Milky Way over the 10.4m Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) and the 3.6m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain.
Single frame, 15 seconds exposure at 1600 ISO over CANON EOS 5D Mark III, F=33mm and f/2.8. Taken on Wed 3 Aug 2016, 20:35 UTC.
More info and high resolution images:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/angelrls/27722628870
Credit: Ángel R. López-Sánchez (AAO/MQU)
Vertical Milky Way over the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Image obtained on 30th June 2016 at 22:04 AEST (14:04 UTC) using a CANON 5D Mark III with a 14mm f2.8 wide lens. Single 30 seconds exposure at 3200 ISO. Besides the conversion from RAW to JPEG, no further image process was applied. The famous dark constellation “Emu in the Sky” seen by Australian Aboriginals, planets Mars and Saturn, bright star Antares in Scorpio, and nebulae such as Carina, Lagoon, and Trifid, are easily recognized in the image.
More info and high resolution images:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/angelrls/27722628870
Credit: Ángel R. López-Sánchez (AAO/MQU)
Following the success of our sold-out Event “The Story of Light – The Astronomer’s Perspective” for ViVID Sydney Ideas 2015, the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) continued its collaboration with ViVID Sydney 2016 organizing “The Story of Light – Deciphering the data encoded on the cosmic light”. But actually it was me who was in charge of the organization.
The five astronomers speaking during our “Sydney Vivid Ideas: The Story of Light” started at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, 29th May 2016. From left to right: Luke Barnes, Alan Duffy, Vanessa Moss, Liz Mannering and Ángel López-Sánchez. Photo credit: Jenny Ghabache (AAO).
The event was held at the PowerHouse Museum in Sydney on Sunday 29th May 2016. More than 160 people attended this special event. Five young astronomers (me included) talked about Astronomy and Big Data: the light and light-based technologies developed in Australian astronomy for both optical and radio telescopes; the tools, platforms, and techniques used for data analysis and visualization; how astronomers create simulation data; how some of these techniques are being used in other research areas; and the major scientific contributions toward our understanding of the Universe. Indeed, astronomers have been pioneers in developing “Data Science” techniques to make sense of this huge data deluge, many of which are now used in other areas.
We recorded all the event in video, and it is now publicly available in the AAO YouTube channel. Some photos of the event are also compiled below. I want to thank AAO/ITSO Research Astronomer Caroline Foster for helping recording and editing the video and Jenny Ghabache (AAO) for taking the photos of the event.
Full recording of the event “The Story of Light 2016: Deciphering the data encoded on the cosmic light” organised by the AAO for Vivid Sydney Ideas 2016. Credit: AAO. Acknowledgment: Caroline Foster (AAO).
The event was hosted by Alan Duffy (Swinburne University). I was in charge of explaining optical astronomy, the AAO, optical surveys and big data. Then my colleagues Vanessa Moss (Univ of Sydney/CAASTRO), Luke Barnes (Univ. of Sydney) and Liz Mannering (AAO/ICRAR) discussed radio astronomy, the ASKAP and big data (Vanessa), simulating, analysing and visualizing astronomy data (Luke) and astronomy data archive, the All-Sky Virtual Observatory (ASVO) and other virtual observatories (Liz ). After the short 12-15 minutes talks (well, as usual I took a bit more time), the panel welcomed questions from the audience (and even from Twitter using #SoLSydneyIdeas) for a discussion session about Light and Astronomy and the Australian contribution to the improvement of our understanding of the Universe.
The Lecture Theatre a few minutes before our “Sydney Vivid Ideas: The Story of Light” started at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, 29th May 2016. Photo credit: Jenny Ghabache (AAO).
Our host, Alan Duffy, introducing the event. Photo credit: Jenny Ghabache (AAO).
AAO/MQU Research Astronomer Ángel R. López-Sánchez talking about optical astronomy, the AAO and big data. Photo credit: Jenny Ghabache (AAO).
Vanessa Moss (Univ. of Sydney/CAASTRO) talking about radioastronomy, the ASKAP and big data. Photo credit: Jenny Ghabache (AAO).
Luke Barnes (Univ. of Sydney) talking about simulating, analysing and visualizing astronomy data. Photo credit: Jenny Ghabache (AAO).
Liz Mannering (Univ. of Sydney) discussed astronomy data archive, the All-Sky Virtual Observatory (ASVO) and other virtual observatories. Photo credit: Jenny Ghabache (AAO).
Panel discussion with all participants answering questions from the audience. Photo credit: Jenny Ghabache (AAO).
Angel Lopez-Sanchez answering a question from the audience. Photo credit: Jenny Ghabache (AAO).
And last… Well, if you want to see only my talk, here it is:
Posted in Astrophysics, Cosmology, Elliptical Galaxies, Galaxies, Nebulae, Observatories, Optical, Outreach, Radio, Spiral Galaxies, Stars, Wavelengths
Tagged 2016, AAT, ASKAP, astronomy, Data Science, Galaxies, Outreach, stars, ViViD Sydney
One of the scientific projects I’m involved actually is a citizen science program: Radio Galaxy Zoo. Using images from NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope (WISE) and the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, USA, Radio Galaxy Zoo requests participants to associate radio emission (which is related to the relativistic electrons ejected from a massive black hole) with galaxies as seen in infrared light. The aim is to get a better understanding of the super-massive black holes that are located in the center of the galaxies and quantify their importance in galaxy evolution.
My colleagues Julie Banfield (Australian National University) and Ivy Wong (ICRAR and University of Western Australia) lead the Radio Galaxy Zoo (RGZ) team, that was launched on December 2013. Since then, more than 10,000 volunteers have joined in with Radio Galaxy Zoo, classifying over 1.6 million images.
The wide-angle tail galaxy discovered by Terentev and Matorny is one of the largest known, and its host cluster is now known as the Matorny-Terentev cluster. Credit: Radio Galaxy Zoo.
Well, the news is that two RGZ volunteer participants from Russia, Ivan Terentev and Tim Matorny, have discovered a rare galaxy cluster. They found that one particular radio-source had just one of a line of radio blobs that delineate a C-shaped “wide angle tail galaxy” (WAT). The C-shaped was formed because the massive galaxy hosting the super-massive black hole and its associated jets are moving through intergalactic gas, indicating the existence of a cluster of galaxies. The new wide-angle tail galaxy is one of the largest known, and its host cluster is now known as the Matorny-Terentev cluster.
The details of this discovery has been published this week in the prestigious scientific journal MNRAS, the paper “Radio Galaxy Zoo: discovery of a poor cluster through a giant wide-angle tail radio galaxy” was lead by Julie Banfield (ANU).
There is plenty of information in the Radio Galaxy Zoo webpage, the CAASTRO Press Release and in this nice Article in “The Conversation” by Ray Norris (CSIRO/Western Sydney University and PI of the EMU project to be conducted in the ASKAP), so I’ll just add here the nice interview to Ivy Wong (ICRAR and University of Western Australia) in Ten News Australia yesterday.
More information:
I cannot believe a FULL YEAR has already gone since the “Multiwavelength Dissection of Galaxies” Conference happened. And I have never found the time to just describe how much work this was for me, and at the success of this meeting. At least let me share today the article I wrote for “The Observer”, the AAO Newsletter.
The Southern Cross Astrophysics Conferences, which are jointly supported by the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) and the CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS), are held annually around Australia with the aim of attracting international experts with wide ranging skills to discuss a particular astrophysical topic. The conference “Multiwavelength dissection of galaxies”, which was held at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Coogee Beach, Sydney between 24th – 29th May 2015, was the 8th of the Southern Cross Conference Series. This Conference focused on galaxy evolution, combining resolved optical/near-infrared integral field spectroscopy data with other multiwavelength properties (from X-ray to radio) of nearby galaxies plus giving the view of what is known in our Milky Way.
Poster of the Conference “Multiwavelength Dissection of Galaxies”.
Indeed, the number of studies of galaxies using integral field spectroscopy (IFS) is rapidly increasing as a consequence of surveys such as ATLAS-3D, CALIFA, SAMI (that is conducted at the AAT), or MANGA. IFS techniques allow to spatially resolve internal properties of galaxies with unprecedented detail, and therefore they are providing key clues for understanding the structural components of galaxies, their star-formation activity, kinematics, stellar populations, metal distribution, and nuclear activity, as well as how galaxies evolve with time. Nevertheless, for a complete picture of how galaxies work it is crucial to use other multi-wavelength results, targeting galaxies in X-ray, ultraviolet, infrared, and radio frequencies. In particular, HI radio-surveys such as HIPASS, LVHIS, THINGS, Little-THINGS, ALFALFA, HALOGAS or WALLABY are essential to trace the neutral gas content of galaxies, as the 21 cm HI radio data provide key information about how the cold gas in converted into stars and galaxy dynamics. At the same time we are notably increasing our knowledge of the structure and composition of the Milky Way. This is possible thanks to the combination of very detailed observations of individual stars (such those coming from the RAVE survey conducted at the 1.2m UKST or the on-going GALAH survey at the AAT using the new high-resolution HERMES spectrograph), detailed analyses of Galactic nebulae, large field studies of the interstellar medium, and surveys searching for the diffuse gas with and around our Galaxy.
Hence, the aim of the “Multiwavelength dissection of galaxies” Conference was to bring together international experts in both Galactic and extragalactic astronomy to discuss the different components of a galaxy: stars, gas, dust, and dark matter, and where these components are found within and around galaxies, from both an observational (from radio to X-rays, but with a fundamental optical IFS component) and a theoretical point of view (from the most recent simulations of galaxy assembly to models reproducing the chemical evolution of galaxies), with the final objective of getting a better understanding on the processes that rule the evolution of the galaxies.
Conference Photo with the majority of the participants to the “Multiwavelength Dissection of Galaxies” meeting, 24th – 29th May 2015. The background is an image of the Southern sky showing the Southern Cross and the Pointers. Credit: Conference Photo: Andy Green (AAO), Background image & composition: Ángel R. López-Sánchez.
Around 120 astronomers all around the globe attended to this Conference. In five days we had 94 talks, including 27 invited talks and a Summary talk, and 26 poster contributions. Highlight invited talks were given by Rosemary Wyse (The Structure of the Milky Way), Naomi McClure-Griffiths (Neutral gas in and around the Milky Way), Baerbel Koribalski (Diffuse gas in and around galaxies), Christy Tremonti (Measuring Gas Accretion and Outflow Signatures with MaNGA), César Esteban (Ionized gas in the Milky Way), Evan Skillman (The Chemical Properties of the ISM of Nearby Galaxies), Sarah Martell (Introduction to the GALAH Survey), Geraint Lewis (Galactic Archeology in the Local Group), Alessandro Boselli (The dust emission properties of nearby galaxies after Herschel), Jakob Walcher (News about the interstellar medium in galaxies from the CALIFA survey), Stas Shabala (Resolving the mysteries of AGN feedback:radio jets, galaxies and citizen science), Joss Bland-Hawthorn (Near Field Cosmology), Martin Asplund (The Gaia-ESO survey), Richard Bower (The EAGLE Universe), Lisa Kewley (SAMI Science) and Molly Peeples (A Multiwavelength View of the Circumgalactic Medium).
We also organised a “Poster Contest”: participants were asked to vote for their 2 favourite posters, and they got a short (10 minutes) talk during the last session of the Conference. The winners were two PhD students: Christina Baldwin (Macquarie University, Australia, with the poster “Early-Type Galaxy Stellar Populations in the Near-Infrared”) and Manuel Emilio Moreno-Raya (Universidad Complutense Madrid and CIEMAT, Spain, with the poster “Dependence of SNe Ia absolute magnitudes on the host galaxies elemental gas-phase abundances”).
We have compiled all scientific presentations at the Conference Webpage:
http://www.aao.gov.au/conference/multiwavelength-dissection-of-galaxies
Furthermore, participants were very active in Twitter, that followed the hashtag of the Conference #MDGal15, allowing a wider diffusion of the main results speakers were presenting. We have also compiled all tweets in a Storify for each day, they are available in our website.
Besides the scientific talks, participants enjoyed the social events we organised for the Conference, including a Welcome Cocktail Cruise on Sunday 24th May (delegates enjoyed not only the great views of Sydney Harbour but also a starry sky and the famous ViVID Lights Sydney Festival), a Wine Tasting event on Tuesday 26th, an outdoors barbecue and a visit to Sydney Observatory and Stargazing on Wednesday 27th May, and the Conference Dinner on Thursday 28th May, which was held at the Spanish restaurant “Postales” in famous Martin Place, Sydney. Furthermore, the AAO organised the Public Event “The Story of Light: The Astronomer’s Perspective” on Sunday 24th May at the Powerhouse Museum (Sydney). This event, which was fully booked, was included as part of the ViVID Festival and connected the International Year of Light 2015 with our Conference.
Overall, we considered it was a great Conference and some important and controversial research topics were actually discussed during those five days, generating new ideas and projects, and many new collaborations between participants (even between Galactic and extragalactic astronomers) started there.
Finally, I would like to thank the impeccable organisation of the staff at Crown Plaza Hotel, as everything worked very smoothly and we didn’t have any problems at all during our Conference. In particular, coffee breaks and lunches were very well attended, and we really enjoyed a great quality food. Of course, I also must thank all the members of the LOC and the SOC committees for their invaluable help organising this Conference. In particular, I would like to thank Helen Woods (AAO) for her enormous effort and Andrew Hopkins and AAO’s Director, Warrick Couch, for their strong support to this meeting.
Posted in Astrophysics, Conferences, Galaxies, My Research, Stars, Wavelengths
Tagged 2015, Amateur Astronomy, Conference, Galaxies, MDGal15, stars
A/Prof. Ángel R. López-Sánchez 