From tara at physics.usyd.edu.au Mon Nov 11 09:27:13 2013 From: tara at physics.usyd.edu.au (Tara Murphy) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 09:27:13 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Final Announcement - Exploring the Radio Transient Sky - Register by November 18th Message-ID: VAST Workshop Final Announcement Exploring the Radio Transient Sky 5th and 6th of December, 2013 Sydney Institute for Astronomy The University of Sydney http://caastro.org/event/2013-vast *** There are still a few places left - register by November 18th *** The ASKAP Variables and Slow Transients project (VAST) is a suite of surveys designed to comprehensively explore variable and slow transient behaviour on timescales from seconds to years. The scientific goals cover a wide range of areas, from gamma-ray bursts and supernovae, to extreme scattering events and scintillation, to magnetars, X-ray binaries and brown dwarfs. ASKAP commissioning is well underway, and early science observations are expected to commence at the end of 2014. With this in mind, we are holding a meeting to discuss the latest developments in scientific areas of interest to VAST and also plan our Early Science strategy. Confirmed speakers include: * Martin Bell (University of Sydney) * Hayley Bignall (Curtin University) * Steve Croft (University of California, Berkeley) * George Djorgovski (California Institute of Technology) * Ciro Donalek (California Institute of Technology) * Giancarlo Ghirlanda (INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera) * Matthew Graham (California Institute of Technology) * Paul Hancock (Curtin University) * Aidan Hotan (CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science) * Simon Johnston (CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science) * J-P Macquart (Curtin University) * Stuart Ryder (Australian Astronomical Observatory) * Brian Schmidt (Australian National University) * Randall Wyath (Curtin University) * Peter Williams (Harvard University) Everyone is welcome to attend. Registration is free, and morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea are included. More information is available on our website: http://caastro.org/event/2013-vast We still have a few places left so have extended the registration deadline to November 18th. Tara -- DR TARA MURPHY | Senior Lecturer Sydney Institute for Astronomy | School of Physics | Faculty of Science School of Information Technologies | Faculty of Engineering and IT THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Room 565, School of Physics, A28 | Room 448, School of IT, J12 The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 T +61 2 9351 4723 | T +61 2 9351 3041 E tara at physics.usyd.edu.au | E tm at it.usyd.edu.au http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~tara http://www.ncss.edu.au -- DR TARA MURPHY | Senior Lecturer Sydney Institute for Astronomy | School of Physics | Faculty of Science School of Information Technologies | Faculty of Engineering and IT THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Room 565, School of Physics, A28 | Room 448, School of IT, J12 The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 T +61 2 9351 4723 | T +61 2 9351 3041 E tara at physics.usyd.edu.au | E tm at it.usyd.edu.au http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~tara http://www.ncss.edu.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From thill at museum.vic.gov.au Wed Nov 13 15:01:09 2013 From: thill at museum.vic.gov.au (Hill, Tanya) Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 15:01:09 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Bok Prize - open for nominations Message-ID: <7A64CF74085EDA4E93CEF1089F043E4517F4A8EE59@RAKALI.mv.vic.gov.au> The Bok Prize for outstanding research in astronomy by an Honours or eligible Masters student is now open for nominations. The Prize consists of the Bok Medal, $500 and ASA membership for one year. The recipient will be invited to present a paper on their research at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the ASA, where the prize will be presented. The closing date is Friday 31 January 2014. Information is provided on the ASA website: http://asa.astronomy.org.au/bok.html To be eligible for the Prize applicants must have been an Honours student or eligible Masters student at an Australian university at 30 June 2013, and completed their degree requirements in that same year. Their research must have been carried out in an area of astronomy or closely related field. Eligible Masters students are those who have entered their Masters degree from a 3 year undergraduate degree. Students who completed an Honours year before entering the Masters degree are not eligible for the Bok prize. Submissions must include: * an electronic copy of the Honours/Masters report or two hardcopies, * a brief statement (~1/2 page) by the applicant, in their own words, explicitly describing their major contributions to the research, the resources they used and the help they received. This may already be included in the report, * a completed Supervisor's Statement - this is a confidential statement by the applicant's supervisor detailing the highlights of the research, indicating the relationship of the submission to the student's course requirements, and highlighting the originality of the work. Please use the Supervisor's Statement form (Word or pdf). Submissions should be addressed to: Dr Tanya Hill ASA Prizes and Awards Coordinator Museum Victoria GPO Box 666 Melbourne Vic 3001 thill at museum.vic.gov.au An assessment committee nominated by the ASA Council will evaluate the submitted materials and make a recommendation to the ASA Council. The decision of the Council is final, including the decision not to award the prize in any given year. Dr Tanya Hill Planetarium Manager | Senior Curator, Astronomy Melbourne Planetarium, Scienceworks MUSEUM VICTORIA | GPO Box 666, Melbourne 3001 t: 03 9392 4503 (except Mondays) | 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. [http://museumvictoria.com.au/images/email-fp2.jpg] Melbourne Museum, winner of the Victorian Tourism Awards for Best Major Tourist Attraction in 2010,2011,2012 and Australian winner in 2011. 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: From growell at physics.adelaide.edu.au Thu Nov 14 15:20:58 2013 From: growell at physics.adelaide.edu.au (Gavin Rowell) Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 14:50:58 +1030 (CST) Subject: [ASA] 2014 Nanten2 workshop (Adelaide 3-4 Feb) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: The Australian Nanten2 consortium is holding its annual workshop in Adelaide 3-4 February 2014. The first day of the workshop (at a beachside location) is devoted to Nanten2 users, status of the telescope, information for observers, and future plans. The second day (at the Uni. Adelaide campus) will cover broader science topics in mm and sub-mm astronomy addressed by Nanten2 and other mm telescopes. Both days are open to all those interested with the second day being open to contributed talks. For venue, accomodation, and registration details please see: http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/astrophysics/Nanten2/workshop2014/index.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gavin Rowell ph +61883138374 High Energy Astrophysics Group fax +61883134380 School of Chemistry & Physics gavin.rowell at adelaide.edu.au University of Adelaide 5005, AUSTRALIA web: http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/astrophysics/gpr/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Thu Nov 14 16:37:16 2013 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 16:37:16 +1100 Subject: [ASA] News from GMTO Message-ID: Having trouble viewing this email? click here Third GMT Primary Mirror Segment Cast Edward "Rocky" Kolb delivers his keynote speech In late August, the third GMT primary mirror segment was successfully cast in the rotating furnace beneath Wildcat Stadium at the University of Arizona. Nearly 20 tons of low-expansion glass was heated to the melting point, some 2100 F?. While the furnace and honeycomb mold spun at 4.5 rpm, the molten glass flowed into the complex ceramic mold and settled into the approximate shape of the final mirror. GMTO and the University of Arizona hosted three days of events around the mirror casting, culminating in a gala dinner at the La Paloma resort in the Tucson foothills. At the reception GMTO Board Member Edward "Rocky" W. Kolb described the construction of the world's first nuclear reactor under University of Chicago's original football stadium - Stagg Field. Dae Wook Kim explains the polishing process to Steward Observatory Mirror Lab visitors Kolb, the University of Chicago's Dean of Physical Sciences, compared the 1942 technological advancement to the impressive work being done in the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, which resides under the east wing of the University of Arizona football stadium. Kolb's message: Important scientific breakthroughs take place under, rather than on, football fields. More ... A Distinguished Scientist Returns to the GMT Project Rebecca Bernstein, GMT Project Scientist GMTO recently announced the appointment of Rebecca A. Bernstein as GMT Project Scientist. She joined the organization on November 1st to provide technical and scientific leadership for the design and construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope. For someone who only recently moved into her office, Bernstein already knows a lot about the Giant Magellan project. While at the University of Michigan she was a member of the core design team that developed the original concept for the GMT. Indeed, Bernstein's appointment as Project Scientist - and her move to Pasadena - is more of a homecoming than a new arrival. After earning a B.S. in physics from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the California Institute of Technology, Bernstein took a prestigious NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship to the Carnegie Institution for Science. "I lived in Pasadena longer than I've lived anywhere since I graduated from high school. It definitely still feels like home." More ... GMT's Adaptive Optics System Passes Major Milestone Rendering of the Adaptive Secondary Mirror mounted on thetop end frame of the telescope. Three segments are shown in cross-section, revealing some of the 4,704 electromagnetic actuators and the thin glass face sheets they support. Giant Magellan's Adaptive Optics system is one of the telescope's most complex components. The system passed its Preliminary Design Review in July when an external panel of international experts gave the team a strong endorsement. Keith Raybould, GMT Project Manager, reports that the panel pronounced the AO system ready to proceed to the next level of development, and that they felt that all major technical risks have been addressed. The effect of the Earth's atmosphere on ground-based observation of distant objects is witnessed in the twinkling of stars. Light rays traveling to the Earth's surface from a distant object are distorted by the temperature and density inhomogeneities in the atmosphere. It's comparable to a large crowd of people (the incoming light rays) all trying to cross a busy street (the atmosphere). Even if they all start crossing at the same time, they won't all reach the other side together, as some slow down and others speed up to avoid the passing traffic. As a consequence, images taken through the atmosphere are typically blurred by about 1 arcsecond, the size of a quarter seen from 3 miles (5 km) away. Finer details in astronomical objects cannot be distinguished without correcting for these atmospheric effects. To overcome this obstacle, the Giant Magellan Telescope will make use of a technology known as Adaptive Optics. More ... Copyright ? 2013, 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 | 251 South Lake Avenue | Suite 300 | Pasadena | CA | 91101 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: