Ενημερωτικό Δελτίο 72 - Φεβρουάριος 2004


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                       HELLENIC ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
                           ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER
             NUMBER 72                              February 2004

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  E-mail: elaset@astro.auth.gr      WWW: http://www.astro.auth.gr/elaset
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  TOPICS:
  
  1. Forthcoming Elections of Hel.A.S. - Nominations of Candidates of the G.C. 
  2. Short News
  3. The Most Relativistic Binary Pulsar Is Also The First Double Pulsar!
  4. Priorities for Astronomy in Europe
  5. Article on Development of Astrophysical Research in Greece
  6. IKY Fellowships
  7. Symposium on "The Future of Life and the Future of Our Civilization"
  8. The Astronomical Society of Halkida Seminars
  9. Upcoming Astronomy meetings in Greece
  10. About this newsletter.

 
 1. FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS OF THE Hel.A.S.- NOMINATIONS FOR CANDIDATES OF THE G.C.
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    This coming June 21st (2004) the General Assembly of HelAS will meet to 
  elect its officers for the period 2004-2006. Nominations for candidates of  
  the Governing Council can be sent to the Secretary of Hel.A.S. till 
  February 29, 2004. Further information can be found in the web page: 

    http://www.astro.auth.gr/elaset/events.html 

 2. SHORT NEWS
 -------------

  - The 26th newsletter of the European Astronomical Society is now
  available online at:
            http://www2.iap.fr/eas/newsletters.html
 
  - We would like to congratulate Dr. Olga Malandraki who was awarded
 a 2003-2004 Post-Doctoral Fellowship on Astronomy by the State
 Scholarships Foundation (I.K.Y.). The title of the project is
 "Analysis and interpretation of simultaneous measurements from the
 international space missions CLUSTER, ULYSSES and ACE".


 3. THE MOST RELATIVISTIC PULSAR IS ALSO THE FIRST DOUBLE PULSAR!
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   An international team of radio pulsar observers led by Marta Burgay
 (Bologna) have recently discovered a unique double neutron star
 system using the Parkes radio telescope in Australia. PSR J0737-3039
 has proved to be not only the most relativistic binary pulsar known
 in the Galaxy (exceeding the famous Hulse-Taylor system), but also
 the very first double eclipsing pulsar discovered in the Galaxy. The
 implications of this discovery for understanding pulsar
 magnetospheres, for testing general relativity, and for assessing the
 detectability of gravitational waves from double neutron star
 in spirals are tremendous. Dr Vicky Kalogera (Northwestern), a
 member of Hel.A.S., in collaboration with her graduate student
 Chunglee Kim, D. Lorimer (Manchester) and the discovery team of the
 binary pulsar have recently found that at the 95% confidence level
 the first generation of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors
 could register a double neutron star in spiral in one or two years of
 operation.  More information from the general press on this topic is
 available at:
	http://www.astro.northwestern.edu/Vicky/Press/
   The relevant refereed publications can be found at 
	http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0312071 
	http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0312101 
	http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0312426
	http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0401086


 4. PRIORITIES FOR ASTRONOMY IN EUROPE
 -------------------------------------

   The Council of the European Astronomical Society has taken the
 initiative to collect national documents on priorities in astronomy,
 to compile them, and assemble them in a document providing an
 overview of the situation of astronomy in Europe.  This document,
 entitled: "Priorities in Astronomy: An overview of national planning
 documents" and it's preliminary form is available at:

  http://www2.iap.fr/eas/priorities.html

   The document is being circulated among the community (in particular
 the national societies) for corrections and comments, and will be
 replaced by its final form as soon as available.


 5. ARTICLE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASTROPHYSICAL RESEARCH IN GREECE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------

   We would like to draw your attention to an interesting article by
 S. Kitsionas, (IAA-NOA, kitsiona@astro.noa.gr) which appeared in the
 last issue of Hipparchos (Issue 13, December 2003), entitled
 "Important Basic Necessities for the Development of Astrophysical
 Research in Greece".

   The full article is available online from the web server of Hel.A.S
 at : http://www.astro.auth.gr/elaset/newsletters.html

   A brief summary follows:

   The increased number of postdoctoral positions offered the last few
 years by research programmes funded jointly by the EU and the Greek
 state has increased the opportunities of young Greek astronomers to
 work in their home country rather than abroad. It has also lead to
 the creation of new research teams in several academic/research
 institutes. However, due to the lack of a modern legislative
 framework covering the employment of postdocs in Greece, postdoctoral
 researchers get distracted by a considerable amount of
 bureaucracy. Moreover, the postdoctoral positions are offered through
 competitive project proposals, a process which is not just requiring
 extensive paperwork but also cannot guarantee continuous employment
 of postdocs (not necessarily the same individuals) in research teams
 and thus, the survival of these teams in time. I propose a discussion
 within our professional body (HEL.A.S.) for the compilation of a
 proposals portfolio that will be then be brought to the government's
 attention through the GNCA (preferably in collaboration with
 committees of other scientific disciplines), aiming to the
 establishment of rolling grants for each astronomy group that will
 provide funding for a number postdoctoral positions per group. I also
 propose the introduction of a) PhD student funds that will cover the
 funding of student travel annually to conferences (for all students)
 which is highly important for student training and b) a new GNCA
 account for the funding of travel within Greece when important new
 developments need to be announced to the Greek Astronomical
 community, allowing all astronomy groups to hold regular seminar
 series.

 6. IKY FELLOWSHIPS
 ------------------
   The National Scholarship Foundation (I.K.Y.) has announced the
 2004-2005 program for graduate student and postdoctoral scholarships
 in Greece as well as abroad. The written examinations for the graduate
 student scholarships are expected to take place in Athens (Arsakeion
 School at Psychiko) some time in April. You may retrieve additional
 information and application forms from the web site of I.K.Y. and
 more specifically at: http://www.iky.gr/scholarships/ellines/
 
   The 20th of February is the deadline for applications for this 
 year's fellowships. Our young HelAS members may apply to one 
 of the following positions :   

   Graduate studies in Greece (Metaptyxiaka esoterikou) :
    -Astrophysics (1)
    -General Theory of Relativity (1)
    -Space environment (1)

   Graduate studies abroad (Metaptyhiaka exoterikou) 
    -Astronomy (1) 


 7. SYMPOSIUM ON THE FUTURE OF LIFE AND THE FUTURE OF OUR CIVILIZATION
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    A symposium on "The Future of Life and the Future of Our
 Civilization" dedicated to the memory of Carl Sagan and Joseph
 Shklovsky will take place at the Aristotle University of
 Thessaloniki, between February 28 - March 6, 2004. For more
 information visit:

	     http://www.lifeciv.future2.ru/

   This will be the second symposium about the future. The first one
 "The Future of the Universe and the Future of Our Civilization" was
 held in Roland Eotvos University of Budapest and Debrecen
 headquarters of Hungarian Academy of Sciences in July of 1999 year. 

 8.  THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF HALKIDA ASTRONOMY LECTURES 
 ----------------------------------------------------------

   The Astronomical Society of Halkida announces its second series of Astronomy 
 lectures which will take place on Sundays at 6.30 pm in a room of the City Hall 
 of Halkida, as follows : 

 1.  25-1-2004, A. Antoniou, The Sun, the Star of the Day, Structure and Evolution
 2.  08-2-2004, S. Tsantilas, Variable Stars
 3.  21-3-2004, K. Gazeas, Eclipes
 4.  28-3-2004, N. Mihelis, Astronomical Observation, Instruments and Techniques
 5.  09-5-2004, M. Danezis, New Horizons in Cosmology. 

   For infornmation contact ananton@phys.uoa.gr, or call (22210)-82185 and 43760, 
 (22220)-24482, 6974827592. 


 9. UPCOMING ASTRONOMY MEETINGS IN GREECE
 ----------------------------------------

   The following meetings will take place in Greece in the coming
 months. Please check the corresponding web pages or contact the
 organizers by e-mail for more information.


                         *************************

      ''The Environments of Galaxies:from Kiloparsecs to Megaparsecs"
 		       Chania, Crete 9-13 August 2004
                                                 
                             More information at: 
             http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/conferences/crete2004/

                         *************************

 
 10. ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
 -------------------------

   This Newsletter was edited by Vassilis Charmandaris and Kanaris
 Tsinganos. It was forwarded to the 228, out of the 253, members of
 Hel.A.S. who have e-mail access.

   The next edition of the Newsletter will be mailed around March 1st
 2004. Please send your announcements (e.g. appointments/departures,
 job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece)
 or comments before February 25, 2004. All correspondence concerning
 the Newsletter should be addressed to:

          elaset@astro.auth.gr and tsingan@phys.uoa.gr

   If you do not wish to receive future issues of this Newsletter or the
 e-mail address to which it was sent is not your preferred one, please
 let us know.

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