From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Mon Feb 25 08:57:32 2013 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:57:32 +1100 Subject: [ASA] SCAR Astronomy and Astrophysics from Antarctica - Second Workshop, 24 - 26 July 2013 Message-ID: Astronomy and Astrophysics from Antarctica *** First announcement *** SCAR AAA Second Workshop, 24 - 26 July 2013 www.astronomy.scar.org/AAA2013/ The second workshop of the SCAR "Astronomy and Astrophysics from Antarctica" program will take place at Certosa di Pontignano , a former Carthusian Monastery near Siena, Italy, from 24 - 26 July 2013. This meeting builds upon the foundations laid at the Taronga Zoo meeting in Sydney in 2011 and is themed around the four AAA Working Groups: - Site testing, validation and data archiving. - Arctic site testing. - Science goals. - Major new facilities. Astronomy & Astrophysics from Antarctica became a Scientific Research Program of SCAR in 2010. Broadly stated, its objectives are to coordinate astronomical activities in Antarctica in a way that ensures the best possible outcomes from international investment in Antarctic astronomy, and to maximize the opportunities for productive interaction with other disciplines. This meeting brings together the key players in Antarctic astronomy to review the implementation plans of the four AAA Working Groups, and to coordinate future activities. On-line registration is now open at http://www.astronomy.scar.org/AAA2013/registration/ As this is a live-in workshop at a former medieval monastery, space is limited and early registration is highly recommended to secure a place. Further information is available from Silvia Masi and John Storey --------------------------------------------- -- Emeritus Professor John Storey School of Physics University of NSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia Tel: +61 2 9385 4578 Fax: +61 2 9385 6060 From bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au Mon Feb 25 17:18:56 2013 From: bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au (Bryan Gaensler) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:18:56 +0800 Subject: [ASA] Member discount on Cambridge University Press books Message-ID: <5F62563C-B4B5-4FD7-ADFD-198F07EFCF6E@sydney.edu.au> Dear all, The PASA publishing contract that the ASA has signed with Cambridge University Press (CUP) provides all ASA members with a 20% discount on purchases of CUP books. I attach a catalogue of highlighted CUP publications. To receive your 20% discount on any of these titles, purchase online at http://www.cambridge.edu.au/astro13 and use code ASTRO13 at checkout. If you wish to purchase a CUP title not in this catalogue, you can receive your 20% discount by ordering through customer service (enquiries at cambridge.edu.au, ph +61 3 8671 1400) and telling them that you are an ASA member. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any queries or concerns. Bryan Gaensler Editor-in-Chief, PASA -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Astronomy catalogue 2013 ASA Society.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 568684 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Katrina.Sealey at aao.gov.au Wed Feb 27 10:48:28 2013 From: Katrina.Sealey at aao.gov.au (Katrina Sealey) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:48:28 +1100 Subject: [ASA] PAY TODAY FOR DISCOUNT: ASA 2013 Subscription Message-ID: <512D49CC.60600@aao.gov.au> Hi Everyone, Just a reminder that you should have all received your 2013 ASA subscription renewal form. Please remember you need to pay by Thursday 28/2/2013 to receive the subscription discount. Please note I have been away and I am currently processing recently received subscriptions. You will receive your receipts shortly. Cheers, Katrina Sealey ASA Treasurer From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Wed Feb 27 17:40:01 2013 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:40:01 +1100 Subject: [ASA] First Announcement: 2013 ASA Annual Scientific Meeting Message-ID: <48116A7F-2A74-4668-93D7-0836441969B2@sydney.edu.au> First Announcement: 2013 Astronomical Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting Registration and abstract submission is now open for the 2013 Astronomical Society of Australia?s Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM), to be held from the 7th to 12th of July. The meeting will be hosted by the Monash Centre for Astrophysics (MoCA) at Monash University?s Clayton campus in south-east Melbourne, Victoria. The Harley Wood Winter School will be held from the 4th to 7th July, immediately preceding the ASM, at The Island Accommodation, Phillip Island. The 2013 ASM will feature a full scientific program including the special session "A New Era in Australian Radio Astronomy: MWA, ASKAP and SKA?. Career and community sessions will include "Speed Meet a Mentor" and "Science Communication in the 21st Century", as well as meetings of the ASA Women in Astronomy, ANITA and EPOC chapters of the ASA. Full details, including the list of invited speakers, will be posted shortly to the website. The theme for this year's Harley Wood Winter School is "Supersize me - Extremely large telescopes, datasets and careers". The presentations will explore what the past, current and future telescopes have to offer for a successful (and even supersized!) career. The scientific topics will include Galaxy evolution, large scale structure, compact objects, statistics, communicating between different wavelengths and the importance of simulations. The sessions will also address the knowledge essential for career networking and how to have a successful PhD. For further information on the meeting, as well as links to the registration and abstract submission system, visit the meeting website at http://asa2013.monash.edu KEY DATES ? MARK YOUR DIARY! Annual Scientific Meeting: Early bird registration deadline: Friday 19th April 2013 Abstract submission deadline (for oral presentation): Friday 19th April 2013 Program release: Monday 13th May 2013 Poster submission deadline: Friday 31st May 2013 Astronomical Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting: 7th ? 12th July 2013 Harley Wood Winter School: Early bird registration deadline: Friday 19th April 2013 Harley Wood Winter School: 4th ? 7th July 2013 Follow the link to download the meeting flyer for circulation: http://asa2013.monash.edu/assets/Uploads/Flyer4.pdf Duncan Galloway on behalf of the 2013 ASA ASM local organising committee Email contact: asa2013 at monash.edu From swyithe at unimelb.edu.au Wed Feb 27 21:30:27 2013 From: swyithe at unimelb.edu.au (Stuart Wyithe) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:30:27 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Second Announcement of CAASTRO Annual Science Conference: Reionization in the Red Centre Message-ID: <2BCE80E9-71DC-47EA-AC04-9A2134A401A6@unimelb.edu.au> Dear ASA community, Please find below the second announcement for the first CAASTRO Annual Science Conference. This is an international meeting and will include attendees from both the CAASTRO and wider astronomical communities. We encourage all interested members of the Australian astronomical community to participate in this exciting meeting. Regards, Stuart Apologies if you receive this announcement more than once. ################################################################################ Second Announcement: Reionization in the Red Centre: New Windows on the High Redshift Universe ################################################################################ 15-19 July, 2013, Ayers Rock Resort, Australia The formation of the first stars, galaxies and black-holes, and the associated reionization of cosmic hydrogen and helium represents one of the major events in cosmic history. This topic has received a great deal of attention over the past decade, with a focus on theory and interpretation of the first observations of the reionization era. The study of early galaxy formation and reionization is now entering a new era, facilitated by the impending availability of a range of revolutionary telescopes including LOFAR, MWA, ALMA and Planck, which will complement optical/near-IR deep and wide-field surveys. The aim of this conference is to bring together theorists and observers to present recent advances in our understanding of cosmic reionization and the high redshift Universe, and to discuss how new observational capabilities will drive the science in the future. This meeting is the first in the annual series of CAASTRO conferences in wide field astronomy, and will be held at the Ayers Rock Resort in the shadow of outback Australia's iconic Uluru. The conference website can be viewed at http://www.caastro.org/event/2013/uluru. Topics to be discussed include: ? What do we know about the first stars and galaxies? ? What do we know about the first black-holes and quasars? ? What have we learned about reionization from the CMB? ? What are 21cm studies teaching us about reionization? ? What do we know about the history of the IGM? ? How well has theory confronted observations in the realm of reionization? ? What are the key future observations for understanding reionization? Invited Speakers: Richard Ellis Avi Loeb Matt McQuinn George Becker Anna Frebel Tiziana di Matteo Jackie Hewitt Saleem Zaroubi Kristian Finlator Olivier Dore Jonathan Pober Andrei Mesinger Daniel Mortlock Christian Reichardt Rogier Windhorst Scientific Organizing Committee: Stuart Wyithe (Melbourne, Chair) Benedetta Ciardi (MPA) Zoltan Haiman (Columbia) Peng Oh (UCSB) Steve Furlanetto (UCLA) Xiaohui Fan (Arizona) Frank Briggs (ANU) Andrea Ferrara (Scuola Normale Superior) Leon Koopmans (KAPTEYN) Qingjuan Yu (KIAA) Priya Natarajan (Yale) Local Organizing Committee: Kate Gunn (Sydney, Chair), Kim Dorrell (Melbourne), Stuart Wyithe (Melbourne) Social activities: These include the "Sounds of Silence" conference dinner under the stars, and a guided tour of Uluru. Conference fee: The conference fee of 400AUD will include refreshments, all meals including the conference dinner, welcome reception, and tour of Uluru. A link to the registration page can be found at http://www.caastro.org/event/2013/uluru Location: The conference will be held at Ayers Rock Resort. A link to the venue is found at http://www.caastro.org/event/2013/uluru Accommodation: A contingent of about 75 rooms has been held in the various accommodation options available within Ayers Rock Resort. Information on these may be found at the conference web site. Transport: The meeting venue is a short coach ride from the Uluru Airport. Coaches meet all flights and are complementary. Qantas and Virgin airlines operate flights into Uluru from a range of Australian cities. Some flight options are listed on the conference web site. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Important dates: Registration open: October 31st, 2012 Registration and abstract deadline: April 8th, 2013 Conference dates: July 15th - 19th , 2013 Conference website: http://www.caastro.org/event/2013/uluru Conference email: uluru2013 at caastro.org ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ============================= 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: From Kate.Brooks at csiro.au Thu Feb 28 07:26:33 2013 From: Kate.Brooks at csiro.au (Kate Brooks) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:26:33 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Nominations for Fresh Science have been extended to 7 March 2013 Message-ID: Nominations for Fresh Science have been extended to next week Thursday 7 March 2013 at 5pm. With ARC and NHMRC grant deadlines looming, we?ve received some pleas for a few days grace so we?ve decided to keep nominations open till next week. If you know any early-career researchers who have made a discovery and want to practice talking about it to the media and the public, encourage them to nominate for Fresh Science 2013. Sixty young scientists will gain the skills and confidence to about their work to any audience. Here?s what one of last year?s Fresh Scientists told us. Last Friday I was at a pub and meeting many new people who had an interest in what I did?I was amazed how easily I could think, OK I will give them 20 seconds, and be able to get across what I do that quickly! A big part was the exposure to people from the media, the mock interview both on TV and radio at the state finals was very different to ?pretending? to be on camera? I have more confidence in my personal style of communication. Nominating is easy, more fun than an NHMRC or ARC grant application, and the whole process is online. The key information we need is: ? Nominee?s qualifications ? A 60 word project summary ? A 400 word project description ? Evidence of peer review supporting the quality of your science. Applicants can be researching in any field of science ? from medicine to mathematics, from environmental science to computer science. Nominations extended to 5pm, Thursday 7 March 2013. Read the selection criteria here. Apply online here. Please feel free to circulate this information to anyone who you think would fit the criteria. Kind regards, Niall About Fresh Science Fresh Science is a national competition which trains early-career scientists to present their science to a general audience and the media. Right now Australia needs scientists talking to the media, reaching out through social media and talking directly with the community. So if you are an early-career researcher and have done some peer reviewed science, consider nominating for Fresh Science and gain skills and confidence in talking about your work to any audience. State finals will be held in April/May, followed by the national final in Melbourne 22-25 July. State finals The Fresh Science judging panel will select the top 10-12 applicants for each state. These entrants will be invited to the state finals, which will include a day of media training in their home state followed by a networking function. During the day, the participants will learn how to communicate their discovery with a lay audience and will hear from working journalists about what makes science news. They will also practice being interviewed for print, radio and TV. State finals will be held in April/May, with successful candidates from the ACT and NT flown to the nearest state final. The national final The top candidates from each state, as selected by the presentation trainers, will be flown to Melbourne for the Fresh Science national final. The four-day national final program consists of: ? advanced/additional media and communication training including a forum on talking to government and talking to business/commercialisation session ? presentations to a range of audiences in the course of the four day ?boot camp? including a pub event, dinner, school talks ? issuing a media release about their discovery Fresh Science assists the media to identify and publish accurate stories about Australian science. It demonstrates that science in Australia is exciting, vibrant and successful. Fresh Science encourages and provides recognition for Australia?s best young scientists and engineers. Last year?s Fresh Science national finalists featured in over 400 news stories on TV and radio, in print and online. For more information and to read the stories from previous Fresh Scientists, go to: www.freshscience.org.au For any enquiries email Tim: tim at scienceinpublic.comau Now in its 16th year, Fresh Science is supported by the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education through the Inspiring Australia initiative and Museum Victoria. ________ Niall Byrne Creative Director Science in Public 82 Hudsons Road, Spotswood Vic 3015 (PO Box 2076 Spotswood VIC 3015) 03 9398-1416, 03 9078-5398, 0417 131 977 niall at scienceinpublic.com.au Twitter scienceinpublic www.scienceinpublic.com.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 11059 bytes Desc: not available URL: From aatac at aao.gov.au Thu Feb 28 14:24:32 2013 From: aatac at aao.gov.au (AAT Technical Secretary) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:24:32 +1100 Subject: [ASA] AAT Proposal Call (Semester 2013B): deadline 5PM, 15 March 2013 Message-ID: <512ECDF0.2070407@aao.gov.au> Call for AAT proposals in Semester 2013B The proposal deadline for AAT time in Semester 13B (1 August 2013 to 31 January 2014) is: **Friday, 15 March 2013, at 17:00** (AEDT, i.e. UTC + 11 hrs) Proposals can be submitted from the 1st of March 2013 using the AAT online proposal form, and are welcome from astronomers worldwide. General information on applying for AAT time can be found at: http://www.aao.gov.au/astro/apply/ATAC_AAT.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Important notes for 13A applicants: * Large Programs: The AAO is inviting proposals for Large Observing Programs (those requiring 50 nights or more, possibly over several semesters) to begin in Semester 13B. Please contact the ATAC Secretary, Helen Woods (hmw - at - aao.gov.au), well in advance of submitting this kind of proposal. Details are available at http://www.aao.gov.au/AAO/astro/Large_Programs_RfP_13B.pdf. * HERMES availability in semester 13B: AAO expects to begin commissioning on the HERMES spectrograph during semester 13A, and it is available in "shared-risk" mode for normal program proposals in semester 13B. Questions about expected instrument performance should be directed to the HERMES Project Scientist, Gayandhi de Silva (gdesilva - at - aao.gov.au). * CTIO/DECam time-swap arrangement: The AAO and NOAO/CTIO have initiated a time-swap arrangement, to allow our respective communities to maximise the scientific facilities and opportunities to which we have access. The DECam imager on the 4m Blanco telescope is available, having completed commissioning and Science Verification. CTIO are working on recovery of the f/8 secondary mirror, meaning that f/8 instruments (the ISPI IR imager and the Hydra multi-object optical spectrograph) are available in "shared-risk" mode in semester 13B. All scheduled observations in 13B will be carried out in classical mode with observers required to travel to the telescope. In Semester 13B there will be 5 nights available to the Australian community to apply for CTIO time. Those who wish to apply for this time should do so using the regular AAT proposal form, selecting CTIO/DECam, CTIO/ISPI or CTIO/Hydra in the "instrument" section. Links to the CTIO webpages for further information about the telescope and instrument capabilities are given below, and will also be available from the proposal form: http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/dark-energy-camera-decam http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/ispi http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/hydra The standard proposal page limits and recommendations regarding technical justifications should be followed. The proposals will be assessed by ATAC, and graded proposals provided to CTIO for scheduling. * Remote observing: From Semester 13B the AAO will be encouraging remote observing from AAO headquarters as an option for all AAT instruments. Remote observing from the AAO's North Ryde headquarters has been successfully demonstrated for UCLES, IRIS2 and 2dF+AAOmega. We are developing a framework for offsite remote observing at a later stage, in order to allow astronomers across Australia to observe from their home institutions. Until that system is ready, observers who wish to travel to Sydney to carry out remote observations can continue to access the existing Travel and Accommodation support offered to AAT observers. Observers who wish to carry out their observations remotely should contact the Acting Director, Andrew Hopkins, at director - at - aao.gov.au. * Change in proposal page limits: ATAC reminds the community that page limits and formatting requirements for AAT proposals are strictly enforced. The main science case of your proposal should be no more than three pages long, and this semester ATAC is requesting a maximum of two pages for the Science Case and a maximum of one page for Technical Justification. All figures and references must also fit within those three pages. Excessively long or dense proposals will be rejected without review. Please see the section "How to Apply for AAT Time" online for further guidance on the form and content of AAT proposals. * The number of available AAT nights for 13B is approximately: Bright: 39, Grey: 32 and Dark: 65. This is the current best estimate; however, the actual numbers may vary between now and the final telescope schedule. -- Sarah Martell AAT Technical Secretary aatts - at - aao.gov.au From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Thu Feb 28 15:46:24 2013 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:46:24 +1100 Subject: [ASA] PhD Student Scholarship - Galaxy Evolution (observational) - Swinburne University of Technology Message-ID: <74A031ED-A375-41C1-9DD9-3ECFBDF57C28@sydney.edu.au> PhD Student Scholarship - Galaxy Evolution (observational) - Swinburne University of Technology Applications are invited for a PhD Scholarship in extragalactic observational astronomy at the Swinburne University of Technology to work with Dr. Barbara Catinella. The student will work on multi-wavelength studies of nearby galaxies, aimed at understanding the connection between gas and stellar components, and their relation to the environment. This project will involve the analysis of available radio data from Arecibo and the Australia Telescope Compact Array, with opportunities to carry out observations at those and other facilities. The appointee will join an active research group in Australia's most rapidly growing astronomy department. Swinburne astronomers have access to the AAT, Gemini, HST, Magellan, ATCA and Parkes telescopes, as well as institutional access to the W.M. Keck telescopes in Hawaii (15-20 nights per year). The Centre has GSTAR, the Australian GPU Supercomputer for Theoretical Astrophysics, available in house as well as access to state-of-the-art 3D visualization facilities. Melbourne was again in 2012 ranked the world's most liveable city by The Economist and is a cosmopolitan place with a mild climate and many cultural and sporting events. A successful candidate must hold a Masters degree or equivalent by the time the position is begun. Previous research experience and skills will be important criteria for the selection. The PhD scholarship is not restricted by nationality. Applicants should send a CV and a brief statement of past research to bcatinel at MPA-Garching.MPG.DE They should provide the names of two references that can be contacted if necessary. The position must start by November 2013. The deadline for application is April 1st 2013. -- Dr Emma Ryan-Weber Senior Lecturer/QEII Research Fellow Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing Swinburne University of Technology Mail H30, PO Box 218 Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~eryan/home.html Phone: +61 (0)3 9214 4746 Work days: Monday, Tuesday & Thursday -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stello at physics.usyd.edu.au Fri Mar 1 12:59:55 2013 From: stello at physics.usyd.edu.au (Dennis Stello) Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2013 12:59:55 +1100 (EST) Subject: [ASA] Early-bird registration open: Conference 'A New Era of Stellar Astrophysics with Kepler' Message-ID: Dear ASA members, Registration is now open for the conference, KASC6: 'A New Era of Stellar Astrophysics with Kepler'. Early-bird registration fees will apply to all payments made before the end of 30 March 2013. For more information please go to kasc6.com. For your convenience our first announcement is included in this email (see below). We have received significant sponsorship deals which has resulted in substantial subsidies towards registration fees (especially for students) and tickets for the conference dinner. One of our sponsors (White Dwarf Research Corp.) has made a special initiative aimed at supporting postdocs/early-career researchers (<5 years since PhD). -------------White Dwarf Research Corp. ECR Sponsorship -------------- White Dwarf Research Corp. is proud to co-sponsor KASC6 in Sydney. With your help, WDRC will provide additional sponsorship to KASC6 to support partial reimbursement of registration fees for non-student early-career scientists (<5 years since PhD). As you may know, WDRC sponsorship is funded by the Pale Blue Dot project (http://whitedwarf.org/palebluedot). Much of the revenue from this program (~$1000/mo.) comes from keyword-based advertising sponsored by Google. For the period March 1 - April 30, all revenue collected by the Pale Blue Dot project through a unique link that is unrelated to Google advertising will be used to provide partial reimbursement of registration fees for early-career scientists who give a talk or poster at the meeting. Please register at the regular rate, and you will be partially reimbursed at the meeting. There are two things that you can do to promote the Pale Blue Dot project during this period: (1) recommend the program through your offline and online social networks, noting that you will be a direct beneficiary of the funds raised; and (2) contact your local media outlets, using the recent example of Kepler-37 to describe the Kepler mission and how this non-profit program will help you attend the annual KASC meeting. If you would like to establish such a unique link that you can use to promote the project (and claim the resulting revenue), please contact Travis Metcalfe (travis at whitedwarf.org) to set one up. Thanks, and good luck! Travis Metcalfe (WDRC) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We are looking forward to seeing you in Sydney. Kind regards Dennis Stello (chair LOC) Tim Bedding Othman Benomar Charles Kuehn Simon O'Toole Tim White ------------------------------- DENNIS STELLO | Senior Lecturer School of Physics A28 | Faculty of Science THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Rm225, K90 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 T +61 2 9036 5108 | F +61 2 9351 7726 E stello at physics.usyd.edu.au | W http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~stello/ -------------------------- FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT --------------------------- Dear ASA members, KASC6: A New Era of Stellar Astrophysics with Kepler 23-28 June 2012 Novotel Sydney Central (ex Citigate), Sydney We are please to announce that the next big Kepler conference will be in Sydney, 23-28 June 2013. The conference will be open to anyone (no membership of particular science teams required), and we particularly welcome participants from the Australian astronomical community. The main themes of the conference will be Stellar structure and evolution, Stellar activity and rotation, Binary stars, and connections to Extrasolar planets, but we welcome any abstracts submission that are related to Kepler data. We seek abstract submissions on both theoretical and observational aspects. This event offers a great opportunity to establish new links within research fields that have experienced dramatic progress in recent years due to space missions like Kepler, particularly stellar astrophysics and planet science. Conference website: kasc6.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: KASC6-Poster.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1008578 bytes Desc: URL: