Jan. 17, 2014. 1st SOLARNET Spring School and 1st Thematic Workshop. New Deadline: February 19th and February 26th, 2014 respectively.

The 1st SOLARNET Spring School "Introduction to Solar Physics" and Thematic Workshop "Radiative processes in the Sun and stars" will be organized in Wroclaw, Poland (March 24 - April 4) supported by EC FP7 project SOLARNET

The school and Workshop are dedicated to PhD students and novel post-doctoral researchers interested in broadening their knowledge on solar physics. The lectures and hands-on sessions will be carried out by experienced scientists and will cover different solar issues:

  1. Instrumentation for solar observations
  2. The solar interior and dynamo
  3. The solar standard model and helioseismology
  4. Active region formation and evolution
  5. Introduction to radiative transfer and NLTE line formation
  6. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections
  7. Coronal heating
  8. Physics of solar prominences and radiative transfer
  9. Solar and stellar activity
  10. Solar wind

More information at 1st SOLARNET Spring School and 1st Thematic Workshop.

Jan. 16, 2014. SOLARNET TAS: Users Assessment 2013

The SOLARNET Transnational Access and Service Programme (TAS) supports the access to some of the best European telescopes (VTT, GREGOR, THEMIS, and SST). A total of 8 observing teams were supported under the 2013 TAS campaign. User teams awarded with telescope time received a brief questionnaire to assess the quality of the access and service provided.

The questionnaire was distributed among Principal Investigators and astronomers supported with travel and subsistence grants. 12 astronomers (80 %) answered the questionnaire. The majority of the specific aspects related to the services provided by the infrastructure were assessed with the highest rating.

The overall appreciation of the services provided was considered as ‘very good’ by 8 astronomers, and ‘good’ by the other 4.

Chart 4: Assessment of the services provided by the infrastructure

More details at SOLARNET TAS. Users' Assessment 2013 Report.

Dic. 23, 2013. A SUCCESS STORY: The European Solar Telescope (EST)

EST - Understanding our Sun is the title of an article published as a Success Story in the section Research Infrastructures of the EC Research & Innovation site.

Research Infrastructures (RIs) –facilities, resources and related services used by the scientific community to conduct top-level research in their respective fields– play an increasingly important role in the advancement of knowledge and technology.

The European Solar Telescope (EST) will be a 4-meter class solar telescope, to be located in the Canary Islands. It will be used to optimise studies of the magnetic coupling between the deep photosphere and upper chromosphere. This will require diagnostics of the thermal, dynamic and magnetic properties of the plasma over many scale heights, by using multiple wavelength imaging, spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry. To achieve these goals, the EST will specialize in high spatial and temporal resolution using instruments that can efficiently produce two-dimensional spectral information.

SOLARNET project achievements will be of paramount relevance to contribute towards the realisation of the 4-meter European Solar Telescope (EST).

See the full article at EST - Understanding our Sun.

Dec. 18, 2013. TAS Announcement of Opportunity Open. Deadline: January 20, 2014.

The SOLARNET Project and the International Time Programm (ITP) have launched the CALL FOR PROPOSALS 2014.

SOLARNET and ITP invite proposals for 2014 observing time in the Canary Islands Solar telescopes SST, THEMIS, GREGOR and VTT, as well as in the European instruments IBIS and ROSA installed at DST/NSO. SOLARNET support includes travel and subsistence grants for observing campaigns, as well as help to PIs for data reduction.

Deadline: January 20th, 2014

See the announcement at SOLARNET and ITP Call for Proposals 2014

Detailed information about eligibility criteria, how to apply, travel and subsistence grant, and allowable costs at SOLARNET TAS PROGRAMME

Additional information