From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Mon Mar 3 21:14:06 2014 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2014 21:14:06 +1100 Subject: [ASA] WIA Chapter Nominations - Outcome Message-ID: <6B2041AF-D68D-460D-9BCB-687B3FF50519@sydney.edu.au> Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to announce that the following Chapter members have nominated for positions on the WIA Chapter Steering Committee. These colleagues have all been elected unopposed. Full representatives (term: 2 years) - elected unopposed - Andrew Walsh - Curtin University - Alan Duffy - University of Melbourne - Sarah Pierce - CSIRO - Student Representative (term: 1 year) - elected unopposed - Jane Kaczmarek - The University of Sydney Statements from these newly elected SC members are included in the attached file. We thank all the nominees and congratulate them on their election to the WIA Chapter Steering Committee. Kind regards Raquel Salmeron - WIA Secretary C?line d?Orgeville - Returning Officer -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: WiASteeringCommittee2014Elections.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 17085 bytes Desc: not available URL: From swyithe at unimelb.edu.au Mon Mar 3 20:27:53 2014 From: swyithe at unimelb.edu.au (Stuart Wyithe) Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2014 09:27:53 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Decadal Plan March update Message-ID: Dear colleagues, This is the second monthly email from the National Committee for Astronomy summarising events associated with the 2016-25 Decadal Plan for Australian Astronomy. * Town Hall meetings February saw the first 10 town hall meetings held across 5 cities. These town hall meetings have been very well attended and generated a lot of excellent discussion. During March another 16 town hall meetings are planned, details for which are listed below. A reminder that attendance and contribution to these meetings is open and encouraged; please contact the working group chairs if you would like to make a presentation. WG 1.1 Galaxies and Cosmology 17th March, 9:30am-12:30pm, meeting room 1 (ground floor behind security), Australian Astronomical Observatory (Contact: Andrew Hopkins, Ray Norris, Bryan Gaensler) 18th March, 2.00pm-5.00pm, Virtual Reality Theatre, Swinburne University CAS (Contact: Chris Blake) 19th March, 10:00am-1:00pm, Physics Annexe (building 6), room 424, University of Queensland (Contact: Michael Drinkwater) 20th March, 10:00am-1:00pm, ground floor seminar room, ICRAR, University of Western Australia (Contact: Kenji Bekki, Simon Driver) 21st March, Room 121 (seminar room), Physics Building, University of Adelaide (Contact: Lisa Kewley) 24th March, 1.00pm-3.00pm, Physics Dept., University of Tasmania (Contact: Ray Norris) 26th March, Duffield theatre, Mt Stromlo Observatory, Australian National University (Contact: Lisa Kewley) WG 1.2 Stars and Planets 4th March, 10.00am-12.00pm, AuScope operations room, 4th floor, Physics building, University of Tasmania (Contact: Simon Ellingson) WG 1.3 The Galaxy 17th March, 10.00am-1.00pm, Rm G29/G30, New Horizons Centre, Building 82, Monash University (Contact: Chris Federrath) 18th March, 10.00am-12.00pm, AuScope operations room, 4th floor, Physics building, University of Tasmania (Contact: Simon Ellingson) 20th March, 2.00pm-5.00pm, ground floor seminar room, ICRAR, University of Western Australia (Contact: Andrew Walsh) WG 1.4 High Energy and Fundamental Astrophysics 19th March, 1.00pm ? 4.00pm, SIfA seminar room, 44 Rosehill St, NSW 2016, University of Sydney (see the map at http://tinyurl.com/lmyzrf4) (Contact: Bryan Gaensler) WG 3.2 Education, Training and Careers 6th March, 2.00pm-4.00pm, Virtual Reality Theater, Swinburne University CAS (Contact: Virginia Kilborn) Combined meeting WG 2.1 International Scale Facilities WG 2.2 Local and Institutional Scale Facilities WG 2.3 eScience WG 3.3 Industry WG 3.4 Research Funding 25th March, 9.30am-3.30pm, Marsfield Lecture Theatre, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (Contact: Sarah Pearce, Kate Brooks, Karl Glazebrook) 26th March, 9.30am-3.30pm, Virtual Reality Theater, Swinburne University CAS (Contact: Karl Glazebrook, Andrew Hopkins, Darren Croton) 27th March, 9.30am-3.30pm, Duffield theatre, Mt Stromlo Observatory, Australian National University (Contact: Martin Asplund, Andrew Hopkins, Karl Glazebrook) In addition to these March meetings, further town hall meetings are planned for locations around Australia during April. For information please visit AustralianAstronomyDecadalPlan.org. * Demographics Survey During February, we saw the launch of the Australian astronomy demographics survey. The purpose of this survey is to understand the current state of the Australian Astronomy workforce, including its diversity. An important aspect of the Decadal Plan is comparison with results of demographics surveys from past Decadal Plans, which allows our community to assess its strengths and more effectively plan for the future. The survey has seen a very strong response, and so we thank all those individuals who have taken time to complete it. However a number of members of the community are yet to complete the survey, and so the deadline has been extended by a week in order to achieve as broader representation as possible. We now request all people working in Australian Astronomy to please complete their surveys by the 8th March 2014. The individual survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AustraliaAstronomyCensus-INDIV Best regards, Stuart ==================================== Professor Stuart Wyithe Australian Laureate Fellow Chair, National Committee for Astronomy 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 science.org.au/natcoms/nc-astronomy.html ==================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au Tue Mar 4 09:46:31 2014 From: bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au (Bryan Gaensler) Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 09:46:31 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Decadal Plan Town Halls in Sydney for WG1.1 (17 March), WG1.4 (19 March) Message-ID: SYDNEY DECADAL PLAN TOWN HALL MEETINGS FOR WG1.1 AND WG1.4 You are invited to attend and contribute to Sydney town-hall meetings on "galaxies and cosmology" and "high-energy astrophysics" as part of the Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan for the period 2016-2025. The Decadal Plan is currently being developed by the NCA in consultation with the astronomical community, via working groups divided into various topics and reporting areas. The two upcoming meetings will be as follows: WG1.1: "Galaxies and Cosmology" - Monday 17 March 2014, 9.30am-12.30pm - Meeting room 1 (ground floor, behind security), AAO, 105 Delhi Rd, North Ryde - see http://www.aao.gov.au/admin/travel-here.html for directions WG1.4: "High-Energy Astrophysics" - Wednesday 19 March 2014, 1.00pm-4.00pm - Upstairs seminar room, SIfA/CAASTRO, 44 Rosehill St, Redfern - see http://tinyurl.com/lmyzrf4 for directions Please contact the following people if you require more information: Andrew Hopkins (WG 1.1 chair and WG 1.1 host) Duncan Galloway (WG 1.4 chair) Bryan Gaensler (WG 1.4 host) Both meetings are open to all members of the Australian astronomical community, including students, postdocs, academics, other researchers and retirees. There is no cost for either meeting. *** Please register by 12 March 2014 via the poll at http://doodle.com/5ndkciy5h3ehu6gz . *** PROGRAM (all times AEDT) WG 1.1 Galaxies and Cosmology, Mon 17 March 2014 0930 Introduction (Warrick Couch) 0945 Draft working group report and issues (Andrew Hopkins, WG 1.1 chair) 1030 Coffee break 1100 Moderated discussion 1215 Summary and next steps (Andrew Hopkins) 1230 close WG 1.4 High Energy and Fundamental Astrophysics, Wed 19 March 2014 1300 Introduction (Andrew Hopkins) 1315 Draft working group report and issues (Duncan Galloway, WG 1.4 chair) 1400 Coffee break 1430 Moderated discussion 1545 Summary and next steps (Duncan Galloway) 1600 close Submissions There will be time allocated to open discussion during the meeting. More structured contributions, ranging from written submissions to specific presentations, are most welcome. Please contact the WG chairs with any contributions by COB Wed 12 March 2014. Oral contributions are particularly encouraged. The full list of working groups can be found at http://australianastronomydecadalplan.org/home/working-groups-2/ The schedule of town hall meetings can be found at http://australianastronomydecadalplan.org/home/town-hall-meetings We look forward to seeing many of you in Sydney in 2 weeks time. Bryan Gaensler Duncan Galloway Andrew Hopkins From dcroton at astro.swin.edu.au Tue Mar 4 13:37:14 2014 From: dcroton at astro.swin.edu.au (Darren Croton) Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 13:37:14 +1100 Subject: [ASA] ANITA Google Hangout March Lecture: "Density Estimation and Clustering" Message-ID: <33E38AB5-7F9B-4DED-A58A-62B169734B9D@astro.swin.edu.au> Dear ANITA and ASA members. I'd like to announce the next in our ongoing Google Hangouts on Air lecture series. Speaker: Sanjib Sharma, University of Sydney Title: "Density Estimation and Clustering" Date: Wednesday 12th March 1pm (AEST) Where: The internets Abstract: Estimating density of a given set of points and identifying clusters are two important techniques to reveal hidden information in data. With recent advances in technology, today we have data which is both large (number of objects per data set) and rich (amount of information in each object). This poses a unique challenge for data mining. In multi dimensional spaces, not all the algorithms work equally well. Also, not all algorithms are computationally efficient for analyzing large amounts of data. In this lecture, I will discuss various algorithms and highlight their strengths and weaknesses. I will then concentrate on a few algorithms that work well in multi dimensional spaces and are also fast and efficient to be applied on large data sets. I will also show a few applications of these algorithms to astronomy. The lecture will be broadcast over Google?s Hangouts on Air. Lecture slides and links will be available closer to the day at http://anita.edu.au/lectures/density-estimation-and-clustering-sanjib-sharma/. Looking forward to "seeing" you there! Darren Croton & Chris Power -- Darren Croton Associate Professor & QEII Research Fellow Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing Swinburne University of Technology PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia Phone: 61-3-9214-5537; Fax: 61-3-9214-8797 http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~dcroton -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Tue Mar 4 23:46:59 2014 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 23:46:59 +1100 Subject: [ASA] 3rd Announcement: `Powerful AGN Across Cosmic Time' - registration by March 15th Message-ID: <06822393-DC01-4377-93A3-75442AFBC066@sydney.edu.au> Powerful AGN and Their Host Galaxies Across Cosmic TIme - registration will close on March 15th! Dear Colleague, We wish to inform you that registration for the `Powerful AGN and Their Host Galaxies Across Cosmic TIme' meeting, to be held in Port Douglas, Australia, 16-20 June 2014, will remain open until March 15th. Topics to be covered include: powerful AGN in the local and distant Universe coevolution of black holes with their host galaxies influence of radiative and kinetic processes on stellar growth obscured black hole growth jet creation and interaction with environment build-up of proto-cluster environment Registration is via our website: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/workshops/2014/SouthernCrossVII/index.html Please forward this announcement to your colleagues. regards, Nick Seymour on behalf of the SOC and LOC -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Wed Mar 5 00:04:37 2014 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2014 00:04:37 +1100 Subject: [ASA] 4MOST/WAVES town hall meeting at AAO Message-ID: <7B494AA7-2FCF-44A3-9760-2D26E85A3082@sydney.edu.au> Hi All, Sometime ago Simon Driver wrote to you all regarding the prospect of an Australian-led Wide Area VISTA Extragalactic Survey on 4MOST (WAVES), and as a follow up to this we are organising a town hall meeting at AAO. As a final reminder: To discuss this opportunity we are organising a Town Hall meeting at the AAO on Tuesday 11th March 9am-5pm. Full details regarding 4MOST, WAVES and the town hall meeting can be found on our website at: http://www.wave-survey.org/ The intention of the meeting is three-fold: - to inform the community about 4MOST and its current surveys (mainly GAIA and eROSITA follow-up) - to hear from the community on the current WAVES design and any suggested additions/embellishments/modifications - to discuss the path forward to securing Australian involvement via a 2014 ARC LIEF bid If you're interested in coming to the meeting and have not already been in contact, please email aaron.robotham at uwa.edu.au so we can have an idea of final numbers. Please also feel free to make contact with your node representative to discuss ideas before the meeting (see team tab on WAVES website). We hope to see many of you there, Aaron and the WAVES Design Team --------------- ------------------------------------------ Dr Aaron S.G. Robotham Research Assistant Professor Tel: (+61) 08 6488 5564 Email: aaron.robotham at icrar.org aaron.robotham at uwa.edu.au WWW: Academia.edu GAMA ICRAR M468, UWA, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009 ICRAR: Discovering the hidden Universe through radio astronomy www.icrar.org | Subscribe to ICRAR's eNewsletter | ICRAR on Twitter | ICRAR on Facebook -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.gif Type: image/gif Size: 16874 bytes Desc: not available URL: From matthew.colless at anu.edu.au Wed Mar 5 06:34:59 2014 From: matthew.colless at anu.edu.au (Matthew Colless) Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 19:34:59 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Fwd: [NTTcall2014] Call for ideas for NTT References: <15640E98-4285-4204-9018-5415267D0C8A@eso.org> Message-ID: <27E462FA-824C-417D-9890-56BB45FA464A@anu.edu.au> From: Andreas Kaufer > Subject: [NTTcall2014] Call for ideas for NTT Date: February 28, 2014 at 9:19:59 GMT-3 To: "NTTcall2014 at eso.org" > Reply-To: "NTTcall2014 at eso.org" > Dear Colleagues, We would like to draw your attention to the following announcement from ESO concerning a call for ideas for the New Technology Telescope (NTT) at the La Silla Observatory: http://www.eso.org/sci/publications/announcements/sciann14007.html The full text of the call can be directly accessed at: http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/lasilla/telescopes/ntt/NTT_Call_for_Ideas_2014.pdf Please don?t hesitate to contact us through NTTcall2014 at eso.org in case you have any questions related to this call. We looking forward to receiving your proposals by 31 March 2014. Best regards, Andreas Kaufer, Director La Silla Paranal Observatory Luca Pasquini, La Silla Paranal Instrumentation Programme Manager Ivo Saviane, La Silla Site Manager _______________________________________________ NTTcall2014 mailing list NTTcall2014 at eso.org http://www.eso.org/lists/listinfo/nttcall2014 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Wed Mar 5 10:53:59 2014 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2014 10:53:59 +1100 Subject: [ASA] PhD Scholarships at Swinburne Message-ID: Dear ASA Members, We would be grateful if you could bring the following to the attention of interested students. PhD Scholarships at Swinburne University: Expressions of Interest due early April http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/study/postgradstudy.html The Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing (CAS) at Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne, Australia) invites applications for its PhD program and scholarships from Australian and international students. Expressions of Interest for PhD scholarships beginning in late 2014 are due by April 6, 2014. With over 18 research faculty, 17 postdocs and 40 students, CAS offers a vibrant, research-focused and friendly atmosphere where PhD students help conduct - and learn how to lead - cutting-edge research. CAS has a collaborative agreement with Caltech guaranteeing up to 15 nights per year on the 10-m Keck Telescopes (Hawaii). CAS also hosts "The Green Machine" and the GPU-based "gSTAR" - two of Australia's most powerful supercomputers. Our research strengths cover many areas of astronomy, from cosmology and the large-scale structure of the Universe, to quasars and the most distant known galaxies, to clusters and groups of galaxies, down to our own Milky Way, its structure and fascinating contents: pulsars, neutron stars, globular clusters, stars and planets. We also research 3-D visualisation techniques and applications of advanced scientific computing. CAS scholarship stipends, with tuition fee waivers, are $25,392 plus a $3,000 top-up per year (tax free) for both Australian and international PhD students. In addition to their scholarship stipend, students are allocated a high-end computer and may access internal research funds for telescope observing trips, conferences etc. Swinburne's Hawthorn campus is situated in a lively, urban setting just minutes by public transport from Melbourne's city centre. Other benefits include thesis publication allowance, standard 4-week p.a. recreation leave plus sick leave (including carer leave), paid maternity (12 weeks) and partner leave entitlements. For details about postgraduate study at CAS, including available supervisors, PhD topics and how to apply, see http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/study/postgradstudy.html The deadline for Expressions of Interest is April 6th, 2014. Shortlisted applicants will then be invited to discuss PhD projects with possible supervisors well before Swinburne's formal scholarship deadline. -- Professor Duncan A. Forbes ARC Fellow Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing Room AR203, Mail H30 Swinburne University, Hawthorn VIC 3122 Australia Ph: +61 3 9214 4392, Fax: +61 3 9214 8797 Web: http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/dforbes -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au Fri Mar 7 14:03:20 2014 From: bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au (Bryan Gaensler) Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2014 14:03:20 +1100 Subject: [ASA] SkyMapper to become a national facility Message-ID: <9BCE69B7-3A37-4CEE-89E4-6D0DAFBD757B@sydney.edu.au> Dear colleagues, ANU and CAASTRO are pleased to announce that ANU's SkyMapper telescope will be offered as a national facility over the period 2014-2019, with data available to the entire Australian community. SkyMapper is a new automated optical wide-field survey telescope, located at Siding Spring Observatory (see http://rsaa.anu.edu.au/observatories/telescopes/skymapper-telescope). Approximately 75% of SkyMapper's observing time over the next 5 years is being dedicated to the Southern Sky Survey, a comprehensive digital survey of the entire southern sky. In addition to the main survey, a Shallow Survey will be undertaken in photometric conditions for calibration of stars from 9th to 16th magnitude in all bands. This will provide the photometric calibration for the main survey, and will tie this to Hipparchos, Tycho and other photometric standard systems. As a national facility, the following capabilities will be offered to the Australian community: - Astronomers at any Australian institution can join existing SkyMapper science collaborations, with the proviso that they take on a substantive role in the work associated with the program. - Any Australian astronomer can propose a new SkyMapper science program, provided the proposed work does not duplicate any existing program. - International collaborators can be included if the case is made that they can make valuable contributions to a research project. - 20% of non-survey observing time on SkyMapper will be made available to the Australian community for other programs allocated through competitive peer review. - Once data are ingested into the science data base, the resulting images, data products and catalogues will be made immediately available to all Australian astronomers. All users of SkyMapper data will be bound by the consortium?s publication policy. A full public release through the All-sky Virtual Observatory will follow within 18 months. The guidance, oversight and management of national facility operations will be the responsibility of a "SkyMapper Executive", consisting of four scientists from ANU and three scientists from other Australian institutions. In the coming months, the SkyMapper Executive will develop the framework and details to underpin the above programs and modes of operation. If you are interested in finding out more about SkyMapper and what it can do for your science, we encourage you to register for the upcoming workshop "SkyMapper: Everything you Need to Know to Use the Terabytes", to be held in Canberra over 7-9 April 2014 - see http://caastro.org/event/2014-skymapper for more information. The national facility capability for SkyMapper has been funded through ARC LIEF grant LE130100104 from the Australian Research Council, awarded to CAASTRO, Monash University and the AAO. SkyMapper is owned and operated by ANU's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Matthew Colless, RSAA Director Bryan Gaensler, CAASTRO Director From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Sat Mar 8 13:27:08 2014 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2014 13:27:08 +1100 Subject: [ASA] EPOC Update: Membership and Steering Committee Elections In-Reply-To: <71F5D7DA-5A72-4D3F-8F9A-2882224BCEEC@sydney.edu.au> Message-ID: <6446BA86-ACD9-4842-96B9-D52918860F73@sydney.edu.au> Dear ASA Members, I would like to take this opportunity to update you on the ASA's Education and Public Outreach Chapter (EPOC). 1. Media and Outreach Coordinator On behalf of the EPOC Steering Committee and Chapter members, I would like to congratulate Michael Brown on his appointment into the role of Media and Outreach Coordinator. The Steering Committee looks forward to working closely with Michael in this new role, as he will take on the ex-officio position of ASA Council Representative on the Steering Committee. In doing so, Michael will replace John O'Byrne as the Committee's Council Representative (after a transition period). 2. Membership If you are not already a member of EPOC, I would like to invite you to consider joining. All it takes is an e-mail to asaepoc at gmail.com Membership in EPOC is open to all current ASA members. If you think you are a member, you probably are! But it doesn't hurt to update your membership if you are not certain. As a member, you might then consider taking part in the... 3. Steering Committee Election It is election time for the EPOC Steering Committee, with five positions option to ASA members for nominations. EPOC's mission is: To advance the level of public awareness of the excitement of astronomy and of the international importance of Australian astronomy, while promoting the teaching of astronomy to students and the public. On behalf of the Steering Committee, I would like to thank Helen Sim, Rob Hollow, Jonathan Nally and Courtney Jones (student representative) for their valuable contributions as members of the EPOC Steering Committee. I have decided to stand down from the position of Chair of the Steering Committee, and will not be seeking to renominate for this role. EPOC is now calling for nominations from amongst its members for: - One 2-year position (open to all categories of ASA membership except student members) as Chair - Three 2-year positions (open to all categories of ASA membership except student members) - One 1-year position for a student representative Individual EPOC members are welcome to nominate for both the Chair and the standard 2-year positions. Nominations will close on Monday 24 March at 9am AEST, to be followed immediately by a two-week voting period. To nominate, please send an e-mail to asaepoc at gmail.com with: A. Your name. B. Position you are nominating for (Chair, 2-year position or student position). C. An appropriate photograph (head-shot) plus a brief biographical statement summarising your main interests or involvement in education and public outreach, which will be presented to ASA members during the voting period. 4. Decadal Plan In the last few months, many of us have been involved in discussions about the importance of education and outreach as part of the Decadal Plan process (working group WG3.2: Education, Training and Careers). EPOC has an important role to play in this process, and I would encourage all members to get involved in the Town Hall meetings or contact the chairs with your ideas (Amanda Bauer and John O'Byrne). 5. Annular/partial Solar Eclipse - Tuesday, 29 April: There will be an annular/partial solar eclipse visible from Australian and Antarctica on Tuesday 29 April. Please check the ASA Fact Sheets link in the next few weeks or more information (thanks to Nick Lomb): http://astronomy.org.au/factsheets. You may like to think about running an event to coincide with this eclipse. Thanks for your attention, Chris Fluke Chair, Steering Committee ASA Education & Public Outreach Chapter _______________________________________________ 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 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: