May 18, 2015. The 3rd SOLARNET School started in Granada, Spain.

The 3rd SOLARNET School “Solar Magnetic Fields: Modeling and Measuring Techniques” has been opened today in Granada, Spain.

SOLARNET Project prioritizes the collaborations between the new generation of scientists and experienced researchers through short stays and training actions to acquire competences in relevant fields of Solar Physics.

Under the auspices of SOLARNET, and organised by our partners from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), the School is dedicated to PhD students and novel post-doctoral researchers.

This international school aims at providing PhD students and early career researchers with a solid background in solar spectropolarimetry, radiative transfer of polarized light, and diagnostic techniques. The school program combines theory and hands-on activities to achieve this goal. The latter will focus on the use of inversion codes such as SIR, NICOLE, and HAZEL, so that the participants can apply these tools to their own observation.

The lectures and hands-on sessions will be carried out by experienced scientists, and will allow the 26 participating students -from Europe, India, China and Colombia- to enrich their knowledge in Solar Physics.

3rd SOLARNET School - Granada 2015

The school will consist of three main courses:

  • Solar polarization measurements: instruments and techniques (Lecturer: Bruce Lites, HAO, USA)
  • Spectral line formation in the presence of magnetic fields (Lecturer: Jose Carlos del Toro Iniesta, IAA-CSIC, Spain)
  • Solar magnetic fields: diagnostics and applications (Lecturer: Andrés Asensio Ramos, IAC, Spain).

These courses will be complemented with three hands-on sessions:

  • Stokes inversions under LTE conditions: SIR (Luis Bellot Rubio, IAA-CSIC, Spain)
  • Stokes inversions under non-LTE conditions: NICOLE (Jaime de la Cruz Rodríguez, ISP, Stockholm University, Sweden)
  • Hanle and Zeeman inversion of spectral lines: HAZEL (Lecturer: David Orozco Suárez, IAC, Spain).

More information at SOLARNET 3rd School

March 06, 2015. Focus Meeting 13 “Brightness Variations of the Sun and Sun-like Stars.” DEADLINE: March 18, 2015.

XXIX IAU General Assembly FM13: Brightness Variations of the Sun and Sun-like Stars.

The XXIX IAU General Assembly will be held August 3-14, 2015 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

We invite contributions to the Focus Meeting 13 “Brightness Variations of the Sun and Sun-like Stars” scheduled for August 5-6, 2015.

The Focus meeting will address the following key topics:

1. Measurements of solar irradiance variability.
2. Stellar variability on rotational time scales; Kepler and Corot measurements.
3. Stellar variability on activity cycle time scales; ground based observations.
4. Physical mechanisms and models of solar and stellar brightness variability.
5. The photometric signature of magnetic activity: darker or brighter?
6. Is the Sun a solar-type variable?
7. Constraining dynamo models using solar and stellar variability records.
8. Influence of solar and stellar variability on Earth and other planets.
9. Stellar variability as a limiting factor for detectability of extra-solar planets.

Agenda:

Session 1: Observing solar and stellar variability
Session 2: The solar-stellar connection
Session 3: Modelling solar and stellar variability
Session 4: The impact of solar and stellar variability on their environment

Invited speakers confirmed to date include Suzanne Aigrain, Gibor Basri, Fabienne Bastien, Benjamin Beeck, Paul Charbonneau, Rim Fares, Mark Giampapa, Edward Guinan, Jeff Hall,  Lisa Kaltenegger, Heidi Korhonen, Dibyendu Nandi, Steven Saar, Sami Solanki, Remi Thieblemont, Tom Woods.

Scientific Organizing Committee: Gibor Basri (co-chair),  Arnab Rai Choudhuri, Jie Jiang, Philip Judge (co-chair), Greg Kopp, Natalie Krivova (co-chair), Stephen Marsden, Katalin Olah, Pascal Petit, Alexander Shapiro (co-chair), Yvonne Unruh.

The deadline for abstract submission is March 18, 2015.

Please visit astronomy2015.org/abstracts for abstract submission and further information.

The official website of the Focus meeting is astronomy2015.org/focus_meeting_13.

More information can be found at www2.mps.mpg.de/projects/sun-climate/iau_fm13.html.

Feb. 20, 2015. SOLARNET Announcement of Opportunity. Mobility Programme of Young Researchers. DEADLINE: March 15, 2015.

The SOLARNET Mobility of Young Researchers Programme is pleased to inform all solar Physics community that the V Call for Proposal is officially open.

All proposals received prior to March 15th will be considered by the Mobility Evaluation Committee for the period July 1st - December 30th 2015.

The Mobility Evaluation Committee will evaluate all submitted applications, and will select two of them for supporting travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.

The selection of the granted proposals will be announced on March 30th.

More details at http://solarnet-east.eu/networking-activities/mobility.

January 20, 2015. 3rd SOLARNET Workshop "Polarization in the Sun, the Solar System, and Beyond", 25-28 May 2015, Granada, Spain (First Announcement).

The 3rd SOLARNET Workshop “Polarization in the Sun, the Solar System, and Beyond” will take place in Granada (Spain) between 25-28 May 2015, organized by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC).
The goal of this workshop is to present the latest advances in astronomical polarimetry and spectropolarimetry, with a focus on the sun, solar system bodies, stars, and exoplanets. We also aim at bringing together the different communities and fostering collaborations between them. In order to provide a detailed account of the latest developments in these areas - including instrumentation, measurement techniques, data analysis and interpretation - the following sessions have been scheduled:

- Instrumentation (ground, space, laboratory)
- Solar Photosphere
- Solar Chromosphere, Transition Region, and Corona
- Magnetic Field Diagnostics
- Polarization in the Solar System
- Stellar Magnetic Fields and Exoplanets

The workshop will be carried out right after the 3rd SOLARNET School on “Solar Magnetic Fields: Modeling and Measuring Techniques” (18-23 May 2015, Granada, Spain).

Online registration and abstract submission will be opened in early January 2015. Please mark your calendars!

Scientific Organizing Committee
L. Bellot Rubio (Chair, IAA-CSIC),
J. de la Cruz Rodríguez (Stockholm University)
M. Faurobert (Université de Nice)
K. Ichimoto (Kyoto University)
H. Lin (University of Hawaii)
B. Lites (HAO)
V. Martínez Pillet (NSO)
O. Muñoz (IAA-CSIC)
F. Snik (Leiden University)
K. Strassmeier (AIP)
R. Schlichenmaier (KIS)
A. Title (LMSAL)
J. Trujillo Bueno (IAC)
F. Zuccarello (Università di Catania, INAF)

Local Organizing Committee (IAA-CSIC)
S. Esteban Pozuelo
M. Gosic
I. Requerey
J. C. del Toro Iniesta
L. Bellot Rubio

Detailed information, including a list of invited speakers, will be available soon through the IAA-CSIC Solar Physics Group website at: http://spg.iaa.es/

Additional information