UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors June 15th 2009 o News, Views and Gossip o European Solar Telescope: Statement & Planning the future use of Europe's 2-4m telescopes. o Ground-Based Facilities Review: Open Meeting Thursday 9th July 2009 Royal Astronomical Society o RAS Awards 2010 o RHESSI Science Nugget - STEREO Observed Stealth CME o STFC Diary of Forthcoming Events - 2009 o Solar News Items of Interest - http://solarnews.nso.edu/2009/20090601.txt o New introductory book about the Sun o Status of Global Halpha Network o Meetings, Conferences and Workshops o Deadline approaching: Registration for STFC Advanced Summer School in Solar Terrestrial Physics. o The 6th European Space Weather Week, 16-20th November, Bruges, Belgium. First Announcement and Call for Splinter Meeting Proposals o 2009 HSS-GI (High Speed Solar Wind Streams and Geospace Interactions) o Solar News Items of Interest - http://solarnews.nso.edu/2009/20090601.txt o First announcement: The Third Hinode Science Meeting (Hinode-3) o Solar Analogs II -- Second Announcement o UNIVERSAT-2009: University Satellites in Space Science Education Meeting o SHINE 2009 Registration Now Open o Employment Opportunities o Solar News Items of Interest - http://solarnews.nso.edu/2009/20090601.txt o POSTDOCTORAL POSITION AT THE NATIONAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY o Research Assistant Positions at NWRA/CoRA o Open Positions at BBSO Dear Colleague, Here are a few items which have come to our attention since the last Newsletter. You can find this newsletter also at the UKSP website: http://www.uksolphys.org Lyndsay (lyndsay@astro.gla.ac.uk) Duncan (duncan@mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk) ********************************************************************* * * * News, Views and Gossip * * * ********************************************************************* From: Sarah Matthews The European Solar Telescope is a pan-european project involving 29 partners, plus 7 collaborating institutions, from 14 different countries aimed at the development of a 4m class solar telescope optimised for studies of magnetic coupling between the deep photosphere and upper chromosphere that will answer fundamental questions related to the origin and evolution of magnetic fields on the Sun and their role in producing solar activity. The focal plane instrumentation will provide diagnostics of the thermal, dynamic and magnetic properties of the plasma over many scale heights, by using multiple wavelength imaging, spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry. EST will be the premier ground-based solar facility in Europe (first-light ~ 2019) and and is the top ranked medium scale ground-based observational facility in the Astronet Roadmap. It will complement the ATST. The UK is currently funded by an EC design study and is participating in the science definition, detector and data flow work packages. We aspire to continue these roles into construction. From: "Pritchard, S (Sarah-Jane)" The ASTRONET/OPTICON European Telescope Strategy Review Committee: An invitation to the community to help shape the future use of Europe's 2-4m telescopes. The ASTRONET Science Vision and Infrastructure Roadmap concluded that there is an urgent need to define a strategy for 2-4m telescopes at the European Level. Accordingly a panel has been set up to identify how Europe's medium sized telescopes can best contribute to the delivery of the Science Vision and to propose how a suite of existing telescopes can do so cost effectively. This panel, the European Telescopes Strategic Review Committee (ETSRC) is co-chaired by Janet Drew (University of Hertfordshire, UK) and Jacqueline Bergeron (IAP, Paris). ETSRC will deliver a report at around the end of 2009. Vital community input is now sought via a web based tool created for the purpose. The main consultation period begins now and continues until the end of July. The panel sees it as crucial to identifying a viable way forward that it receives input from right across Europe and from an equally broad spectrum of scientific interests in the mid-sized telescopes. We would be extremely grateful if you would provide your input via our web form at: http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/2to4mtelescopes/ which outlines the panel's task, identifies the telescopes under consideration, presents some early ideas, and sketches the kind of input the panel is looking for at this stage. ************************************** From: "Illsley, M (Melanie)" Ground-Based Facilities Review: Open Meeting Thursday 9th July 2009 Royal Astronomical Society, London 10:00 - 12:30 (Coffee available from 9:30) Agenda 10.00: Welcome and introduction to the GBFR Consultative Document and Questionnaire (Prof Michael Rowan-Robinson, chair GBFR Panel) 10.30: Discussion 12.25-12.30: Closing remarks by Prof Michael Rown Robinson This is an opportunity for community members to hear about the GBF Review process, and to air their views and concerns in a public forum. The meeting is timed to coincide with the NUAP open meeting that takes place in the same venue in the afternoon, so that members with overlapping interests can attend both sessions If you plan to attend, please notify: Simon.haynes@stfc.ac.uk (RAS need to know numbers) The GBFR Consultative Documennt and questionnaire can be accesed at http://www.stfc.ac.uk/About/Strat/Council/AdCom/oth/GBFR.aspx ************************************ From: "Hapgood, MA (Mike)" RAS Awards 2010 =============== Dear colleagues, The RAS is seeking nominations for its 2010 Awards. Please consider nominating worthy colleagues for these awards. Those relevant to the RAS "G" communities (geophysics, solar physics, solar-terrestrial physics, planetary sciences, and related fields) are: * Gold Medal * Chapman Medal * Fowler Award * RAS Award for Service to Astronomy or Geophysics * RAS Group Achievement Award * Harold Jeffreys Lectureship * Honorary Fellowships Nominations are requested by 31 July. I would like to stress the value of good nominations - and letters of support. It is very helpful to RAS to receive a good set of nominations - and for those nominations to explain how the nominee fits the award criteria. For details of the awards and the nomination and review procedures, please see http://www.ras.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1549&Itemid=1. Best wishes, Mike Hapgood (mike.hapgood@stfc.ac.uk) ************************************* From: Hugh Hudson Announcing a new RHESSI Science Nugget, "STEREO Observed Stealth CME": this describes spectacular coronal effects with no chromospheric counterpart; it was not even seen by RHESSI. http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets S. Christe H. Hudson ************************************* From: "Illsley, M (Melanie)" DIARY OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS 17 June : CERN Finance Committee, CERN, Geneva Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Charlotte.Jamieson@stfc.ac.uk 17 - 18 June : ESA SPC (European Space Agency Science Programme Committee), location to be advised. Science and Technology Facilities Council contacts : Chris.Castellie@stfc.ac.uk, Rosemary.young@stfc.ac.uk, Sue.Horne@stfc.ac.uk 19 June : T2K Oversight Committee (Tokai to Kamioka), Polaris House, Swindon Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Rachel.Boning@stfc.ac.uk 22 June : Executive Board, Daresbury Laboratory Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Terry.O?Connor@stfc.ac.uk 23 June : STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council), Council meeting, Daresbury Laboratory PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A BUSINESS MEETING Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Ruth.Jeans@stfc.ac.uk 24 June : RCUK EG (Research Councils UK Executive Group), Polaris House, Swindon Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Katrina.Vardy@stfc.ac.uk 24 - 25 June : PPRP (Projects Peer Review Panel), St Andrews Building, Glasgow University Chair : Craig Buttar, c.buttar@physics.gla.ac.uk Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Sharmila.Banerjee@stfc.ac.uk 30 June : Semiconductor Detectors and Applications Workshop, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Julie.Bellingham@stfc.ac.uk 30 June : APSiS (Advisory Panel for Society in Society) meeting, Daresbury Laboratory Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Chris.Woolford@stfc.ac.uk 30 June : 1 July - PPAN (Particle Physics, Astronomy and Nuclear Physics Science Committee), location to be confirmed Chair : Professor Walter Gear, walter.gear@astro.cf.ac.uk Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Trish.Mullins@stfc.ac.uk 1 July : Education and Training Committee meeting, Polaris House, Swindon Chair : Jim Hough, j.hough@physics.gla.ac.uk Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Steve.Cann@stfc.ac.uk 1 - 2 July : PALS (Physical and Life Sciences Committee) Chair : Chick Wilson, c.c.wilson@chem.gla.ac.uk Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Neville.Hollingworth@stfc.ac.uk 2 July : NUAP (Near Universe Advisory Panel), location to be decided Chair : Michele Dougherty Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Rosemary.Young@stfc.ac.uk 8 July : AGATA (Advanced GAmma Tracking Array) Oversight Committee, Polaris House, Swindon Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Katharine.Schofield@stfc.ac.uk 9 July : NUAP (Near University Advisory Panel), location to be decided Chair : Michele Dougherty Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Rosemary.Young@stfc.ac.uk 16 July : Science Board, location to be decided Chair : Jenny Thomas, jthomas@hep.ucl.ac.uk Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Victoria.Wright@stfc.ac.uk 20 July : Executive Board, Polaris House, Swindon Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Terry.O?Connor@stfc.ac.uk 22 July : RCUK EG (Research Councils? UK Executive Group), London Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Katrina.Vardy@stfc.ac.uk 22 July : Inverse Square Law Oversight Committee, Cern Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Deborah.Miller@stfc.ac.uk 27 July : MICE-UKNF (Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment / UK Neutrino Factory) Oversight Committee, RutherfordAppleton Laboratory Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Charlotte.Jamieson@stfc.ac.uk 23 - 28 August : ASTeC are hosting the FEL009 Conference at the BT Convention Centre, Liverpool Science and Technology Facilities Council contact : Sue.Waller@stfc.ac.uk ********************************************************************* * * * Conferences, Workshops, Meetings * * * ********************************************************************* From: Bill Chaplin 2009 STFC Advanced Summer School in Solar Terrestrial Physics University of Birmingham, September 7 - 11 ** REGISTRATION DEADLINE (July 6) APPROACHING ** "An astrophysical Rosetta Stone: Observational & Theoretical Perspectives of the Sun" The Sun is a Rosetta stone for astrophysics. Its close proximity affords a unique opportunity to study a star to levels of detail and precision not possible for other stars. The Sun is also an "astrophysical laboratory", allowing us to test fundamental physics under the exotic conditions found in the solar atmosphere and solar interior. The influences that the Sun has on the terrestrial environment, and the various links from the solar interior to the Earth, are part of a major theme in the STFC Road Map. The School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Birmingham will host the annual STFC Advanced Summer School in Solar Physics from Monday 7th to Friday 11th September 2009. The aim of the School is to provide PhD students and PDRAs with a firm grounding in various aspects of solar physics, with talks from subject experts in the UK solar physics community. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to make short presentations on their own work. Full details may be found on the School web pages, at: http://octave.ph.bham.ac.uk/ASSSP2009/ Registration details may be found at: http://octave.ph.bham.ac.uk/ASSSP2009/reg.php ********************************************* From: "Hapgood, MA (Mike)" ********************************************************************** 1. The 6th European Space Weather Week, 16-20th November, Bruges, Belgium. First Announcement and Call for Splinter Meeting Proposals ********************************************************************** From: Alexi Glover Anna Belehaki Ronald Van der Linden The next European Space Weather Week will take place in Bruges, Belgium, from Monday 16th November to Friday 20th November 2009. This meeting is being jointly organised by the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB), ESA, the SWWT and the COST ES0803 communities. The local organisation is done by the SIDC of the ROB. This event will build on the advances made during previous European Space Weather Weeks and preceding ESA Space Weather Applications Workshops. The ESWW will again adopt the central aim of bringing together diverse communities working on all elements of space weather with a strong focus on user involvement. This year's meeting will discuss recent advances in both scientific and applications based domains and how these advances relate to user needs. It will also provide an opportunity to discuss the Space Weather community's contribution to possible future ESA action in the area of Space Situational Awareness. New data, tools and techniques will also be discussed and demonstrated during the workshop with a view to aiding the transition between new scientific results and user-oriented space weather services. This year's event will include a second space weather fair, where users and service providers will have the opportunity to interact in an informal working environment. The meeting will also include a number of hands-on splinter sessions and will explore community development through several dedicated business meetings. Organisation: The meeting will centre on 5 open sessions that address a number of topical themes: Session 1: Space Weather and Space Situational Awareness Session 2: Space Weather Impacts on Communications Systems Session 3: Space Weather Tools Models and Services Session 4: Space Weather and Health Issues Session 5: Space Weather Models: from Research to Applications Each session will be divided into oral and poster session with plenty of time devoted to discussion. Contributed papers are welcome to each of the 5 sessions. The oral presentations will cover a range of scientific and applications related themes and will consist of both invited and contributed papers. User contributions are expected to feature strongly in sessions 1, 2 and 3 in particular. It is also envisaged that the meeting will conclude with a wrap-up of the key issues arising during the week long event in the form of a round table discussion on future European directions in space weather. Business meetings: A key part of the European Space Weather Weeks are the business meetings. These meetings provide the opportunity for interested participants to meet in smaller groups and address key issues in a style that compliments the open format of the plenary sessions. These meetings take the form of working meetings with reports produced and actions taken by the participants. This year, time during the ESWW6 schedule will be set aside for all splinter meeting convenors to report the main conclusions of the meetings to the full workshop. Several rooms will be available for splinter meetings during the week. If you would like to propose a topic for a splinter meeting, please send the title of the meeting and anticipated number of participants to Alexi Glover (alexi.glover at esa.int) and Anna Belehaki (belehaki at space.noa.gr) as soon as possible. Deadline for submission: 26th June 2009. Abstract Submission: Online abstract submission will be possible from 1st July via the official conference website: http://sidc.oma.be/esww6 Abstracts can be submitted via the online system accessible through the above website. Poster contributions are welcome to all of the above sessions. Deadline for submission: 14th September 2009. Authors will be informed of the acceptance of their abstract by 9th October. Registration: Registration will be possible via the conference websites from 1st July. The deadline for registration is 17th October 2009. Registration Fee: 125Euro Registration Fee (later than 19th Oct): 150Euro Students and Young Scientists/Engineers: A tutorial and introduction to space weather will be given on the first day of the meeting. This will be geared towards students, young scientists/engineers and people new to the field, but all are welcome to attend. Students and young scientists/engineers will be eligible for a reduced fee of 75Euros. This must be arranged before 19th October and proof of student status and/or age under 35 must be provided. Social Programme and Special Events: A social programme including a welcome reception and conference dinner will be included in the registration fee. More information will be available by 1st July. Special events this year will include a space weather fair, a debate covering solar influences on climate and a tutorial covering research and applications aspects of space weather. More information will be available via the conference website by 1st July. Publication Presentation material will be made available on the ESWW6 website following the event. In addition, it is envisaged that scientific and technical papers presented at this event will form a special issue of a refereed journal. More information about this publication will be made available during the meeting. Programme Committee: * A Belehaki (Co-Chair, NOA, COST ES0803) * A. Glover (Co-Chair, ESA) * M. Hapgood (RAL/STFC, SWWT Chairman) * J.-P. Luntama (FMI) * R. Van der Linden (SIDC-STCE) * P. Vanlommel (STCE) * A. Thomson (BGS) * T. Dudok de Wit (CNRS, SOTERIA) * B. Zolesi (INGV) * J. Watermann (CNRS) * M. Messerotti (INAF, COST ES0803) * M. Meier (DLR) Local Organising Committee * R. Van der Linden * A. Vandersyppe * S. Raynal * P. Vanlommel * the SIDC-team This meeting is supported by the European Space Agency, The Royal Observatory of Belgium, The EC COST Office, The Belgian Science Policy Office, the International Space Environment Service Conference web site: http://sidc.oma.be/esww6 See Also: ********************************************* From: Mick Denton Dear all, Registration is now open for the 2009 HSS-GI (High Speed Solar Wind Streams and Geospace Interactions) Workshop to be held in Ambleside, UK from 6-11 September 2009 (see below for a description of workshop topics). The webpage for the workshop is up and running and contains more information, details on how to register, and the draft science programme. http://www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/iono/hssgi2009/ Please bookmark this page for future reference. TIMELINE: NOW : Abstract submission/registration opens. 30th June: Early-Bird registration closes. 30th June: Abstract submission closes. *Registration will continue until we reach our capacity of 40 people*. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you require any further information. *NOTE* As in 2007 we are aiming to informally organise a hike up one of the Lake District fells on the Saturday after the meeting for those interested. Regards, Mick Denton Scientific Programme: Michael Denton (Lancaster University, UK) Joe Borovsky (LANL, USA) Martin Mlynczak (NASA Langley, USA) Steven Morley (LANL, formerly University of Newcastle, Australia) Craig Rodger (University of Otago, New Zealand) =================================================================== WORKSHOP SCIENCE OUTINE: Various science questions were outstanding following the 2007 workshop, and others have been added due to recent progress on HSSs. The questions we aim to resolve are grouped into 9 seperate areas. 1. What determines solar wind/magnetosphere coupling efficiency during HSS? How important are fluctuations in solar wind velocity, pressure, and magnetic field? 2. Are different magnetospheric modes more likely during high speed streams? 3. How are Pc5 waves made? Which process dominates? Why are Pc5 waves so dominant in HSS events? 4. Which waves are the most important for acceleration/loss of radiation belt particles? How can we quantify the relative wave-particle loss rates? What is the MLT dependence? 5. What is the electron energy dependence in response to HSS-driven acceleration and loss? Does this vary with other drivers of acceleration and loss? 6. What response do high speed streams initiate within the atmosphere? How can we test coupling mechanisms between different atmospheric regions? 7. Precipitation of energetic (>100 eV) electrons - what are the implications for the lower atmosphere? 8. What are the ionospheric/atmospheric responses to particle precipitation? Are there differences in these responses between HSS and other precipitation events? 9. What is the role of the ring current composition during HSS? What is the main ring current injection mechanisms? Why is the Dst response relatively weak (but of long duration) during HSSs? The 2009 workshop will aim to address these questions (and others) and make further genuine progress in understanding HSS/Geospace interactions. -- Dr Duncan H Mackay Mathematical Institute, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, Scotland. Tel 01334 463760 Fax 01334 463748 The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland : No SC013532 _______________________________________________ uksp mailing list uksp@physics.gla.ac.uk http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/uksp