Newsletter - 16 April 2019

Event Horizon Telescope

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has presented groundbreaking results that image the black hole at the centre of galaxy M87 for the first time. The black hole is at a distance of 55 million light-years from Earth with a mass of 6.5 billion solar masses.

ALMA formed part of the Event Horizon Telescope network as a phased array. In this mode, ALMA uses all 66 antennas to function as a single radio antenna that is 85 metres in diameter. As the most sensitive participating site, ALMA increases the sensitivity of the observations by a factor of 10 and is a key element in the entire network.

The EHT website has more details. The accompanying six journal publications in the "First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results" series are as follows:

 

ALMA C7 Deadline

The ALMA Cycle 7 call for proposal period is currently under way. The deadline for this call is tomorrow 17th April 2019 (15:00 UT). Observation of Cycle 7 projects will start in October 2019 and continue for 12 months, with 4300 hours of 12m time and 3750 hours of ACA time available. We hope that all your proposal preparation is going well.

The full CfP announcement has more details, including information about ALMA Cycle 7 capabilities and proposal types.

If you require any assistance with your ALMA Cycle 7 proposal preparation the UK ARC Node are happy to help. Our contact information is available at the end of this newsletter.

 

Improving Image Fidelity on Astronomical Data: Radio Interferometer and Single-Dish Data Combination

12-16 August 2019

Lorentz Center

Leiden, Netherlands

Website

This workshop will convene the leading experts in interferometry and single-dish combination techniques across the world with the goals of understanding, comparing, and testing methods of data combination. Participants of this workshop will illustrate the need of data combination with real science cases, present current methods, and discuss each method's strengths and weaknesses. In addition to scientific talks from key invited speakers, the workshop also includes technical talks covering the various techniques and a number of hands-on sessions to test and work on the different combination methods. The aim by the end of the workshop is to develop user guides for the respective existing methods, provide guidelines as to which method could perform better under which circumstances, and propose additional new methods that should be developed if needed. The registration deadline 1 May.

 

High-Resolution Spectroscopy in the Era of ALMA, JWST and ELT

22-26 July 2019

Sexten Centre for Astrophysics

Sexten, Italy

Website

Registration is open for the High Resolution Spectroscopy in the Era of ALMA, JWST and ELT workshop, July 22-26, at the Sexten Centre for Astrophysics. The workshop will bring together researchers working within different astrophysical areas using data from one of the leading astronomical facilities available today (ALMA) to plan for the next generation optical and near-infrared observatories (JWST, ELT). Key to the motivation for this workshop is that astronomers must harness the high spatial resolution spectroscopic capabilities of each of these facilities, in a multiwavelength approach, to reach their scientific goals. The number of participants in the workshop will be limited to enable discussions and interaction with all participants. The participation of early stage researchers is strongly encouraged.

 

2019 European Radio Interferometry School

07-11 October 2019

Hotel Panorama

Gothenburg, Sweden

Website

The second announcement for the the Eighth European Radio Interferometry School (ERIS) has been made. ERIS will take place in Gothenburg (Sweden) during the week 7 - 11 October 2019. ERIS provides a week of lectures and tutorials on how to achieve scientific results from radio interferometry. The topics covered during the workshop will include:

  • Calibration and imaging of continuum, spectral line, and polarization data.
  • Observing techniques for low frequencies (e.g. LOFAR), intermediate frequencies (e.g. VLA and e-MERLIN), high frequencies (e.g. ALMA and NOEMA), and VLBI (e.g. EVN).
  • Extracting the information from astronomical data and interpreting the results.
  • Choosing the most suitable array and observing plan for your project.​

The school will be hosted by Onsala Space Observatory​ at Chalmers University of Technology and take place at Hotel Panorama in Gothenburg (Sweden). The registration deadline is 3 May. Space is limited to 70 attendees, with financial support for 1-2 peresons from African institutions.

 

A Centenary of Astrophysical Jets: Observation, Theory & Future Prospects

23 - 26 July 2019

SKA Global Headquarters Jodrell Bank Observatory

Cheshire, UK

Website

Since the first description of an observation of an astrophysical jet, by Heber D. Curtis (Curtis 1918; Descriptions of 762 nebulae and clusters, Pub. Lick Observatory 13, 9), countless jets of high-energy particles from compact objects such as neutron-stars and galactic black holes through to the highly collimated relativistic jets in AGNs have been observed and studied across a wide range of physical systems and scales. In addition to energy, momentum and mass transport from a compact source to its close and/or distant environment, jet outflows serve as laboratories for probing the physics of energetic processes, and are implicated in the regulation of large-scale structure in the Universe. Jet studies are among the key drivers of current and future astronomical surveys.

The conference organizers invite researchers in all career stages to apply – there are opportunities for contributed talks or poster presentations, allocated on a competitive basis by our scientific organising committee. There is also financial support available to eligible participants (postgrads and early-career researchers). There is an upper limit of 130 participants for this conference, and so we encourage interested persons to register early.

For more information and registration details, please refer to the conference website.