Every 5 years since 1967 a meeting has been held to discuss the subject of planetary nebulae and their central stars. Previous meetings have been held in Tatranska Lomnica (Czechoslovakia); Liege (Belgium); Ithaca, New York (U. S. A); and London (Great Britain). IAU Symposium 131 was sponsored by IAU Commision 34, on Interstellar Matter and co-sponsored by IAU Commisions 35 and 36 on Stellar Constitution and Theory of Stellar Atmospheres. The symposium was held at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City, October 5-9, 1987. It took place in one of the old buildings of the University of Mexico in the downtown area. The inner patio of the building provided very pleasant surroundings for the poster sessions and for extensive discussions among the participants. The meeting was attended by 160 scientists from 22 countries. The Scientific Organizing Committee,under the chairmanship of J.B. Kaler, prepared a comprehensive scientific program based on a set of invited presentations. All contributed papers were presented in poster form. The Scientific Organizing Committee would like to thank the staff of the University of Illinois Department of Astronomy: Dr. Ron Allen for granting financial support; Carol Stickrod, Louise Browning, Deana Griffin and Sandie Osterbur for their help with the organization. IAU provided economic assistance to a group of young astronomers.weiterlesen