From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Tue Dec 17 09:40:47 2013 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 09:40:47 +1100 Subject: [ASA] ASA ECR chapter: 2013 newsletter Message-ID: Dear all, The first ever ECR chapter newsletter is now live, and can be downloaded from http://asaecr.smp.uq.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ECR_newsletter_2013.pdf It summarises our activities over the last nine months since we were formed back in April, and our plans for the upcoming year. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks, and season's greetings to you all! David Parkinson on behalf of the ECR Steering Committee ______________________________ David Parkinson University of Queensland d.parkinson at uq.edu.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au Tue Dec 17 17:12:18 2013 From: andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au (Andrew Hopkins) Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:12:18 +1100 Subject: [ASA] FW: Call for proposals to host the 2014 ASA Harley Wood Winter School and Annual Science Meeting Message-ID: <52AFEB42.5080706@aao.gov.au> Dear colleagues, This is a call for proposals to host the 2015 ASA Harley Wood Winter School and Annual Science Meeting over the period 3 - 10 July 2015. The deadline for proposals is 31 January 2014. For more information on what to include in the proposal see the following website: http://asa.astronomy.org.au/meetings/ASM_instructions.html#Future An Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) has been held since the ASA's formation in 1966. The event has now grown to include more than 200 participants and several auxiliary meetings and talks as well as the Harley Wood Winter School for students, which is held over the preceding weekend. It is now a major event on the Australian Astronomy calendar and is a fantastic opportunity for the host institute to showcase their staff, students, facilities and research. The ASM is typically held at the hosting university, however, the ASA Council strongly encourages the hosting university to explore commercial conference venues as well. We also encourage the host to consider using a commercial event organiser to aid in the planning and management of the event. A complete list of previous host institutions is available at: http://asa.astronomy.org.au/asm.html Please contact me if you have any queries. Best regards, Andrew Hopkins President, ASA From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Thu Dec 19 13:01:15 2013 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:01:15 +1100 Subject: [ASA] ASKAP Update now available In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: The latest edition of the ASKAP Update has just been published, for December 2013. A copy of the Update is attached to this email, but it can also be downloaded from the ASKAP website: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/projects/askap/update_newsletter.html Kind Regards, Flo Flornes Conway-Derley Communication Officer Astronomy and Space Science CSIRO E flornes.conway-derley at csiro.au T +61 2 9372 4339 M 0411 444 651 PO Box 76, Epping, NSW, 1710 | Vimiera & Pembroke Rd, Marsfield, NSW, 2122 www.csiro.au | www.csiro.au/CASS | Our new blog is out of this world: csirouniverseblog.com PLEASE NOTE The information contained in this email may be confidential or privileged. Any unauthorised use or disclosure is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please delete it immediately and notify the sender by return email. Thank you. To the extent permitted by law, CSIRO does not represent, warrant and/or guarantee that the integrity of this communication has been maintained or that the communication is free of errors, virus, interception 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: askap_update_5.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 357427 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au Thu Dec 19 12:32:39 2013 From: andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au (Andrew Hopkins) Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:32:39 +1100 Subject: [ASA] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3A_STA_media_release_=E2=88=92_Scientists_con?= =?utf-8?q?cerned_about_ARC_funding_cuts?= Message-ID: <52B24CB7.1030608@aao.gov.au> From STA: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: STA media release ? Scientists concerned about ARC funding cuts Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2013 13:22:39 +1100 From: Catriona Jackson To: undisclosed-recipients:; *Scientists concerned about ARC funding cuts* Scientists around the nation are concerned by the Federal Government?s decision to reduce funding to the nation?s key independent granting body the Australian Research Council (ARC). The government announced in its Mid Year Economic Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) statement that $61 million from the Discovery Program and $42 million from the Linkage Program would be removed over the forward estimates. STA President Dr Ross Smith said: "Cutting $103 million from the ARC?s budget will further limit its capacity to fund fundamental and applied research, when the success rates for world class grants bids are already below 25 per cent. "Australian scientists are afraid this will lead to fewer jobs and training opportunities for our best and brightest. We are also concerned about funding for important humanities and social science research, given the cuts. "Scientists and research funding agencies understand that Governments need to set priorities for research but priority setting is very different from political picking and choosing. "Peer review is simply the best way of ensuring tax-payers dollars are invested in world class research every time." STA is the peak group for the nation?s 68,000 scientists and those working in technology. STA?s mission is to bring together scientists, governments, industry and the broader community to advance the role, reputation and impact of science and technology in Australia. *Catriona Jackson Chief Executive Officer Science & Technology Australia /Giving voice to Australian Science & Technology for over 27 years /*www.sta.org.au www.respectthescience.org.au catriona.jackson at sta.org.au T: 02 6257 2891 M: 0417142238 PO Box 259 Canberra City ACT 2601 -- A.Prof. Andrew Hopkins, Head of AAT Science Australian Astronomical Observatory P.O. Box 915, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia ph: +61 2 9372 4849 fax: +61 2 9372 4880 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au Thu Dec 19 15:18:46 2013 From: andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au (Andrew Hopkins) Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 15:18:46 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Call for proposals to host the 2015 ASA Harley Wood Winter School and Annual Science Meeting Message-ID: <52B273A6.5010508@aao.gov.au> ...and of course the usual correction to emails sent in a rush... See amended subject line above. Thanks to all those who pointed out my oversight. I would also like to note that we strongly encourage proposals from hosts outside the Sydney area, given that the location of the 2014 ASM and HWWS will be in Sydney. Andrew On 17/12/13 5:12 PM, Andrew Hopkins wrote: > Dear colleagues, > > This is a call for proposals to host the 2015 ASA Harley Wood Winter School and > Annual Science Meeting over the period 3 - 10 July 2015. > > The deadline for proposals is 31 January 2014. For more information on what > to include in the proposal see the following website: > http://asa.astronomy.org.au/meetings/ASM_instructions.html#Future > > An Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) has been held since the ASA's formation > in 1966. > The event has now grown to include more than 200 participants and several > auxiliary > meetings and talks as well as the Harley Wood Winter School for students, > which is > held over the preceding weekend. It is now a major event on the Australian > Astronomy > calendar and is a fantastic opportunity for the host institute to showcase > their > staff, students, facilities and research. > > The ASM is typically held at the hosting university, however, the ASA Council > strongly encourages the hosting university to explore commercial conference > venues as well. We also encourage the host to consider using a commercial > event organiser to aid in the planning and management of the event. > > A complete list of previous host institutions is available at: > http://asa.astronomy.org.au/asm.html > > Please contact me if you have any queries. > > Best regards, > > Andrew Hopkins > President, ASA > > > > _______________________________________________ > ASA mailing list > ASA at physics.usyd.edu.au > Change membership status or contact information via ASA's Edit Membership page > http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~asamail/asa_membership/asa_members_user_edit.php > -- A.Prof. Andrew Hopkins, Head of AAT Science Australian Astronomical Observatory P.O. Box 915, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia ph: +61 2 9372 4849 fax: +61 2 9372 4880 From ausgo at aao.gov.au Fri Dec 20 11:31:59 2013 From: ausgo at aao.gov.au (Australian Gemini Office) Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2013 11:31:59 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Gemini Data Reduction Forum now open Message-ID: <52B38FFF.50003@aao.gov.au> AusGO is pleased to announce the release of the Gemini Data Reduction User Forum, located at http://drforum.gemini.edu/. This is intended as a user-supported site for the trading of ideas, scripts, best practices, and for taking part in *user-driven* public discussions on data reduction processes and strategies. If you have written a script, procedure, tip, or a description of your own process that you think other Gemini users may find helpful in reducing their data sets, please consider posting it here. The Forum's "start here " page gives a brief introduction and some points to note when posting or taking part in discussions. Both the observatory and the Users' Committee for Gemini are keen to see this Forum well utilized and helpful to a broad segment of our user community. To encourage your involvement, Gemini Director Markus Kissler-Patig has agreed to award Director's Discretionary observing time to two individuals who will be selected based on the usefulness of their posts. So please take the time to visit the forum; post your questions, answers, and suggestions; and be in to win! Merry Christmas from the Australian Gemini Office, Stuart, Caroline, and Richard -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au Fri Dec 20 13:26:32 2013 From: andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au (Andrew Hopkins) Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2013 13:26:32 +1100 Subject: [ASA] ASA year-end newsletter Message-ID: <52B3AAD8.9070003@aao.gov.au> Dear ASA members, I would like to wish you all the best for the holiday season and the coming year. It's always timely at this point in the year to reflect on the events over the course of the year, and 2013 has been especially busy and productive for our community. 2013 had a fiery introduction, with the Wambelong bushfire on 13 January, having a major impact on the Siding Spring Observatory and the Mopra telescope, and our friends and colleagues in the Coonabarabran area. It was gratifying to see how quickly the observatories returned to normal operations, and how well the community came together to support those affected by the fires. The ASA pitched in, with a small contribution to current and recent members impacted by the fires. Almost one year on, things have progressed significantly, and we continue to look forward to new developments, with a new astronomers' lodge being planned, as one major addition. Many of our members were acknowledged for their contributions to scientific excellence and the community. In the 2013 Australia Day Honours we saw - Professor Brian Schmidt receive Australia's greatest civic honour, Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia, - Professor Michael Dopita awarded Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia, - Professor Brian Boyle awarded a Public Service Medal. Other prestigious recognition of ASA members includes: - Associate Professor Chris Blake awarded the Australian Academy of Science's Pawsey Medal, - Professor Ken Freeman awarded the American Astronomical Society's Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, as well as the Australian Academy of Science's Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture, - Professor Bryan Gaensler elected to the Australian Academy of 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 during 2013. Our calendar was full of exciting events and interesting conferences and workshops: - ASA members coordinated and participated in the ANITA and Astroinformatics Summer School, the ASA Women in Astronomy Workshop, the ASA ECR Workshop on "How to be an Effective Referee", plus the ASA Harley Wood Winter School and the ASA Annual Science Meeting. - The MWA officially started operations, being opened by Minister Kim Carr, at a formal launch during the Monash 2013 Annual Scientific Meeting. - A very large number of community workshops and conferences featured this year, including "Feeding, Feedback and Fireworks", the "Australian Astrobiology Meeting", "Reionisation in the Red Centre", the "ATCA 25th Anniversary Science Symposium", "Studying Galaxy Evolution - A Galaxy Zoo Conference", the "Australian ALMA Community Workshop", the "ATNF/AAO Bolton Symposium", the "3rd Australian Exoplanet Workshop", "Exploring the Radio Transient Sky", "Astroinformatics 2013: Knowledge from Data". All of these were highlighted on the ASA calendar. Don't forget to use this resource to advertise events you are organising: http://asa.astronomy.org.au/calendar.html You can send email to ASAcalendar at physics.usyd.edu.au for inclusion. I would like to highlight the very successful 2013 ASA Annual Scientific Meeting and Harley Wood Winter School coordinated by Monash, and thank the organisers for their efforts in making those events a success. The 2014 ASM and HWWS will be hosted by Macquarie University in Sydney, and I encourage you all to participate. The call for the 2015 ASM and HWWS host has just been issued, and I look forward to seeing a good range of competitive bids by the end of January. Following the moves last year of Matthew Colless, taking up the Directorship at RSAA, ANU, and Phil Diamond, taking up the SKA Director General role, we have seen the arrival of two new Directors for our major national observatory facilities, as well as Swinburne's Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing: - Dr Lewis Ball began in March as Chief of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, - Professor Warrick Couch began in April as AAO Director, - Karl Glazebrook has been named as the new Director for Swinburne CAS, and will start his new role on 1 January 2014. The society's journal, PASA, continues going from strength to strength. The journal's impact factor of 3.12 in 2013 looks as though it will continue at a similar level into 2014, placing it between PASJ and PASP. PASA's increased impact is having an effect, with the journal needing to significantly increase the number of pages it publishes, now at 900 pages per year. We welcome two new members to the PASA Editorial Board, Brad Gibson and Alexander Heger, and thank Daniel Price for extending his term on the Board. We thank the outgoing Board members, Jeremy Mould and Michael Burton for their contributions in continuing to ensure the success of our society's journal. This year saw the establishment of a new ASA chapter specifically focused on early career researchers. Thanks to David Parkinson and the ECR steering committee for shepherding the new chapter through its important first year. Membership in the ECR chapter has grown fast, and new members can sign up at http://asaecr.smp.uq.edu.au. In particular, we look forward to the next ECR workshop to be run early to mid next year. This year also saw the initiation of the planning process for the next Astronomy Decadal Plan, for the period 2016-2025. This process will continue throughout 2014, and will rely on input from all members of the community, through participation in Town Hall meetings, providing input through surveys, and contributions from those on the many working groups and more. I strongly encourage everyone to participate in these activities to ensure that we can identify our priorities clearly and position our community as strongly as possible for the coming decade. Of course there were many exciting research results, funding outcomes, and other developments during the course of the year, far too many to list in a single email. I would like to add a personal thanks to Kate Brooks for her leadership of the ASA over the past two years as President, and her mentoring of me during this time. We have an amazingly talented, diverse and successful community comprising Australian astronomy, and it is a privilege to be a part of such a fantastic community. I hope that everyone enjoys a wonderful break, and comes back refreshed and re-energised for what I'm sure will be an even more successful and eventful 2014! Andrew Hopkins ASA President -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From chris.power at uwa.edu.au Fri Dec 20 15:21:20 2013 From: chris.power at uwa.edu.au (Chris Power) Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2013 12:21:20 +0800 Subject: [ASA] New postdoc positions at ICRAR/UWA Message-ID: Hi, I'd like to draw your attention to a couple of new ARC DP-funded postdoctoral positions at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research at the University of Western Australia in Perth. The first is in computational astrophysics. We seek a highly motivated scientist to investigate the potential of satellite galaxies around the Milky Way and Andromeda as probes of dark matter and cosmology. Recent observations indicate that the satellite populations orbit their host galaxies in narrow planes, appearing to be at odds with our understanding of how galaxies form in the favoured Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model. The successful applicant will use state-of-the-art supercomputer simulations, innovative statistical analysis and the latest observational data to understand the implications of these observations for the CDM (or alternative, e.g. WDM) model and to establish their power to discriminate between our models for dark matter and cosmology. More information (including a detailed position description and link to the online application portal) can be found at: http://external.jobs.uwa.edu.au/cw/en/job/492744/research-associate-ref-492744-computational-astrophysics Interested candidates should get in touch with Chris Power (chris.power at icrar.org). The second is in observational cosmology. We seek a highly motivated scientist to join our growing multi-wavelength team at ICRAR. The successful candidate will be joining the internationally renowned GAMA project, which involves 80 scientists around the globe (8 at ICRAR alone, including Aaron Robotham and Simon Driver). The project will involve developing new techniques to detect low mass galaxies in low mass halos- both regimes that the GAMA data alone can probe robustly. As such, both the data and the science will be novel and should lead to exceptionally high impact work. There will also be opportunities to link up with complementary work being undertaken by the ICRAR simulations group led by Chris Power. More information (including a detailed position description and link to the online application portal) can be found at: http://external.jobs.uwa.edu.au/cw/en/job/492745/research-associate-ref-492745-observational-astrophysics Interested candidates should get in touch with Aaron Robotham (aaron.robotham at uwa.edu.au). The application deadline for both positions is January 31st 2014. Cheers, Chris ---------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Chris Power, Research Associate Professor International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia E-mail: chris.power at icrar.org | Tel: +61 8 6488 7630 | Fax: +61 8 6488 7755 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Melanie.Johnston-Hollitt at vuw.ac.nz Fri Dec 20 14:35:52 2013 From: Melanie.Johnston-Hollitt at vuw.ac.nz (Melanie Johnston-Hollitt) Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2013 03:35:52 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Faculty Positions: Victoria University of Wellington In-Reply-To: <52B3AAD8.9070003@aao.gov.au> Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Apologies to those of you that receive this more than once but could you please pass this on to any suitable candidates? Cheers, Melanie Faculty Position in Astrophysics: Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are offering 1-2 permanent faculty positions in Astrophysics at Victoria University of Wellington at the Lecturer/Senior Lecturer level. In particular, we invite applications from ambitious early-to-mid-career physicists who specialize in astrophysics and would like to work in a dynamic multi-disciplinary School at New Zealand?s most research-intensive university. The successful candidate should have an excellent track record in research and teaching relative to career opportunity and needs to demonstrate how he/she will enhance or complement our current strengths in low-frequency radio astronomy, multi-wavelength observations of galaxy clusters, cosmic magnetism, and astronomical image processing. VUW is a member of the Murchison Widefield Array consortium, is leading the science data pipeline design for the Square Kilometre Array, and staff and postdoctoral fellows hold prominent positions in several next-generation astronomical survey projects. This is an exciting opportunity to join New Zealand?s most rapidly growing astrophysics group, work with world-class telescopes and enjoy the benefits of living in Wellington ? one of the most liveable cities in the world. Further details of our research activities in astrophysics can be found at http://www.victoria.ac.nz/scps/research/research-groups/astronomy-astrophysics . Note: there are two positions being advertised with two slightly different selection committees. The first is a dedicated astrophysics position, the second is an open search for a candidate from geophysics, condensed matter physics or astrophysics. We will therefore appoint at least 1 and up to 2 astrophysicists. Anyone interested in applying is strongly encouraged to apply for both positions: http://jobregister.aas.org/job_view?JobID=46678 http://jobregister.aas.org/job_view?JobID=46772 Applications close on January 10th (New Zealand time). Questions can be directed to Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt (contact details below), note that the University if now formerly closed for the Christmas break so responses might take a couple of days. _____________________________________________ Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt SKA Organisation Ltd. Board of Directors (New Zealand scientific representative) Vice Chair, Murchison Widefield Array Board Leader, Radio Astronomy School of Chemical & Physical Sciences Victoria University of Wellington PO Box 600 Wellington, 6140 New Zealand Melanie.Johnston-Hollitt at vuw.ac.nz +64 4 463 6543 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Sun Dec 22 22:45:44 2013 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2013 22:45:44 +1100 Subject: [ASA] ANITA 2014 Workshop and N-body Summer School - Registration open Message-ID: <263D38CE-7A40-496A-8ADB-20A66D47E6B9@sydney.edu.au> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANITA 2014 WORKSHOP AND N-BODY SUMMER SCHOOL 17th-21st February 2014 Sydney Institute for Astronomy, University of Sydney OPEN FOR REGISTRATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ ANITA 2014: ------------------ Registration is open for the 8th Annual Theory Workshop of the Australian National Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (ANITA) which will be held on the 17th and 18th of February 2014 at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy within the School of Physics, University of Sydney. For details and registration information please go to the workshop website: http://anita.edu.au/workshop2014/ Note that there is no registration fee and registration will close on the 30th of January 2014. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N-body Summer School ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Registration is also now open for the 3 day ANITA/ASA N-body Simulations Summer School, which will follow the workshop from the 19th-21st of February. The school with cover techniques and resources for use in astrophysical N-body simulations. Topics covered will include: * A hands-on introduction to setting up and running codes such as GADGET, NBODY6 and SWIFT; * Generating initial conditions for planetary, star cluster, galaxy and cosmology simulations; * Introduction to publicly available analysis and visualisation tools; * Hands-on programming classes to analyse data produced by the codes. The summer school is open to all advanced undergraduate, honours and PhD students as well as active Astronomy and Astrophysics researchers within Australia and New Zealand. Be aware that numbers may be limited and so when allocating spaces priority will be given to students. Registration and further information can be found at the website: http://anita.edu.au/workshop2014/ Once again there is no registration fee and registration will close on the 30th of January 2014. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Student Travel Grants ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A limited number of travel grants to assist in the attendance of students will be available. Students can indicate their interest in applying for a grant when registering and information on how to apply will be sent out by email in January. Looking foward to seeing you there. On behalf of the SOC (Geraint Lewis, Chris Power, Orsola De Marco, Krzysztof Bolejko and Weiguang Cui) and the ANITA steering committee. Our thanks to the generous support of the following sponsors: - Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA); - Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO); - International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR); - Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO); - Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing (CAS), Swinburne University of Technology; - Macquarie University, Astronomy, Astrophysics and Astrophotonics Research Centre; - University of Melbourne; - University of Sydney.