HIPPARCHOSHIPPARCHOS the Hellenic Astronomical Society Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 11
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HIPPARCHOSHIPPARCHOS The Hellenic Astronomical Society Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 11 ISSN: 1790-9252 Contents HIPPARCHOSHIPPARCHOS Volume 2, Issue 11 • June 2014 ISSN: 1790-9252 Hipparchos is the official newsletter of the Hellenic Astronomical Society. Message from the President ..............................................3 It publishes review papers, news and comments on topics of interest to as- Hel.A.S. Events tronomers, including matters concern- ing members of the Hellenic Astro- 11th Hellenic Astronomical Conference . .4 nomical Society. 1st Summer School of the Hellenic Astronomical Society . .6 REVIEWS Editorial board • Christos Efthymiopoulos Star Formation: a Persistent Mystery by Konstantinos Tassis ..........................................................7 (RCAAM, Academy of Athens) • Kleomenis Tsiganis Orbital Evolution in Extra-solar systems (Univ. Thessaloniki) by George Voyatzis ............................................................13 • Alceste Bonanos Superluminous Supernovae ( IAASARS, National Observatory by Emmanouil Chatzopoulos ...................................................18 of Athens) Contact person Research Projects in Astronomy in Greece Funded by the GSRT Christos Efthymiopoulos “Excellence I and II” (Aristeia) Actions Academy of Athens Aristeia I: Research Center for Astronomy & Applied Mathematics Revealed by their own Dust: Identifying the Missing Links Soranou Efessiou 4 in Massive Star Evolution - MissingLinks .......................................24 Athens, GR-11527, Greece The origin of astrophysical magnetic fields - CosmicBattery ....................25 Tel: +30-210-6597513 Fax: +30-210-6597602 A Step in the Dark: The Dense Molecular Gas in Galaxies - DeMoGas . .26 E-mail: [email protected] Unveiling the Physics of Supermassive Black Holes and Relativistic Jets With Optical Polarization Observations of Blazars - . .27 Editorial Advisors RoboPol • V. Charmandaris Aristeia II: (Univ. Crete & NOA) The Manchester-Athens Wide-Field (Narrow-Band) Camera: • D. Hatzidimitriou (Univ. Athens) A Deep Sky-Survey of the Extensive Line Emission Regions • K. Kokkotas at High Galactic Latitudes - MAWFC ..........................................28 (Univ. Tübingen - Univ. Thessaloniki) The Quest for Relativistic Signals in the X-Ray Light Curves • M. Plionis (Univ. Thessaloniki) of Active Galactic Nuclei - AGNQUEST . 29 • L. Vlahos (Univ. Thessaloniki) Solar Small-scale Events and their Role in the Heating of the Solar Atmosphere - SOLAR . 30 Printed by ZITI Publications • www.ziti.gr Cover Image: Schematic representation of the effect of solar eruptions on the terrestrial magnetosphere and geospace (Image courtesy: NASA). See page 6 for the First Hel.A.S. Summer School on "Physical Proc- esses and Data Analysis in Heliophysics", to be held in Athens, September 1 to 5, 2014. Message from the President 3 June 2014 Dear friends, t is with pleasure that I am writing this The economic crisis of the last four liophysics. I believe this is quite appro- Imessage. My term as President of the years has affected everyone, but our So- priate, since the study of Solar Physics is Hellenic Astronomical Society comes to ciety, again thanks to its members, has quite strong in Greece. an end in ten days and I am leaving with not done badly. A significant reserve has very fond memories. been established and the Society is able I would like to thank our members for to guarantee to all Greek Astronomers entrusting me with the presidency of I believe that our Society is on a “curve free publication of their articles in As- our Society in the past four years and of growth” and there is no sign that this tronomy & Astrophysics, despite the I wish success to the new Council that will change in the future. Thanks main- change in the government’s policy. Pay- will be elected on June 13. The depart- ing Council is here to help in any way ly to our young colleagues, the quality ment of page charges would be prohibi- possible. and quantity of astronomical research tive to our members. in Greece is constantly improving. Our young members have had their fair share Last, but not least, I want to mention the of the EXCELLENCE (ARISTEIA) grants establishment by our Society of a Sum- of the General Secretariat for Research mer School every even year. The first and Technology. Also, our members con- such School will take place this com- Nick Kylafis tinue to be successful with internation- ing September and it will be on Physi- President of Hel.A.S. al grants. cal Processes and Data Analysis in He- HIPPARCHOS | Volume 2, Issue 11 3 11th Hellenic Astronomical Conference Under the Auspices of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic Dr. Karolos Papoulias Hel.A.S. EVENTS Hel.A.S. he Hellenic Astronomical Confer- edge the support of the following spon- dition of “Best Ph.D Award” Talk (E. T ence, organized by the Hellenic sors: Academy of Athens, National Ob- Papastergis: Statistical analysis of ALFAL- Astronomical Society (Hel.A.S.), is the servatory of Athens, Biomedical Re- FA galaxies: insights in galaxy formation & major scientific event of the greek as- search Foundation of the Academy of near-field cosmology). tronomical community. The Conference, Athens. Finally, there was a talk “in memo- which takes place every two years in a The official opening of the confer- ry of John Hadjidemetriou” delivered by different part of Greece, brings together ence took place at the central building Hel.A.S. Honorary President G. Conto- scientists with research interests in of the Academy of Athens. There was a poulos. Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Space public outreach talk (I. Contopou- The conference hosted four scientif- Physics. los: “Magnetic fields and Black Holes in the ic sessions, namely: The 11th Conference of Hel.A.S. was Universe”). This was preceded by short – Session 1: «Sun, Planets and Inter- held in Athens, from 8 to 12 September addresses by all former presidents of planetary Medium» 2013. The conference was co-organised Hel.A.S. (G. Contopoulos, J. Seiradakis, – Session 2: «Extragalactic Astrono- by the Research Center for Astronomy P. Laskarides, and K. Tsiganos), on the my and Astrophysics» and Applied Mathematics of the Academy occasion of the 20th anniversary of – Session 3: «Cosmology and Relativ- of Athens. The conference took place at Hel.A.S. istic Astrophysics» the main auditorium of the Biomedical The conference reached a record – Session 4: «Stars, Our Galaxy and Research Foundation of the Academy number of 178 registered participants. the Local Group» of Athens. The welcome reception was There were five plenary talks: hosted in the historical central building – A. Vourlidas: Hurricane Season in the There were in total 78 talks (23 in sec- of the Academy of Athens, while the Inner Heliosphere: Observations of Cor- tion 1, 29 in section 2, 14 in section 3, official conference dinner was hosted onal Mass Ejections during Solar Maxi- and 18 in section 4) and 68 posters (33 in the gardens of the historical central mum in section 1, 11 in section 2, 4 in section 3, and 20 in section 4) presented. The building of the National Observatory – R-P. Kudritzki: Supergiant Stars as Ex- oral and poster presentations were made of Athens, at the Nymphes hill (Lofos tragalactic Probes of Cosmic Abundanc- public (see http://www.helas.gr/conf/2013/ Nymfon), very close to the Acropolis. es and Distances presentations.php and http://www.helas.gr/ Scientific Organizing Committee – T. Courvoisier: Building up a European conf/2013/posters_pres.php respectively). (SOC): Astronomical Community The abstracts of all presentations were N. Kylafis (chair), A. Anastasiadis, A. Bo- – F. Combes: Molecular gas in galaxies linked to the ADS database. nanos, C. Efthymiopoulos, I. Papadakis, K. across the Hubble time Tsiganis and N. Vlahakis. – M. Plionis: Recent developments in Cos- We were very happy for the quality and Local Organizing Committee mology high level of research results present- (LOC): The conference invited a young astron- ed during the 11th astronomical con- C. Efthymiopoulos (Chair), C. Gontikakis, omer to give a “Highlight Talk”. This was ference. This only generates confidence M. Harsoula, N. Delis, L. Tsigaridi, M. Kat- delivered by A. Fragos: The Origin of Black and optimism for the future of Greek sanikas, G. Aggelopoulou and M. Zoulias. Hole Spin in Galactic Low-mass X-ray bina- astronomy. We would like to gratefully acknowl- ries. Also, the Hel.A.S. continued the tra- More details about the conference can be found at http://www.helas.gr/conf/2013/ HIPPARCHOS | Volume 2, Issue 11 4 11th Hellenic Astronomical Conference picture HIPPARCHOS | Volume 2, Issue 11 5 The 1st Summer School of the Hellenic Astronomical Society uring the General Assembly of the as the opportunity for them to meet of Athens. The central theme is: Hel.A.S. in September 2013, the and interact with more experienced re- Hel.A.S. EVENTS Hel.A.S. D “Physical Processes Hel.A.S. council proposed to organize searchers. and Data Analysis in Heliophysics” a summer school on even years, when The 1st Hel.A.S. Summer School will there are no Hel.A.S. Conferences. The take place in September 2014, in collab- The School will be held in Athens, from purpose of the schools will be to of- oration with the National Observato- the 1st until the 5th of September, 2014. fer training to the younger members of ry of Athens (NOA) and the Research Hel.A.S., such as graduate students and Center for Astronomy and Applied More information can be found at: young postdoctoral researchers, as well Mathematics (RCAAM) of the Academy http://www.helas.gr/school/2014 Organizing Committees Registration Venue Scientific Organizing Committee The School participation is limited to The 1st Summer School of Hel.A.S. Chair: A. Anastasiadis (NOA) 30-35 persons. A registration fee of 60 € will take place at the “Kostis Pala- Members: I. A. Daglis (UoA), M. Georgou- has been set to cover writing materi- mas” Building of the University of Ath- lis (RCAAM), S. Patsourakos (UoI), al and coffee break costs. The registra- ens (Akadimias 48 & Sina Street, en- K.