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Cecilia Scorza appointed to OAD Task Force

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

HdA staff member Cecilia Scorza has been made a member of the "Task Force 2: Children and Schools" of the International Astronomical Union's Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD).

The OAD was founded in 2011. ITs mission is to further the use of astronomy as a tool for development by mobilizing the human and financial resources necessary in order to realize the field's scientific, technological and cultural benefits to society. The task forces serve the OAD in an advisory capacity and help to coordinates its projects. The task force members are experts in their respective fields.

Dr. Scorza's work at the HdA centers on outreach work for the Sonderforschungsbereich 881 "The Milky Way System" and on the Universe Awareness program, two cooperative programs of the HdA with Heidelberg University's Center for Astronomy.

Link

Task Forces of the Office of Astronomy for Development

Contact information

Cecilia Scorza
Haus der Astronomie – Centre for
Astronomy Education and Outreach
Phone: +49 6221 528-291
Email: ed.dh-adh@azrocs

HdA at Science Year Opening in Cape Town

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Hands-on experiments with the infrared kit; in front from l. to r.: Cecilia Scorza; South African science minister Naledi Pandor; her German colleague Annette Schavan; Markus Pössel

From 15 to 17 April, astronomers and other scientists converged on Cape Town for the official opening of the German-South African Science Year 2012/2013 - and we were there! One of the focus areas of the science year is astronomy, which plays a special role in South Africa. HdA presented itself at the accompanying exhibition (see image above); also, our Cecilia Scorza gave a talk at the opening symposium, presenting selected aspects of our work in astronomy education.

Keep tuned: for this fall, with the kind support of the German Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) we are planning an event at the HdA where astronomical research is to meet African traditions under the virtual Southern sky of our digital planetarium!

Link

Web pages of the German-South African Science Year

Contact information

Cecilia Scorza
Haus der Astronomie – Centre for
Astronomy Education and Outreach
Phone: +49 6221 528-291
Email: ed.dh-adh@azrocs

Mapping the Milky Way in 3D

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

From 18 to 20 June 2012, the Haus der Astronomie will host the scientific workshop "The Milky Way: Stars, Gas, Dust and Magnetic Fields in 3D", in which astronomers will explore different possibilities of mapping the building blocks of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, in three dimensions.

The meeting will focus on how to combine data from different wavelength regions - radio from ALMA, mm from Planck, infrared from Herschel, optical from Gaia - to build a self-consistent model of the different components of the Milky Way galaxy.

The workshop is part of the program GREAT (Gaia Research for European Astronomy Training), which is funded by the European Science Foundation.

Full information on the workshop, including details on how to register, can be found here:

http://astra-gaia.eu/meetings/

Contact

Coryn Bailer-Jones
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
E-Mail: astra@mpia.de

Image processing meeting at HdA

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Nearly 100 scientists, developers and engineers from the academic and industrial sectors met today at the Haus der Astronomie on the occasion of the 48th Heidelberg Image Processing Forum.

The meeting was all about "Imaging and image processing across the electromagnetic spectrum", and astronomy was well represented: From the long radio waves of LOFAR (Heino Falcke, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen) and Adaptive Optics in the near-infrared (Andreas Glindemann, ESO) to the telescopes of gamma astronomy (Konrad Bernlöhr, MPIK).

Additional talks presented imaging and spectroscopy with terahertz radiation, infrared sensors and cameras, and radar imaging. The meeting was hosted by the Heidelberg Collaboratory for Image Processing (a joint venture headed by Heidelberg University), the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and the Haus der Astronomie.

First Consortium Meeting for EChO Mission

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Looking for life on planets orbiting stars other than the Sun? To the best of our knowledge, this quest can only be successful once precision studies of exoplanet atmospheres have become feasible. Currently, astronomers are taking first steps in this direction: Exoplanets that cross their host star's disk, as seen by an observer on Earth ("transiting" exoplanets), allow for this kind of study as the host star shines through the planet's atmosphere.

Design study for the EChO space observatory. Credit: ESA

The ESA space telescope EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory, see image on the left) is designed to exploit this kind of technique to the max, yielding more thorough studies of exoplanet atmospheres than ever before. EChO is, however, still in the early planning stages: On January 11 and 12, the consortium responsible for the mission's scientific payload held their first meeting. The Haus der Astronomie played host to 45 scientists and engineers from European institutes, aerospace companies and from the European Space Agency ESA who discussed the next steps for the mission, which is a candidate for an ESA medium sized mission with launch date 2024.

Study lead Oliver Krause of MPIA expressed his satisfaction with the meeting: "EChO's scientific goals call for a highly sophisticated spectrograph. You can only develop such an ambitious instrument if scientists and engineers work together very closely. This meeting was the kick-off for our feasibility study, and we're very happy with the way things are going."

Contact

Oliver Krause
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Phone: (+49|0) 6221 528-352
Email: krause@mpia.de

Tracing the origin of disc galaxies at HdA

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

From May 14 to 18 this year, the Haus der Astronomie will be the venue for a highly appropriate workshop: Under the title "Disc Galaxy Formation in a cosmological context", up to 80 astronomers and astrophysicist will meet in our newly-completed galaxy-shaped building to find out how nature builds the original: spiral galaxies in the wild.

The workshop is organized by Andrea Macciò of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and Volker Springel of the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies. Participation is by invitation only. Further information can be found on the conference website:

Disc Galaxy Formation in a cosmological context

Contact information:

Andrea Macciò
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Phone: +49 6221 528 416
E-Mail: maccio@mpia.de

HdA building inaugurated

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Image: Doris Anders (MPIA)

On December 2011, starting at 12:30 pm, the spectacular galaxy-shaped building of the Haus der Astronomie, Heidelberg's new Center for Astronomy Education and Outreach, was inaugurated.

After Thomas Henning, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, had opened the proceedings, around 100 invited guests attentively listened to a distinguished roster of speakers: Peter Gruss (President of the Max Planck Society), Klaus Tschira (the new building's sponsor), Theresia Bauer (Minister for Science, Research and the Arts, State of Baden-Württemberg), Gabriele Warminski-Leitheußer (Minister for Education, Youths and Sports, State of Baden-Württemberg), Bernhard Eitel (Rector of Heidelberg University), and Eckart Würzner (Lord Mayor of the City of Heidelberg).

Following a handing-over ceremony initiated by the building's architect, Manfred Bernhardt, the new Center's managing scientist, Markus Pössel, gave a brief account of the Haus der Astronomie's many activities. This was followed by a lively lecture by Michael Kramer, director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, on the cosmos as a laboratory for extreme physics. A planetarium presentation, which also featured simulations by astronomers from Heidelberg, concluded the ceremony.

Haus der Astronomie is the result of an unusual partnership between private and public institutions: The Center was founded in late 2008 by the Klaus Tschira Foundation and the Max Planck Society (which delegated the responsibility of leading the new institution to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy); the other partners are the University of Heidelberg and the City of Heidelberg. The Center receives additional support from the Baden-Württemberg State Ministries of Science, Research and the Arts, and of Education, Youths and Sports. Important cooperation partners include the popular astronomy magazine "Sterne und Weltraum" and the non-profit organization Astronomieschule e.V.

Beginning in 2012, members of the public can visit the Haus der Astronomie during guided tours (reservations required) and on the occasion of public lectures. Elementary and high school students can participate in the Center's workshops.

Contact information

Markus Pössel
Haus der Astronomie – Centre for
Astronomy Education and Outreach
Phone: +49 6221 528-261
Email: ed.dh-adh@lesseop

Link

Additional material for journalists, including high-resolution images (in German)

Hector-Seminar students present their research

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This evening, members of the "Hector-Seminar", an organization that fosters gifted high-school students, presented the results of their cooperation projects with the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and the Haus der Astronomie. Cooperation projects – small-scale research projects in cooperation with local research institutes – constitute the final phase of the Hector-Seminar's multi-year program.

The presentation, which took place in the HdA's central Klaus Tschira Auditorium, involved five students presenting their three research project. The first project involved the simulation of what astronomers can see when they observe certain types of exoplanets (that is, planets orbiting stars other than the Sun). The project advisors were Jeroen Bouwman (MPIA) and Markus Pössel (HdA).

Next, two students presented their analysis of observations of cloud bands in the atmosphere of Jupiter, the Solar System's largest planet. For their project, the students had also made some observations on their own using the MPIA's 50 cm telescope, ably supported by Carolin Liefke (HdA). The final presentation concerned student research using publicly accessible data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), with a view towards deriving the basics of cosmic expansion. The project advisors were Arjen van der Wel (MPIA) and Markus Pössel (HdA).

Link

Web pages of the Hector-Seminar (in German)

Kontakt:

Markus Pössel
Haus der Astronomie
Tel.: (06221) 528-261
E-Mail: ed.dh-adh@lesseop
[Weitere Informationen]

Celebrating Jakob Staude

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Friends and colleagues have come to the Haus der Astronomie to celebrate astronomer and science communicator Jakob Staude.

At the symposium, those who worked with Staude over the course of this thirty-something-year career on the Königstuhl mountain described his scientific work and his tireless effort for solid science outreach – in particular his role as the long-term editor-in-chief of the popular astronomy magazine Sterne und Weltraum, and the key role he played for the "Science into the schools!" project and for the Haus der Astronomie.

While Staude is now officially retired, we are glad to learn that he will continue to accompany HdA as its senior mentor. We congratulate Jakob, and hope to have him with us for a long time!

Contact information

Markus Pössel
Haus der Astronomie – Centre for
Astronomy Education and Outreach
Phone: +49 6221 528-261
Email: ed.dh-adh@lesseop

HdA begins testing phase

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

After two weeks of moving activity, the people and things of Haus der Astronomie have arrived safe and sound in the new, custom-made building. Today marks the beginning of the official testing phase in which HdA operations will move, one after the other, into the new building – from the first student workshops within the next few weeks to combined "Königstuhl tours", in which members of the public get a chance to visit all three astronomical institutions on the Königstuhl, including the Haus der Astronomie later this year.

Currently, HdA staff is (happily) busy to explore our new building and to test out (and, in some cases, commission) its many new features.

The spectacular building by architectural firm Bernhardt + Partner (Darmstadt) follows the shape and the dynamics of a spiral galaxy. The spiral arms host seminar rooms, exhibition space and offices. The galaxy has been commissioned and built by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.

Kontakt:

Markus Pössel
Haus der Astronomie
Tel.: (06221) 528-261
E-Mail: ed.dh-adh@lesseop
[Weitere Informationen]

RSS-Feed for HdA news

Cecilia Scorza appointed to OAD Task Force

Link

Contact information

HdA at Science Year Opening in Cape Town

Link

Contact information

Mapping the Milky Way in 3D

Contact

Image processing meeting at HdA

Links

First Consortium Meeting for EChO Mission

Contact

Links

Tracing the origin of disc galaxies at HdA

Contact information:

HdA building inaugurated

Contact information

Link

Hector-Seminar students present their research

Link

Kontakt:

Celebrating Jakob Staude

Contact information

HdA begins testing phase

Kontakt: