Following a recommendation by ESO's Scientific and Technical Committee (STC), a call for Letters of Intent for new Public Surveys with VIRCAM mounted on VISTA has been released. A Public Survey is understood as an observing programme in which the investigators commit to produce and make publicly available, within a defined time, a fully reduced and scientifically usable dataset that is likely to answer one or more major scientific questions, be of general use and broad interest to the astronomical community.
Joint ESO, Universidad de Chile, Universidad Andrés Bello Workshop:
ESO Vitacura, Santiago, Chile, 28 September – 02 October 2015
Astrobiology has become the meeting point for astronomers, biologists, geologists, and climatologists in solving the puzzle of how life originated in the Universe. Enormous progress has been made since the discovery of the first extra-solar planet (51 Peg b). The main aims of this workshop are: to bring together the major astrobiology groups; foster exchanges across all the major disciplines involved in the field of astrobiology, and in particular those working on climatology of Solar System planets; and include a strong parallel outreach programme.
New ALMA Science Verification data have been released. The release consists of M100 observations of the CO(1-0) line in Band 3 with the 7-m Array and Total Power (TP) Array, along with an update of previously released 12-m data, demonstrating the ALMA Compact Array (ACA, 7-m and TP Arrays) and data combination capabilities.
SV observations of 3C 286 in Band 6 continuum, demonstrating ALMA's polarization capability, are also released.
The status of the current ALMA observations can be followed in real time from the ALMA science portal.
The array has been cycled through the most compact configurations and will remain in the C34-6/7 extended configuration (baselines to 1.5km) until the end of Cycle 2 (end of September). A status report about the Cycle 1 and 2 observations and news from extension and optimisation of capabilities will be posted soon on the ALMA science portal.
If you wish to conduct a PhD in astronomy-astrophysics within one of the largest centres of astrophysical research in the world, which covers every subject from planets, stars, and galaxies to cosmology, you should seriously consider applying to the IMPRS studentship programme in Munich.
The ESO Science Archive Facility has distributed raw calibration files such as bias frames and flat field frames for many years. As an additional service, we now are also distributing certified, processed and co-added calibration frames that can be directly used for science processing, without having to run the entire data reduction chain.
The 6th European Radio Interferometry School (ERIS), sponsored by the European Union, RadioNet3 and ESO is a 5-day school of lectures and tutorials focussed on obtaining scientific results from radio interferometry at metre to sub-mm wavelengths. The School is primarily intended for graduate students and beginning post-docs, but more senior researchers interested in learning about the techniques are also welcome to attend. Full details can be found here, but capacity has been reached.
The School aims to initiate and train astronomers in the best possible exploitation of VLTI over a broad range of science topics, showcasing some science applications, teaching the fundamentals of optical interferometry and providing practical training with software tools. The school is addressed to undergraduate and PhD students, postdocs and astronomers keen to exploit long-baseline interferometry and the 2nd generation instruments coming to VLTI, GRAVITY and MATISSE. More details are available on the Summer School webpage.
The workshop will consider the science from current and upcoming multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) facilities, with a focus on the important cases already limited by sensitivity and spatial resolution. The scientific topics that demand future MOS capabilities on ELTs will be reviewed. The workshop will be organized in sessions on science themes from planetary systems and stellar populations to the earliest phases of galaxy formation. There will be a special session dedicated to critical analysis of the ELT MOS facilities required in the post-JWST era to assess their complementarity and competitiveness. More details can be found on the website.
ESO Public Surveys have increased in size and number and now vastly increase the volume of public data delivered. Also about 15% of VLT science time has been allocated to Large Programmes. This workshop will focus on the scientific results achieved and the potential for enhanced exploitation of the archival data from these programmes. Presentations from all the Public Surveys and a representative set of the Large Programmes completed since the last Large Programme workshop in 2008 will be scheduled. Full details can be found on the workshop website. The registration deadline is 7 September 2015.
The "F. Lucchin" International PhD School STEEL will provide a comprehensive training in both the science and the technologies used to deliver astronomical results with the range of E-ELT instruments. The school is open to postgraduate and masters students and early career postdoc researchers, with space for around 80-100 participants. Lectures at the School will cover the full range of E-ELT science cases and hands-on sessions will be offered in techniques ranging from crowded-region photometry to simulations of AO observations. Details can be found on the School webpage or by email for further inquiries. The registration deadline is 31 July 2015.
The objective of this workshop is to prepare that part of the community interested in Solar System research for making the best use of the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). In complement to many successful space planetary missions, ground-based observations are still essential for understanding the physico-chemical properties of the Solar System. A second objective will be to review the specific constraints raised by Solar System observations with the E-ELT. More details can be found on the workshop webpage. The registration deadline is 30 October 2015.
The objective of the workshop is to present and discuss the various approaches to science data management in spacecraft missions and ground-based facilities for astronomy. The workshop continues the series of ESO/ESA joint meetings on operating ground- and space-based astronomical facilities. Topics for the current workshop include: quality assurance of science data and related calibrations; data reduction and analysis; and science archives (content and user services). Full details on the workshop website or by enquiry to sciops2015. Deadline for registration and abstract submission is 18 September 2015.
