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