List of International Astronomy meetings maintained by the Canadian Astronomy Data Center

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Space Calendar

High Energy Astrophysics meetings

Other Selected Astronomy, Physics and Space Science meetings

Selected Astronomy-related Physics, Computational, Data Analysis, Software or Statistics meetings

High Energy Astrophysics meetings

RICAP'13: Roma International Conference on Astro-Particle Physics 2013

Dates: 2013 May 22 - 24

Place: Rome, Italy

RICAP'13 will be the fourth edition of the RICAP Conference. The acronym stands for Roma International Conference on Astro-Particle physics. The Conference is entirely dedicated to high energy cosmic rays study and it is organized by the three public Universities of Roma (University "Roma Tre", University "La Sapienza" and University "Tor Vergata"). These Institutions provide both theoretical and experimental contributions, and participate in major experimental projects in the field (AGILE, AMS, ANTARES, ARGO, Auger, Fermi, KM3NeT, NEMO, PAMELA, ...). The Conference is held every two years. The first edition was held at the University "La Sapienza", the second edition was hosted by University "Tor Vergata", and the third by the University "Roma Tre".

The Fast and the Furious: Energetic Phenomena in Isolated Neutron Stars, Pulsar Wind Nebulae and Supernova Remnants (XMM-Newton Science Workshop 2013)

Dates: 2013 May 22 - 24

Opening of Registration and Abstract Submission: 2013 February 13

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 2013 April 2

Decision about Accepted Presentations: 2013 April 19

Deadline for Hotel Bookings: 2013 April 22

Deadline for Registration: 2013 April 26

Place: Villafranca del Castillo, near Madrid, Spain

High-energy observations have strongly changed our view of isolated neutron stars, the nebulae powered by the relativistic winds of energetic pulsars and the non-thermal emission from supernova remnants. The study of these objects in the last few years has taken advantage of a multiwavelength approach, thanks to the combination of powerful X-ray satellites, with facilities operating in the gamma-ray range and up to the highest energies covered by ground based Cherenkov telescopes.

The purpose of this Workshop is to discuss the most recent results on the high-energy phenomena occurring in isolated neutron stars and related objects like pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants and gamma-ray binaries.

Contact e-mail address: xmmws2013@sciops.esa.int

Fermi Summer School 2013

Dates: May 28 - June 7

Application Deadline: 2013 March 8

Place: Lewes, Delaware

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has initiated an era of very broad energy coverage in the gamma-ray band. The combination of Fermi GBM and LAT provide observations of gamma-ray bursts and transients from 8 keV to >300 GeV. The combination of Fermi-LAT and ground-based gamma-ray observatories currently allows us to probe the high-energy emission from astrophysical sources over at least five orders of magnitude, including the previously unexplored territory from 10 to 100 GeV. These combinations of telescopes allow the measurement of broad-band spectra, the study of energy-dependent source morphologies, and correlated observations of time-variable sources, both within the gamma-ray energy range and with observations at longer wavelengths. These measurements provide critical diagnostics with which to identify source characteristics, particle acceleration and photon emission mechanisms.

The Fermi Summer School emphasizes the analysis of data from Fermi through lectures and hands-on workshops. Students spend time working directly with experts in instrumentation, analysis, theory and modeling to develop and extend their own research projects. Topics range across the gamma-ray band from Fermi's GBM up to the highest energies observed by the LAT and beyond to very high energies observed by ground-based gamma-ray telescopes.

Material will be aimed at graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Topics will include particle acceleration and gamma-ray production mechanisms; space-based and ground-based gamma-ray instrumentation; spectral, spatial, and time-based analysis of gamma-ray data; modeling and interpretation of gamma-ray data; and astrophysical source classes such as AGN, GRBs, Galactic pulsars and binary systems, supernova remnants, and pulsar wind nebulae as well as searches for dark matter and new physics.

Multi-Messenger Time Domain Astronomy Conference

Note that this meeting has been cancelled.

Dates: 2013 May 29 - 31

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 2013 April 2

Deadline for Early Registration: 2013 May 7

Deadline for Late Registration: 2013 May 21 (No refunds after 2013 May 14)

Place: Annapolis, Maryland, USA

This is an exciting time in the field of time domain astronomy. Wide-field survey projects and missions are on-line or coming on-line across the electromagnetic spectrum from LOFAR in the radio; to PanSTARRS, PTF and LSST in the visible; to MAXI, eROSITA, Swift, INTEGRAL, Fermi and HAWC at high energies. In addition, new instruments such as the IceCube neutrino detector and the LIGO-Virgo gravitational wave detectors will open multi-messenger channels of observation. Transient phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and compact mergers are key multi-messenger sources that serve as physics laboratories as well as astronomical tools for studying the universe.

The Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology (CRESST) and NASA/GSFC are holding this three-day conference to discuss the progress and future prospects for this field, with the focus on multi-messenger transient sources. Participants will be invited to submit abstracts for contributed talks and posters, though please note that space for talks is limited. Posters highlighting specific multi-messenger observing opportunities and facility capabilities are especially encouraged.

As a prelude, there will be a pre-conference workshop on Tuesday, May 28, 2013. This workshop will address the following questions (as well as others):

What are the major facilities for radio, optical, and high-energy astronomy?
What are their capabilities with respect to gravitational wave source models?
What is the current status of our understanding of gravitational wave events, and what instruments might detect them?
How can researchers utilize these observatories effectively?
How does information flow to and from these facilities?
What will be available in the coming years?

The introductory workshop will provide overview level talks on the observational facilities that can be used in conjunction with gravitational wave observatories.

13th XMM-Newton SAS Workshop

Dates: 2013 June 10 - 14

Deadline for Applications: 2013 April 15

Place: Villafranca del Castillo, near Madrid, Spain

The XMM-Newton SOC announces the 13th SAS Workshop, which will be held at the European Space Astronomy Centre of ESA, Madrid, Spain, between the 10th and the 14th of June 2013.

SAS Workshops aim at providing XMM users with a basic introduction to the procedures and techniques to successfully reduce and analyse XMM-Newton data. The 5-day workshop is organised around 5 half-days of presentations and 5 half-days of practical training sessions. The sessions cover all aspects of data reduction and data analysis for all the X-ray cameras and the Optical Monitor on-board XMM-Newton.

Interested persons should send an email through XMM-Newton Helpdesk not later than the 15th of April 2013 specifying in the subject line: "Interest in participating in the 13th XMM-Newton SAS Workshop", and provide the following information:

Name                   :
Organisation           :
Address                :
Country                :
Phone                  :
E-mail                 :
Main Research Field    :

In need of transportation between the pre-booked
accommodation in Madrid and the workshop venue at ESAC?     : YES/NO
Bringing your own laptop?                                   : YES/NO

No fee is required to attend the SAS Workshop. More information is given at the workshop website.

Physics at the Magnetospheric Boundary

Dates: 2013 June 25 - 28

Registration and Abstract Submission: Open

Grant Application Deadline: 2013 March 15

Deadline for Early Registration and Abstract Submission for Talks: 2013 April 08

Deadline for Registration and Abstract Submission for Posters: 2013 May 27

Publication of the Conference Program: 2013 May 13

Place: Geneva, Switzerland

The "Physics at the Magnetospheric Boundary" conference is aimed at bringing together specialists working theoretically, numerically and observationally on processes occurring at the limit of the magnetically dominated region around accreting objects such as neutron stars, white dwarfs, and T Tauri stars, where the surrounding hot plasma is finally captured.

Different manifestations of similar physical processes occur in this wide variety of celestial sources and have been investigated since the 1960s by different scientific communities. The conference represents a precious opportunity of exchange between research groups working on the topic of accretion, across different wavelengths and source types. It poses the basis for the next steps forward in our understanding of the physics at the magnetospheric boundary.

Planned sessions for this conference include:

Theory of accretion onto magnetized stars
Numerical modelling of plasma-field interaction: accretion and jets production
Observational clues to the physics at the magnetosphere
Future perspectives in theory and observations

Subscribe to the conference mailing list to receive further news.

4th Fermi Asian Network (FAN) Workshop

Dates: 2013 July 8 - 12

Deadline for Registration: 2013 May 26

Place: Hong Kong

The FAN collaboration consists of high-energy astrophysicists mainly from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea, and they are aiming to answer some of the major astrophysical problems by using Fermi data. Over the last two years, they have published a series of papers with a focus on compact objects. In order to review this effort and expand theirr collaboration, they will hold the 4th workshop in Hong Kong. The core topics of the workshop will cover:

* AGN/Galactic Center
* Diffuse gamma-ray sources
* Fermi transients
* Gamma-ray bursts
* Gamma-ray binaries
* Magnetars
* Millisecond pulsars
* Rotation powered pulsars
* Supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae
* Unidentified Fermi objects

The emphasis of this workshop will be on both discussions and formal presentations. There will also be a mini hand-on training course to help students and postdoc to analyze Fermi data.

The Physics of Accretion on Compact Objects: A Multi-messenger Approach (European Week of Astronomy and Space Science 2013 Symposium)

Dates: 2013 July 8 - 9

Deadline for Early Registration: 2013 April 8

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 2013 April 30

Place: Turku, Finland

Compact objects such as black holes (BH) and neutron stars (NS) represent the most extreme forms of matter available in the Universe. They are unique laboratories to study the physics under extreme conditions unachievable in Earth laboratories: strong gravity, super-strong magnetic fields, high radiation energy density and supra-nuclear densities. Accreting compact objects produce photons covering all the electromagnetic spectrum from the radio to the gamma-rays. The X-ray radiation is strongly variable at millisecond timescales, proving that it is produced in the very vicinity of the compact objects. Thus it carries the information about the motion of matter in strong gravitational field and can be used to measure the spin of the BHs, the masses and radii of NSs and thus to constrain the equation of state of cold dense matter.

Among the topics of major importance for (weakly magnetized) neutron stars are the physics of boundary/spreading layer and the origin of quasi-periodic oscillations. The nature of the fast, nearly coherent oscillations first detected 16 years ago with RXTE is still unknown. Broad-band spectra give us a clue to the nature of the emission processes in accreting black holes, but it is still not clear what are the main processes producing IR/optical emission and what is the nature of the observed complicated shape of the optical/X-ray cross-correlation. Recently, a number of claims appeared in the literature that the black hole spins can be measured either by continuum fitting model applying the model of the accretion disc spectrum to the spectra of the soft state black holes or from the shape of the iron line. However, the results produced by these two methods are in contradiction. To explain and solve these puzzling differences will necessarily yield major advances in our understanding of the strong gravity regimes.

On the other side of the electromagnetic spectrum, the radio emission is less questionable. It is produced by jets far away from the central object. Recently a strong correlation between the X-ray and radio emission has been discovered arguing in favour of some connection between the accretion process and the jet. The details of this relation and theoretical understanding, however, are still missing. Some of accreting compact objects turned out to be bright gamma-ray emitters as was recently discovered by the Fermi gamma-ray space telescope. The nature of this emission is puzzling, it might be produced in the jet or interacting winds.

The goals of the symposium are to discuss these recent advances in observations and theory of accreting compact objects and to try to shed new light on multiple puzzles.

Sessions will cover the following aspects:

Broad-band spectroscopy: from radio to gamma-rays
X-ray fast variability, quasi-periodic oscillations
Physics of neutron star boundary layer
Determining spins of black holes
Accretion models
Role of the jets in accreting objects

Extreme Physics of Neutron Stars (European Week of Astronomy and Space Science 2013 Symposium)

Dates: 2013 July 10 - 12

Deadline for Early Registration: 2013 April 8

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 2013 April 30

Place: Turku, Finland

Neutron stars are the most compact stars in the Universe. The mean density of their matter is a few times higher than in atomic nuclei, and their central density can be 10-20 times higher than in the nuclei (while the matter in atomic nuclei is superdense by itself, with the density of about 300 million tons per cubic centimeter). The main properties of neutron star matter such as its pressure (the equation of state), nuclear composition (nucleons? hyperons? deconfined quarks? mixture of these?), and highest-temperature superfluidity of particles (due to nuclear interactions) are still unknown. These properties represent a long-standing mystery of neutron stars. Its solution would give tremendous impact not only on the neutron star physics but on nuclear physics, physics of strong interactions, particle physics and physics of condensed matter. There is no exact practical theory to calculate the properties of superdense matter; laboratory experiments to study such properties are sparse, very expensive, and cannot reproduce all the conditions. Neutron stars are unique natural laboratories which allow such studies by constructing theoretical models of neutron star structure and evolution, and by comparing theory with observations.

It is the aim of the symposium to discuss current state of art in astrophysical studies of superdense matter in different neutron star manifestations:

from spectroscopy and millisecond coherent oscillations during X-ray bursts;
from pulse profiles of accreting X-ray millisecond pulsars;
from measurements of neutron star masses and radii using various techniques;
from observations of cooling (isolated) ordinary neutron stars and neutron stars with superstrong magnetic fields (magnetars);
by observing quiescent thermal emission in neutron stars which enter soft X-ray transient sources;
from observations of glitches and timing noise of pulsating sources, etc.

Sessions will cover the following aspects:

Physical properties of neutron star matter
Modeling various phenomena in neutron stars
Multiwavelength emission of neutron stars
Measurements of neutron star masses and radii
Cooling isolated and accreting neutron stars
Superfluidity in neutron stars and its manifestation
Physics of magnetars

Summer 2013 Chandra Science Workshop: The X-Ray View of Galaxy Ecosystems

Dates: Were 2013 July 31 - August 2 but now cancelled

Place: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

X-ray observations are providing exciting results about the formation and evolution of galaxies, bringing new insight into the interplay between galaxies and the diverse physical components of which they are composed, and with which they interact. This workshop focuses on the diverse physics occurring within and around galaxies, with a particular emphasis on diffuse hot gas, but including galactic nuclei, the growth of SMBH, stellar/AGN feedback, stars and star formation, and environmental effects (e.g., stripping, mergers). The goals of this workshop are to bring together observers and theorists to review what we have learned in the last decade and to identify important but unsolved problems whose solution could significantly improve our understanding of galaxies, looking towards the most effective use of X-ray observatories in the next decade.

Explosive Transients: Lighthouses of the Universe

Dates: 2013 September 15 - 20

Deadline for Abstract Submission: Extended to 2013 June 30

Deadline for Early Registration: 2013 August 1

Deaddline for Regular Registration: 2013 September 15

Place: Santorini, Greece

This will be the first combined Swift/Fermi/NuSTAR conference covering recent advances in observations and theory of explosive transients in high-energy astrophysics (HEA).

The conference follows previous combined Fermi/Swift meetings, and now includes the NuSTAR mission and covers a largely expanded HEA scientific area, including:

- Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs),
- Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN),
- Magnetars,
- Galactic and extragalactic X-ray transients,
- Black-Hole transients, and
- Novae and Supernovae, among others.

The combination of Fermi and Swift missions has provided a wealth of information on GRBs and Magnetars in the last four years. The very broad spectral coverage has led to the discovery of new spectral components in GRBs challenging our standard picture of the prompt emission models. The Fermi/GBM has measured an unprecedented set of magnetar bursts with a high-resolution timing and spectral coverage, shedding new insights on their emission mechanisms. NuSTAR is collecting exciting new observations imaging the high energy sky for the first time between 6-80 keV. The Swift and Fermi mission source catalogs provide a hotbed of new discoveries and exciting new information on diverse source populations.

Multiple international missions (AGILE, INTEGRAL, Suzaku, MAXI, and Konus) continue to provide crucial complementary observations on all these transients. Follow-up observations by ground-based telescopes at optical/infrared/radio/TeV wavelengths are returning a huge amount of data, including new experiments such as IKAROS on the prompt polarization properties, ALMA on sub-millimeter properties, LOFAR on low-radio frequencies, PTF and PanSTARRS on optical wide-field surveys. Multi- messenger facilities are also providing important constraints using neutrinos and gravitational waves (e.g., IceCube, LIGO, Virgo, GEO, TAMA). All these new observational results are complemented by huge theoretical efforts, presented here to assist our understanding of these phenomena.

This meeting intends to devote approximately one or half day per subject area, addressing both observations and theory. Astronomers and physicists, working throughout the entire electromagnetic spectrum and beyond, will come together to critique recent observations, connect new phenomena and establish fresh collaborations to improve our understanding of the underlying mechanisms responsible for explosive transients.

Galaxies meet GRBs at Cabo de Gata

Dates: 2013 September 23 - 27

Registration Opens: 2013 May

Place: Las Negras, Cabo de Gata, Spain

The organizers want to bring together two different communities that have more in common than they think. The birth, life and death of massive stars are a crucial part of every galaxy's evolution at some point in its history. The chemical composition of the stellar populations in the galaxy is linked to the properties of the massive star and hence its final fate. Massive stars occur more often in star-bursting galaxies and heavily star-forming regions inside larger galaxies. But how was this star-formation triggered? In return, massive stars provide kinematical and chemical feedback to their surroundings often stretching beyond the galaxy via galactic winds. Shocks can lead to new star-formation or inhibit it, dust is created and destroyed. What is the imprint of massive stars on their environment and how can we detect them? Also, the known final states of massive stars have become more and more diverse in the last few years. Supernovae have diversified in many different classes, GRBs continue to be puzzling and some very odd ones are discovered every now and then. What are the different progenitors leading to different kinds of stellar explosions and why? Can stellar evolution modeling provide us with concrete conditions for different kinds of stellar explosions and observables of their environments?

Galaxies, star-formation and massive stars will be discussed so as to better understand their mutual influence. Contributions from all wavelengths and redshifts are welcome from both observers and modelers. Here is a list of topics that the organizers plan to cover:

- GRBs, SNe, WR stars and their hosts
- Diversity of GRBs and SNe
- Life and death of massive stars
- Influence of stellar explosions on their environment
- Galaxy evolution and starburst galaxies
- High-redshift star-forming galaxies
- Star-formation triggers
- Stellar populations and their evolution
- Evolution of star-formation and chemical abundances over the history of the Universe
- IFS and other resolved techniques
- Multi-wavelength observations of star-forming galaxies
- Stellar evolution modeling and end-states of massive stars

27th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics: "Celebrating 50 Years of Relativistic Astrophysics"

Dates: 2013 December 8 - 13

Deadline for Early Registration: 2013 August 26

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 2013 October 1

Deadline for Regular Registration: 2013 October 14

Deadline for Late Abstract Submission (Posters Only): 2013 November 8

Place: Dallas, Texas, USA

Cosmic Ray Origin - Beyond the Standard Model(s)

Dates: 2014 March 16 - 22

Place: San Vito de Cadore, near Cortina, Italy

One hundred years after their discovery, great progress has been made in understanding the origin of cosmic rays, but many questions remain. There is now convincing evidence for the long-suspected role of supernova remnants, but it is also clear that not all remnants contribute equally or at the same level throughout their evolution (and indeed there are questions about the overall efficiency). In addition to supernova remnants, there are strong hints that other categories of sources, such as pulsar wind nebulae, OB associations, GRBs, etc, may also contribute. The organizers believe that it is timely to convene a specialist conference devoted to a critical examination of these issues.

For more information, contact Luke Drury (luke.drury "at" me.com) or Omar Tibolla (omar.tibolla "at" gmail.com).

40th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and Associated Events: COSPAR 2014

Dates: 2014 August 2 - 10

Scientific Program Chair: Prof. M.I. Panasyuk, Moscow State University

Deadline for Abstracts: 2014 mid-February

Place: Moscow, Russia

Topics:

Approximately 120 meetings covering the fields of COSPAR Scientific Commissions (SC) and Panels:

- SC A:  The Earth's Surface, Meteorology and Climate
- SC B:  The Earth-Moon System, Planets, and Small Bodies of the Solar System
- SC C:  The Upper Atmospheres of the Earth and Planets Including Reference Atmospheres
- SC D:  Space Plasmas in the Solar System, Including Planetary Magnetospheres
- SC E:  Research in Astrophysics from Space
- SC F:  Life Sciences as Related to Space
- SC G:  Materials Sciences in Space
- SC H:  Fundamental Physics in Space
- Panel on Satellite Dynamics (PSD)
- Panel on Scientific Ballooning (PSB)
- Panel on Potentially Environmentally Detrimental Activities in Space (PEDAS)
- Panel on Radiation Belt Environment Modelling (PRBEM)
- Panel on Space Weather (PSW)
- Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP)
- Panel on Capacity Building (PCB)

- Panel on Education (PE)

- Panel on Exploration (PEX)

- Special events:  interdisciplinary lectures, round table, etc.

Selected papers published in Advances in Space Research, a fully refereed journal with no deadlines open to all submissions in relevant fields.

Contact COSPAR Secretariat, c/o CNES, 2 place Maurice Quentin, 75039 Paris Cedex 01, France: Tel: +33 1 44 76 75 10, Fax: +33 1 44 76 74 37, or via e-mail at cospar@cosparhq.cnes.fr.

High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the AAS Meeting

Dates: 2014 August

Place: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the AAS Meeting

Dates: 2016 Spring

place: TBD, USA

High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the AAS Meeting

Dates: 2017 August

Place: Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA

Other Selected Astronomy, Physics and Space Science meetings

The Restless Nature of AGNs: Variability as a Probe of the Central Engine

Dates: 2013 May 20 - 23

Deadline for Registration: 2013 March 24

Placxe: Naples, Italy

It is widely accepted that variability provides important information on the nature of the emission mechanisms and the geometry of the central source in Active Galactic Nuclei. This is an exciting time in the field of AGN variability, due to the wealth of new results produced in the last few years. This conference intends to focus on radio-quiet sources, discussing our current understanding of the central source variability across the IR, optical, and UV regimes up to hard X-rays, and the clues that variability provides about the physics and structure of the AGN phenomena. The contributions are intended to address the problem of AGN variability both from the observational and theoretical point of view, on short and long time scales, presenting results and expectations from wide-field/deep surveys, pointed observations, ground-based and space observatories.

The topics will include:

- X-ray flux and spectral variability,
- UV emission/absorption variability, correlations and SED variability,
- Variability in the optical band: reverberation, the continuum and the full sky surveys,
- AGN variability analysis methods,
- Variability constraints on theoretical models: from the MRI to the X-ray corona.

2013 Spring International Conference on Advances in Physics (CAP-S)

Dates: 2013 May 31 - June 2

Deadline for Full Paper or Abstract Submission: 2013 February 4

Place: Wuhan, China

This conference is dedicated to creating a stage for exchanging the latest research results and sharing the advanced research methods. This conference will cover issues on:

Computational Physics
Astrophysics
High Energy Physics/Nuclear Physics
Photonics and Optoelectronics Electromagnetics
Semiconductor physics and devices
Other related topics

American Astronomical Society Meeting 222

Dates: 2013 June 2 - 6

Deadline for Early Registration: 2013 February 13

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 2013 March 4

Place: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Massive Stars: From Alpha to Omega

Dates: 2013 June 10 - 14

Deadline for Abstract Submission for Contributed Talks: 2013 February 28

Deadline for Early Registration and Payment: 2013 April 20

Deadline for Abstract Submission for Posters: 2013 April 20

Deadline for Hotel Reservation with Guaranteed Special Meeting Prices: 2013 May 10

Deadline for Late Registration and Payment: 2013 May 20

Place: Rhodes, Greece

The conference will build on results from ongoing large-scale multi-wavelength surveys of massive stars which are being coupled with new theoretical advances dealing with stellar evolution and the processes which affect that evolution: mass-loss, rotation, convection, magnetic fields, multiplicity and environment. It will tackle important problems from birth, through main sequence evolution and until core collapse.

There will be a strong focus on relating the major theoretical uncertainties afflicting stellar evolution through these phases to the current observational picture. The impetus for this focus is derived from the realization that our understanding of massive star evolution is severely challenged by new observations powered largely by technological advances in telescopes and instrumentation. This has enabled new ways of looking at old long-standing problems enabling large-scale high-quality surveys of resolved stellar populations. As theoretical approaches try to keep pace with this increase in information the cracks in our assumptions concerning stellar evolution have become more apparent, even glaring. Whereas before it might have been possible to understand some of the stars some of the time it is now clear that understanding stellar populations is a considerable challenge and will require substantial efforts to resolve.

The detailed scientific topics of this meeting on massive stars include:

New observational & theoretical results from large-scale surveys (FLAMES, MiMeS, PanSTARRS, PTF), techniques (astrometry) and computation.
Consequences of zero-age conditions on stellar evolution
Massive star environments, massive clusters, dynamical evolution, runaway stars and mergers
The importance of binaries for populations of massive stars
The upper end of the IMF and the role of mergers
Massive-star magnetism and pulsation, evolutionary consequences
The role and evolution of stellar rotation across the H-R diagram
Mass-loss across the H-R diagram and episodic mass-loss from LBVs and other transients
Constraints from endpoints
Massive stars at very low metallicity

Ripples in the Cosmos

Dates: 2013 July 22 - 26

Deadline for Discounted Registration and Sumission of Contributed Talks: 2013 April 30

Registration Closes: 2013 June 30

Place: Durham, UK

An international cosmology conference entitled "Ripples in the Cosmos" will be held at Durham University, England. The agenda includes Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and other cosmological probes from ground-based redshift surveys such as BOSS and WiggleZ. We shall also be reviewing results from the Planck satellite, as well as the latest results from the LHC. The intent is to make a broad review of the crucial issues in cosmology from the identity of dark matter to the nature of dark energy by coupling the very latest results from astronomy and particle physics.

Conference in Honour of the 90th Birthday of Freeman Dyson

Dates: 2013 August 26 - 29

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 2013 April 30

Deadline for Registration: 2013 June 30

Place: Singapore

The Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore will be hosting a conference in honour of the 90th Birthday of Professor Freeman Dyson, the eminent English-born American physicist, mathematician, and futurist. He is famous for his work in quantum electrodynamics, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering, as well as a renowned and best-selling author. He has spent most of his life as a professor of physics at the IAS in Princeton, taking time off to advise the US government and write books for the public. He has won numerous notable awards including the Enrico Fermi Award, Templeton Prize, Wolf Prize, Pomeranchuk Prize, and Henri Poincaré Prize. The conference will cover a wide range of topics. Distinguished scientists from around the world, including several Nobel Laureates, will join Professor Dyson in the celebration with a festival of lectures.

For enquiries, please email the organisers at iasevents@ntu.edu.sg.

2013 Science Operations Conference (SciOps2013)

Dates: 2013 September 10 - 13

Deadline for Abstracts: 2013 May 1

Deadline for Registration: 2013 July 15

Place: Villafranca del Castillo, near Madrid, Spain

The objective of SciOps 2013 is to present and discuss the various approaches to science operations in spacecraft missions and ground-based facilities for Astronomy and Solar System Science.

Therefore, the organizers intend to:

    Compare and improve our processes and approaches

    Foster innovations

    Enable a more efficient use of our resources

    Establish and intensify collaborations

via a focus on:

    Community support and services

    Science and instrument planning

    Instrument handling and calibration

    Science data processing

    Science data archiving and product generation

    Science operations organisation and management

...throughout all project phases from initial concepts to legacy products.

Setting a New Standard in the Analysis of Binary Stars

Dates: 2013 September 16 - 19

Deadline for Abstract Submission for Contributed Talks: 2013 July 1

Notification on Selected Abstracts for Oral Presentations: 2013 July 20

Deadline for Early Registration and Abstract Submission for Posters: 2013 August 1

Deadline for Late Registration: 2013 September 1

Place: Leuven, Belgium

Complementary observations of binary stars allow the determination of fundamental stellar quantities, and are a principal source of stellar masses. As such, binary stars are irreplaceable for probing models of stellar structure and evolution. The development of modern instrumentation with high spectral and spatial resolution and the amazing precision of on-board detectors operational in space on the one hand, and new modern analysis techniques on the other hand, now make it possible to surpass the barrier of 1% accuracy on the stellar parameters, allowing studies on a much more detailed scale. On the theoretical side, new generations of stellar evolution models are being built with important ingredients to achieve a more realistic physical description. Over the last decade, several new grids of rotational evolution models have become available, and promising initial results from the implementation of magnetic fields have been achieved. In spite of tremendous efforts by many researchers, both observers and theoreticians, we are still facing discrepancies and ambiguities over the entire range of stellar masses, as well as different evolutionary states and metallicity regimes.

The aim of this conference is to bring together theoreticians and observers, to review the present capabilities of matching models with new high-quality observations, and to identify the problems that stand in the way of a proper understanding of stellar physics. The overarching questions to be asked are: (1) Which aspects of theory appear to be most in need of improvement in light of observations, (2) what observational advances are most needed by theorists to advance the models, and (3) what enhancements in data modeling engines are most critically needed as we enter the era of ultra-high precision photometry?

More detailed questions to be discussed include: Is the accuracy of the observables sufficient to discriminate between models? How can we lift the degeneracy between metallicity and rotational effects? How well are we able to trace observationally convective core-overshooting, and calibrate the mixing in the stellar interiors? Are our analytical models suitable for dealing with photometric data of micro-magnitude precision? How can we characterise the individual components in binaries (chemical composition, metallicity, pulsation pattern, rotation and spin-orbit alignment) and the role of tidal interaction between them? What is the tidal evolution of detached binaries? Other topics that will also be discussed include the need for binary star evolutionary models and the synergy of binary stars, stellar clusters and galaxies, pulsating stars in binaries, and spatial resolution of spectroscopic binaries, as well as the Mass-Luminosity relation in Local Group galaxies. Additionally, time will be devoted to discuss case studies of benchmark binaries.

The Galactic Center: Feeding and Feedback in a Normal Galactic Nucleus (IAU Symposium 303)

Dates: 2013 September 30 - October 4

Pre-Registration: Now Open

Deadline for Early Registration: 2013 April

Deadline for IAU Travel grant Applications: 2013 April 19

Deadline for Regular Registration: 2013 July

Place: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

The organizers aim to bring together Galactic Center researchers who are focused on trying to answer the following outstanding questions related to feeding and feedback in our Galactic nucleus and the nuclei of other normal galaxies. Talks and topics of discussion include:

- What are the detailed physical properties of the clouds in the Central Molecular Zone and what is the potential for forming stars in this environment?
- What is the role of stellar feedback in our Galactic Center and in starbursts?
- How well do we understand the accretion processes around Sgr A*, and the inner parcsecs of the Galactic Center?
- What tracers do we have of Sgr A*'s prior AGN-like history? Are the Fermi bubbles related, or due to stellar processes?
- What are we learning about the Galactic Center environment from observations with new facilities such as ALMA, Fermi, NuSTAR, and new multiwavelength campaigns?

IAU 303 Symposium builds upon a tradition in the Galactic Center community of holding a series of regular international workshops. Previous meetings were held in Los Angeles, USA; La Serena, Chile; Bad Honnef, Germany; Honolulu, USA; and Shanghai, China.

The IAU will provide limited travel funds for early-career researchers and others in need of support in order to attend the symposium. The deadline for funding requests will be 19 April 2013. Please contact iau303@nrao.edu for more details.

The Metre Wavelength Sky: Celebrating 50 years of Radio Astronomy at TIFR

Dates: 2013 December 9 - 13

Place: Pune, India

This conference is being organized to mark 50 years of radio astronomy research at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), as well as 10 years of operation of the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) as an international observatory. The main aim of the conference is to bring together leading researchers in a variety of fields, covering all areas of active research at low radio frequencies. The GMRT was the first of a new generation of low frequency radio telescopes that have led to a renaissance in the field over the last few years. New telescopes (LOFAR, MWA, ASKAP, MEERKAT) are now coming on line and the GMRT is itself going through a major upgrade.

Although part of the aim of the conference is to look back at the achievements of the group over last 50 years, the principal emphasis will be on recent results and new developments in instrumentation. The broad themes that will be covered are listed below, but abstracts are invited in all astrophysical topics for which low frequency radio observations are important. Historical developments at NCRA-TIFR will be covered in a separate session (that will be more celebratory in nature), to be held at the GMRT campus, at Khodad near Pune on the last day of the conference

MAJOR THEMES OF THE CONFERENCE

    Radio emission from the Sun, stars and planets
    Pulsars and transient sources
    HI through cosmic time
    Cosmic magnetic fields
    SNRs, HII regions, star forming galaxies
    AGN and Galaxy clusters
    New developments in instrumentation and techniques

American Astronomical Society Meeting 223

Dates: 2014 January 5 - 9

Place: National Harbor (near Washington, DC), Maryland, USA

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Summer School in Statistics for Astronomers IX

Dates: 2013 June 3 - 7

Deadline for Registration: 2013 May 3, or earlier if the enrollment limit is reached

Place: Stae College, Pennsylvania, USA

Penn State is please to continue its annual Summer Schools in Statistics designed for graduate students and researchers in astronomy. The ninth summer school is an intensive week covering basic statistical inference, several fields of applied statistics, and the R computing environment. A repertoire of well-established techniques applicable to observational astronomy and physics are developed. Classroom instruction is interspersed with hands-on analysis of astronomical data using the open-source R software package. The course is taught by a team of statistics and astronomy professors with opportunity for discussion of methodological issues.

The topics to be covered include:

* Exploratory data analysis
* Hypothesis testing and parameter estimation
* Regression
* Bootstrap resampling
* Model selection & goodness-of-fit
* Maximum likelihood methods & Bayes' Theorem
* Non-parametric methods
* Monte Carlo methods
* Bayesian analysis
* Spatial statistics
* Time series

11th International Colloquium on Atomic Spectra and Oscillator Strengths for Astrophysical and Laboratory Plasmas (ASOS-11)

Dates: 2013 August 5 - 9

2nd Announcement: 2013 February

Abstract Submission Deadline: Extended to 2013 May 10

Notification Date for Abstract Acceptance: 2013 May 17, provided that at least one of the authors has already registered for the conference

Early Registration Deadline: 2013 May 31

End of Registration: 2013 July 5

Place: Mons, Belgium

The purpose of the meeting will be, in line with tradition, to bring together 'producers' and 'users' of atomic data so as to ensure optimal coordination. Atomic physicists who study the structure of atoms and their radiative and collisional properties will be invited to explain the development of their work while astrophysicists and laboratory plasma physicists will be invited to review their present research interests and the context in which atomic data are needed. The meeting will be organized by the Astrophysics and Spectroscopy (ASPECT) group on the campus of University of Mons (UMONS) and will include invited and contributed talks along with poster presentations. The conference will be the eleventh meeting in a series started in 1983 and taking place every three years.

The scientific program will cover the following areas:

-  Atomic lifetime and oscillator strength determination

-  Hyperfine structure and isotope shifts

-  Theoretical modeling and computational approaches

-  Laboratory techniques

-  High resolution spectroscopy

-  Trapped ions

-  Tests of fundamental constants

-  Highly charged ions

-  Collisional processes

-  Atomic databases and related topics

-  Astrophysical and laboratory plasmas : atomic data needs

-  Spectroscopic diagnostics of fusion plasmas

-  Topics in astrophysics including elemental abundance determination

-  Atomic spectra from HED plasmas and polarization

-  ....

More detailed information may be found by emailing the following contact address: asos11@umons.ac.be.

AtomDB Workshop 2013 (part of AtomDB Work Week August 19 - 23)

Dates:2013 August 21 - 22

Place: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

The Third AtomDB Workshop will be held at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory on August 21st and 22nd 2013, with an accompanying work week running from August 19th to 23rd. The workshop will be a 1.5 day meeting beginning on Wednesday afternoon, bringing together producers of atomic data, both theoretical and experimental, with the users of atomic data relevant to X-ray astronomy. The workshop aims to identify progress in the Lab Astro field which is directly relevant to X-ray astronomy, to show observers how to use these data, and to show the results of using the atomic physics to analyze astrophysical spectra.

The work week is also open to all and is for those who wish to work with the AtomDB team or other attendees on atomic data problems connected to astrophysics, whether it be incorporating new data into the database, identifying new data needs, or learning how to use the existing models to analyze astrophysical data.

Registration for the meeting will open nearer the time. If you are interested in either the work week or the workshop, please contact the organizers (Adam Foster: afoster "at" cfa.harvard.edu and Randall Smith: rsmith "at" cfa.harvard.edu) and we will keep you up to date as more information becomes available.

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Page Author: Stephen A. Drake (e-mail: Stephen.A.Drake 'at' nasa.gov)