MARCH 2010 - TOPICS

Short News Upcoming Elections of the Governing Council of Hel.A.S. Proceedings of the 9th Conference of Hel.A.S. Job Opening SAO Predoctoral Fellowships The 2010 NEON Observing School Summer School on Multiwavelength Astronomy Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece About this Newsletter

1. SHORT NEWS

We would like to congratulate Dr. Thanassi Katsiyanni, who has recently been promoted to Associate Researcher (rank C') at the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the National Observatory of Athens. We would like to congratulate Prof. Paul Kalas, who has recently been awarded the 2009 Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for the most outstanding paper published in Science between June 1, 2008, and May 31, 2009. The paper of Prof. Kalas and his collaborators was on the first optical imaging, using the Hubble Space Telescope, of a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut. Founded in 1848, the AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and the publisher of Science.

2. UPCOMING ELECTIONS OF HEL.A.S.

The deadline for nominations of candidates for the new Governing Council of Hel.A.S. was February 28th. The following members of Hel.A.S. were nominated and have accepted to be candidates for the corresponding positions in the upcoming elections: Candidate for President: Kylafis Nikos, Professor, Dept. of Physics, University of Crete Candidates for the Governing Council (6 elected): Anastasiadis Anastasios, Researcher A, Institute of Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens Apostolatos Theocharis, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Athens Boumis Panayiotis, Researcher B, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Observatory of Athens Efthymiopoulos Christos, Researcher B, Research Center for Astronomy and Applied Mathematics, Academy of Athens Papadakis Iosif, Associate Professor, Dept. of Physics, University of Crete Tsiropoula Georgia, Researcher B, Institute of Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens Vlahakis Nektarios, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Athens Vlahos Loukas, Professor, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Thessaloniki Candidates for Auditors (3 elected): Katsiyannis Athanassios, Researcher C, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Observatory of Athens Tsiganis Kleomenis, Lecturer, Dept. of Physics, University of Thessaloniki Zezas Andreas, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics, University of Crete Ballots and instructions on how to vote will be sent to all members within a month but one can always vote by attending the General Assembly which will take place during the elections on June 21th 2010. Please check your postal address listed in the online directory of Hel.A.S. to ensure that it is correct. If you spot a mistake please contact the Secretary of the Society immediately. Note that you must have paid your past membership fees, including the year 2009, in order to be eligible to vote.

3. PROCEEDINGS OF THE 9th CONFERENCE OF HEL.A.S.

The proceedings of the 9th Astronomy Conference of the Hel.A.S., 20-24 Sept. 2009 in Athens are already in press. Once they are printed, they will be distributed directly to all registered participants of the Conference. Their reference details are as follows: Advances in Hellenic Astronomy during the IYA09, eds. K. Tsinganos, D. Hatzidimitriou, T. Matsakos, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, Volume Number: 424, ISBN: 978-1-58381-728-5, e-Book ISBN: 978-1-58381-729-2, LCCN: 2010901981, pages 515, (2010).

4. JOB OPENING

A new position at the level of "Assistant Professor" in the field of "Theoretical Astrophysics" has opened at the Department of Physics of the University of Crete (F.E.K. 77/09-02-2010). The application deadline is April 23, 2010. Note that this is an additional position to the one already advertised in the February 2010 newsletter with a deadline of March 26, 2010 (F.E.K. 10/15-01-2010). For more information please contact the Secretariat of the Department, Mrs A. Armenaki-Koutendaki, phone: +30 2810 394308.

5. SAO PREDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

Started in 1985, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) Predoctoral Programhas welcomed graduate students from universities around the world interested in carrying out all or part of their research under the guidance of SAO Scientists. The 2010 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) Predoctoral Program invites applications from current graduate students pursuing thesis research in astrophysics or related fields. Applicants in theory, observation, instrument development, or laboratory experiments at a university or college are strongly encouraged to apply. Online applications are due by April 15, 2010, 17:00 GMT. For more information visit: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/opportunities/fellowships/predoc/ The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics creates a rich environment for collaborations among future colleagues by bringing together over 300 SAO scientists across a broad spectrum of scientific endeavors in nearly all areas related to astronomy, including: atomic and molecular physics, geophysics and atmospheric physics, the solar system, solar physics, planetary systems, the interstellar medium, stars and star formation, supernovae, compact objects, galaxies, extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. Facilities include the MMT Observatory, Magellan, and other optical and infrared telescopes; radio telescopes, especially the Submillimeter Array on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; a large Beowulf cluster and network of workstations; a number of specialized laboratories; an outstanding library system; and access to data from a wide range of space missions, especially the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

6. THE 2010 NEON OBSERVING SCHOOL

The Network of European Observatories in the North (NEON) is happy to announce the organisation of a New Series of Schools, under the auspices of Opticon. The NEON consortium has been enlarged and the participating observatories are now: Asiago Observatory (Italy), Calar Alto Observatory (Germany-Spain), European Southern Observatory (ESO-Garching), Haute-Provence Observatory (France), and La Palma observatories (UK-Netherlands- Nordic Countries-Spain). The purpose of the school is to provide opportunity to gain practical observationnal experience at the telescope, in observatories with state of the art instrumentation. To this effect, the school proposes tutorial observations in small groups of 4 or 5 students, under the guidance of an experienced observer, centered around a small research project and going through all steps of a standard observing program. Some introductory and complementary lectures will be given by experts in the field. The 2010 NEON School will take place at Calar Alto Observatory (Andalucia, Spain) from June 16 to 28, 2010. The registration deadline is March 28, 2010. For more information visit: http://www.iap.fr/neon/ProgramNeon10.html

7. SUMMER SCHOOL ON MULTIWAVELENGTH ASTRONOMY

The European Union FP7/ITN network "Black Hole Universe" is pleased to announce a 2-week summer school in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, entitled the "Second Summer School on Multiwavelength Astronomy". The school will be held on the Science Park Campus of the University of Amsterdam and will span two weeks, with each week roughly focused on radio and X-ray/gamma-ray analysis, respectively. The program will include a mixture of lectures as well as practical, hands-on data analysis sessions (using, for example, AIPS, CASA, ISIS, XSPEC). The school will also include some science talks and complementary skills training. Priority will be given to hands-on sessions performing real data-analysis. The audience targeted by the school is primarily PhD students, but we will consider admitting a few early-stage postdocs. The housing costs will be subsidized for all students, however fuller financial support will be provided for a limited number of PhD students. The deadline for receipt of admission and financial aid applications, and letters of reference, is midnight (CET) on 22 March, 2010. For more information visit: http://www.black-hole.eu/mwschool2

8. 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.

High Time Resolution Astrophysics in the era of Extremely Large Telescopes Aghios Nikolaos, Crete, 5-7 May 2010 Astronomy with Megastructures Aghios Nikolaos, Crete, 10-14 May 2010 Recent Developments in Gravity (NEB-14) Ioannina, 8-11 June 2010 Nonlinear Dynamics and Complexity: Theory, Methods and Applications Thessaloniki, 12-16 July 2010 Binary Star Evolution: Mass Loss, Accretion, and Mergers Mykonos, 22-25 June 2010 Challenges in Infrared Extragalactic Astrophysics II Crete, 27 September - 1 October 2010 High Energy View of Accreting Objects: AGN and X-ray Binaries Crete, 5-14 October 2010

9. 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 April 1st 2010. Please send your announcements (e.g. appointments/departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before March 25, 2010. 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.