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Programme

Saturday 13 April 2019

9:00 - 18:00

 

8:00 -  9:00: Registration

 

9:00 -  9:10: Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden University; IAU President): Opening Address

 

9:10 - 9:35: John Grunsfeld (NASA Astronaut): The Incredible Hubble Space Telescope: How Technology and Astronauts Changed our View of the Universe

 

9:35 - 9:55 Johan Knapen (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias): Scientific collaborations in astronomy between amateurs and professionals

 

9:55 - 10:15 Stella Kafka (American Association of Variable Star Observers, AAVSO): The AAVSO Enabling Citizen Astronomy Worldwide

 

10:15 - 10:35 Guillem Anglada (Queen Mary University of London): Chasing red terrestrial planets with astronomers from around the world

 

10:35 - 11:00: Coffee break

 

11:00 - 11:20 Jorge Zuluaga (Solar, Earth and Planetary Physics Group, Institute of Physics, University of Antioquia): From the speed of light to an impact on the moon: fostering collaboration between amateur and professional astronomers in Latin America and beyond

 

11:20 - 11:40 Babak Tafreshi (The World at Night program): The World at Night Photography

 

11:40 - 12:00 Frans Snik (Leiden University): Citizen Science; from astronomy to air pollution and beyond

 

12:00 - 12:20 Sævar Helgi Bragason (University of Iceland): Communicating astronomy and climate change

 

12:20 - 14:00 Lunch

 

14:00 - 15:30: Hot Topics in Astronomy (Parallel Sessions)

 

Parallel Session I (Throne Room)

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  • Ewine van Dishoeck ((Leiden University; IAU President): Building stars and planets in space   

  • Junichi Watanabe (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan): Japanese contribution to research of small solar system bodies

  • Laetitia Delrez (University of Cambridge; Cavendish Laboratory): Exoplanets and the Search for Life Beyond the Solar System

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Parallel Session II (Albert II Room)

 

  • Oliver Pfuhl (Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics): The black hole at the center of the Milky Way - seen with GRAVITY

  • Martin Hendry (University of Glasgow; LIGO Scientific Collaboration): Listening to Einstein's Universe: the dawn of gravitational-wave astronomy

  • Anthony Brown (Leiden University): Unraveling the formation history of the Milky Way with Gaia 

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15:30 - 16:10 Talks by Amateur Astronomers I (Parallel Sessions)

 

Parallel Session I: History Amateur Astronomers Societies (Throne Room)

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  • Cesare Pagano (Unione Astrofili Italiani): Passion and inclusion at the heart: Italian amateur astronomers' community history, challenges, projects

  • Paul A Daniels (Federation of Astronomical Societies): Amateur Astronomy in the United Kingdom

  • Alexander Rafael Zalles Grebetskaya (Bolivian Astronomical Association): 50 years of the Bolivian Astronomical Association

 

Parallel Session II: Interactions of amateur astronomy societies with general public and professional astronomers (Albert II Room)

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  • Olivier Las-Vergnas (Association Francaise d'Astronomie): 27 years of "Nuits des Etoiles" Summer Events in France: impact on Astronomy Leisure Landscape

  • Ricardo Barbosa (Société Astronomique de Genève): Diving in the Archives of the Astronomical Society of Geneva

  • Thierry Midavaine (Societé Astronomique de France): Status of the Amateur Professional Collaborations

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16:10 - 16:40: Coffee break

 

16:40 - 17:20 Talks by Amateur Astronomers II (Parallel Sessions)

 

Parallel Session III: Amateur astronomers contributions to Eclipses and Occultations research (Throne Room)

 

  • Konrad Guhl (International Occultation and Timing Association IOTA/ES): Occultation Observation – the „Swiss Knife“ in Astronomy as a Field for Amateur-Astronomers

  • Eric Broens (Vereniging Voor Sterrenkunde): Multi-color light curve models of totally eclipsing W UMa stars with changing periods

  • Roland Boninsegna (FFAAB, GEOS): Long-term Behaviour of the Eclipsing Binary PX CEP

 

Parallel Session IV: Amateur astronomers contributions to Solar System research (Albert II Room)

 

  • Marc Delcroix (Societé Astronomique de France): Amateur Astronomers’ Contribution to Planetary Science Through Pro-Am Collaboration

  • Philippe Morel (Charles Fehrenbach Observatory, Astro Club de France): The combined radial blurs: a new way for cometary structures studies

  • Huib Henrichs (Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Weer- en Sterrenkunde): Simultaneous photometry and spectroscopy of the exceptional asteroid 3200 Phaethon with a Shelyak Alpy spectrograph attached to a C9.25 telescope

 

17:20 - 18:05: Panel discussion: Professional and Amateur Astronomers collaborations in the framework of the International Astronomical Union (Moderator: Frank Deboosere - VRT)

  • Rodrigo Alvarez (Planetarium of the Royal Observatory of Belgium)

  • Lina Canas (IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach)

  • Paul Daniels (Federation of astronomical Societies)

  • John Hearnshaw (University of Canterbury, IAU Vice-President)

  • Stella Kafka (American Association of Variable Star Observers, AAVSO)

 

18:05 -18:20 Closing Remarks  - Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden University; IAU President

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18:20 - 19:00: A toast to IAU 100 years

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Disclosure: The programme may undergo last-minute changes due to unforeseen circumstances

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