From christopher.onken at anu.edu.au Wed Feb 27 20:57:52 2019 From: christopher.onken at anu.edu.au (Christopher Onken) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2019 09:57:52 +0000 Subject: [ASA] SkyMapper DR2 Message-ID: Dear colleagues, the SkyMapper Team is pleased to announce that Data Release 2 (DR2) from the SkyMapper Southern Survey is now available for use by Australian astronomers at http://skymapper.anu.edu.au. DR2 covers nearly the entire Southern sky in the six SkyMapper filters (uvgriz), and totals more than 4.7 billion detections from over 120,000 images, including the first deeper images from the Main Survey. In the i and z filters, the vast majority of the hemisphere has at least the initial set of Main Survey visits. DR2 also incorporates significant improvements in photometric calibration. The individual detections have been merged into a mean photometry catalogue of over 500 million unique objects. These objects have been pre-matched against a variety of external catalogues (Gaia, Pan-STARRS1, and more). Catalogue access (through Cone Search and TAP/ADQL) and image cutouts are available via the SkyMapper node of the All-Sky Virtual Observatory (ASVO) and with tools like TOPCAT and Aladin (see http://skymapper.anu.edu.au/how-to-access/). Australian astronomers initially have exclusive access to DR2, after which the data will become available to researchers worldwide. Please also note the authorship and publication policy for DR2 data, available at http://skymapper.anu.edu.au/policies. More information on the survey and DR2 are available at the website. Future data releases will incorporate even deeper coadded images, 2D PSF fitting, and further refinement of the photometric calibration. Access to the SkyMapper Southern Survey has been provided through a LIEF grant from the Australian Research Council. The SkyMapper ASVO node received grant funding from the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) program via Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL). Feedback, questions, and bug reports may be directed to skymapper at anu.edu.au - Christopher Onken, on behalf of the SkyMapper Team -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Shivani.Bhandari at csiro.au Wed Feb 27 21:08:25 2019 From: Shivani.Bhandari at csiro.au (Shivani.Bhandari at csiro.au) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2019 10:08:25 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Second announcement - special session on FRBs at EWASS 2019 Message-ID: <1551262105086.46716@csiro.au> ?Dear colleagues,? We are pleased to announce the special session "Fast Radio Bursts: recent results and focus for the future", to take place during the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Lyon, France, on 24 June 2019. The topics that will be covered by this session include: * Results from FRB surveys: High to low frequencies * How best to find FRBs? * Recent upgrades to facilities and instrumentation * Emission mechanisms and progenitor theories * Are there multiple FRB populations? * Multi-wavelength synergies and follow-up strategies For more information on the session see: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/JQ9YCJyp0qhWGO6mcVBCGi?domain=eas.unige.ch We welcome applications for contributed talks and posters. The abstract submission is open and you can submit your abstract here. The deadline for abstract submission is 03, March 2019. We apologise if you receive this email more than once. We look forward to see you in Lyon! Manisha Caleb on behalf of the SOC: Evan Keane Ben Stappers Anastasia Fialkov -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: SS24_ewass2019.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 563912 bytes Desc: SS24_ewass2019.pdf URL: From lee.spitler at mq.edu.au Thu Feb 28 10:55:02 2019 From: lee.spitler at mq.edu.au (Lee Spitler) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2019 23:55:02 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Macquarie Huntsman low surface brightness postdoc available In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear ASA Colleagues, Applications are now being accepted for a 2-year postdoctoral position at Macquarie University to work with Huntsman, a Canon lens array located at Siding Spring Observatory: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/vedJC1WZXriAPqO4cLLJ3J?domain=huntsman.space The low surface brightness optimized telescope is collecting data to address various scientific goals: * Galaxy formation and evolution, including stellar disk formation * Galaxy growth through the assembly of satellite galaxies * Mitigating and understanding gas turbulence in the Galactic interstellar medium * Understand the relationship between stellar and cold neutral hydrogen gas assembly Details about the position are available on the AAS job register: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/85reC2xZYvC2B86YU1YQih?domain=jobregister.aas.org Applications will be accepted from until 31 March: http://jobs.mq.edu.au/cw/en/job/505318/postdoctoral-research-fellow Please circulate to potential applicants that you might know. Thanks! Cheers, Lee -- Lee Spitler Senior Lecturer Macquarie University Sydney, Australia P: +61 (2) 9850 4161 www.physics.mq.edu.au aao.mq.edu.au -- Lee Spitler Senior Lecturer Macquarie University Sydney, Australia P: +61 (2) 9850 4161 https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/zQzMC3Q8Z2Fgy2xkF2uB_b?domain=huntsman.space physics.mq.edu.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From caroline.foster at sydney.edu.au Thu Feb 28 22:18:41 2019 From: caroline.foster at sydney.edu.au (Caroline Foster) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2019 11:18:41 +0000 Subject: [ASA] ESO Users Committee feedback invitation In-Reply-To: <201902261247.x1QClJB8023585@usg4.hq.eso.org> References: <201902261247.x1QClJB8023585@usg4.hq.eso.org> Message-ID: Dear fellow astronomers, Please find forwarded below an invitation to fill the annual ESO Users Committee poll. If you have used ESO data or applied for ESO telescope time recently, please take a moment to fill it in and give us your feedback. This is one of the main avenues we collect our users opinions and is greatly helpful in preparing our annual report. Best regards, Caroline (your ESO UC representative) ? Dr Caroline Foster ASTRO3D Fellow & ESO Users Committee Representative The University of Sydney Faculty of Science, Sydney Institute for Astrophysics 360B, A28 | The University of Sydney | NSW | +61 286 276 411 | +61 430 453 532 caroline.foster at sydney.edu.au | www.carofoster.com Office days: Monday (@USyd), Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (@USyd) INSPIRED ? the Campaign to support the University of Sydney sydney.edu.au/inspired 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 email if necessary. Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: > Date: 26 February 2019 at 23:47:19 AEDT To: > Subject: ESO Users Committee feedback invitation Dear user, The ESO Users Committee (UC) represents La Silla Paranal and ALMA users and advises ESO on matters concerning the scientific access to, as well as use, operations, and performance of its facilities (telescopes, instruments, archive, data reduction and operation tools, etc). Due to new data-protection policy your personal contact information will not be any more shared with the UC members. Hence this invitation to participate in the UC Users Poll is being sent out by ESO. The survey is anonymous and can be accessed at the following URL until 18 March 2019: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/LC2tC5QZ29FPrKgjIOUWHX?domain=eso.org The UC Poll is completely independent from ESO. ESO grants to the UC the use of the server, but ESO has not taken part in the design of the survey nor does it have access to any of the answers. The Poll closing date of March 18th will allow the UC to analyse the results and prepare a report in preparation for the yearly meeting at ESO in April 2019. Should you wish to provide further information to the UC, you are welcome to contact your UC representative. The list of the current UC members is available here: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/kfJuC6X13Rt649VOTm18VE?domain=eso.org Best regards, Marina Rejkuba ESO User Support Department Head Contact for the User Committee matters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuart.ryder at astronomyaustralia.org.au Fri Mar 1 11:51:30 2019 From: stuart.ryder at astronomyaustralia.org.au (Stuart Ryder) Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2019 11:51:30 +1100 Subject: [ASA] ESO Period 104 Call for Proposals Message-ID: <000501d4cfc8$e8b98c30$ba2ca490$@astronomyaustralia.org.au> ESO Period 104 Call for Proposals The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released the Call for Proposals for Period 104 (for observations between 1 October 2019 - 31 March 2020). Under the terms of the Strategic Partnership between ESO and Australia, Australian-based astronomers have access to the facilities of the La Silla and Paranal Observatories, specifically the: * 3.6-m telescope; * New Technology Telescope (NTT); * Very Large Telescope (VLT); * Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI); * Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA); and * VLT Survey Telescope (VST). The proposal deadline is Thursday 28 March 2019 at noon Central European Time (10pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time, 7pm Australian Western Standard Time). Complete details on how to apply can be found at https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/k-g8Cp8AJQtgn5MBhPOsRa?domain=eso.org. All applicants should consult the Call for Proposals document for Period 104 , and will require an ESO User Portal account to submit proposals. A wealth of information for Australian applicants can be found on AAL's Australian ESO Forum. Check out the ESO Blog post by Swinburne PhD student Colin Jacobs on his experiences observing at Paranal, as well as recent posts from our STC representative Mike Ireland and UC representative Caroline Foster . The ESO Collaboratory is open to enable users to share and discuss ideas for collaborative proposals. Registration is now open for the ESO workshop on "The VLT in 2030 ", to be held in Garching from 17-21 June 2019. Australian users of the VLT are strongly encouraged to attend this pivotal meeting to help shape the future operations and instrumentation complement of the VLT/I in the era of ESO's Extremely Large Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescope. Given the demand for the new Narrow Field AO mode of MUSE, and commitment of Guaranteed Time Observations in P104, the oversubscription for MUSE on UT4 is likely to remain extremely high for some time. Potential users of MUSE are therefore encouraged to consider whether other ESO instruments with lower demand may enable their science needs to be met. For instance KMOS on UT1, X-Shooter on UT2, and SPHERE on UT3 all offer an IFU capability, often with a smaller field of view but also a larger wavelength range than MUSE. What's new in Period 104? Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the expected changes in instrumentation offered and procedures for Period 104 given in Sec. 1.1 of the Call for Proposals. Among the items likely to be of most interest to the Australian community are: * Institutional codes updated: The list of recognised Australian institutes and their codes to be used in preparing Phase 1 proposals with the ESOFORM package has been significantly revised. All Australian users who intend to participate in a P104 proposal should first login to their User Portal account, go to the "Manage Profile" section, and check/update their institutional affiliation from the drop-down menu. If your institution does not appear in the list, please select "Other" then contact the Observing Programmes Office (opo at eso.org ) to have your institution added. * No Large Programme proposals accepted in P105: From Period 104, Large Programme proposals will only be accepted once per year during even Periods. Large Programme observations can start in either Period 104 or Period 105, but can only extend up to Period 107 at most. * Restrictions on Large and Monitoring Programmes: New Large and Monitoring Programmes are offered on the VLTI using either the ATs or the UTs for GRAVITY , MATISSE and PIONIER . Normal, Monitoring and Large Programme proposals will be accepted for OmegaCAM on VST and VIRCAM on VISTA without restrictions on atmospheric conditions, lunar phase or RA range, with both instruments expected to be available until Period 107. Large Programmes are not offered for EFOSC2 or SOFI on the NTT since these instruments are expected to be decommissioned in upcoming Periods for the installation of SOXS . * Impending changes in instrument availability and performance: * NACO and SINFONI will be decommissioned in Period 103 and are therefore not offered. * VISIR is offered with restrictions on the Cassegrain focus of UT4 during the first half of Period 104. It is expected to be back at the Cassegrain focus of UT3, with all functionalities, during the second half of Period 104, following its use for the New Earths in the Alpha Cen Region (NEAR ) experiment on UT4. * The Nasmyth A focus of UT1 is available as of mid-November 2019 for a Visitor Instrument, while the Cassegrain focus of UT3 will be available during the first half of Period 104. Interested users are invited to consult the Visitor Focus instructions . * The performance of ESPRESSO in 4-UT mode is expected to improve following an intervention in April 2019. * Full characterisation of the performance and operational requirements of MUSE + GALACSI in Narrow Field Mode will be improved during Period 103. All other MUSE modes are available for Large Programmes. * Observing at La Silla: There is a minimum length of three nights for runs to be executed with La Silla telescopes. On the NTT, users can apply for combined runs using both EFOSC2 and SOFI. The total duration of each of these runs must be at least three nights. The combined runs must be requested using the instrument name "SOFOSC". Designated Visitor Mode (DVM) at La Silla is offered on a best-effort basis. If you would like to use DVM on either the 3.6-m telescope or the NTT you are requested to contact opo at eso.org well before the proposal submission deadline. * Duration of one night: Proposers are reminded that one night in Visitor Mode is defined to be 8 hours in even Periods and 10 hours in odd Periods on all ESO telescopes. * Lunar Phase: Proposers should note that setting the Moon requirement to 'n' in Box 3 of the ESOFORM Phase 1 proposal form means 'no Moon restriction' rather than 'no Moon'. Proposers must instead set the Moon requirement to 'd' if they require dark time. * Observing mode on the VLT: Departures from the observing mode requested by the proposers may be implemented by ESO so as to achieve a balanced distribution between Service Mode and Visitor Mode. Visitor mode runs are encouraged for those users who have never visited Paranal, even if the observations are straightforward. Users should make use of Box 8b of the ESOFORM Phase 1 proposal form to justify their preferred mode or why an alternative mode should also be considered. ______________________________ Dr. Stuart Ryder Program Manager (Mon, Wed, Fri) Astronomy Australia Ltd. T: 02 9850 9372 F: 03 9214 4396 E: stuart.ryder at astronomyaustralia.org.au W: www.astronomyaustralia.org.au P: P.O. Box 2100 Hawthorn VIC 3122 O: Rm 2.613, Level 2, 7 Wally's Walk (E6B), Macquarie University, NSW 2109 AAL is committed to equity and diversity and endeavours to create an environment in which every individual is treated with dignity and respect. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 1036 bytes Desc: not available URL: