Includes bibliographical references and index.

Can our data meet the challenges?: The power of the unexpected / B. Warner. Optical transient surveys / B. Schmidt.- The scientific potential of LOFAR for time-domain astronomy / R. Fender. Kepler, CoRoT and MOST : time-series photometry from space / H. Kjeldsen & T.R. Bedding. Long-term monitoring with small and medium-sized telescopes on the ground and in space / P.A. Charles, M.M. Kotze, & A. Rajoelimanana. Opening the 100-year window for time-domain astronomy / J. Grindlay ... [et al.]. Spectroscopic surveys / F. Primas. Time-domain astronomy with SWIFT, FERMI and LOBSTER / N. Gehrels, S.D. Barthelmy, & J.K. Cannizzo -- Explosive or irreversible changes: The dynamic radio sky / J.M. Cordes. Cosmic explosion (optical) / S.R. Kulkarni. Systematically bridging the gap between novae and supernovae / M.M. Kasliwal. Supernovae and transients with EUCLID and the European ELT / I. Hook. Search for electromagnetic counterparts to LIGO-Virgo candidates : expanded very large array observations / J. Lazio ... [et al.]. Explosions on a variety of scales / L. Bildsten. Transients with Pan-STARRS-1 / Stephen Smartt. Light echoes of transients and variables / A. Rest. A new class of relativistic outbursts from the nuclei of distant gases / S.B. Cenko ... [et al.] -- Things that tick: Spectroscopic binaries : towards the 100-year time domain / R.F. Griffin. On the sensitivity of period searches / A. Schwarzenberg-Czerny. Sines, steps and droplets : semi-parametric Bayesian modelling of arrival time series / T.J. Loredo. Variable stellar object detection and light curves from the solar mass ejection imager (SMEI) / R.A. Hounsell ... [et al.]. Surveying the bright sky / A.A. Henden. High time-resolution astronomy on the 10-m SALT / B. Welsh ... [et al.]. Pulsars / B.W. Stappers. Charting the transient radio sky on sub-second time-scales with LOFAR / J.W.T. Hessels. Probing the physics of planets and stars with transit data / S. Aigrain. Asteroseismology / D. Kurtz -- Irregular and aperiodic changes: Variability in active galactic nuclei / E.W. Bonning. Variable red giants / F. Kerschbaum & W. Nowotny. Polarimetric variability / S.B. Potter. Gamma-ray waveband and multi-waveband variability of blazars / S. Ciprini. Two centuries of observing R coronae borealis / G.C. Clayton. On rapid interstellar scintillation of quasars : PKS 1257-326 revisited / H.E. Bignall & J.A. Hodgson. Sonification of astronomical data / W.L. Diaz-Merced ... [et al.]. Probing magnetic mysteries with stellar flares / R.A. Osten. Microscopy of the interstellar medium / M. Walker. Towards a new generation of multi-dimensional stellar models : can our models meet the challenges? / I. Baraffe, M. Vialler, & R. Walder. Echo mapping of AGNs / K. Horne -- Preparing for the future: Exploring the time domain with synoptic sky surveys / S.G. Djorgovski ... [et al.]. Pulsars, SKA and time-domain studies in the future / M. Kramer. From Hipparcos to Gaia / L. Eyer ... [et al.]. The future of time domain with LSST / L.M. Walkowicz. Optimal strategies for transient surveys with wide-field radio telescopes / J.-P. Macquart ... [et al.]. Next-generation x-ray astronomy / N.E. White. Technical and observational challenges for future time-domain surveys / J.S. Bloom. Summary : a very timely conference / R.F.G. Wyse --

Workshop reports: The CoRoT and Kepler revolution in stellar variability studies / P. Degroote & J. Debosscher. SWIFT : opportunities , capabilities and data handling / R. Starling. Optical & NIR transient surveys / N.J.G. Cross & S.G. Djorgovski. Gravitational waves and time-domain astronomy / J. Centrella, S. Nissanke, & R. Williams. The future of x-ray time-domain surveys / D. Haggard & G.R. Sivakoff. Gravitational microlensing / L. Wyrsykowski ... [et al.]. Light echoes / H.E. Bond ... [et al.]. Using the VO to study the time domain / R. Seaman ... [et al.]. Astrotomography / K. Horne ... [et al.]. Small and robotic telescopes in the era of massive time-domain surveys / M.F. Bode & W.T. Vestrand. Binarity and stellar evolution / R.E.M. Griffin & Slavek Rucinski. Historical time domain : data archives, processing, and distribution / J.E. Grindlay & R.E.M. Griffin. Data management, infrastructure and archiving for time-domain astronomy / D. Schade. Amateur community and "citizen science" / A.A. Henden. Stellar tidal disruption / G.R. Farrar. Workshop on faint and fast transients / M. Kasliwal & L. Bildsten. Workshop on extreme physics / C. Mundell & M. Sullivan. Workshop on algorithms for time-series analysis / P. Protopapas. Workshop on radio transients / S. Croft & B. Gaensler --

Poster papers: Cepheids in galactic open clusters : an all-sky census / R.I. Anderson, L. Eyer, & N. Mowlavi. Investigating the sources of flickering and superhumps in the dwarf nova V4140 Sgr / R. Baptista, B. Borges, & A. Oliveira. AquEYE and IquEYE, very-high-time-resolution photon-counting photometers / C. Barbieri ... [et al.]. The KEPLER guest observer programme / T. Barclay. Modulated light curves of multiperiodic stars / J.M. Benkő, R. Szabó, & M. Paparó. Time-resolved spectroscopy with SDSS / S. Bickerton ... [et al.]. Improved time-series photometry and calibration method for non-crowded fields : MMT megacam and HAT-south experiences / S.-W. Chang, Y.-I. Byun, & D.-W. Kim. Fermi LAT flare advocate activity / S. Ciprini, D. Gasparrini, & D. Bastieri. Crab pulsar : enhanced optical emission during giant radio pulses / S. Collins ... [et al.]. False-alarm probabilities in period searches : can extreme-value distribution be of use? / J. Cuypers. Characterising the dwarf nova population of the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey / D. de Budè, P. Woudt, & B. Warner. Inverse mapping of pulsar magnetospheres : optical emission comes from 300 km above the surface / D. de Búrca ... [et al.]. The Catalina Real-time Transient Survey / A.J. Drake ... [et al.]. Searching for periodic variables in the EROS-2 database / P. Dubath ... [et al.]. Testing the standard model of active galactic nuclei through quasar variability / A. Ederoclite ... [et al.]. Time-domain studies of gravitationally lensed quasars / L.J. Goicoechea & V.N. Shalyapin. The VAO transient facility / M.J. Graham ... [et al.]. Searching for fast optical transients using a VERITAS Cherenkov telescope / S.C. Griffin. La Silla-QUEST variability survey in the southern hemisphere / E. Hadjiyska ... [et al.]. Inferring rotation periods of young stars from synoptic observations / P. Hartigan, C.M. Johns-Krull & P. Scowen. Proposal for multi-messenger observations of radio transients by Nasu and Ligo-Virgo / K. Hayama, K. Niinuma & T. Oyama. Variability with WISE / D. Hoffman ... [et al.]. Hottest superfluid and superconductor in the universe : lessons from the cooling of the Cassiopeia A neutron star / W.C.G. Ho ... [et al.]. Fast transient detection as a prototypical "big data" problem / D.L. Jones ... [et al.]. What to do with sparkers? / E.F. Keane ... [et al.]. A refined QSO selction method using diagnostics / D.-W. Kim ... [et al.]. Interstellar scintillation as a cosmological probe : prospects and challenges / J.Y. Koay ... [et al.]. An extremely luminous outburst from a relativistic tidal disruption event / A.J. Levan. Solar system science with robotic telescopes / T.A. Lister. Real-time classification of transient events in synoptic sky surveys / A.A. Mahabal ... [et al.]. Towards improving the prospects for coordinated gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations / I. Mandel, L.Z. Kelley & E. Ramirez-Ruiz. The NOAO variable-sky project / T. Matheson ... [et al.]. Statistics of stellar variability in Kepler data with ARC systematics removal / A. McQuillan, S. Aigrain, & S. Roberts. Variability analysis based on POSS1/POSS2 photometry / A.M. Mickaelian, A. Sarkissian, & P.K. Sinamyan. Optical pulsations from isolated neutron stars / R.P. Mignani. LOFT : large observatory for X-ray timing / R.P. Mignani ... [et al.]. -- Search for turbulent gas through interstellar scintillation / M. Moniez ... [et al.]. Optical polarimetry of the Crab Nebula / P. Moran, A. Shearer, & R. Mignani. Time domain astrophysics with SuperWASP / A.J. Norton and the SuperWASP Consortium. ARCONS : a highly multiplexed superconducting UV-to-near-IR camera / K. O'Brien ... [et al.]. Photographic archives of Ukrainian obervatories : digitizing a heritage / L. Pakuliak ... [et al.]. Towards a more general method for filling gaps in time series / J. Pascual-Granado ... [et al.]. The International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) as a variability time machine / J. Poels ... [et al.]. Classification of ASKAP VAST radio light curves / U. Rebbapragada ... [et al.]. The importance of timing metadata / A.H. Rots. Using the Gregory-Loredo algorithm for the detection of variability in the Chandra Source Catalog / A.H. Rots. On our multi-wavelength campaign of the 2011 outburst of T Pyx / L. Schmidtobreick ... [et al.]. Multi-wave monitoring of the gravitational lensed quasar Q0957+561 / V.N. Shalyapin, L.J. Goicoechea, & R. Gil-Merino. A global robotic telescope network for time domain science / R.A. Street ... [et al.]. FRATs : searching for fast radio transients in real time with LOFAR / S. ter Veen ... [et al.]. Source detection with interferometric datasets / C.M. Trott ... [et al.]. Wide-field plate databse : latest results / M. Tsvetkov & K. Tsvetkova. Period analyses of 100+ years of RR Lyrae data / E.N. Walker. The VLBA fast radio transient experiment : progress and early results / R.B. Wayth ... [et al.]. Around Gaia alerts in 20 questions / Ł. Wyrzykowski & S. Hodgkin. Poster summaries -- Afterword -- Reflections on a week in Oxford / T. Murphy.

"IAU Symposium 285 addresses studies of variability among the whole gamut of cosmic objects. While new fields involving transients, blazars, gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei and quasars are still emerging, the puzzles posed by longer-term sources of variability still remain. This volume adopts an interdisciplinary theme, examining different manifestations of variability to gain new scientific insights that may be missed when one type of object or variability is studied in isolation. By integrating discussions from participants across the breadth of astronomical science, it addresses the core question: 'How can technology and collaboration be better harnessed to enhance the science requirements and outcomes?' With major new transient surveys coming online soon to lay the groundwork for LSST, the results, research tools and visions presented here will help both researchers and database managers collaborate in the exciting challenges of time-domain astronomy"--Back cover.