From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Mon Mar 16 09:08:24 2015 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2015 09:08:24 +1100 Subject: [ASA] 2015 ASA Annual Science Meeting - **Reminder: Abstract Submission Closes April 1** Message-ID: <87A250E2-578A-4229-9F8E-5F98FE5FBBEC@sydney.edu.au> The 2015 ASA ASM and HWSA are hosted by ICRAR-Curtin. ** 2015 ASA ASM - ABSTRACT DEADLINE APRIL 1 ** ** HWSA ACCOMMODATION DEADLINE APRIL 1 ** http://www.asa2015.org The 2015 Astronomical Society of Australia's Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM), hosted by ICRAR-Curtin, will be held at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle, WA between July 5th to 10th. The Esplanade Hotel is located in the centre of Fremantle, a busy port town and popular tourist destination on the coast, with Perth located 20km away. Just before the ASM, the annual Harley Wood School for Astronomy (HWSA) will be held on Rottnest Island from the 2nd to 5th of July. The website for the meeting contains useful information on both the ASM and HWSA and can be found at: http://www.asa2015.org Registration for both the ASM and HWSA and abstract submission for the ASM is now open! A summary timeline is given below: 18FEB - Registration and Abstract submission open 01APR - Abstract submission closes 01MAY - Program released 22MAY - Early-bird registration closes 26JUN - Full-price registration closes (late registration allowed up to first day of the ASM) 02JUL - HWSA begins 05JUL - Welcome Reception for ASM We have decided to close abstract submission and release the program earlier in the year than is traditional for ASMs. This is to give presenters more time to prepare oral or poster presentations, as well as allow people to register at the early-bird price once the full program is known. Please note, however, that there is a $100 cancellation fee should you decide to withdraw your registration before the 5th of June. Please also note that for the HWSA, we need to let Rottnest Accommodation know how many people will be attending by the 1st of April. So we *strongly* encourage any students wishing to register for the HWSA to please do so before this date. After this date, we cannot guarantee accommodation. Our current list of confirmed invited speakers for the ASM includes the following people: Elaine Sadler - The University of Sydney - Ellery Lecture Krzysztof Bolejko - University of Sydney John Eldridge - University of Auckland Virginia Kilborn - Swinburne Claudia Lagos - ICRAR-UWA Paul Lasky - Monash Katherine Mack - Melbourne James Miller-Jones - ICRAR-Curtin Gayandhi de Silva - AAO Rob Wittenmyer - UNSW Fang Yuan - ANU We look forward to welcoming you to Perth and Fremantle in July! If you require any further information, please feel free to contact us: Andrew Walsh (andrew.walsh at curtin.edu.au) Cath Trott (Cathryn.Trott at curtin.edu.au) LOC and SOC co-Chairs of the ASA ASM Rebecca Lange (rebecca.lange at icrar.org) - Chair of HWSA LOC Angus Wright (angus.wright at icrar.org) - Chair of HWSA SOC _______________________________________________ Cathryn Trott ARC DECRA Fellow ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics Curtin University Bentley WA, Australia cathryn.trott at curtin.edu.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Paul.Francis at anu.edu.au Mon Mar 16 12:12:01 2015 From: Paul.Francis at anu.edu.au (Paul Francis) Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2015 01:12:01 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Call for Skymapper non-survey time proposals Message-ID: Call for Proposals for non-survey time on the SkyMapper Telescope: Semester 2015B Application deadline: 23:59 15th April 2015 Nights available: --------------------- 36.5 for ANU-led proposals 11.0 for other Australian-led proposals Period 01 July to 31 December 2015; these nights will need to be distributed over different lunar phases in the long term, but not necessarily in any given semester. How to apply -------------- You can only apply for images that will not replicate the observations of the public SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey (all-sky dec < +2, 100 sec images in uv (6 visits) and griz (4 visits), operating until 2019). The SkyMapper team can prioritise public survey fields to a limited extend in any given semester. If you'd like a field to be observed with priority, please do not submit a proposal, but contact the SkyMapper team (christian.wolf at anu.edu.au) who will help on a best-effort basis. For instructions for proposals and information on SkyMapper please refer to https://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~skymap/instructions_SMprop.html Proposals should include a two-page scientific and technical justification. Please email to paul.francis at anu.edu.au before the deadline. If you do not receive confirmation that we've received your e-mail within 24 hours, please contact us again. Your proposal will be ranked by the ANU-TAC and, if successful, forwarded to the SkyMapper team for scheduling and robotic observation. All images will receive basic processing by the SkyMapper Science Data Pipeline alongside survey observations (and thus will be done in temporal order). Telescope Summary ----------------- SkyMapper is a 1.3m telescope with a 5.7 sq. deg. FoV and a 268 Megapixel camera. There are six primary filters (uvgriz), plus an H-alpha filter subject to strong scheduling constraints. If you have any questions not answered in the documentation, Chris Onken and Chris Wolf are able to help. (skymapper at anu.edu.au) ============================= A/Prof. Paul Francis Astrophysicist Mt Stromlo Observatory, and the Physics Education Centre College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Building 38a, Tel 02 6125 2824 or 8031 The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 Australia paul.francis at anu.edu.au http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~pfrancis/ CRICOS Provider #00120C -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From thill at museum.vic.gov.au Tue Mar 17 14:44:28 2015 From: thill at museum.vic.gov.au (Hill, Tanya) Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2015 14:44:28 +1100 Subject: [ASA] David Allen Prize - closes Friday 27th March Message-ID: <7A64CF74085EDA4E93CEF1089F043E451878D1E6AC@RAKALI.mv.vic.gov.au> A reminder that nominations for the David Allen Prize will close on Friday 27th March. The David Allen Prize is awarded for exceptional achievement in astronomy communication. Nomination guidelines can be found at: http://asa.astronomy.org.au/DAP/index.html Please distribute this information widely. The prize is open to astronomy communicators and the scope of the activity is broad. However, the outreach activity must have been undertaken within Australia, by an Australian citizen, permanent resident or institution. THE DAVID ALLEN PRIZE The David Allen Prize is awarded to an individual, group or institution that actively connects with the public to communicate astronomical themes in an engaging and informative way. The activity should reach a broad range of audiences. It must be highly prominent and interesting, while maintaining a strong level of scientific integrity. The scope of the activity can be quite broad such as public presentations, popular writing, sustained media and outreach events, on-line activities and/or any innovative and creative activity that achieves astronomy outreach. The activity must have been undertaken in Australia, by an Australian citizen or permanent resident or an Australian institution, and have been published, performed or have occurred after 27 March 2012. Previous winners of the David Allen Prize are ineligible for nomination. cheers, Tanya Dr Tanya Hill Planetarium Manager | Senior Curator, Astronomy Melbourne Planetarium, Scienceworks MUSEUM VICTORIA | GPO Box 666, Melbourne 3001 t: 03 9392 4503 (except Mondays) | thill at museum.vic.gov.au @nightskymelb | museumvictoria.com.au/planetarium 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. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au Tue Mar 17 16:05:25 2015 From: andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au (Andrew Hopkins) Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2015 16:05:25 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Fwd: STA statement on NCRIS reprieve - for circulation to members please. In-Reply-To: <7F5990BE-BF94-4D7D-9E07-BBDF62B277E5@sta.org.au> References: <7F5990BE-BF94-4D7D-9E07-BBDF62B277E5@sta.org.au> Message-ID: <5507B615.30604@aao.gov.au> Dear ASA Members, Many of you will already have seen this, but feel free to circulate it to those who have not. Andrew -------- Original Message -------- Subject: STA statement on NCRIS reprieve - for circulation to members please. Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2015 16:00:45 +1100 From: Catriona Jackson To: Catriona Jackson ***Dear STA Presidents and Friends - please circulate to your members and contacts.*** nb/ there's a link to the release on the website at the end if you'd like to link to it from webpages, refer to it on social media etc. > Reprieve for nation's research facilities > > But where's the money coming from? > > > Scientists and researchers across the Australia are relieved to hear of the > reprieve for the nation's 27 major national research facilities, but > concerns remain about the source of the funding. > > STA CEO Catriona Jackson said Education Minister Christopher Pyne had > indicated that he had heard the nation's science and business leaders and > de-linked the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure System (NCRIS) > funding from the fate of the university de-regulation package. > > "The 27 NCRIS facilities are the backbone of the nation's research effort, > employing 1700 highly skilled scientists and technicians, and used by 35,000 > top researchers from home and overseas," Ms Jackson said. > > "Many were on the brink of shutdown as their annual operating funding became > caught up in the wrangle over university deregulation. > > "At risk was Australia's ability to operate as a modern scientific nation, > as well a decade-long $3.5 billion capital investment -- the brain-child of > John Howard. > > "The reprieve is a cause for celebration for all Australians but we must not > allow ourselves to land in this position again. Long-term, stable and > sustainable funding must be identified for research infrastructure so > science and business can continue to plan for research and innovation with > certainty. > > "STA calls on the Minister to guarantee that the $150 million for NCRIS will > not be cut out of other research programs. Minister Pyne said only that > 'offsets' had been found, and that details would be revealed in the upcoming > budget. If this means robbing our research effort budget to pay for research > infrastructure operations it would be highly counterproductive. > > "We are also concerned about the fate of the ARC Future Fellows Program, > which funds the work of our best and brightest mid-career researchers. It > was also promised in the last budget and, like NCRIS, linked by Minister > Pyne to fate of the deregulation package. Now that package has been split > surely it is time for the fate of our best and brightest mid career > researchers to be released from this mess as well." > > 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. > > ____ > > *Media comment: STA CEO Catriona Jackson -- 0417 142 238* > > *17 March 2015* > http://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/in-the-media/reprieve-for-nations-research-facilities-but-wheres-the-money-coming-from/ Catriona Jackson Chief Executive Officer Science & Technology Australia T: 02 6257 2891| M: 0417 142 238| F: 02 6257 2897 PO Box 259, Canberra City ACT 2601 Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube Science & Technology Australia -- Prof. Andrew Hopkins, Head of Research and Outreach 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 Warrick.Couch at aao.gov.au Tue Mar 17 16:59:42 2015 From: Warrick.Couch at aao.gov.au (Warrick Couch) Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2015 16:59:42 +1100 Subject: [ASA] temporary suspension of AAT observing Message-ID: <690E9810-1D9C-4046-9F51-BB78106E4BD4@aao.gov.au> Dear colleagues: This is to inform you that observing on the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) has had to be suspended, due to a major failure with the AAT dome shutter. Towards the end of last year, it was discovered that a section of one of the arch girders that support the dome and which the shutter runs along, was damaged. The most conspicuous evidence of this was a delamination of the girder, causing metallic flakes (some quite large) to rain down on the telescope and dome floor beneath. It is almost certain that this can be attributed to the stiffness of the new dome shutter brake system installed in 2012, which has put additional stresses on the arch girder as the shutter moves over it, causing it to deform and the metal to fatigue. As such, an engineering company had been contracted to rectify this problem and repair the damaged section of the arch girder, with the work scheduled for late April, during which observing on the AAT would be suspended for 7-10 days. However, over this last weekend, the arch girder developed a major crack in the area where it is damaged, rendering the dome shutter inoperable. We have therefore had to suspend observing immediately, and organise for the aforementioned engineering work to be done as a matter of urgency. Fortunately the company contracted to do the work can commence this Thursday (19 March), and are prepared to work extended hours and through the weekend in order to get the job done as soon as possible. It is hoped that the job will be completed by next Wednesday (25 March), with the AAT operating again very soon thereafter. Unfortunately a minimum of 12 nights of observing time on the AAT will be lost. Steps will be taken to ensure that the scientific programs affected will be appropriately compensated for this loss of time. I will follow this message up with a second announcement to notify the community when the problem has been fixed and normal AAT operations/observing have resumed. Warrick Couch (AAO Director) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professor Warrick Couch FAA Phone: +61 2 9372 4811 Director, Australian Astronomical Observatory Fax: +61 2 9372 4880 P.O. Box 915, North Ryde, NSW 1760 Email: warrick.couch at aao.gov.au ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From michael.brown at monash.edu Thu Mar 19 22:33:45 2015 From: michael.brown at monash.edu (Michael Brown) Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 22:33:45 +1100 Subject: [ASA] The Many Pathways to Galaxy Growth (Third Announcement) Message-ID: <62EE83CA-BD06-4C70-8974-BECA7C5DC1D8@monash.edu> THIRD ANNOUNCEMENT The Many Pathways to Galaxy Growth http://www.moca.monash.edu/conferences/pathways 22 - 26 June 2015 Prato, Italy Scientific Rationale The aim of this conference is to bring together theorists and observers to discuss the many pathways that lead to, and restrict, galaxy growth. While there have been very significant advances in our understanding of galaxy growth since the start of the 21st century, key details have yet to been understood. What are the relative roles of galaxy mergers and secular evolution in galaxy growth? What mechanisms are enhancing and regulating star formation within galaxies? How do these mechanisms for enhancing and regulating galaxy growth vary with both galaxy mass and redshift? Topics to be discussed at the conference include (but are not limited to), the most massive galaxies, disks across the Universe, the challenge of dwarf galaxies, galaxy growth at the highest redshifts, the importance of secular evolution, gas and the fuelling of star formation, the importance of mergers, the role of environment, and feedback. Program The conference will consist of 4.5 days of talks (and posters), including 50 contributed talks and invited review talks by Michael Boylan-Kolchin, Shardha Jogee, Karen Masters, Pierluigi Monaco, Gerg? Popping, Ned Taylor and Emily Wisnioski. A summary of the program is available on the conference website. The format is 25 minutes (18 minutes + 7 minutes discussion) for contributed talks and 40 minutes (30 minutes + 10 minutes discussion) for invited talks. There will also be 50 posters (height 150cm, width 120cm) displayed during the conference. Location The conference will be held at the Monash University Prato Centre, in beautiful Tuscany. The historic town of Prato lies a short distance north of Florence. The facilities enable a conference of ~120 attendees. Registration Fee The conference registration fee is AUD 530 (AUD 370 for students). The fee includes lunch and tea/coffee breaks each day and the conference dinner. The conference webpage has been updated to accept registration fee payments. The registration deadline is Thursday 2ndApril. SOC Michael Brown (Chair) Samantha Penny (Deputy Chair) Eric Bell Alessandro Boselli Luca Cortese Gabriella De Lucia Jennifer Lotz Rachel Somerville Please circulate this email within your own institution. Sincerely Michael Brown, on behalf of the SOC -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Katrina.Sealey at aao.gov.au Fri Mar 20 11:42:24 2015 From: Katrina.Sealey at aao.gov.au (Katrina Sealey) Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2015 11:42:24 +1100 Subject: [ASA] 2 x AAO positions (2 years) - Database Software Engineers (closing 9th April 2015) Message-ID: <550B6CF0.3020701@aao.gov.au> The Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) is developing the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) Node of the All-Sky Virtual Observatory (ASVO). The AAT ASVO Node must be able to provide an infrastructure to host datasets arising from AAT surveys, provide an interface to enable users to query the datasets for the purpose of conducting astronomical research and provide the formats/requirements necessary for future datasets from the AAT or other facilities to which the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) provides access. The AAO IT group requires 2 experienced database software engineers (ideally one experienced back end database expert and one user interface expert) to work on the 2 year project. The positions require a degree in computer science, physics, or a related discipline and an understanding of astronomical data/data models or similarly complex data sets. Please circulate this email to anyone that you think maybe interested in applying. For all details and how to apply follow the links on the AAO website. http://www.aao.gov.au/employment Closing date: 9th April 2015 Cheers, Katrina -- Dr Katrina Sealey Head of IT, Australian Astronomical Observatory PO Box 915, North Ryde NSW 1670 katrina.sealey at aao.gov.au p 02 9372 4877 From angel.lopez-sanchez at aao.gov.au Fri Mar 20 17:13:42 2015 From: angel.lopez-sanchez at aao.gov.au (Angel Lopez-Sanchez) Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2015 17:13:42 +1100 Subject: [ASA] =?utf-8?q?3rd_Announcement_Conference_=E2=80=9CMultiwavelen?= =?utf-8?q?gth_Dissection_of_Galaxies=E2=80=9D=2C_24-29_May_2015_?= =?utf-8?q?=2C_Sydney?= Message-ID: <4754-550bba80-b-33529340@266632059> Please circulate this email within your own institution. THIRD ANNOUNCEMENT ?Multiwavelength Dissection of Galaxies? 24 - 29th May 2015 Sydney, Australia We are pleased to announce that the list of accepted contributed talks and the preliminary program for the Conference "Multiwavelength dissection of galaxies", which will be held in Coogee Beach, Sydney, Australia, between 24 - 29 May 2015, are already available in our website, https://www.aao.gov.au/conference/multiwavelength-dissection-of-galaxies/ This Conference is the eighth meeting in the Southern Cross Astrophysics Conference series, which are jointly supported by the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) and CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS). The Conference will focus on galaxy evolution, combining resolved optical/near-infrared integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data with other multiwavelength (from radio to X-rays) properties of nearby galaxies, and bringing these together with what is known in our Milky Way. This Conference expects to combine observations and the best available theoretical models to create a more complete picture of how galaxies, and in particular our Milky Way, formed and evolved. Call for Posters and Registration will close on April 17th, 2015. The Conference Venue is located at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the famous Coogee Beach, Sydney, Australia. Crowne Plaza Hotel offers us special prices for each double room. The special rates are only valid for bookings between Saturday 23rd and Sunday 31st May 2015, both dates included. Registered participants will receive instructions of how to proceed with the hotel booking getting the special rates. The deadline of this offer is April 22nd, 2015, but rooms are filling fast. For more details, please see the Conference website: https://www.aao.gov.au/conference/multiwavelength-dissection-of-galaxies For general information on the conference, please email: dissection15 at aao.gov.au Important dates: ?? - April 17th, 2015: Registration closes. Call for Posters closes. Deadline payment registration fee. ?? - April 22nd, 2015: Deadline for special room rates for booking at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. ?? - May 18th, 2015: Final Announcement. ?? - May 24th, 2015: Public Lecture and Event during VIVID Sydney Festival and Welcome Cocktail Reception Cruise. ?? - May 25th - 29th, 2015: Conference dates. Invited speakers: ?? - Martin Asplund: The Gaia-ESO Survey ?? - Joss Bland-Hawthorn: Near-field cosmology (R) ?? - Alessandro Bosselli: Dust in galaxies: the Herschel view (R) ?? - Julia Bryant: HECTOR: a high-multiplex survey instrument for spatially-resolved galaxy spectroscopy ?? - Rob Crain: EAGLE simulations and links between simulations and observations ?? - C?sar Esteban: The physical and chemical properties of the interstellar medium of the Milky Way (R) ?? - Lisa Fogarty: Kinematics of galaxies using the SAMI Galaxy Survey ?? - Rosa Gonz?lez Delgado: Stellar populations in nearby galaxies using the CALIFA survey ?? - Andrew Hopkins: TAIPAN and the future of IFU studies in the era of panchromatic sky surveys ?? - Lisa Kewley: Scientific highlights of the SAMI Galaxy Survey ?? - Baerbel Koribalski: Diffuse gas around galaxies and current HI surveys (R) ?? - Claudia Lagos: Evolution of molecular and atomic gas and stars in galaxies and scaling relations ?? - Sarah Martell: An introduction to the GALAH (Galactic Archaeology with HERMES) survey ?? - Naomi McClure-Griffiths: Neutral gas within and around the Milky Way (R) ?? - Richard McDermid: A review of extragalactic IFS surveys (ATLAS-3D, CALIFA, SAMI, MANGA) (R) ?? - Martin Meyer: Future Galactic and extragalactic HI surveys ?? - Mercedes Moll?: Chemical evolution models of galaxies including the Milky Way ?? - Molly Peeples: The circumgalactic medium ?? - Jill Rathborne: Star formation in the Milky Way and implications for other galaxies ?? - Sebasti?n S?nchez: Properties of HII regions of galaxies using the CALIFA survey ?? - Evan Skillman: The physical and chemical properties of the interstellar medium of nearby galaxies (R) ?? - Christy Tremonti: Exploring chemical evolution of galaxies with the MANGA survey ?? - Rosemary Wyse: The Structure of the Milky Way (R) In case this is also of your interest, The AAO's International Telescopes Support Office (ITSO) and Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL) are organizing the "2015 Australian Gemini, Magellan, and Keck Science Symposium" the week before the "Multiwavelength Dissection of Galaxies" Conference starts, on? 21 & 22 May 2015. It will be held at the AAO Headquarters in North Ryde, Sydney. There will be no registration fee, and lunch, morning and afternoon teas will be provided. For more details about this Symposium please see http://www.aao.gov.au/conference/itso-symposium-2015 Kind Regards, Angel R. Lopez-Sanchez (SOC chair) ==================================================================================== Dr. Angel R. Lopez-Sanchez Australian Astronomical Observatory and Macquarie University Research Fellow -- 2dF/AAOmega Deputy Instrument Scientist -- AAT Scheduler P.O. Box 915, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia Phone: +61 2 9372 4898, FAX: +61 2 9372 4880 http://oldweb.aao.gov.au/local/www/alopez/ Outreach: http://angelrls.wordpress.com/ @El_Lobo_Rayado ==================================================================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: