Division H Interstellar Matter and Local Universe

News

New Division H working group on the Galactic Center

2016-06-27:

Recently a Working Group on the Galactic Center has been formed; it is the only Working Group within Division H at the moment. It will serve to facilitate scientific discussion, coordinate multi-wavelength observing campaigns, and to foster collaborations in theoretical research on the central few hundred parsecs of our Galaxy. The working group represents an effort over the last two decades to keep Galactic Center astronomers in close contact and to ensure that the trend of international Galactic Center symposia held every three years remains a priority in our active community. More information can be found on the Div H WG The Galactic Center page, or obtained from Cornelia Lang.

First announcement of IAU Symposium 334: Rediscovering our Galaxy

2016-06-30:

We would like to draw your attention to the IAU Symposium:

IAUS 334: Rediscovering our Galaxy,

which will take place July 10th-14th, 2017 in Potsdam, Germany. We hope you are interested in the topic and consider participation. Abstract submission will open soon. More details are given below.

Scientific Rationale: The field of Galactic Archaeology is quickly transforming. While there are many Symposia organized each year on different sub-topics, we instead aim for one that keeps the big picture in mind: our developing understanding of the Milky Way as a complete system, including all tracers and all of its components. The topic of IAUS 334 is timely in that it coincides with a transformation in the field of Galactic Archaeology in the next couple of years due to the expected avalanche of data from new and ongoing spectroscopic and photometric surveys, Asteroseismology, and the first Gaia data releases. These big datasets will form an excellent playground on which to build the most refined models of our Galaxy. The Symposium will focus on what we have learned thus far and will put forward new directions in Galactic Archaeology that will help fine-tune the observational strategies of the major Gaia follow-up spectroscopic surveys WEAVE and 4MOST.

For a more detailed list of topics, please, take a look at the Symposium website: iaus334.aip.de

Important dates:

Opening of registration: 15 August 2016
Closing of registration: 1 December 2016
Abstract Submission deadline: 9 January 2017
IAU Travel grant application deadline: 1 March 2017
Early registration fee payment deadline: 15 March 2017
Late registration fee payment deadline: 15 June 2017

SOC: Cristina Chiappini (Chair), Ivan Minchev (Co-Chair), Else Starkenburg (Co-Chair), Beatriz Barbuy, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Antony Brown, Raffaele Gratton, Vanessa Hill, Steven Majewski, Francesca Matteucci, Andrew McWilliam, Andrea Miglio, Julio Navarro, Birgitta Norström, Patricia Whitelock, Rosemary Wyse, Gang Zhao, Manuela Zoccali

LOC: Marica Valentini (Chair), Friedrich Anders, Katrin Böhrs, Harry Enke, Janine Fohlmeister, Rainer Franke, Diana Johl, Kerstin Mork, Petra Nihsen, Christiane Rein, Kristin Riebe, Gabriele Schönherr, Antje Timmermann

Venue: The Symposium will take place at our historical site of Telegrafenberg (The Albert Einstein Science Park), Potsdam, Germany. This is a historic hill in Potsdam that once housed the main Prussian observatories. On this site, you can still find the 19th century refractor as well as the famed and architecturally revered “Einstein Tower” designed by E. Mendelsohn.

Website: iaus334.aip.de

Contact: Cristina.Chiappini@aip.de, iausloc@aip.de

Initial announcement of IAU Symposium 332: Astrochemistry VII - Through the Cosmos from Galaxies to Planets

2016-06-27:

The 7th International Astronomical Union Symposium on Astrochemistry, IAUS332: Astrochemistry VII – Through the Cosmos from Galaxies to Planets, will be held in Puerto Varas, in Chile, from 20 - 24th March 2017.

This meeting is part of a series that has followed the development of astrochemistry as a discipline, from its roots in the surprising discovery of the molecules ammonia, carbon monoxide, water and formaldehyde in the interstellar medium between 1968 and 1970, to the more than 150 molecules that we know today. Molecules are now essential tools for understanding star formation and the evolution of the interstellar medium, from nearby star formation regions to the earliest times in the evolution of the Universe.

The study of astrochemistry has become an important branch of modern astronomy and astrophysics. Molecules are key tools in exploring topics such as star and planet formation, mass loss mechanisms in late-type stars, the origin and evolution of interstellar dust grains, the structure of the interstellar medium in galaxies and the origin of protogalaxies in the early Universe.

Facilities such as the Herschel Space Observatory, ALMA, NOEMA, Rosetta and SOFIA are producing results that provide information on densities, temperatures, excitation mechanisms and dynamics in interstellar gas that lead to new research areas such as the habitability of exoplanets, the origin of prebiotic chemistry and astrobiology. At the same time as new observational facilities and instruments are revealing new views of our molecular universe, there has been a concerted effort among physical chemists to provide the large amount of fundamental data required to interpret these observations.

The active synergy between astronomical observation, laboratory experiment and theoretical modelling has been reinforced at the latest General Assembly by the creation of a new IAU Commission (B5) on Laboratory Astrophysics, of which laboratory astrochemistry is a component.

This meeting is the seventh in a series to discuss far-infrared and submillimeter emission of the interstellar medium from the Milky Way and other galaxies.

In this meeting we hope to bring together the diverse scientific community that now investigate molecules in the interstellar medium, from the laboratories that measure rest frequencies on Earth through to the theorists who show that molecular transitions observed at high redshift can tell us about the fundamental constants of the Universe, and whether they are indeed changing (or not). And of course, everything in between.

Please see our initial IAUS 332 website for more information: http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/IAUS332/

To register your interest in this meeting, please send an email to maria.cunningham@unsw.edu.au. You will then receive regular updates on the meeting.