From swyithe at unimelb.edu.au Tue Dec 18 12:02:40 2012 From: swyithe at unimelb.edu.au (Stuart Wyithe) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 01:02:40 +0000 Subject: [ASA] IAU divisions and officers Message-ID: Dear colleagues, This email concerns two issues of relevance to IAU members. 1) At the IAU General Assembly in Bejing a new structure was adopted for IAU Divisions. Commissions have been assigned to Divisions, and members of those Commissions are already assigned to the corresponding Division. For astronomers with interests across divisions, it is now also possible to join additional Divisions directly, without needing to join one of the Commissions first. Divisions are designed to foster and co-ordinate the evolution of Commissions and to provide broader astronomical guidance through Division Steering Committees elected by Division members. In preparation for election of the Divisional Steering Committees, IAU members have recently received an email requesting that members register within the new divisional structure. I would like to encourage IAU members who have not already registered to do so. As there have been reported spam problems with this email, IAU members who did not receive this email should check their spam folders. 2) Australian members are traditionally active in undertaking formal roles within the IAU structure and The National Committee for Astronomy maintains a record of this activity. I have attached the list of officers that was current prior to the Bejing General Assembly. Can I please ask returning officers and new appointments to email me with details of their appointment. Regards, Stuart Wyithe (Chair, National Committee for Astronomy) ============================= Professor Stuart Wyithe Australian Laureate Fellow School of Physics University of Melbourne Vic, Australia 3010 Phone: +61 3 8344 5083 Fax: +61 3 9347 4783 Email: swyithe at unimelb.edu.au ============================= -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IAU_officers.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 94880 bytes Desc: IAU_officers.pdf URL: From thill at museum.vic.gov.au Wed Dec 19 10:18:47 2012 From: thill at museum.vic.gov.au (Hill, Tanya) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:18:47 +1100 Subject: [ASA] ASA prizes - call for nominations Message-ID: <7A64CF74085EDA4E93CEF1089F043E4517604D186D@RAKALI.mv.vic.gov.au> The following ASA prizes are now open for nominations. 1. Charlene Heisler Prize - Closing Date: Friday 1st March For most outstanding PhD thesis in astronomy or a closely related field. The PhD thesis must have been accepted (but not necessarily conferred) by an Australian university during 2012. Nomination guidelines: http://asa.astronomy.org.au/chp.html 2. Louise Webster Prize - Closing Date: Friday 8th March For outstanding research by a scientist early in their post-doctoral career. The prize is awarded on the basis of the scientific impact of a single research paper (within astronomy or a closely related field), which has the applicant as first author. There are a number of eligibility requirements including that the applicant's PhD must have been conferred and the research paper must have been published within the last five years (or part-time equivalent). The applicant is also required to have been an ASA member for the last 2 years. Eligibility requirements and nomination guidelines: http://asa.astronomy.org.au/lwp.html 3. Bok Prize - Closing Date: Thursday 31st January For outstanding research in astronomy by an Honours or eligible Masters student, as announced previously. Eligibility requirements and nomination guidelines: http://asa.astronomy.org.au/bok.html Prize Winners All prizes consist of a medal, together with a cash prize and ASA membership for 2014. Prize winners will also be invited to present their research at the 2013 ASA scientific meeting. Nominations are strongly encouraged. If you have any questions regarding the prizes please send me an email: Tanya Hill - thill at museum.vic.gov.au regards, Tanya Dr Tanya Hill ASA Prizes and Awards Coordinator Planetarium Manager | Senior Curator, Astronomy Melbourne Planetarium, Scienceworks MUSEUM VICTORIA | GPO Box 666, Melbourne 3001 t: 03 9392 4503 (Wed, Thurs and Fridays) | e: thill at museum.vic.gov.au | w: museumvictoria.com.au/planetarium Museums Board of Victoria ABN 63 640 679 155 is endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient. All gifts of $2 or more are tax deductible. [cid:imagea132f1.jpg at d4ea9fa7.81994b10] Melbourne Museum Major Tourist Attraction museumvictoria.com.au This e-mail is solely for the named addressee and may be confidential. You should only read, disclose, transmit, copy, distribute, act in reliance on or commercialise the contents if you are authorised to do so. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, please notify postmaster at museum.vic.gov.au by email immediately, or notify the sender and then destroy any copy of this message. Views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender, except where specifically stated to be those of an officer of Museum Victoria. Museum Victoria does not represent, warrant or guarantee that the integrity of this communication has been maintained nor that it is free from errors, virus or interference. Please consider the environment before printing this email. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: imagea132f1.jpg at d4ea9fa7.81994b10 Type: image/jpeg Size: 2845 bytes Desc: imagea132f1.jpg at d4ea9fa7.81994b10 URL: From peter at mso.anu.edu.au Wed Dec 19 16:48:49 2012 From: peter at mso.anu.edu.au (Peter McGregor) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:48:49 +1100 (EST) Subject: [ASA] "Science with GMTIFS" meeting announcement Message-ID: The Giant Magellan Telescope Integral-Field Spectrograph (GMTIFS) has been selected as one of the first generation instruments for GMT. It will address a wide range of science topics from first-light objects, galaxy feedback, and galaxy assembly to the nature of compact massive objects in nearby galaxies, and the formation and evolution of stars and planets. GMTO is sponsoring a "Science with the Giant Magellan Telescope Integral-Field Spectrograph" meeting at the Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara St, Pasadena, CA, USA on 12-13 March 2013. The meeting is open to all astronomers and will include both invited reviews and contributed talks. The goals of the meeting are to: * to inform the US and international communities about the proposed capabilities of GMTIFS and the GMT NGSAO and LTAO systems. * to ensure that GMTIFS serves the needs of the GMT community by articulating a broad range of science drivers for the instrument. * to ensure that GMTIFS meets those needs by developing "telescope proposals" for these key science drivers that capture both scientific and technical requirements. The meeting web page and registration form are at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/gmtifs-workshop/ The main aim is to engage with the US GMT community, although there will be a strong Australian contingent. Our intention is to hold a similar meeting in Canberra later in 2013 that will specifically target the broader Australian community. Peter McGregor Rob Sharp (GMTIFS Team) **************************************************************************** Prof. Peter J. McGregor Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics The Australian National University Phone: +61 2 6125 8033 Cotter Rd., Weston, ACT 2611, Australia FAX: +61 2 6125 0233 **************************************************************************** From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Wed Dec 19 23:15:26 2012 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 23:15:26 +1100 Subject: [ASA] News from GMTO Message-ID: <988EA195-B156-4577-9757-ED7418684C4E@sydney.edu.au> Having trouble viewing this email? click here GMT Welcomes New Community SAC Members New GMT Community SAC Members: Bob Blum, Julianne Dalcanton, and Megan Donahue GMT welcomes Bob Blum (NOAO), Julianne Dalcanton (University of Washington) and Megan Donahue (Michigan State University) to the Scientific Advisory Committee. They provide fresh perspective on key scientific issues, broaden participation from the larger community, and spread the word about progress with GMT outside the partner institutions. Their areas of interest include massive star formation, stellar populations in external galaxies, and x-ray studies of galaxy clusters. More ... First Annual GMT Community Science Meeting in Chicago: June 10-12, 2013 Cosmology in the Era of Extremely Large Telescopes The Giant Magellan Telescope Organization and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago will host the first in a series of annual meetings to interface with the science community at large and engage scientists outside the GMTO consortium in thinking about exciting opportunities that GMT and other new facilities will bring in the coming decade and beyond. The title of the 2013 meeting is "Cosmology in the Era of Extremely Large Telescopes." The meeting will be held at the University of Chicago's downtown Gleacher Center on June 10-12. Leading theorists and observers will discuss cutting edge research in cosmology and galaxy evolution and the role of large surveys and new facilities, including GMT, in enabling new discoveries. More ... GMT Demonstrates Crucial Mirror Phasing Technique Bringing the Universe into Focus Simulated GMT images of a distant star cluster without (left) and with (right) adaptive optics using the fully phased telescope Imagine you built the biggest telescope in the world only to discover that its images were out of focus. It's happened before. And historically, whenever a telescope has gotten bigger, the problems have gotten bigger too, something engineers call the "coefficient of difficulty." In order for the GMT to achieve its optimal resolution, as much as 10 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope, there are two major challenges that must be conquered: blurring by the earth's atmosphere and timing (or "phasing") of the light from a distant object as it reaches each of the GMT's mirror segments at slightly different intervals. The GMT team and scientists at the Smithsonian are excited with the results of a sophisticated new camera that addresses this phasing challenge. More ... GMT Completes Most Challenging Mirror Ever Made Professor Roger Angel views the GMT1 mirror Scientists at the University of Arizona and the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization in California are celebrating a momentous achievement. On October 23, 2012 they announced that they have succeeded in completing the most challenging astronomical telescope mirror ever made. It is the first of seven mirrors that will operate together to form the 4000-square-foot light-collecting surface on the Giant Magellan Telescope. The scientists were particularly anxious about achieving the perfect shape for this first mirror because it is critical to the performance of the completed telescope and hence the success of the entire project. If they could succeed with this first mirror, they can succeed with the others. Many aspects of polishing the giant mirror segment (27 feet in diameter) have never been attempted before. More ... Instrument Science Workshop in Pasadena March 12-13, 2013 - Carnegie Observatories Science with the GMT Integral Field Spectrograph Simulated summed channel map of a z=1.5 galaxy observed with GMTIFS GMTO and the GMTIFS instrument team will host a two-day workshop in Pasadena. The goal of the workshop is to inform interested parties of the proposed capabilities of GMTIFS and the GMT laser and natural guide star AO systems. Participants will help generate a set of example science programs to aid in refinement of the instrument requirements. Information regarding the meeting and venue can be found at: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/gmtifs-workshop The meeting will be held at the Carnegie Observatories at 813 Santa Barbara St. and is open to all, subject to the capacity of the venue. More ... Employment Opportunities The GMT Project is looking for highly-motivated and qualified individuals to work on this world-class facility. Find out about current open positions. Copyright ? 2012, GMTO Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Forward email This email was sent to john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au by info at gmto.org | Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe? | Privacy Policy. GMTO | PO Box 90933 | Pasadena | CA | 91109 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Thu Dec 20 19:50:10 2012 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:50:10 +1100 Subject: [ASA] First Announcement of Opportunity for time allocation on the Murchison Widefield Array released Message-ID: Dear ASA members, I'm pleased to be able to advise you that the first Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for time allocation on the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is ready for release. The MWA is a next-generation low frequency radio telescope, located on the pristine site of CSIRO's Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. You will find the AO prominent on the front page of: http://www.mwatelescope.org The AO describes the steps to be taken over the next ~6 months to allocate observing time on the MWA, the level of observing time available, and restrictions/conditions that prospective users need to be aware of. The AO covers the first period of MWA Early Operations, from July 2013 to June 2014. Both Guaranteed Time (GT: available to MWA members) and Open Access (OA: available to non-members) allocations are available in this initial 12 month period. Any researchers interested in proposing for observing time on the MWA should familiarise themselves with the AO and documents referred to in the AO, and plan for some key events in the next 6 months (described in the AO). Regards, Steven Tingay -- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Professor Steven Tingay Premier's Fellow Director, MWA Director, Science and Operations Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy Deputy Director, ICRAR Department of Imaging and Applied Physics Curtin University of Technology Bentley, Western Australia Australia Street address: Brodie Hall building 1 Turner Ave Technology Park Bentley 6102 Western Australia Email: s.tingay at ivec.org OR s.tingay at curtin.edu.au WWW: http://astronomy.curtin.edu.au Phone: +61 (0)8 9266 3516 Mobile: +61 (0)425 771 856 From Kate.Brooks at csiro.au Thu Dec 20 19:58:36 2012 From: Kate.Brooks at csiro.au (Kate.Brooks at csiro.au) Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:58:36 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Season Greetings Message-ID: Dear members, It doesn't seem a whole year ago that I wrote to you wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy and productive 2012. ..... and what a productive year it has been! Many of our members were acknowledged for their contributions to scientific excellence and the community: - Dr Michelle Storey was awarded a Public Service Medal in the 2012 Australia Day Honours; - Professor Karl Glazebrook received a 2012 Australian Citation Laureate Award from Thomson Reuters; - Prof. Brian Schmidt was elected to the Royal Society; - Dr John O?Sullivan received a European Inventor Award; - and Professor Ken Freeman was awarded the 2012 Prime Minister's Prize for Science; just to name a few. This is in addition to the dozens of other National and State-based prizes and accolades that were awarded to our members across the country. Our calendar was full of exciting events and interesting conferences and workshops: - The solar system delivered a partial lunar eclipse and later a total solar eclipse, for which many of our members participated in community outreach events at their local schools, at remote northern Queensland locations and on luxury reef cruise ships. - Australia's newest radio telescopes, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), were officially opened at the Murchison Radio- astronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia. - ASA members participated in the ASA ANITA Theory Workshop, ASA/ANITA Numerical Astrophysics Summer School, ASA Women in Astronomy Workshop, ASA Early Career Mentoring Workshop, the ASA Harley Wood Winter School and the ASA Annual Science Meeting - plus a jam-packed calendar of specialised science workshops on the east and west coast of Australia. - As a cognate society partner of the Australian Institute of Physics, the ASA also supported two astronomy sessions in the 20th Australian Institute of Physics Congress. (Don't forget to use the ASA calendar of events to advertise the dates of any future events you are organising: http://asa.astronomy.org.au/calendar.html) There were some significant personnel changes too, in particular with the Heads of our two National Astronomical Facilities moving on to new challenges: - Dr Phil Diamond, now former Chief of CSIRO's Division of Astronomy and Space Science, has taken up the new role of Director-General of the SKA. - Professor Matthew Colless, now former Director of the Australian Astronomical Observatory, has taken up the new role of Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the ANU (Professor Harvey Butcher has stepped down from this position). I am sure, like me, you are keeping your ears to the ground for news on who will fill these two important positions. The ASA Council is already gearing up for another busy year in 2013: - Another announcement to keep your ears out for is where the 2014 ASA Annual Science Meeting will be held. We are going to trial holding the 2014 meeting outside of school holidays and the University break common week. The 2014 meeting will take place between 20-25 July 2014. So, in addition to submitting those ARC proposals, perhaps you want to consider also submitting a proposal to host our annual 2014 science meeting at your institute. Stay tuned in early 2013 for a call for proposals to host this event. - I am proud to note too that starting in 2013, PASA will be published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ASA. I know that there were many other good-news stories and individual scientific publications that should be acknowledged too ... these all contribute to making Australian astronomy world class. On that note, I would like to close by wishing all our members and their families a very enjoyable and safe festive season and all the very best for 2013. Cheers, Kate Brooks President, ASA From Kate.Brooks at csiro.au Fri Dec 21 15:20:15 2012 From: Kate.Brooks at csiro.au (Kate.Brooks at csiro.au) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:20:15 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Richard X. McGee 1921 - 2012 Message-ID: <6534CC49-DFAC-4CD6-84D6-0F8A9800168A@csiro.au> Dear members of the Astronomical Society of Australia, It is with regret that I must pass on sad news so close to Christmas. Dick McGee passed away on 19 December 2012. Dick was born on 31 December 1921. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1943, during World War II, with service in Canada and the UK as the war ended in 1945. His war record is full of praise from his commanding officers. Dick returned to Australia in 1946 and was part of the postwar influx of veterans at university. He graduated with a BSc in physics with first class Honours in Physics in 1950 from the University of Sydney, having worked as a vacation student at the nearby National Standards Laboratory of the CSIRO. He worked at the Division of Radiophysics from 1950 to his retirement at the end of 1986 (on his birthday). He received the DSc degree in Physics from the University of Sydney in 1967. During the 36 year period he worked at CSIRO, he carried out ground breaking research on the Galactic Centre and the Magellanic Clouds. His first research at CSIRO was with the hole in the ground telescope at Dover Heights - leading to the famous paper by McGee and Bolton 1954, Nature vol 173, 985. The title was "Probable Observation of the galactic nucleus at 400 mc/s. ". The paper reported the discovery of Sgr A and was a step forward in establishing that Sgr A was in fact the galactic centre. McGee was an active user of the Parkes telescope for many years using the newly discovered line of HI at 21 cm. In 1995 he started a number of historical project collaborations. He was also renown to those that worked with him for his amazing sense of humour. Dick is a founding member of the Astronomical Society of Australia. He was the secretary during 1961and served as editor of the Society's journal (then known as Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia) between 1971 to 1988, our longest serving editor so far. In 1990 Dick was made an Honorary Fellow of the Society. Dick is a co-author of the books ' Under the Radar The First Woman in Radio Astronomy, Ruby Payne-Scott ' (2009) by Miller Goss and Richard McGee and ? Explorers of the Southern Sky ? A History of Australian Astronomy ? (1996) by Raymond Haynes, Roslynn Haynes, David Malin and Richard McGee. Our thoughts are with Dick's family at this time. Many of you know Dick's wife, Lyn Newton, and their daughter, Katherine Newton-McGee. They would like me to pass on the details of Dick's funeral arrangements: Memorial service on Thursday 27 December 2012 at 10:30am, at Northern Suburbs Crematorium, East Chapel, 199 Delhi Rd, North Ryde followed by a wake at his home in Eastwood Kate Brooks President, ASA