era of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects II: Concluding Remarks Figure 8: The delicious desserts served after the meals surely contributed to the workshop success as well. Figure 9: Some (not all) conference participants en- joyed mare and swimming pool bar. Figure 10: Sometimes the discussions continued either at hotel bar, or at dining. Figure 11: These two pictures surely belongs to the workshop highlights. Figure 12: The Etruscan wine tasting and departure for the conference trip. Figure 13: The conference trip to Segesta. 4 Conclusions The international workshop Golden Era of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects II, apart of presenting and discussing numerous contributions, promoted in an effective way further contacts among international CVs community. In my opinion, we definitely need this type of workshop, probably every two years. If compared to the situation two years ago when various future meet- ing sites were proposed and discussed, I have got feeling that this time, the opinion of majority of participants was quite unique: Franco Giovanelli and his team and Palermo/Sicily remains to be the best option. To con- clude, lets hope to meet again in Palermo in 2015 for at least so productive CV workshop as was the one in 2013. Acknowledgement Our thanks are due to the conference organizers, speak- ers and participants, restaurant and hotel staff, artists, and to all those not mentioned above but who con- tributed to the success of our conference as well. The authors of pictures in this contribution are Rene Hudec and Nataly Katysheva. My personal involvement in CV astrophysics (and consequently in the involvement in the CV Mondello (Palermo) conference) was supported by grants 13-39464J and 13-33324S by GACR. 327 Introduction Few Subjective Comments Selected Pictures Conclusions