| JANUARY 2021 - TOPICS |
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- Short News
- Amendment to the Constitution of the Society
- Extraordinary General Assembly of HelAS
- Monthly Colloquium of HelAS
- The 2021 "Best PhD thesis Prize - Emilios Harlaftis"
- Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece
- About this Newsletter
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| 1. Short News |
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The Governing Council (GC) wishes to all members of HelAS a Happy, Healthy and Productive NEW YEAR 2021! The GC looks forward to working hard and taking initiatives that will improve the services of the Society to all members, as well as continuing to contribute towards the advancement of astrophysics and space science in Greece.
We would like to congratulate Mr. Konstantinos Kovlakas, who recently defended successfully his PhD at the Univ. of Crete. His thesis was entitled "Populations of ultraluminous X-ray sources in nearby galaxies" and it was completed under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Zezas. Dr. Kovlakas will be moving to a postdoctoral researcher position at the Univ. of Geneva (Switzerland) in early January 2021. The Society extends its best wishes for further success in his professional pursuits.
We would like to congratulate Mr. Konstantinos Kouroumpatzakis, who recently defended successfully his PhD at the Univ. of Crete. His thesis was entitled "Measuring star-formation rates in galaxies and their correlation with X-ray emission" and it was completed under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Zezas. The Society extends its best wishes for further success in his professional pursuits.
We would like to congratulate Prof. Manolis Plionis, who was recently reelected to the position of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Observatory of Athens. The Society extends its best wishes for further success in his professional pursuits.
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| 2. Amendment to the Constitution of the Society |
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The Governing Council (GC) of HelAS, during its meeting on December 10 2020, completed all preparatory work regarding the amendment of the Constitution of the Society. The purpose of this amendment is to address primarily a) the difficulties of voting for the election of the GC by surface mail and b) to explicitly clarify several issues that had been identified by past GCs and General Assemblies. The proposed modifications and relevant explanations are available (in Greek) in the minutes of the GC.
Moreover, the GC decided to hold an informal online meeting on Monday January 11, 2021 at 12:00 in order to provide detailed information on the amendment. All members who wish to express their thoughts and suggestions on the proposed new Constitution are encouraged to attend. We expect that this meeting will facilitate the final decision to be taken by the General Assembly of the Society. The connection details follow:
Informal Discussion on the Constitution of the Society
Monday, 11 January 2021 at 12:00
ZOOM link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89507938714?pwd=K0VXaUdmeWxicGJoSWsrQnZoU2UyQT09
Meeting ID: 895 0793 8714 and Passcode: 148477
Written suggestions may also be sent by e-mail to the Secretary of the Society, Dr. C. Gontikakis.
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| 3. Extraordinary General Assembly of HelAS |
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The Governing Council of HelAS, during its meeting on December 10 2020, decided to call for an Extraordinary General Meeting on Monday, January 25, 2021 at 12:00. The only item in the Agenda is the amendment of the Constitution of the Society. The connection details follow:
Extraordinary General Assembly of HelAS
Monday, 25 January 2021 at 12:00
ZOOM link
https://zoom.us/j/91726013445?pwd=V0h1M2R1THdqZmk5U3J6d2pybUZvdz09
Meeting ID: 917 2601 3445 and Passcode: 847414
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| 4. Monthly Colloquium of HelAS |
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We are happy to announce that the January 2021 colloquium speaker is Prof. Dimitra Rigopoulou. As usual, videos of all past colloquia are available in the Youtube channel of the Society. Details of the upcoming colloquium follow:
4th Monthly Colloquium of HelAS - 12 January 2021
"Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons with the James Webb Space Telescope: what can we learn from them?"
by
Prof. Dimitra Rigopoulou (Oxford University, UK)
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 at 18:00
Click for ZOOM link
(Meeting ID: 929 5853 0892 and Passcode: 386799)
Abstract: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are complex organic molecules forming on dust grains through condensation. They are usually excited by UV photons from stars and have long been used as tracers of the star forming activity in galaxies near and far. However, the chemical pathways leading to their formation (and destruction) are extremely complex and not very well understood by astronomers. In this talk I will first review the use of PAH as tracers of star formation, gas mass and/or the conditions of the interstellar medium. In an effort to shed new light on the diagnostic role of PAHs, we have initiated a new research program employing theoretically computed spectra of PAHs and examined into their properties in more detail. Our results are a taster of the vast possibilities for PAH science with the James Webb Telescope over the next couple of years.
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| 5. The 2021 "Best PhD thesis Prize - Emilios Harlaftis" |
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We would like to remind all our members that applications for the "2021 Best PhD thesis Prize - Emilios Harlaftis" are now open. They are restricted to Junior members of the Society, who have successfully defended their Ph.D. thesis between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020. The application deadline is January 31, 2021. Additional information is available here. Please consider nominating all recent PhDs whose work you consider of high quality.
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| 6. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece |
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| 7. About this Newsletter |
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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 February 1, 2021. Please send your announcements (e.g., appointments / departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before January 25, 2021. 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. at secretary@helas.gr.
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