DECEMBER 2008 - TOPICS

Short News Eighty Year Anniversary of the Dept. of Physics of the Univ. of Thessaloniki First Direct Optical Detection of an Extrasolar Planet Teaching of Astronomy in High-schools ASTRONET Unveils 20-Year Plan for European Astronomy Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece About this Newsletter

1. SHORT NEWS

We would like to congratulate Dr. Manolis Georgoulis (Johns Hopkins University, USA) who was recently elected as a Researcher C at the Research Center for Astronomy & Applied Mathematics of the Academy of Athens.

2. EIGHTY YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEPT. OF PHYSICS OF THE UNIV. OF THESSALONIKI

The Department of Physics of the University of Thessaloniki, founded in 1928, has reached 80 years of a successful academic life. To celebrate this anniversary a number of activities have been taking place over the past several months, and more are planned in the near future. Of particular interest is an event which will take place on Sunday November 30th at 6:00pm on the grounds of the University. It will commence with a speech of the Chair of the Department Prof. Logothetidis on the history and achievements of the Department of Physics, followed by a presentation of Prof. N. Spyrou on the European Space Agency. The final plenary talk of the evening will be by Dr. G. Reibaldi, Head of Payload Facilities Division of ESA entitled "Human Space Exploration in Europe:The International Space Station and beyond - Achievements and future opportunities for Greece". On the following day, Monday December 1st at 11:30am, there will be an open forum/discussion regarding the possibilities offered by ESA. In the forum they will be present Dr. Reibaldi, Dr. R. Nasca (Head of the Payload Facility Office), Dr. P. Baptista (Greece/ESA Task Force, Head of the office for support to New Member States of ESA) as well as representatives from the greek industry. For more information visit: http://eighty.physics.auth.gr

3. FIRST DIRECT OPTICAL DETECTION OF AN EXTRASOLAR PLANET

A team lead by Paul Kalas (Univ. of California, Berkeley, USA), a member of Hel.A.S., recently reported the first direct imaging of an orbiting extrasolar planet in the optical, using the Hubble Space Telescope. The new planet orbits within the debris disk of Fomalhaut, a young A-type star which has ~2.3 times the mass of our Sun and it is 15 times more luminous. Fomalhaut is located 25 light years away from earth, and the detected planet, called Fomalhaut-b, is estimated to have no more than three times the mass of Jupiter and it orbits around Fomalhaut every 872 years at a distance of 119 astronomical units. For more information view the NASA/ESA press release: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/39/

4. TEACHING OF ASTRONOMY IN HIGH-SCHOOLS

We would like to inform the members of the Society that the persistent and coordinated efforts of the Council and senior members of Hel.A.S. led to a change in the policy of the Ministry of Education in assigning the teachers of the high school course "Elements of Astronomy & Space Physics". Up until now, the course, which is an elective offered to students in the 2nd grade of Lyceum, was taught only by teachers with a BSc in Mathematics. As a result of the efforts of the Society teachers with a BSc in Physics can also be assigned to teach the course. The Council of Hel.A.S. feels that this change will help in improving the quality of the astronomy education offered to the greek high school students. The Society will continue its effort along this lines and will try to convince the Ministry of Education to make the Astronomy course a compulsory course in the high school curriculum. In the process we are collecting statistics on the number of greek high-schools where the course is offered.

5. ASTRONET UNVEILS 20-YEAR PLAN FOR EUROPEAN ASTRONOMY

The ASTRONET network, backed by the entire European scientific community, supported by the European Commission, and coordinated by the CNRS, recently presented its Infrastructure Roadmap which lays out a 20-year plan for the necessary large new front-line research facilities, from gamma-rays to gravitational waves, in space and on the ground. Human ressources, EIT infrastructure, and education and outreach are inclued as well. The report is available at: http://www.astronet-eu.org/IMG/pdf/Astronet-Book.pdf

6. UPCOMING ASTRONOMY MEETINGS IN GREECE

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

Modern Challenges in Nonlinear Plasma Physics - A conference honoring the career of K. Papadopoulos. Sani Resort, Halkidiki, 15-19 June 2009 9th Conference of the Hellenic Astronomical Society Athens, 21-24 September 2009 6th Conference of Greek Amateur Astronomers Alexandroupoli, 25-27 September 2009

7. ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER

This Newsletter was sent to all members of Hel.A.S. who have e-mail access. The next edition of the Newsletter will be mailed around December 20th 2008. Please send your announcements (e.g. appointments/departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before December 15, 2008. 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 inform the Secretary of Hel.A.S.