*** IAU Division D Bulletin N. 15: August 1, 2017 ***

 

INDEX:

 

* NICER begins science operations

* HXMT Launch

* IAU Symposium 342 – Perseus in Sicily

* Upcoming meetings

 

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* NICER begins science operations

 

NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission has been installed on the International Space Station and has now commenced science operations. As of July 17, NICER had observed over 40 celestial targets, which have been used to calibrate the X-ray timing instrument and validate the payload performance.

 

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2017/nasa-neutron-star-mission-begins-science-operations

 

More general information on NICER:

 

https://www.nasa.gov/nicer

 

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* HXMT launch

 

China’s Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) launched successfully in mid-June and has been re-named Huiyan (Insight). Congratulations to everyone involved!

 

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* IAU Symposium 342 – Perseus in Sicily

 

The organizers are pleased to announce the dates and location for the IAU Symposium #342 "Perseus in Sicily: from black hole to cluster outskirts".

 

The symposium will take place in Noto (Sicily) on 14-18 May 2018. Please mark your calendar!

 

Preliminary information is available at the website www.ira.inaf.it/iaus342/. Detailed instructions with important dates, procedures for IAU Travel grant application, and logistic information will be circulated around mid-September.

 

Key topics include:

 

- approaching the Schwarzschild radius: methods to measure BH mass and spin

- BH magnetosphere & sphere of gravitational influence

- hot vs cold accretion

- magneto-hydrodynamical processes in disks and jets

- jet production, collimation, and acceleration mechanisms

- HE emission: site and mechanisms, particle acceleration, leptonic vs hadronic processes

- jet-medium interaction on galactic and cluster scales

- thermal and non-thermal emission in galaxy clusters

- turbulence, gas heating and cooling

- AGN winds and BH-galaxy coevolution

 

IAU Division D is the Coordinating Division for this Symposium. We hope that many of our members are able to attend!

 

 

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* Upcoming Conferences, Meetings, Workshops and Schools

 

THESEUS workshop

5-6 October, 2017
Naples, Italy

http://www.isdc.unige.ch/theseus/workshop2017.html

 

Physics opportunities with a new universe’s view: the SKA radio telescope

6-7 November, 2017

Valencia, Spain

http://riastronomia.es/physics-opportunities-with-new-universes-view-the-ska-radio-telescope/

 

Pulsar and FRB search software in the era of real-time surveys

11-14 December, 2017

Cape Town, South Africa

https://sites.google.com/view/searchsoft/home

 

IAU Symposium 342 “Perseus in Sicily: from black hole to cluster outskirts”

14-18 May, 2018

Noto, Sicily

www.ira.inaf.it/iaus342/

 

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If you wish to share with IAU Div D any information about matters that may be relevant to the activities of Div D Members, please send an e-mail to A.L.Watts@uva.nl . This will appear in the next Bulletin, which will be sent out on September 1, 2017. Thank you in advance for your inputs, and best regards.

 

Dr Anna Watts Secretary of IAU Div D Steering Committee

Associate Professor, University of Amsterdam
Email: A.L.Watts@uva.nl
http://staff.fnwi.uva.nl/a.l.watts