UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors September 1st 2009 o News, Views and Gossip o Launch of New UK Solar Physics Website. o New RHESSI Science Nugget o Message for Fellows regarding careers outside astronomy. o AAS/SPD Items of Interest- http://solarnews.nso.edu/2009/20090821.txt o Solar Physics Newsletter for Students! Call for Submissions! o IAU Symposium Proposal Deadlines o Meetings, Conferences and Workshops o First Announcement of IAU Symposium 271: Astrophysical Dynamics: From Stars to Galaxies o Solar Magnetic Fields and the Dynamic Sun - Celebrating the Career of Prof E.R. Priest o TESIS Corona-Photon workshop o AAS/SPD Items of Interest- http://solarnews.nso.edu/2009/20090821.txt o Second LWS CDAW on GLE Events o Employment Opportunities o SWAP job vacancies o Lectureship in Solar System Physics at Aberystwyth 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: Editors We would like to announce the launch of the new UK Solar Physics Website. The website may be found at the same address as before, http://www.uksolphys.org/ and contains information on News, Conferences, Jobs along with many other items of interest to the community. Within the new site, news items may be submitted under the News -> Submit News link where a form is available. Please submit all items using this form. The UKSP council would like to thank Iain Hannah for his hard work in developing and maintaining the new website. ******************************** From: lyndsay@astro.gla.ac.uk New RHESSI Science Nugget http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets Announcing a new RHESSI Science Nugget "Solar Cosmic Rays of the GLE on 20 January 2005" by Sophie Masson and Ludwig Klein The relativistic solar protons of this event are related to an extended impulsive phase in the low corona It can be found at http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets We publish these at roughly two week intervals and gratefully accept contributed articles. S. Christe H. Hudson ************************************ From: Ronald Wiltshire Dear Fellow As part of our ongoing effort to promote astronomy and space science to policymakers, I would very much like to obtain data on postgraduates in this area who have moved on to other fields. One of the RAS arguments has always been that the training provided by a PhD in astronomy is a valuable preparation for a whole range of careers. However, although a majority of postgraduates eventually make a move of this kind, we lack knowledge of where they go on to work. This information would be particularly helpful for the submission we are preparing for the Royal Society 'Fruits of Curiosity' inquiry into the future of UK science (see http://royalsociety.org/downloaddoc.asp?id=6496 [royalsociety.org] for details). So please accept my apologies for this request if you remain employed in the general area of astrophysics and space science (unless you happen to have contact with former postgraduates in this area who are willing to talk about how they benefitted from their PhD training). But if you are someone who once worked in the field but have now moved on to a different occupation we would very much like to hear from you. If you are able to help, please contact me directly via rm@ras.org.uk. If you wish to give any information in confidence that is fine too - I will only link examples to names and organisations with the explicit permission of the contributor. Regards and best wishes Robert Dr Robert Massey Press and Policy Officer Royal Astronomical Society www.ras.org.uk [www.ras.org.uk] ********************************************************************* * * * Conferences, Workshops, Meetings * * * ********************************************************************* From: S M Tobias First Announcement of IAU Symposium 271: Astrophysical Dynamics: From Stars to Galaxies We would like to draw your attention to: International Astronomical Union (IAU) Symposium 271 on ''Astrophysical Dynamics: From Stars to Galaxies'' to be held at the Grand Hotel Aston, Nice, France from June 21-25, 2010. The symposium is co-sponsored by the French CNRS and CEA and the European Research Council through ERC grant STARS2. The purpose of IAU symposium 271 is to enable interaction, discussion, study, and thereby to enhance our understanding, of some of the important nonlinear dynamical processes present in the Universe, with special attention to those that are ubiquitously present in a great variety of astronomical objects, from stars like our Sun to galaxies. Such objects exhibit complex dynamical phenomena spanning a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, with fluid and magnetic instabilities, highly nonlinear states and turbulence playing a central role. Today, understanding the behaviour and evolution of such systems requires high-accuracy, multi-scale astronomical observations coupled with detailed theoretical study via models. In particular, high-performance numerical simulations have become an essential and revealing tool for assessing the often richly subtle and surprising highly nonlinear regime of such models. This symposium therefore will offer a unique opportunity for world experts with widely varying perspectives to share their knowledge and opinions on the latest advances in the study of the common underlying processes from the field of nonlinear astrophysical dynamics. This conference is particularly special in that it will also be a fitting occasion to celebrate the long and illustrious career of Professor Juri Toomre in honor of his 70th birthday. The Symposium theme aptly befits Juri's widespread achievements in many realms of astrophysical dynamics. We will remember Juri's many successes during the conference and celebrate with a banquet in his honour. Overview of Major Topics: - The Sun and stars - Galaxies - Astrophysical turbulence - Cosmic magnetism - High performance numerical simulation in astrophysics - Nonlinear dynamics - Stellar observational constraints: Helio- and asteroseismology, magnetism, rotation and abundances - Galatic observational constraints: dynamics, magnetism and abundances The conference venue is the Grand Hotel Aston, Nice, FRANCE Registration fees: early bird registration 300 Euros until March 31st 2010. Thereafter, 350 Euros. E-mail inquiries about the meeting should be directed to sacha.brun@cea.fr or to brummell@soe.ucsc.edu More information can be obtained on the conference web site: http://irfu.cea.fr/Projets/IAUSymp271 If you wish to be put on the pre-registration mailing list please contact us. We look forward to seeing you next year in Nice for a productive conference. N. Brummell and A.S. Brun (SOC Co-chairs) ********************************************* From: Ineke de Moortel Meeting Announcement: "Solar Magnetic Fields and the Dynamic Sun - Celebrating the Career of Prof E.R. Priest" Royal Astronomical Society Specialist Discussion Meeting Geological Society Lecture Theatre, Burlington Place, Piccadilly 13 November 2009 Aim of the Meeting: Celebrating the career of Prof E.R. Priest, this meeting will focus on our understanding of solar magnetic fields, through observations, theory and modelling. Speakers will address the present state of knowledge of topics such as magnetic reconnection, large-scale magnetic field structure, flux emergence, with emphasis on Prof. Priest's contributions. Future directions required to further our understanding of solar magnetic fields and the role of magnetic fields throughout the universe will also be discussed. More information on the meeting can be found at: http://www-solar.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~ineke/RAS09/ras09.html Note that attendance is free for RAS members and 15 pounds for non-members (5 pounds for students - but they can join the RAS for 1 pound!). To submit an abstract for an oral or poster contribution to this meeting, please send the following information to Ineke De Moortel (ineke@mcs.st-and.ac.uk) before Friday 2nd October (contributed talks) or Friday 23rd October (posters). **Please include 'abstract RAS09' in the subject of your email.** ######################################################################## Name: Institution: Email: Preference: oral or poster? (delete as appropriate) Title of contribution: Abstract (maximum 200 words): ######################################################################## ********************************************* From: Brian Dennis TESIS Corona-Photon workshop Please note the following international workshop taking place in Moscow The Sun: from active to quiet. International coronal workshop 19-23 October Lebedev Institute, Moscow, Russia 1. The Sun in deep minimum. A view from ground and space. Chair: J. Sylwester 2. Transients and flares in active and quiet solar corona. Chair: L. Golub 3. New sights on solar activity and space weather. Chair: G. Lapenta, A. Stepanov 4. Towards the Sun: new space and ground based solar observatories. Chair: L. Dam?, V. Kuznetsov http://tesis.lebedev.ru/workshop2009.html *********************************************************************** * * * Positions Vacant * * * *********************************************************************** From: Stefaan Poedts SWAP (http://swap.sidc.be/) is a small EUV imager ready to be launched on board of the ESA micro-satellite PROBA2 (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM402S7NWF_index_0.html) in November this year. PROBA2 is a technology demonstration platform and as such SWAP contains novel technology such as the first CMOS-APS detector in space for solar physics and advanced onboard image processing. Besides the new technology, we will also use SWAP as a space weather monitor capable of registering the occurrence of any flare or eruption in the solar corona. The scientific exploitation of SWAP is funded by the Belgian Space Office as a joint project of the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB, http://sidc.be) and the Centre for Plasma Astrophysics (CPA, http://wis.kuleuven.be/cpa/) at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The two institutes are only 30km apart and closely collaborate on this project. ROB focusses on the instrumental aspects and data analysis, whereas CPA focusses on numerical simulations in support of the data interpretation. Given the upcoming launch (http://www.eurockot.com/) we want to hire up to 3 scientists: - 1 scientist to be hired asap at CPA to help preparing the processing pipeline at the ground segment for the SWAP software as well as the instrument commissioning. After this initial phase, the job content can evolve to any SWAP related scientific research. - 1 scientist to be hired by October 2009 at CPA to work on numerical simulations of CME eruptions in support of interpretation of data by SWAP and other EUV imagers. - 1 scientist to be hired by Spring 2010 at ROB to work on advanced data analysis of EUV images as produced by SWAP. In all 3 cases, the initial contract is for 1 year with possible extensions. The PROBA2 mission duration is foreseen to be 2 years, also with possible extensions. Our preference goes to young post-doc researchers with a few years of experience in a relevant domain, but deviations from this ideal profile are perfectly discussable. Knowledge of English (usual language in the office) is mandatory. Please send your questions and/or applications to any of the 3 jobs to both Prof. Stefaan Poedts (CPA) and Dr. David Berghmans (ROB). *********************************** From: "Manuel Grande [mng]" We seek researchers of outstanding calibre and a proven record for this position, which may be in any area of Solar System Physics. You will be expected to contribute to the Institute's teaching programmes. The candidate's research will be complementary to at least one area of research performed by the Solar System Physics group at Aberystwyth. These are: (i) Dynamic processes in the solar atmosphere; (ii) Onset and evolution of the solar wind as it propagates into interplanetary space; (iii) Interaction of the solar wind with planetary and terrestrial magnetospheres, ionospheres and atmospheres; and (iv) Planetary and lunar surfaces, and robotic exploration. The applicant should hold a PHD and have postdoctoral experience in astrophysics, physics or a closely related field at the start of the appointment, and should be able to demonstrate a strong research record. Informal enquiries may be addressed to: Professor Manuel Grande, Email: mng@aber.ac.uk. Tel: (01970) 622802 It is hoped that the appointment will be in place by January 1st 2010 at the latest. Ref: MP.09.05 Closing date: 17 September 2009 Interviews will be held in late September / beginning of October 2009. More details at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/media/MP.09.05%20Ext.pdf -- 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