[ASA] 1st announcement: IUCAA international conference "Stellar Variability: Taking the Pulse of the Universe"

Fri Mar 28 07:40:05 AEDT 2025

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*First Announcement*

**

*IUCAA International Conference*

*"Stellar Variability: Taking the Pulse of the Universe"*

**

*November 24-28, 2025*

*Venue: Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA) 
Pune, Maharashtra, India*

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Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the IUCAA International Conference entitled: 
"Stellar Variability: Taking the Pulse of the Universe", to be held at 
IUCAA, Pune, Maharashtra, India, between November 24-28, 2025.

Stellar variability, both intrinsic as in pulsating stars and extrinsic 
as caused by binary motions, plays a crucial role in a wide range of 
topics in modern astrophysics and near-field cosmology. This conference 
will explore the astrophysics of stellar variability and the use of 
variable stars as stellar population tracers and distance indicators.

It will provide a broad overview of the field as well as bring 
networking opportunities for Indian astronomers with the international 
community to fully exploit the large astronomical datasets from the 
recent and upcoming wide-field variability surveys.

*Important Dates:*

Registration opens: April 10, 2025

Abstract submission deadline: June 15, 2025

Program announcement: July 31, 2025

Registration fee deadline: August 15, 2025

Hotels/Guest House booking deadline: August 15, 2025

Conference starts: November 24, 2025

Conference email: stars at iucaa.in

Conferencewebsite: https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/uLSvCk81N9tqVNjjnc2fvUGCiSO?domain=web.iucaa.in 
<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/uLSvCk81N9tqVNjjnc2fvUGCiSO?domain=web.iucaa.in>

*Confirmed Invited Speakers:***

**

Earl P. Bellinger (Yale, USA)

Aru Beri (IISER, India)

Giuseppe Bono (Rome University, Italy)

Santi Cassisi (INAF Teramo, Italy)

Gisella Clementini (Bologna, Italy)

Laurent Eyer (Geneva, Switzerland)

Caroline Huang (CfA Harvard, USA)

Željko Ivezić (University of Washington, USA)

Barry Madore (Carnegie, USA)

Amanda Karakas (Monash Uni., Australia)

Barry Madore (Carnegie, USA)

Marcella Marconi (INAF-OACN, Italy)

Clara E. Martínez-Vázquez (NOIRLab, USA)

László Molnár (Konkoly Obs., Hungary)

Joe P. Ninan (TIFR, India)

Grzegorz Pietrzyński (CAMK, Poland)

Zdeněk Prudil (ESO, Germany)

Saurabh Sharma (ARIES, India)

Dorota Skowron (Warsow Uni, Poland)

*SOC:***

**

Marina Rejkuba (ESO, Germany; Co-Chair)

Devendra K. Ojha (TIFR, India; Co-Chair)

Anupam Bhardwaj (IUCAA, India; Co-Chair)

Richard de Grijs (Macquarie Uni., Australia)

Jessy Jose (IISER, India)

Shashi Kanbur (SUNY Oswego, USA)

Noriyuki Matsunaga (Tokyo Uni., Japan)

Matteo Moneli (INAF-OAR, Italy)

Jeewan C. Pandey (ARIES, India)

Vincenzo Ripepi (INAF-OACN, Italy)

T. Sivarani (IIA, India)

Annapurni Subramaniam (IIA, India)

Robert Szabo (Konkoly Observatory, Hungary)

*LOC:*

Anupam Bhardwaj, Susmita Das, Prashant Nishad, IUCAA Standing LOC

*Scientific Rationale:*

Massive time-domain astronomical surveys in the last decade have 
revolutionised our knowledge of the properties, physical nature, and the 
very existence of several differentclasses of variable stars known to 
date. Stellar variability, both intrinsic as in pulsating stars and 
extrinsic as caused by binary motions, plays a crucial role in a wide 
range oftopics in modern astrophysics and near-field cosmology. Variable 
stars have been extensively used to explore various aspects of 
star-planet formation and evolution, applied to Galactic and 
extragalactic archaeology studies and have played the key role in 
establishing the cosmic distance scale. Thanks to wide-field variability 
surveys (e.g. Gaia, TESS, OGLE, ASAS-SN, CRTS, ZTF, VVV , VMC), the 
numbers of variable stars have increased exponentially, providing both 
opportunities for new discoveries as well as challenges associated with 
dealing with a plethora of data. The latest Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) 
has published light curves of more than 10 million variable sources and 
DR4, expected in late 2026, will increase the number statistics by at 
least a factor of two.  At the same time, Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s 
Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will have started operations 
further expanding the parameter space for multi-wavelength variable 
stars studies to fainter magnitudes and larger distances. Stellar 
variability studies will undoubtedly be at their zenith in the next few 
years making this conference very timely.

The conference will explore the astrophysics of stellar variability and 
the use of variable stars as stellar population tracers and distance 
indicators. It will provide the opportunity for young researchers to get 
a broad overview of this exciting field, and connect Indian astronomers 
with the international community providing new networking opportunities 
to fully exploit these unprecedentedly large astronomical datasets on 
the horizon.

Topics to be covered:

  * Stellar variability across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
  * Stellar evolution and Pulsation physics - structure and atmospheric
    dynamics
  * Stellar models and numerical simulations
  * Stellar multiplicity – binary stars and physical parameter
    determinations
  * Galactic archaeology and near-field cosmology with variable stars
  * Extragalactic distance scale with variable distance indicators
  * Upcoming large surveys and observational facilities for variable
    star research

Please forward this announcement to your colleagues who may be 
interested in this conference.

Best regards,

Marina Rejkuba, Anupam Bhardwaj and Devendra Ojha
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