Hel.A.S. Newsletter 80 - October 2004


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                       HELLENIC ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
                           ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER
             NUMBER 80                              October 2004

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  E-mail: elaset@astro.auth.gr      WWW: http://www.astro.auth.gr/elaset
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  TOPICS:

  1. Short News
  2. Job opening
  3. Technical "first light" for Aristarchos on Mt Helmos
  4. English-Greek Dictionary of Astronomical terms
  5. Year-book of Greek astronomers 2005
  6. Grand Challenge Problems in Computational Astrophysics
  7. Vatican Observatory 2005 Summer School
  8. The ESO "Catch a star!" project
  9. About this newsletter
  

  1. SHORT NEWS
  -------------

    Professor John Hadjidemetriou, one of the founders of Hel.A.S.,  
  a member of its first Council and a University teacher of many 
  members of the Hel.A.S., including members of the present council, 
  has retired from the University of Thessaloniki. He received his 
  PhD from the University of Manchester and became a Professor at the 
  University of Thessaloniki in 1970. 
  Professor Hadjidemetriou is a prominent figure in the field of Dynamics 
  in Greece and abroad. He chaired the "Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical 
  Astronomy" Commission of the IAU between 2000-2003 and he is Associate 
  Editor of the international journal "Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical 
  Astronomy" since 1993. He has written a large number of scientific 
  articles, he has participated in a large number of conferences and his 
  students will remember his superb educational abilities. We are sure 
  that the Greek astronomical community will benefit from his ideas and 
  work for many years to come.

    Dr. Olga Malandraki has received a travel award by (a) the American 
  Geophysical Union (AGU) to participate to the AGU Chapman Conference 
  on "Solar Energetic Plasmas and Particles" in Turku, Finland (2-6 August, 
  2004) and (b) by the International Astronomical Union (IAU)  to 
  participate at the IAU Symposium 226 on "Coronal and Stellar Mass 
  Ejections" in Beijing, China (13-17 September, 2004).


  2. JOB OPENING
  --------------

    An Associate Professor position in the field of "Space Electrodynamics" 
  has opened at the Section of Telecommunications and Space Science of 
  the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Democritus 
  University of Thrace. The application deadline is October 31, 2004. 
  For more information you may contact the Secretariat of the department 
  at +30-25410-79018 and +30-25410-79035.


  3. TECHNICAL "FIRST LIGHT" FOR ARISTARCHOS ON MOUNT HELMOS
  ----------------------------------------------------------	 	

    The first star images with ARISTARCHOS were taken on the 15th of 
  September 2004. They are the picture of alpha Aql (Altair, approx. 1st 
  magnitude) and the Dumbbell nebula M27 with a white dwarf in the middle. 
  You may see them, along with the project milestones in the sites:  
                     
  http://www.zeiss.de/astro, http://www.astro.noa.gr/ASC_2.3m/ngt_main.htm

  Further planned activities include implementation of the pointing model 
  and refraction control and the correct alignment of the azimuth and 
  focus control.


    4. ENGLISH - GREEK DICTIONARY OF ASTRONOMICAL TERMS (E-G DAT)
  -------------------------------------------------------------

    Hel.A.S. is starting a new project concerning the correct translation 
  of scientific terms in Astronomy and related fields which are useful to 
  the scientific community in Greece. The President of Hel.A.S. Prof. P. 
  Laskarides notes that "as an examiner on numerous M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses 
  I have witnessed the difficulty that many graduate students have with the 
  correct translation of the English terms. In most cases their own 
  supervisors didn’t bother or they had not puzzled themselves in trying to 
  find the proper Greek word for some very common English term and they use 
  directly the English term in their papers and in their oral presentations. 
  But the graduate students have the problem, since they have to write their 
  theses in Greek". 
     The E-G DAT is consisting of two parts. The first part is the chat page, 
  which you can find in the HelAS page at the Internet. The second part is the 
  living dictionary, which will be posted later in the same page, when enough 
  terms are gathered to justify it. You can reach the first part at : 
 
                   http://www.astro.auth.gr/elaset/greekdict/

  Call it and ask your question or suggest your translation in the previous 
  questions. All contributions will be referred in the main dictionary. 
  This will be a long term program and we ask your help for its success.  


   5. YEAR BOOK OF GREEK ASTRONOMERS 2005
  ---------------------------------------

    HelAS is attempting a new edition of the Year Book (Epetirida) of Greek 
  Ph.D’s in Astronomy and related fields, living in Greece or abroad. 
  The first edition was published by the National Committee for Astronomy 
  back in 1992 and it has proven very useful. In this new edition we shall 
  try to include as many scientists as possible (of course not only the 
  members of HelAS) and their whereabouts. You can find the questionnaire in

    http://www.astro.auth.gr/elaset/forms/STENCIL_2005.doc 

  and you have to complete as many boxes as you want, but we shall definitely 
  want to have the present occupation and present job address and e-mail. 
  A recent photograph will be desirable. Please, return the questionnaire 
  by e-mail to plaskar@phys.uoa.gr with the subject Epetirida or Year Book, 
  (to make sure that it is not a spam).


  6. GRAND CHALLENGE PROBLEMS IN COMPUTATIONAL ASTROPHYSICS
  ---------------------------------------------------------

   The Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics at the Univ. of
  California at Los Angeles (UCLA) will be sponsoring a program
  entitled "Grand Challenge Problems in Computational Astrophysics."
  The duration of the whole program is from March 7 to June 10 2005
  and it consists of tutorials, numerous seminars, and four major
  workshops:

   -  Tutorials: March 8-11, 2005 
   a. Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics: April 4-9, 2005
   b. N-Body Problems in Astrophysics: April 18-22, 2005
   c. Relativistic Astrophysics: May 2-6, 2005
   d. Transfer Phenomena: May 16-22, 2005

   Full and partial support for long-term participants is available.
  Support for individual workshops will also be available, and may be
  applied for through the online application for each workshop.
  Funding for participants is available at all academic levels, though
  recent PhD's, graduate students, and researchers in the early stages
  of their career are especially encouraged to apply. For more
  information visit: 
	      http://www.ipam.ucla.edu/programs/pca2005/


  7. VATICAN OBSERVATORY 2005 SUMMER SCHOOL
  -----------------------------------------

    The Vatican Observatory has announced the 2005 Summer School in
  Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics which will take place from
  12 June to 8 July 2005, at Castel Gandolfo, in Rome, Italy. This
  years theme is "Astrobiology: The Search for our Origins and Life
  Elsewhere". Two lectures will be given each morning, with evening
  seminars by the Vatican staff and visiting astronomers. During the
  course of the school, students will also present a short paper on
  their research or the research of their home institution. Other
  activities will include laboratory exercises, use of the Observatory
  computers for data reduction and image processing, and use of
  astronomical databases.

    There will also be opportunities for observations with on-site 40
  cm refractor and 60 cm reflector telescopes. Field trips to visit
  sites of historical interest to astronomy will be included. In
  addition to the principal topics presented by the invited faculty,
  students will have the opportunity to discuss their own research
  with members of the faculty and with the observatory staff. No
  formal course credits will be given, but a certification of
  satisfactory completion of the course will be supplied.

    The deadline for application is 15 December 2004 and financial
  assistance is available. For more information visit:
       http://clavius.as.arizona.edu/vo/R1024/VOSS2005.html


  8. THE ESO "CATCH A STAR!" PROJECT
  ----------------------------------

    A project entitled "Catch a star!" conceived to stimulate the
  interest of young people in various aspects of science, is sponsored
  for a third year by the European Space Observatory. Groups of up to
  three students and one teacher may collect information about a
  specific object from different sources and write a report about
  it. A number of prizes will be offered by ESO to the best
  reports. The deadlines for registration is December 10, 2004 and for
  delivery of the report is January 10, 2005. For more information
  visit: 
        http://www.eso.org/outreach/eduoff/edu-prog/catchastar/


  9. ABOUT  THIS NEWSLETTER 
  ------------------------

   This Newsletter was edited by Vassilis Charmandaris and Kanaris
  Tsinganos. It was forwarded to the 240, out of the 259, members of
  Hel.A.S. who have e-mail access.

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

                       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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