From itso at aao.gov.au Mon Mar 6 10:34:26 2017 From: itso at aao.gov.au (International Telescopes Support Office) Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2017 10:34:26 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Call for Gemini and Blanco proposals in Semester 2017B Message-ID: 2017B Call for Gemini and Blanco proposals Proposals for Australian time on the Gemini North and South telescopes, and the CTIO Blanco 4m telescope for Semester 2017B (1 Aug 2017 - 31 January 2018) are due by *5:00pm AEST, Friday 31 March 2017.* A separate call for Magellan proposals in Semester 2017B (with a 7 April 2017 deadline) will be issued shortly. Proposals for Australian community access to the Keck telescopes in Semester 2017B (https://www.aao.gov.au/itso/keck/apply) are due by 22 March 2017. *What's new for Semester 2017B?* * In Semester 2017B there will be 5 nights on the Blanco 4m telescope available to the Australian community. The Dark Energy Survey (DES) has been granted 100 nights, and the DECals survey an additional 15-20 nights during 2017B. As a result the range of dates and lunations**available to the NOAO and AAO community will be restricted. * Australia ceased to be a full partner in Gemini on 31 December 2015. Astronomy Australia Ltd and the AAO have secured a limited-term partnership for 2017, providing a total of 7 classical nights over Semesters 2017A and 2017B split between Gemini North and Gemini South. ATAC allocated 3 of those nights in Semester 2017A, so for Semester 2017B there will nominally be *2 classical nights on Gemini North plus 2 classical nights on Gemini South* to allocate. As a limited-term partner, Australia is *ineligible* to participate in the Gemini queue process; the exchange program with Subaru; or in the joint proposal process. Additionally, access to block-scheduled instruments is subject to scheduling constraints, and not guaranteed. The block-scheduled instruments in 2017B are *GSAOI, GRACES, DSSI, and Phoenix*. * Starting in 2017B the Gemini Phase I Tool (PIT) will automatically add the time for the baseline partner calibrations to the total time requested for each target in the proposal. * The Gemini North Laser Guide Star (Altair with LGS) system will *not* be available for regular programs in 2017B. Natural Guide Star (NGS) programs with Altair will still be offered. * For FLAMINGOS-2, two new medium K-band filters are available for science observations in 2017B, in shared risk mode, pending installation and characterisation in 2017A. The FLAMINGOS-2 OIWFS is available for science observations requiring image quality IQ 85%-ile or better. * POLISH2, a high-precision polarimeter, will be available as a visitor instrument by arrangement with the PI at Gemini North in 2017B. The Phoenix high resolution near-infrared spectrograph will be available as a visitor instrument at Gemini South in 2017B, while the DSSI optical speckle camera will be available as a visitor instrument at Gemini North and at Gemini South. * New Hamamatsu CCDs are currently being installed in GMOS-North and are expected to be available for science in 2017B. Applicants should use the Hamamatsu CCD option when using the GMOS-N ITC for Semester 2017B. * The non-redundant mask in the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI ) will be offered for Semester 2017B, in shared risk mode. * The use of an On-Detector Guide Window (ODGW) star for flexure compensation with the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI ) is no longer required, opening up many targets which were previously inaccessible. * Proposals should request at least half a night, and at most two nights on any one telescope. Applicants must indicate in the Observing Conditions section the poorest conditions (principally the Image Quality and the Cloud Cover) they can use and still achieve their science goals. They should also specify a backup program (which may employ a different instrument if available) they would carry out if conditions are worse than this. * Although requests for queue mode on Gemini are not being sought in 2017B, ATAC may identify a subset of highly-ranked but unsuccessful programs submitted for classical time as being suitable for a "mini-queue" of programs to be executed by the scheduled PI (with assistance from Gemini staff), in case conditions are not good enough for their primary program. Applicants who would like their proposal to be considered for the mini-queue if not allocated classical time should indicate this in the technical justification section of their proposal. * Target-of-Opportunity (ToO) proposals cannot be submitted as classical programs. However, applicants may request classical time to follow up targets whose location and characteristics may not be known at the time of submission (e.g. supernovae, new objects of interest from ongoing surveys, etc.). How to apply Gemini proposals must be submitted using the 2017B release of the Phase I Tool (PIT). For full details on instrument availability and application procedures, please see: https://www.aao.gov.au/itso/gemini/apply as well as the official Gemini Observatory Call for Proposals at: http://www.gemini.edu/sciops/observing-gemini/2017b-call-proposals Blanco proposals must be submitted using the AAO's Lens proposal submission system. For full details on instrument availability and application procedures, please see: https://www.aao.gov.au/itso/blanco/apply Need help? For general enquiries about Australian access to the Gemini or Blanco telescopes, please contact the International Telescopes Support Office (itso at aao.gov.au) at the AAO. For technical queries about a Gemini Phase I proposal, please use the Gemini Helpdesk: http://www.gemini.edu/sciops/helpdesk/?q=sciops/helpdesk Stuart Ryder Head of International Telescopes Support itso at aao.gov.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From MITA.BRIERLEY at ASTRONOMYAUSTRALIA.ORG.AU Mon Mar 6 15:25:23 2017 From: MITA.BRIERLEY at ASTRONOMYAUSTRALIA.ORG.AU (Mita Brierley) Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2017 15:25:23 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Call for nominations: Australian representative to the CTAO Council Message-ID: <017501d29631$ac8866f0$059934d0$@ASTRONOMYAUSTRALIA.ORG.AU> Dear ASA members, Astronomy Australia Ltd (AAL) is inviting applications from suitably qualified Australian-based astronomers to represent Australia at meetings of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) Council. Applications close at 5pm AEDT Monday 20th March 2017. Further details can be found in the attached flier and on the AAL website: http://astronomyaustralia.org.au/advertisments/272-advertisements Please feel free to circulate this email to your colleagues and suitable candidates. Kind Regards, Mita ________________________________________ Dr Mita Brierley Senior Program Manager Astronomy Australia Ltd Mon, Tues, Thurs T: 03 9214 8012 E: mita.brierley at astronomyaustralia.org.au W: http://www.astronomyaustralia.org.au/ P: P.O. Box 2100 Hawthorn VIC 3122 Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: AAL_CTAO_Council_advert_Feb2017.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 142944 bytes Desc: not available URL: From jeffrey.simpson at aao.gov.au Tue Mar 7 09:09:37 2017 From: jeffrey.simpson at aao.gov.au (Jeffrey Simpson) Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2017 09:09:37 +1100 Subject: [ASA] FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Southern Cross 2017: Surveying the Cosmos Message-ID: <5A5F6D5F-7AC1-4178-A952-C720829E7C07@aao.gov.au> ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS Southern Cross 2017: Surveying the Cosmos, The Science From Massively Multiplexed Surveys 5 - 9 June 2017 Luna Park, Sydney, Australia https://www.aao.gov.au/conference/2017SouthernCross REGISTRATION FEES AND DEADLINES ***The registration deadline is extended to 10 March 2017*** The conference fees are $430 for the five days including lunches, and morning & afternoon teas. For students the fee will be $215. The conference dinner will be $120 and is on the Thursday evening. Registration and abstract submission are OPEN. To register and submit your abstract please go to the registration tab at https://www.aao.gov.au/conference/2017SouthernCross Please forward this to potentially interested people and groups. SUMMARY The Southern Cross Astrophysics Conferences, which are jointly supported by the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) and the CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS), are held annually in Australia with the aim of attracting international experts with wide ranging skills to discuss a particular astrophysical topic. The 2017 conference will be on the results of massively multiplexed surveys across the electromagnetic spectrum and at all scales of the cosmos. Large astronomical surveys have been key to many of the major advances in our understanding of the cosmos at all scales over the last two decades. This conference will focus on the scientific returns from massively multiplexed surveys: in terms of the number of targets that are observed simultaneously, and massive in the number of objects observed in totality. Australia has often been at the forefront of these types of surveys, with a key development being the start of regular scientific observations with the Two-Degree Field instrument on the Anglo-Australian Telescope in 1997. The 2017 Southern Cross Astrophysics Conference will include a retrospective on such surveys, the current surveys underway, and also a look forward to the future. INVITED SPEAKERS Julia Bryant (University of Sydney): HECTOR Sven Buder (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy): The GALAH survey Matthew Colless (Australian National University): The MANIFEST instrument and other multiplexed spectrographs on ELTs Luca Cortese (Internation Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Australia): IFU/radio synergies Scott Croom (University of Sydney): The SAMI Survey Luke Davies (Internation Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Australia): Future results from WAVES Caroline Foster (Australian Astronomical Observatory): SLUGGS Keith Hawkins (Columbia University): The Galactic Halo in APOGEE/Kepler/Gaia-ESO Natasha Maddox (University of Cape Town): Surveying the coolest stars in the Milky Way Alessia Moretti: IFU surveys (MUSE, VIMOS, GMOS) Aaron Robotham (University of Western Australia): The GAMA survey Elaine Sadler (University of Sydney): The connections between past, current and future radio surveys Sarah Jane Schmidt (Potsdam, AIP): Surveying the coolest stars in the Milky Way Brooke Simmons (UC San Diego): Galaxy Zoo Edward Taylor (Swinburne University): The GAMA survey and galaxy evolution Yuan-Sen Ting (Australian National University): Chemical tagging of stars in large surveys Sarah Tuttle (University of Washington): VIRUS and HETDEX Benedetta Vulcani (University of Melbourne): The HST grism survey GLASS Vivienne Wild (University of St Andrews): Galaxy evolution with IFU surveys LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE Jeffrey Simpson (Chair) Andrew Hopkins Elaina Hyde Karen Lee-Waddell Chris Lidman Angel Lopez-Sanchez Duncan Wright Tayyaba Zafar SCIENTIFIC ORGANISING COMMITTEE Jeffrey Simpson (Chair) Andrew Hopkins Minh Huynh Sarah Martell Bianca Poggianti Matt Owers Nicholas Seymour Jennifer Sobeck Lister Staveley-Smith Scott Trager Martin Zwaan ________________________________ Jeffrey Simpson Research Fellow & AAT Scheduler Australian Astronomical Observatory -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From paul.lasky at monash.edu Wed Mar 8 14:31:11 2017 From: paul.lasky at monash.edu (Paul Lasky) Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2017 14:31:11 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Postdoc/Assistant Lecturer position at Monash Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, I would like to bring your attention to a three-year postdoctoral position in gravitational-wave astrophysics at Monash University. The successful candidate will work directly with Dr Paul Lasky in the School of Physics and Astronomy, and will undertake research in one of the following areas: Astrophysics and modelling of gravitational-wave sources Analysis of LIGO and/or Parkes Pulsar Timing Array data searching for gravitational waves Astrophysics and modelling of neutron star and/or gamma-ray bursts For further information, please click on this link , which includes a link to the position description and instructions for applying. The deadline for application is April 2. Inquiries should be sent to Paul Lasky (paul.lasky at monash.edu ). Please feel free to pass this advertisement to anyone who may be interested. Paul ============================= Dr Paul Lasky Lecturer and Future Fellow Monash Centre for Astrophysics (MoCA) School of Physics and Astronomy Monash University 10 College Walk, Rm 138 http://users.monash.edu.au/~plasky/ tel. +61 (0)3 9905 0770 ============================= -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From itso at aao.gov.au Thu Mar 9 09:41:03 2017 From: itso at aao.gov.au (International Telescopes Support Office) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2017 09:41:03 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Call for Magellan Proposals in Semester 2017B Message-ID: 2017B Call for Magellan Proposals Proposals for Australian access to the Magellan telescopes for Semester 2017B (mid-Jul 2017 to mid-Jan 2018) are due by: *5:00pm AEST on Friday 7 April 2017** * (A separate call for Gemini and Blanco proposals in Semester 2017B with a 31 March 2017 deadline was issued earlier - please see https://www.aao.gov.au/itso/gemini/apply and https://www.aao.gov.au/itso/blanco/apply. A reminder also that Keck proposals for 2017B are due by 22 March - see https://www.aao.gov.au/itso/keck/apply. Updated information about the new Keck Cosmic Web Imager instrument is now available from http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/kcwi/pre_observing.html and should be consulted by all prospective applicants.) The instruments normally available on the two Magellan telescopes are listed on the ITSO Magellan instrumentation page, but applicants should bear in mind the following for Semester 2017B: * Due to upgrade work on the CCD camera, spectrograph alignment, and slit input mechanism *the Planet Finding Spectrograph will not be available for science in 2017B*. * There will likely be a single MegaCam f/5 block, a single MagAO block, and perhaps 2 M2FS blocks in 2017B, depending on demand. In recent semesters demand for instruments mounted on the Clay telescope has significantly exceeded that for instruments on the Baade telescope. Applicants are encouraged to consider whether their science might also be possible using the instruments on Baade (IMACS, FourStar, FIRE, MagE), should their preferred instrument on Clay not be available due to scheduling constraints. Complete information about all Magellan instrumentation on offer, travel funding, and the application procedure is available at https://www.aao.gov.au/itso/magellan. For any enquiries about Australian usage of Magellan please contact the AAO's International Telescopes Support Office (itso at aao.gov.au). Stuart Ryder Head of International Telescopes Support Australian Astronomical Observatory -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ahassan at swin.edu.au Thu Mar 9 16:27:20 2017 From: ahassan at swin.edu.au (Amr Hassan) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2017 05:27:20 +0000 Subject: [ASA] ADACS Data Science Training (Brisbane 21st March, and Sydney 23rd March) Message-ID: <3F1091E8-E3A3-4335-BB26-6BC22D560CFE@swin.edu.au> Dear ASA Members, Throughout 2017 the Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL) initiative for Astronomy Data and Computing Services (ADACS) will deliver data services and expert training to improve data management and computing practises, helping the community to maximise the use of astronomy-focused infrastructure. As part of the computational training the partners will run face-to-face workshops and offer online material ranging from introductory programming to tutorials on astronomy specific packages in R and python. We will soon send out a survey to gauge the community interest on various topics. We encourage you to answer this survey as it will help us develop the computational training material required by the astronomy community in Australia. The next ADACS event will be a one-day face-to-face and interactive workshop on introductory computing for astronomers, held in conjunction with the Pawsey Roadshow in Brisbane and Sydney. This is a whole day event run in parallel to the Pawsey clinics and is open to any interested astronomer regardless of their use of supercomputing infrastructure. Training schedule (times are the same for Sydney and Brisbane) ? 9am - Intro to git/github ? 11am - Intro to pandas ? 1pm - lunch break ? 2pm - Intro to HPC and GPU processing A basic knowledge of python is assumed (i.e., you know the basic data structures and operations and how to write a script) and the workshop will utilise ipython notebooks which will be made available for the event. Dates and venues Brisbane - 21 March 2017, University of Queensland ? Boardroom St Leo?s College Please fill in this form to RSVP (choose the astronomy training module) Sydney - 23 March 2017, AGSM Hugh Dixon Theatre, University of New South Wales, AGSM Building, Gate 11 Please fill in this form to RSVP (choose the astronomy training module) Future events We are planning two ADACS roadshows, one for May and one for the second half of the year. During these roadshows we will visit Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide as well. These events will also feature intermediate and advanced training. Please keep a look out for the survey in which you can tell us what training is required by the Australian Astronomy community. If you have questions or would like more information, please email us at contact at adacs.org.au Best Regards, Dr. Amr H. Hassan Astronomy Data and Computing Services Phone: +61-3-9214-8546 Fax: +61-3-9214-8797 Website: www.adacs.org.au Twitter: @AdacsAus -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Wendy.D'Arrigo at csiro.au Thu Mar 9 20:09:49 2017 From: Wendy.D'Arrigo at csiro.au (Wendy.D'Arrigo at csiro.au) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2017 09:09:49 +0000 Subject: [ASA] FW: Pawsey National Roadshow 20-24 March 2017 - changes to the program Message-ID: <7f1433377e6e4c29a2d02efe0d626fb8@exch3-cdc.nexus.csiro.au> Dear friends, Please find attached the latest program for the Pawsey National Roadshow. The good news is that the Astronomy Clinics has been transformed into a full day training for Astronomers. We encourage you to circulate the information across your peers and if you have done that already, please feel free to send a reminder with the updated information. The same document can be downloaded from our website in PDF through the following link: http://www.pawsey.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PAWSEY_NATIONALROADSHOW_INVITATIONANDPROGRAMV5.pdf Thank you, because your contribution is making this event possible. Warm regards, Karina Karina Nunez Marketing and Events Manager Pawsey Supercomputing Centre ARRC Building, 26 Dick Perry Ave Kensington WA 6151 Australia Tel +61 8 6436 8920 Mob +61 430 429 120 Email karina.nunez at pawsey.org.au Web www.pawsey.org.au [cid:F340F77D-8A11-45CA-A804-E816EB97B852 at ivec.org] From: D'Arrigo, Wendy (Pawsey, Kensington WA) Sent: Friday, 3 March 2017 10:44 AM To: 'asa at physics.usyd.edu.au' Cc: 'Karina Nunez' ; 'wendy.darrigo at pawsey.org.au' Subject: Pawsey National Roadshow 20-24 March 2017 Dear All, As part of broader national engagement strategy, Pawsey is organising a series of events on the East Coast and South Australia. We are looking to create awareness among the researchers across Australia about the opportunities to gain access to the infrastructure and expertise from the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre and how they can benefit from it. On this occasion, Pawsey staff will be heading to Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide to meet with researchers as part of the "National Roadshow". The Roadshow is an event showcasing services and resources that Pawsey provides to researchers across Australia. This free event will have staff from Pawsey representing the organisation and answering questions from researchers who would like to take advantage of HPC and related services. The event is aimed at researchers who are interested in high-performance computing, or those who would like to see if their work can be taken to the next level by using powerful computing resources. Attached is the document with detailed information about the event, which includes RSVP links. Please feel free to register. Regards, Wendy Wendy D'Arrigo | Executive Assistant to Dr Neil Stringfellow, Executive Director Pawsey Supercomputing Centre 26 Dick Perry Avenue (located off Burvill Court) Kensington WA 6151 Australia (Please note I work part-time and I am in the office on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday) Tel +618 6436 8830 Email wendy.darrigo at pawsey.org.au Web pawsey.org.au [cid:E1FEC35A-DC36-4D0D-B083-E5D379738952 at ivec.org] Regards, Wendy Wendy D'Arrigo | Executive Assistant to Dr Neil Stringfellow, Executive Director Pawsey Supercomputing Centre 26 Dick Perry Avenue (located off Burvill Court) Kensington WA 6151 Australia (Please note I work part-time and I am in the office on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday) Tel +618 6436 8830 Email wendy.darrigo at pawsey.org.au Web pawsey.org.au [cid:E1FEC35A-DC36-4D0D-B083-E5D379738952 at ivec.org] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 8076 bytes Desc: image001.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image003.png Type: image/png Size: 13658 bytes Desc: image003.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: PAWSEY_NATIONALROADSHOW_INVITATIONANDPROGRAMV5.docx Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document Size: 232720 bytes Desc: PAWSEY_NATIONALROADSHOW_INVITATIONANDPROGRAMV5.docx URL: