This image shows an example of a bipolar planetary nebula known as NGC 6537 taken with the New Technology Telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. The shape, reminiscent of a butterfly or an hourglass, was formed as a Sun-like star approached the end of its life and puffed its outer layers into the surrounding space. For bipolar nebulae, this material is funnelled towards the poles of the ageing star, creating the distinctive double-lobed structure. Observations using the NTT and Hubble have found that bipolar planetary nebulae located towards the central bulge of our Milky Way appear to be strangely aligned in the sky — a surprising result given their varied and chaotic formation. NGC 6537, which lies much closer to the Earth, was not part of the new study.
Workshops
SCIENCE OPERATIONS 2013: Working Together in Support of Science
ESA/ESO Conference at ESAC, Madrid, Spain, 10 – 13 September 2013
The objective of SCIOPS2013 is to present and discuss the various approaches to science operations in spacecraft missions and ground-based facilities for Astronomy and Solar System Science. The meeting will cover all phases of science operations, from initial concepts to legacy products, including general organisation and management aspects, community support and services, instrument planning, handling and calibration, science data processing and archiving.
Challenges in UV Astronomy (ESO/NUVA/IAG Workshop)
Auditorium, ESO Garching, 7 – 11 October 2013
Jointly organised by the Network for UV Astronomy (NUVA), ESO and the IAG Brazil, this workshop will focus on efficient exploration from the ground of the UV spectrum region. New UV instrumentation, such as CUBES – a joint ESO-Brazil high-resolution UV spectrograph – being planned for the VLT, will open up observation of UV spectral features. The present and future of the field and, in particular, the scientific case of CUBES, will be discussed. Further details are available here or please contact uvastro@eso.org for more information.
Joint ESO and Observatoire de Paris Workshop: Metal Production and Distribution in a Hierarchical Universe
Observatoire de Paris Meudon, 21 – 25 October 2013
Metals trace the full evolution of the Universe and determining their relative abundances in different environments, and across cosmic time, reveals the underlying star formation history and gas exchange processes. Recent progress in instrumentation and modelling now means that metal production and distribution can be used to test our ideas of galaxy evolution at many different hierarchical scales: from stellar clusters to clusters of galaxies. Tracing metals across cosmic time requires equivalent investments in observational facilities and simulations and the meeting will review the state of the art in all the different research areas.
ESO Workshop on Deconstructing Galaxies: Structure and Morphology in the Era of Large Surveys
Santiago, ESO Santiago, 18 – 22 November 2013
The study of the structure and morphology of galaxies is one of the major astronomical tools to address how galaxies form and evolve. There has been much recent progress in understanding the properties of different structural components in nearby and intermediate redshift (z ~ 1-2) galaxies. The strengths and limitations of the different techniques for obtaining structural measures of galaxies, particularly with regard to handling large surveys, will be highlighted. This conference will bring together over 100 observers and theorists, and it is intended to be highly participative, with substantial time devoted to discussions.
ALMA Community Days 2013: Preparing for Cycle 2
Auditorium and Council Room, ESO Garching, 19 – 20 November 2013
The aim of the 2013 ALMA Community Days is to optimally prepare the astronomical community for ALMA Cycle 2 proposal submission. Besides a series of technical and scientific presentations, there will also be practical hands-on tutorials for the ALMA proposal preparation software, and an introduction to (sub)mm-interferometry techniques for novices in the field.
Workshop on 400 Years of Stellar Rotation
Natal, Brazil, 21 – 26 November 2013
In 1613 Galileo Galilei observed solar spots and interpreted their motion as due to solar rotation. After 400 years we are able to quantify in detail the behaviour of the rotation of the Sun in time, as well as the evolutionary behaviour of stellar rotation all across the HR Diagram. This meeting will consider all aspects of stellar and solar rotation and, in addition, present the state of the art of stellar rotation coming from the space missions CoRoT, Kepler and Spitzer. The workshop is co-sponsored by the European Southern Observatory and the International Institute of Physics of Natal.
Astrotomography II – Imaging at the Micro-arcsecond Scale
Santiago, ESO Santiago, 10 – 13 December 2013
Astrotomography is a generic term for indirect mapping techniques that can be applied to a huge variety of astrophysical systems, ranging from planets, through single stars and binaries to active galactic nuclei. Given the increase in scientific output of astrotomography, it is timely to review the methods, chart progress in the field and prepare the next generation of astronomers to use the tools. The workshop themes will cover computational methods, techniques and new developments, new instrument possibilities and applications. In addition to reviews and contributed talks, an additional day is planned with a hands-on training workshop.
3D2014 – Gas and stars in galaxies: A multi-wavelength 3D perspective
Garching, 10 – 14 March 2014
This workshop aims to bring together the optical/near-infrared, millimetre and radio communities working on 3-dimensional extragalactic data, following on from the similarly themed 2008 workshop. Science topics are centered on both gas and stars in galaxies and examples include dynamics, AGN and supermassive black holes, high redshift galaxies and deep fields. Tools to visualise and analyse multi-wavelength data cubes will also be discussed. In association with the workshop, three parallel user workshops on reduction and analysis of 3D data from KMOS, MUSE and ALMA will be held.
