From kate.gunn at sydney.edu.au Wed Jul 26 15:34:42 2017 From: kate.gunn at sydney.edu.au (Kate Gunn) Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2017 05:34:42 +0000 Subject: [ASA] ACAMAR SKA Fellowships and SKA PhD Scholarships - call for applications (deadline 25 Sept) Message-ID: <21BF42965AE9384093D6B6112ACD9CDD01377EC281@ex-mbx-pro-01> Please circulate this email to potential applicants for the ACAMAR SKA PhD Scholarship and SKA Fellowship Scheme. ACAMAR SKA PhD Scholarship Scheme ACAMAR and CAASTRO are delighted to offer China SKA PhD scholarships and PhD travel scholarships to selected Australian universities and research institutes. These scholarships, of which up to 20 per year are available, are funded by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and managed by the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. There will be two rounds per year, although only one round for the full 4-yr scholarships. This scheme is open to students of Chinese nationality up to 35 years old. This scholarship round will fund visits of up to 2 years to Australian universities and research institutes (including CSIRO). The PhD student is required to be enrolled in China at one of: the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University, Nanjing University or the University of Science and Technology of China at Hefei. The student may also enrol at a suitable host University in Australia (which requires a prior bilateral agreement to be in place). The CSC will provide a AUD$20,700 pa living allowance for up to 2 years in Australia and return travel. http://acamar.org.au/phd-scholarship-program/ ACAMAR SKA Fellowship Scheme ACAMAR and the NAOC will co-fund at least one ACAMAR SKA Postdoctoral Fellow to be based at an Australian university or research institute for up to 2 years. The recipient of the Fellowship will be a Chinese national and needs to be affiliated with one of: the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University, Nanjing University or the University of Science and Technology of China at Hefei. Applicants need to identify their research plan and the name(s) of the proposed supervisor/mentor in Australia. http://acamar.org.au/ska-fellowship-scheme/ TIMELINE 25 September 2017 Deadline for receipt of applications and references December 2017 Results announced The following round (which will include full 4-yr scholarships) will close around 10 February 2017. KATE GUNN | Chief Operating Officer CAASTRO | School of Physics | Faculty of Science | ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics Rm 356 Building A28 | School of Physics The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 T +61 2 9351 2893 | M +61 411 466 080 Email kate.gunn at sydney.edu.au W http:// www.caastro.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tara at physics.usyd.edu.au Thu Jul 27 11:27:41 2017 From: tara at physics.usyd.edu.au (Tara Murphy) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 11:27:41 +1000 Subject: [ASA] Second Announcement: Science at Low Frequencies IV - deadline extended Message-ID: Dear colleagues, we have extended the registration and abstract submission deadlines for Science at Low Frequencies IV: *Abstract submission: August 25th* *Registration deadline: October 27th* We welcome collaboration updates from all low frequency telescope collaborations. If you would like to book a room to run a collaboration meeting, workshop, or breakout session, please let me know. Note that the MWA Project Meeting and Board meeting will be held on the 11th and 12th of December, see the MWA website for more information: http://www.mwatelescope.org/team/project-meetings/179-sydney-2017-project-meeting Tara ????? *SCIENCE AT LOW FREQUENCIES IV* * UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY* http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/salf_iv Main Conference: December 13th - 15th 2017 Optional Workshops: December 12th A slew of new radio telescopes, as well as substantial upgrades to existing facilities, has led to an explosive growth in capability at low radio frequencies. This increase in capability is driving exciting progress over a range of fields, including high redshift 21-cm signatures of cosmic dawn and the epoch of reionization, pulsars and transients, planetary and exoplanetary magnetospheres, sky surveys, space weather and the Sun, cosmic rays and the ionosphere. We are happy to welcome you to the fourth edition of Science at Low Frequencies, to be held in Sydney in December 2017. This meeting will provide a forum to share and discuss early science results and techniques, as well as to plan a coordinated path forward to next generation facilities. *Confirmed Invited Speakers:* Gianni Bernardi - SKA SA & Rhodes University Poonam Chandra - National Centre for Radio Astrophysics George Heald - CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science Masafumi Imai - The University of Iowa Andre Offringa - Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) Elaine Sadler - The University of Sydney Tessa Vernstrom - University of Toronto Laura Wolz - The University of Melbourne Scientific Organising Committee Chair: Tara Murphy Local Organising Committee Chair: Christene Lynch *Please see the conference website to register:* http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/salf_iv/ -- A/PROF TARA MURPHY | ARC Future Fellow Sydney Institute for Astronomy | School of Physics | Faculty of Science THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Room 358, Physics Building A28 The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 T +61 2 9351 3041 E tara at physics.usyd.edu.au http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~tara https://www.coursera.org/learn/data-driven-astronomy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From scott.croom at sydney.edu.au Thu Jul 27 12:16:36 2017 From: scott.croom at sydney.edu.au (Scott Croom) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 02:16:36 +0000 Subject: [ASA] SAMI Galaxy Survey data release 1 now available. Message-ID: Dear all, It is a pleasure to announce that the SAMI Galaxy Survey Data Release 1 is now available. This includes data for 772 galaxies including value-added products. The data are released through the AAO?s ASVO node, Data Central, at http://datacentral.aao.gov.au/asvo/surveys/sami/. Further information can be found at http://arxiv.org/abs/1707.08402 and https://www.aao.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/scientists-unveil-new-3D-view-of-galaxies. We encourage the community to make use of this data for their science. Best regards, Scott Croom (on behalf of the SAMI Galaxy Survey Team) The SAMI Galaxy Survey is based on observations made at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. The Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) was developed jointly by the University of Sydney and the Australian Astronomical Observatory. The SAMI input catalogue is based on data taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the GAMA Survey and the VST ATLAS Survey. The SAMI Galaxy Survey is funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), through project number CE110001020, and other participating institutions. The SAMI Galaxy Survey website is http://sami-survey.org/ . ------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROFESSOR SCOTT CROOM Sydney Institute for Astronomy School of Physics | Faculty of Science THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Rm 351, School of Physics, A28 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 T +61 2 9036 5311 | F +61 2 9351 7726 E scott.croom at sydney.edu.au | W sydney.edu.au/science/people/scott.croom CRICOS 00026A This email plus any attachments to it are confidential. Any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please delete it and any attachments. Please think of our environment and only print this e-mail if necessary. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From angel.lopez-sanchez at aao.gov.au Thu Jul 27 13:43:41 2017 From: angel.lopez-sanchez at aao.gov.au (Angel Lopez-Sanchez) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 13:43:41 +1000 Subject: [ASA] =?utf-8?q?First_Announcement_-_=22ESO/NEON_Observing_Schoo?= =?utf-8?q?l_at_La_Silla=22_--_Santiago_and_La_Silla_Observatory=2C_Chile?= =?utf-8?q?=2C_February_18_-_March_2=2C_2018?= Message-ID: <6ed-59796180-1f-61c03e0@178264795> Hi all, I just received the announcement of this very interesting Observing School at ESO Chile (Santiago + La Silla Obs.) during the second half of February 2018. I think this will be very interesting for many of us. Cheers, Angel R. Dr. Angel R. Lopez-Sanchez Astronomy Research Fellow & Science Communicator KOALA Instrument Scientist Australian Astronomical Observatory and Macquarie University 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 *************************************************************************************************** First announcement ESO/NEON Observing School at La Silla Santiago and La Silla Observatory, Chile, February 18 - March 2, 2018 http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/2018/lasilla_school2018.html Conference email: lasilla_school2018 at eso.org Organizers: ESO, Opticon *************************************************************************************************** Rationale During two weeks of intense work the participants will have the chance to have hands-on real-life experience on the full cycle from proposal preparation to data reduction. Participants will be divided in 5 groups of 4. During the whole school, each group will be guided by a tutor and possibly by a tutor assistant. The school is preferentially targeted to PhD students, advanced MSc's and more senior PostDocs. Applicants should fill in the registration form and arrange for a reference letter to be sent by either their advisor or head of department to lasilla_school2018 at eso.org, indicating clearly the name of the student. The application will not be considered complete until the reference letter is received. After a preparatory work done at the ESO Headquarters in Chile, where the students will have lectures on the basics of observing techniques and how to prepare observations for ESO telescopes, the group will go up to the La Silla Observatory for three nights of observations with the ESO NTT and the Danish 1.54-m telescopes. Back in Santiago with the data in hand, the participants will reduce and analyse their datasets. While having lectures on hot-topics of present day astrophysics, the teams will prepare their presentation of their results to the ESO audience. Additional training on aspects of career development is also foreseen. *************************************************************************************************** Important Deadlines Registration deadline: October 15, 2017 Outcome of the selection process: November 15, 2017 Arrival in Chile: Feb 18, 2018 School starts: Feb 19, 2018 End of School: March 2, 2018 *************************************************************************************************** From m.ashley at unsw.edu.au Thu Jul 27 15:07:43 2017 From: m.ashley at unsw.edu.au (Michael Ashley) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 15:07:43 +1000 Subject: [ASA] AST3-2 0.5m Antarctic telescope, optical g-band images, raw data release Message-ID: <20170727050743.GG3134@mcba> Dear colleagues, It is my pleasure to announce the availability of ~15TB of raw image data obtained with the Chinese AST3-2 telescope during 2016, supported by NCRIS funding through AAL. AST3-2 is a 0.5m aperture optical telescope at Dome A, Antarctica (80.37S, 77.53E, 4093m altitude). It uses a Semiconductor Technology Associates CCD with 10,560 x 5,280 pixels covering a FOV of 4.3 square degrees at a scale of 1 arcsec/pixel. The telescope has a fixed Sloan g-band filter. The images include observations of: - a 500-field supernova survey - 10 fields near the South Ecliptic Pole in common with TESS - one field in the Large Magellanic Cloud - ESO141G55: a varying AGN; continuous 60 sec exposures over 2 hours - continuous 10 sec un-tracked exposures of a field near the South Celestial Pole (Dec -87) - twilight frames - engineering tests Note that the images are raw at this stage - a formal data release of reduced images is planned on a time scale of a year. The raw images will mostly be of interest to people who would like to participate in the early exploration of the data, and to prepare for 2017 and later data releases. If you wish to publish papers using the data you should first engage with the AST3 consortium to check publication rules and to ensure that you aren't conflicting with an existing project. Projects currently being undertaken with 2016 and 2017 AST3-2 data include: - exoplanet transits - supernovae, including spectra taken with WiFeS on the ANU 2.3m - observations of Beta Pic - pulsating variables and binaries - asteroseismology of red giants - Proxima Cen B - stellar flares - a study of the varying AGN ESO141G55 - characterisation of the seeing at Dome A using precision astrometry The data are primarily interesting since they are largely unaffected by diurnal aliasing, and should allow quite precise photometry (resulting from low airmass variations, low scintillation noise, and low water vapour absorption). AST3-2 is taking images throughout 2017, and we will release these after the disks are returned from Antarctica. If you have a target in mind for 2017, please email me. To obtain a copy of the raw 2016 data on 2 hard disks, please email me. Best regards, Michael Ashley -- Professor Michael Ashley Department of Astrophysics University of New South Wales http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mcba From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Thu Jul 27 16:47:43 2017 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 06:47:43 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Gemini Instrument upgrades RfP announcement 2017 In-Reply-To: <3E5F0F82-F51C-4587-A369-29B3E7DE1F27@gemini.edu> References: <3E5F0F82-F51C-4587-A369-29B3E7DE1F27@gemini.edu> Message-ID: <7A608903-E9E9-4A87-858C-486B693C19E8@sydney.edu.au> At Gemini Observatory we remain committed to keeping our operational instrumentation competitive and serving the needs of our user community. Every year since 2015 we request for the community to send us instrument upgrade proposals. This year Gemini is seeking to award one or more contracts to perform instrument upgrades with a total budget of 600,000 USD. The baseline plan is to fund one small project (~100,000 USD) and one larger project (~500,000 USD), but other combinations are possible depending on the proposals received. This year Gemini will make available, at its own expense, a Teledyne HAWAII-4RG detector and controller package for any team wishing to use it in its proposed upgrade. Gemini is looking for projects providing new or enhanced scientific capability to one of Gemini?s existing facility instruments. The solicitation is a Request for Proposals (RFP), issued on July 24, 2017. A pre-proposal conference will be held via videoconference on or about August 21, 2017. Specific agenda and video conference connection details will be provided in the RFP webpage. RFP Documents and related information are available on the 2017 IUP website: http://www.gemini.edu/sciops/future-instrumentation/rfpiup2017 Contracts can be awarded to profit or nonprofit institutions or companies within the nations that fund the Gemini Observatory (regular or limited term participants). Gemini will accept proposals from individuals outside the partnership who have experience in using the instrument or significant experience in designing/building a Gemini instrument. Small businesses, minority-owned firms, and women?s business enterprises that meet the minimum qualifications are encouraged to apply. Proposals will be evaluated with evaluation factors provided in the RFP. If a submitted proposal does not include what is required in the solicitation, it will be considered an unresponsive proposal and will not be evaluated for award. Notices of Intent to submit a proposal are due September 14, 2017. The deadline for proposals will be October 5, 2017. All responsible sources may submit a proposal, which shall be considered by AURA if received timely. AURA expects to begin contract negotiations with the selected team(s) in November, 2017. To receive updates, notices, and amendments to the RFP, please provide contact information including an email address to Karen Godzyk (RFPIUP at gemini.edu). ??????? Dr Lucyna Kedziora-Chudczer Research Fellow School of Physics and Astrophysics UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia Ph: +61 2 9385 4593 ????????????????????????? "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept? ????????????????????????? ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JOHN O?BYRNE Associate Dean (Student Life), Faculty of Science Secretary, Astronomical Society of Australia Inc. Sydney Institute for Astronomy School of Physics | Faculty of Science THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Rm 205, Physics Building A28 Postal address: School of Physics | The University of Sydney | NSW | Australia | 2006 T +61 2 9351 3184 | F +61 2 9351 7726 E john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au | W http://sydney.edu.au/science/people/john.obyrne CRICOS 00026A This email plus any attachments to it are confidential. Any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please delete it and any attachments. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From k.williams at sydney.edu.au Thu Jul 27 18:28:04 2017 From: k.williams at sydney.edu.au (Kylie Williams) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 08:28:04 +0000 Subject: [ASA] ACAMAR 3 - Abstract Deadline 31 July 2017 Message-ID: A final reminder that the abstract submission deadline for the 3rd Australia-China Workshop on Astrophysics (ACAMAR 3) is Monday 31 July 2017. The Workshop will be held from 18-20 September 2017 at the Wrest Point Conference Centre, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. To register and submit your abstract please visit our website: http://www.caastro.org/event/2017-acamar3 or click the Registration link The focus of this workshop will be Antarctic astronomy, low-frequency radio astronomy, ASKAP/FAST/SKA, and optical instrumentation. The workshop will also build on the relationships and outcomes of the previous workshops in the series. A highlight of the workshop will be the conference dinner at MONA on Tuesday 19 September which includes ferry transfers along the Derwent River and a private viewing of the museum. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. [cid:image001.png at 01D30706.15987EB0] KYLIE WILLIAMS | Events and Communications CAASTRO | School of Physics | Faculty of Science | ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics Rm 352 Building A28 | School of Physics The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 T +61 2 9114 2183 | F +61 2 9114 2195| M +61 478 404 619 Email k.williams at sydney.edu.au W http:// www.caastro.org Please note: I am in the office Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (9:00am - 5:30pm) and Wednesday (9:00am - 2:00pm) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 129700 bytes Desc: image001.png URL: From Paul.Francis at anu.edu.au Fri Jul 28 16:31:42 2017 From: Paul.Francis at anu.edu.au (Paul Francis) Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2017 06:31:42 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Call for SSO 2.3m Proposals Message-ID: Dear Observer, The closing date for observing proposals for time on the ANU/RSAA 2.3m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) in the quarter 1st November 2017 - 31st January 2018 is 23:59 August 15, 2017. Instruments available: Nasymth A: WiFeS Nasymth B: Imager or echelle. Observing proposals must be submitted electronically via the RSAA web pages. Full instructions are available at http://rsaa.anu.edu.au/observers/observing-rsaa. Note - there are also still unsubscribed nights in the August-October quarter - see the schedule at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/rsaa/observing/schedules/spring17.html Please email tacinfo at mso.anu.edu.au if you would like to apply for some of the unscheduled nights. *************************** PLEASE NOTE *********************************** The ANU 2.3-metre telescope at Siding Spring Observatory is scientifically productive and a valuable resource for student training and instrument development. These diverse and significant benefits justify its continued operation for the foreseeable future. The full cost to the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) of operating the 2.3m telescope (including staff, maintenance and repairs) corresponds to approximately $1200 per night. To defray this cost, RSAA is offering priority on the 2.3m telescope to paying customers from Australia and elsewhere, while simultaneously ensuring a level of open access to astronomers at all Australian institutions. 30% of the telescope time will be allocated to paid priority proposals, which will need to contribute $400 per night towards the running costs of the telescope. The remaining 70% of the time is open-access and remains free. To be eligible to apply for open-access time, 50% or more of the proposers must be based at Australian institutions. There is a new LaTeX form, which asks you to list how many priority (paid) and open-access (free) nights you are requesting. PLEASE USE THE NEW FORM (or copy the two extra LaTeX lines into your old proposal). In future years the price of a priority night will increase and the fraction of open-access nights will decrease. Full details can be found at http://rsaa.anu.edu.au/observers/observing-rsaa/applying-time-rsaa-telescopes The latest information on using the telescope and its instruments can be found at http://rsaa.anu.edu.au/observers/obsering-rsaa. *************************************************************************** If you have questions or technical problems in using the web-based submission process, please email tacinfo at mso.anu.edu.au. Paul Francis Chair, ANU TAC ============================= 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 2601 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 daniel.zucker at mq.edu.au Fri Jul 28 17:26:36 2017 From: daniel.zucker at mq.edu.au (Daniel Zucker) Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2017 17:26:36 +1000 Subject: [ASA] *Save the Date*: 2017 ASA Diversity in Astronomy Workshop, 28 - 29 September, Macquarie University, Sydney Message-ID: <8923ff6b-ebd6-6fde-10f4-51deab50f5d6@mq.edu.au> Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to announce the next ASA Diversity in Astronomy Workshop, to be held September 28-29 on the campus of Macquarie University in Sydney. The workshop website at https://tinyurl.com/astrodiversity2017 will be updated very shortly with more information and a link for registration. We will be in contact soon with more details - for any queries, please e-mail the LOC at astrodiversity2017 at gmail.com Best regards, Daniel Zucker and Joanne Dawson, on behalf of the Organising Committee -- Daniel Zucker Associate Professor Macquarie University / Australian Astronomical Observatory daniel.zucker at mq.edu.au +61 (02) 9850 4442 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: