FEBRUARY  2022 - TOPICS

Short News Elections of Hel.A.S. Elections of an EAS Councilor EAS Membership & EAS Meeting in Valencia (Spain) A guide for graduate studies in Astrophysics: in Greece and beyond Satellite constellation and Solar observations Monthly Colloquium of Hel.A.S. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece About this Newsletter

1. Short News

We would like to remind our members that the deadline of abstract submission for the upcoming COSPAR meeting in Athens, in which several members of our Society are directly involved, is February 11, 2022. More information is available at: https://www.cospar-assembly.org/user/mypapers.php?log=1 We would like to congratulate Dr. Maria Koutoulaki who recently moved to a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leeds. The Society extends its best wishes for further success in her professional pursuits. The Institute of Astrophysics at FORTH is reporting that Dr. Carolina Casadio, a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. K. Tassis, has been awarded an ERC - Starting Grant entitled "SMILE: Search for Milli-lenses to discriminate between dark matter models". As a result a number of postdoctoral and PhD student positions are expected to open in the summer and early fall 2022. Moreover, according to greek legislation Dr. Casadio will obtain a permanent researcher position at the Institute of Astrophysics at FORTH. All members are encouraged to review the minutes of the 13th, 14th and 15th meetings of the Governing Council of HelAS, which took place on November 23, 2021, December 20, 2021 and January 25, 2022, respectively.

2. Elections to Hel.A.S.

The Governing Council of the Hel.A.S. informs all members that the next elections for the Council of the Society for 2022-2024 term will take place on Friday June 24 2022, along with the 41th General Assembly (GA). The call for nominations and the corresponding forms are already available in the "News and Events" section of the Society's website. More information on the forthcoming GA and the elections will become available in the following Newsletters. The elections will be organized according to the new Constitution of our Society which was approved during the 39th GA. Please note that according to Article 29 of the Constitution only Ordinary Members of the Society who have no outstanding membership fees, that is they have paid the 2021 membership fee, may nominate themselves or other Ordinary Members for the Council. Moreover, all candidates must be residing in Greece during the time of their term in office (Article 27), as well as that the nomination forms have to be returned to the Secretary of the Society no later than February 28, 2022.

3. Elections of an EAS Councilor

All members of Hel.A.S. who are also members of the European Astronomical Society (EAS) must have received on January 10, 2022 an e-mail from the EAS Office. The e-mail informed us about elections that are in progress for EAS Council members. The positions of President, one Vice-president, Treasurer and two Councillors are the positions that will be replaced. A Nomination Committee was appointed to identify nominees and provide recommendations. Here are the Committee propositions: Prof. Roger L. Davies is the sole candidate for President. Dr. Sara Lucatello is the sole candidate for Vice-President. Prof. Nick Kylafis is the sole candidate for Treasurer. Prof. Andi Burkert is the sole candidate for Councillor. The previous candidates are automatically re-elected with an effect at GA-2022 until the GA-2026. For second Councillor position there are three candidates: Dr Nabila Aghanim (Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, France) Prof. Jarle Brinchmann (Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Porto, Portugal ) Dr Urlike Heiter (Uppsala University, Sweden) The EAS invite us to participate in the elections and cast a vote for 1 Councilor position no later than March 10, 2022. To cast your vote you must first login with you EAS account at: https://eas.unige.ch/login.jsp If you do not remember your username or password you may request them via the online interface.

4. EAS Membership & EAS Meeting in Valencia (Spain)

As it was announced in the Newsletter #283 of September 2021 all junior and ordinary members of HelAS may, if they wish, also become members of the European Astronomical Society (EAS), thus enjoying all the benefits of EAS membership at no additional cost. The 212 members of HelAS who have opted in to become EAS members are presented here. If your name is not listed in this file and you would like to join EAS please send an e-mail to president@helas.gr. Moreover, the registration for the 2022 EAS Annual Meeting which will take place in Valencia (Spain) from 27 June to 1 July 2022 has opened. Details for the various deadlines are available here.

5. A guide for graduate studies in Astrophysics: in Greece and beyond

The Council of Hel.A.S. has compiled a Guide addressed to students completing their undergraduate degrees at Greek universities and wishing to continue their studies in Astronomy. The Guide provides practical information on Master's and PhD curricula at universities in Greece, as well as information on Astronomy post-graduate programs in the USA, France, the UK, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. It also provides various tips concerning recommendation letters, funding and other important matters. This collective effort is based on input from members of our Society who earned their PhD degrees abroad and have shared their experiences with us. The Guide is become available on our Society's web page here. Your feedback to improve it would be greatly appreciated.

6. Satellite constellation and Solar observations

Dr. Piero Benvenuti, IAU representative to UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, address a request to the members of IAU Division E, searching information on groups/organizations who have performed or are performing analyses on the interferences by satellite constellations on solar observations. The aim is to include them on developing mitigating strategies by the new Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Skies.

7. Monthly Colloquium of Hel.A.S.

We are happy to announce that the February 2022 colloquium speaker is Dr. Iannis Dandouras. As usual, videos of all past colloquia are available in the Youtube channel of the Society. Details of the upcoming colloquium follow: 14th Monthly Colloquium of HelAS - 8 February 2022 "Outflow and escape of terrestrial ionospheric heavy ions: detection in the Earth’s magnetosphere, at the Moon and beyond" by Dr. Iannis Dandouras CNRS/IRAP Tuesday, 8 February 2022 at 18:00 Athens time (UTC + 2:00) Click for ZOOM link (Meeting ID: 942 7781 0062 and Passcode: 529276) Abstract: Ion outflow from the terrestrial ionosphere and circulation in the magnetosphere plays an important role in the magnetospheric dynamics, by loading the magnetosphere with heavy ions. Some of the outflowing ions can be re-injected into the inner magnetosphere, whereas some can completely escape to outer space. Cluster was the first mission in the terrestrial magnetosphere to involve four spacecraft in a tetrahedral configuration, providing three-dimensional measurements of the space plasma parameters. The observations of the outflowing and escaping ion populations performed by Cluster will be reviewed and their dependence on the solar wind parameters and on the geomagnetic activity conditions analysed. Heavy ion outflow has been observed during all periods, but an increase by two orders of magnitude has been shown during extreme space weather conditions. This outflow is adequate to change the composition of the atmosphere over geological time scales. At larger distances, escaping terrestrial heavy ions have been observed by the THEMIS-ARTEMIS and the Kaguya missions at lunar distances in the terrestrial magnetotail. Analysis of the Cluster observations in the inner magnetosphere, a few hours before the THEMIS-ARTEMIS heavy ion detection at lunar distances during high-active periods (for events for which the orbital conditions were favourable), shows the presence there of upwelling ion beams, including heavy atomic and molecular ions. These observations are compatible with the ion transfer times from the inner magnetosphere to lunar distances and show the existence of a direct pathway of plasma, upwelling from the ionosphere and then transported and lost into the deep magnetotail. They suggest also that terrestrial heavy ions, transported to the Moon, may have preserved samples of the Earth’s atmosphere from billions of years ago by their implantation into the near-side lunar regolith. Quantifying these ion upwelling and transfer mechanisms is important in order to understand the long-term evolution of the atmospheric composition, and in particular the evolution of the N/O ratio, which is essential for habitability.

8. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece

COSPAR 2022 44th Scientific Assembly Abstract submission deadline February 11 16-24 July 2022, Athens.

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 March 1, 2022.  Please send your announcements (e.g., appointments / departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before February 23, 2022. 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.