UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors October 1st 2008 o News, Views and Gossip o UKSP/NAM April 20-23 2009, University of Hertfordshire. o UK Space Activities 2008 o EST Science Requirements Document o Karen Harvey Prize Nominations o Hale Prize Nominations o Meetings, Conferences and Workshops o RAS Meeting: Astronomy with Small Satellites. o November MIST meeting o LWS Coordinated Data Analysis Workshop on Ground Level Enhancement (GLE)Events o Employment Opportunities o Post-doctoral Fellowship at Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand o Postdoctoral Position in Computational Solar Physics 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: Philippa Browning UKSP/NAM April 20-23 2009, University of Hertfordshire. This is an early announcement for the UK Solar Physics meeting which will be held next year as part of NAM/JENAM, also with MIST. More info will be circulated in due course, but put the dates in your diaries now! A SOC is currently being constituted, with Philippa Browning as Chair (and link person with NAM). At this stage, suggestions for joint sessions with MIST and/or Astronomy are invited, please send these to p.browning@manchester.ac.uk Please also note first announcement from NAM/JENAM below. CALL FOR PROPOSALS:- European Week of Astronomy and Space Science Incorporating RAS NAM 2009 and EAS JENAM 2009 20-23rd April 2009 University of Hertfordshire, De Havilland Campus. The meeting location is in Hatfield, 30km north of central London, UK, to which there are good transport links. We invite the Astrophysics and Space Science communities to propose sessions for NAM/JENAM2009. A broad range of parallel sessions can be accommodated as (A) 'special sessions' consisting of up to 3 blocks of 1.5 hours and (B) longer sessions ('symposia') consisting of up to 6 blocks of 1.5 hours, stretching over 2 days. All proposals should be submitted as plain text email, with up to a maximum of 500 words, and should include the following information: 1. Title of proposed session 2. Summary of the goal(s) of the session 3. Names of organisers (at least two persons) 4. Justification for proposed duration of the session (how many 1.5-hour blocks?) 5. Anticipated audience size Proposals should be sent to jenam@herts.ac.uk by 31 October 2008 for review by the SOC. Applicants will be notified about the outcome of the selection process by 28 November 2008. The overall programme structure will be made up of four 1.5-hour sessions per day, with the first of each day set aside for invited plenary presentations. The four-day meeting ends on Thursday evening, 23rd April, after a community meeting and RAS general meeting. Earlier in the week, ESO and ESA are planning a number of splinter sessions, to accompany their plenary presentations. The UKSP (UK Solar Physics) and MIST (Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial Physics) organisations will also be planning a range of parallel sessions across the programme. Space will be available for poster presentations. Individuals within the European astronomy and space science communities, and networks also, are strongly encouraged to propose and organise sessions for NAM/JENAM 2009. ************************************ From: "Wilmouth Rupert (UKTI SG)" Dear all, The British National Space Centre (BNSC) has just published the latest edition of its annual report, UK Space Activities 2008. It lays out what the UK has achieved in the arena of civil space activities over the past 12 months and what is planned for the coming year. To download a PDF copy, please visit the following web page: http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=7041. A hard copy can also be ordered, free of charge, via the 'Add to Basket' link on the same page. I hope you find our annual report interesting and informative. Best regards, Rupert Wilmouth Dr Rupert Wilmouth Policy Officer British National Space Centre Kingsgate House 66-74 Victoria Street London SW1E 6SW ************************************* From: Mihalis Mathioudakis European Solar Telescope (EST) EST European Solar Telescope is a pan-european project, presently in its Conceptual Design Study financed by the European Commission, involving 29 partners, plus 7 collaborating institutions, from 14 different countries. The EST Science Working Group (SWG) has just released the first version of the Science Requirements Document (SRD) and invites comments from the Solar Physics community. The SRD is available for download from the following link. http://www.iac.es/proyecto/EST/media/srd_v5f_20080922.pdf Comments on the document may be submitted online through : http://www.iac.es/proyecto/EST/pages/srd-comments.php username : partner password : partner2012 ************************************* From : Aad van Ballegooijen Karen Harvey Prize Nominations Nominations are sought for the 2009 SPD/AAS early career Karen Harvey Prize, established in honor of the late Karen Harvey, in recognition of significant contributions to the study of the Sun early in a person's professional career. The prize will be awarded to a person who has not reached 36 years of age, or who has no more than ten years of professional experience since the Ph.D or equivalent degree, at the end of the year of the award. The award is open to anyone who meets the age or professional experience requirements, without regard to country of residence or membership in the SPD. A letter of nomination with supporting letters of endorsement, and vitae and bibliography should be submitted to the Hale and Harvey Prize Committee, which will be responsible for the selection. Deadline for receipt of letters and supporting documents is November 1, 2008. These should be sent to: Hale and Harvey Prize Committee, c/o A. van Ballegooijen, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street MS-15, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic submissions can be made to vanballe@cfa.harvard.edu. ************************************* From: Aad van Ballegooijen Hale Prize Nominations The Hale and Harvey Prize Committee of the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society is seeking nominations for the 2009 George Ellery Hale Prize. The Hale Prize is awarded to a scientist for outstanding contributions to and impact on the field of solar astronomy. Last year the Committee received only a few nominations. Proposals for nomination should be endorsed by two members of the Society. The proposal should include the vitae and bibliography of the candidate, and should emphasize those papers which form the basis for the proposal, as well as a description of the scientific achievements which justify the award. Deadline for receipt of nominations and any supporting letters of endorsement is November 1, 2008. Completed proposals should be sent to: Hale and Harvey Prize Committee, c/o A. van Ballegooijen, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street MS-15, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic submissions can be made to vanballe@cfa.harvard.edu. ********************************************************************* * * * Conferences, Workshops, Meetings * * * ********************************************************************* From: "Sarah-Jane Pritchard (STFC,SPO)" Dear All, We would like to draw your attention to the forthcoming Royal Astronomical Society meeting on "Astronomy With Small Satellites", being held on Friday 14th November 2008 at the RAS headquarters in Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, as part of the 2008/2009 season of monthly RAS meetings. The meeting is being organised in recognition of the fact that small satellites have now evolved to a level of complexity that allows them to perform a wide variety of useful scientific missions. We hope that it will provide an opportunity to discuss the state of the art in small satellites and also to establish contacts with other experts working in the small satellite field. We have an extensive programme of talks being presented by an international panel of speakers, covering the history, current status and future prospects for small satellite missions. Full details of the meeting, including the current programme, can be found on the meeting website at: http://www.le.ac.uk/physics/smallsats Please note that we still have space for POSTERS at the meeting, and we welcome poster contributions on any current work or future plans that you may have relating to small satellite missions, or the science that could be performed using small satellites. If you would like to participate, please contact Nigel Bannister (co-organiser; details below); if you would like to present a poster at the meeting, please include a title and a very short synopsis so that we can include this information in the programme. We would also like to emphasise that this is by no means a closed invitation - if you have other contacts that you think would like to participate, please pass this information on to them. Regards Stuart Eves (Meeting Organiser) Nigel Bannister (Co-organiser) [Contact details below] ORGANISER: Dr Stuart Eves Surrey Satellite Technology Limited Tycho House, 20 Stephenson Road, Surrey Research Park, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7YE, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1483 803885 Mob: +44 (0) 7748 317491 CO-ORGANISER: Dr Nigel Bannister Space Research Centre Department of Physics & Astronomy University of Leicester University Road Leicester LE1 7RH UK Tel. +44 (0) 116 223 1043 Fax. +44 (0) 116 252 2464 email: npb@star.le.ac.uk ********************************************* From: Lanchester B.S. Dear colleagues, This year's London MIST Meeting will take place on Friday 28th November in the lecture theatre at the Royal Astronomical Society, Piccadilly. The meeting will begin at 10 am with talks from 10.30 am. Abstract submission is not yet open, but will be announced towards the beginning of the new academic year. However, the abstract submission deadline will be FRIDAY 7nd NOVEMBER. Following the success of last year's meeting, we plan to continue with the same format to allow a greater depth of presentation and opportunity for discussion. The morning and afternoon sessions will begin with invited talks, followed by contributed talks lasting 20 minutes, including 5 minutes for questions. If there is sufficient demand we will include a poster session. This will be determined by the number and breadth of the contributed abstracts. Abstracts will be selected so as to provide a balanced programme of talks from both students and more experienced speakers. We have decided that there will be two broad-based themes. The first theme will be 'Turbulence and scale free processes'. The invited speaker is Sandra Chapman (Warwick) who will talk on the subject 'Observing scaling in the solar wind - turbulence and coronal sources'. The second theme will be 'Coupling between space and atmosphere'. The invited speaker is Mike Pinnock (BAS) whose talk is 'A new approach to STP: a "weather" dataset over a solar cycle'. Talks are also invited on topics outside these two themes. We look forward to seeing you in November for an excellent MIST meeting. Best regards, MIST Committee Mike Hapgood [M.A.Hapgood@rl.ac.uk] Gary Abel [gaab@BAS.AC.UK] Andrew Kavanagh [a.j.kavanagh@lancaster.ac.uk] Betty Lanchester [bsl@phys.soton.ac.uk] Gabby Provan [gp3@ion.le.ac.uk] ********************************************* From : Nariaki Nitta LWS Coordinated Data Analysis Workshop on Ground Level Enhancement (GLE) Events GLE CDAW, January 6-9, 2009, Palo Alto, CA, USA Conveners: Nat Gopalswamy (NASA GSFC) and Nariaki Nitta (Lockheed Martin ATC) This is the first announcement of the Living With a Star (LWS) Coordinated Data Analysis Workshop (CDAW) on ground level enhancement (GLE) events. GLE events are solar energetic particle (SEP) events that reach the neutral atmosphere of Earth. These are rare events: only 16 occurred during solar cycle 23 and only 70 events have been recorded since 1942 (e.g., http:// cosmicrays.oulu.fi/GLE.html for events since 1966). The proposed Coordinated Data Analysis Workshop (CDAW) is to study the GLE events in solar cycle 23 from various aspects. The topics to be discussed include: origin in flares and CMEs, source region magnetic field, propagation in interplanetary space, related SEP events, interplanetary shocks, neutron monitor data, geomagnetic storms and Forbush decrease, magnetospheric effects, atmospheric chemistry and space weather. We may also study older events from solar cycle 21 because of coronagraph observations. This is a data-intensive workshop attended by a relatively small number ( ~30) of experts in different disciplines. We expect participants with relevant data to contribute to an extensive database that will be prepared prior to, and accessed during and after, the CDAW. Interested individuals who can attend the CDAW (January 6-9, 2009 in Palo Alto, CA) should send an email to nitta at lmsal.com by September 30, 2008. Please include your name, affiliation, and more importantly, summary of what your contributions will be. We will send further notices to only those who respond by September 30. *********************************************************************** * * * Positions Vacant * * * *********************************************************************** From : David Ruffolo Post-doctoral Fellowship at Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand We are pleased to invite applications for a Post-doctoral Fellowship for full-time research work with the Space Physics and Energetic Particles Group at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, under the supervision of Prof. David Ruffolo and Dr. Alejandro Saiz. Our group includes ~10 Thai students, and we collaborate closely with researchers at various Thai and overseas institutions. The one-year appointment will begin around February 1, 2009, with a possible extension for a second year. The applicant may be of any nationality, but must be under 40 years of age on the date of application and have received a doctorate within the past 5 years. To apply, submit the application form (available at www.thaispaceweather.com), a curriculum vitae, three letters of reference (one from Ph.D. advisor if at all possible ), and a Ph.D. transcript to ruffolo.physics@gmail.com (or by FAX to +66- 2-201-5762) by October 15, 2008. The successful applicant will work with researchers and students at Mahidol University (communicating in English, Thai, and/or Spanish), with a likely focus in one of these areas: * Analyzing cosmic ray data from the newly commissioned neutron monitor at Doi Inthanon and other neutron monitors. * Modeling the transport of solar energetic particles and galactic cosmic rays in the inner heliosphere. * Theory and computer simulations of the turbulent magnetic field random walk and particle transport. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact us directly at ruffolo.physics @gmail.com to discuss details of the appointment. Further information is available at www.thaispaceweather.com. ******************************************** From: Judy Karpen Postdoctoral Position in Computational Solar Physics Space Weather Laboratory Heliophysics Division NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher who is enthusiastic about investigating fundamental solar MHD problems such as flare reconnection, filament/prominence formation and evolution, and photospheric flux emergence and cancellation. Expertise in analytical and numerical MHD modeling is essential, as well as an interest in relating MHD theoretical results to observations by existing and upcoming NASA missions such as STEREO, Hinode, and SDO. A background in solar physics is preferred but not required, so motivated computational, plasma, and space physicists are strongly encouraged to apply. The successful applicant should expect to write proposals for research support, and have demonstrated skill in writing scientific papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals.?The annual salary is expected to be in the range $55,000 - $70,000, depending on the qualifications of the candidate. Interested applicants should contact Dr. Judy Karpen (judy.karpen@nasa.gov) for further information about the position and to submit an electronic CV (please include contact information for at least 3 references).? We will begin reviewing applications around November 1, 2008, and will continue until the position is filled. The start date is flexible, but no later than September 2009. NASA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.? _______________________________________________ uksp mailing list uksp@physics.gla.ac.uk http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/uksp