| AUGUST 2010 - TOPICS |
- Short News
- The new Governing Council of Hel.A.S.
- Hel.A.S. 2010 Annual Membership Fee Due
- OPTICON 2011A Call for Observing Proposals
- Total Solar Eclipse at Easter Islands
- ESA Postdoctoral Fellowships in Space Science
- The AstroMundus programme
- Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece
- About this Newsletter
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| 1. SHORT NEWS |
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The new issue of Hipparchos, Vol. 2, Issue 7, was distributed to the participants of the the 28th General Assembly of HelAS and has been mailed to all members. Check your mailboxes!
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| 2. THE NEW GOVERNING COUNCIL OF HEL.A.S. |
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The first meeting of the new Governing Council (GC) of Hel.A.S. took place on July 9, 2010 under the presidency of Prof. N. Kylafis. The GC appointed Prof. L. Vlahos as the vice president of the Society, Prof. I. Papadakis as the Secretary, and Prof. Vlahakis as the Treasurer. Prof. Vlahos will be the new editor of Hipparchos, with the assistance of Dr. Efthymiopoulos, and Dr. Tsiropoula. The new editor of the monthly electronic newsletter will be the Secretary Prof. Papadakis with the assistance of Prof. Charmandaris. Dr. Anastasiadis, with the assistance of Prof. Charmandaris, will be the person in charge of the web page of the Society. A number of other issues were discussed during the meeting and all members are encouraged to review the minutes which will soon be available online at the end of the web page:
http://www.helas.gr/council.php
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| 3. HEL.A.S. 2010 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE DUE |
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We would like to remind all members of Hel.A.S. that the deadline for the payment of the 2010 Annual Membership Fee is August 31, 2010. All members of the Society who have not yet paid their Membership Fee for the past year should do so as soon as possible. Members who wish to receive an invoice in order to charge their membership to a grant may request one from the Treasurer, Prof. N. Vlahakis (treasurer@helas.gr).
As it has been mentioned in the past, the preferred method of payment is online via the secure server of the Bank of Pireaus, using a credit card or a direct bank transfer. For more details on this, as well as information on other methods of payment, please review the payment form listed bellow, or contact the Treasurer:
http://www.helas.gr/forms/dues.pdf
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| 4. OPTICON 2011A CALL FOR PROPOSALS |
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OPTICON, a European commission project supported under the 7th framework programme, operates trans-national access programme providing access to a suite of European medium sized night time telescopes. A call for the 2011A semester is now open with a closing date of 1 September 2010. Proposals will be ranked by scientific merit and the ranked list will be allocated based on scientific merit and operational constraints (including the available budget). As in the past, proposers supported under the scheme will be granted funds to travel to the telescopes to take up their observing time. The normal rules regarding nationality of the proposal teams will still apply. These rules can be found via the OPTICON pages. More information is available online at:
http://www.astro-opticon.org/fp7/tna/opticon_call.html
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| 5. TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE AT EASTER ISLANDS |
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On Sunday July 11 2010, a total solar eclipse, the only one of the year, was visible from South Pacific. Two expeditions from Greece took the long trip to experience the event and perform measurements during the totality. One was at the Easter island and it was manned by two members of Hel.A.S. Prof. J. Seiradakis (Univ. of Thessaloniki) and Dr. T. Economou (Univ. of Chicago, USA) , as well as by A. Voulgaris, a gifted amateur astronomer from Thessaloniki who built a spectrograph which monitored the iron and magnesium emission from the solar corona during the totality. A second expedition was headed by Prof. X. Moussas (Univ. of Athens) and it was stationed at the island of Mangaia. More information on the eclipse is available online at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_July_11,_2010
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| 6. ESA POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN SPACE SCIENCE |
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The European Space Agency awards several postdoctoral fellowships each year. The aim of these fellowships is to provide young scientists, holding a PhD or the equivalent degree, with the means of performing space science research in fields related to the ESA Science Programme. Areas of research include planetary science, astronomy and astrophysics, solar and solar-terrestrial science, plasma physics and fundamental physics. The fellowships have a duration of two years and are tenable at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, Netherlands, or at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Villafranca del Castillo, near Madrid, Spain. Applications are now solicited for fellowships in space science to begin in the summer or fall of 2011. Preference will be given to applications submitted by candidates within five years of receiving their PhD. Candidates not holding a PhD yet are encouraged to apply, but they must provide evidence of receiving their degree before starting the fellowship. The deadline for applications is 1 October 2010. Questions on the scientific aspects of the ESA Fellowship Programme in Space Science not answered in the above pages can be sent by e-mail to the fellowship coordinator, Dr. Guido De Marchi, at the address fellowship@rssd.esa.int. For more information visit:
http://www.rssd.esa.int/fellowship
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| 7. THE ASTROMUNDUS PROGRAMME |
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AstroMundus is a 2-years Erasmus Mundus Masters Course (120 ECTS) in Astronomy and Astrophysics offered by a consortium of 5 partner universities in 4 different countries: Austria, Italy, Germany, and Serbia. Its main objective is to provide top-ranked students with an excellent background in Astrophysics, to introduce them to the world of modern astrophysical research, and foster their future career in this field. AstroMundus students carry out their master studies in at least 2 and up to four of these countries, in a stimulating and scientifically excellent international environment. The official language of the course is English, but students are given the possibility to learn the languages of the host countries by attending language courses at the partner universities. Successful students will be awarded a Joint Master Degree by all partner universities they have visited during the Master studies. For European students the registration fee is 1500 euros per semester. For more information visit:
http://www.astromundus.eu/
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| 8. UPCOMING ASTRONOMY MEETINGS IN GREECE |
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The following meetings will take place in Greece. Please check the corresponding web page or contact the organizers by e-mail for more information.
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| 9. 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 September 1st 2010. Please send your announcements (e.g. appointments/departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before August 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.
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