Whats On

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Macarthur Astronomy Forum

Monday 18th March

Venue: Lecture Theatre 30, Building 30, Goldsmith Avenue, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown.

7.15 pm for a 7.30 pm start.

Admission is free - your gold coin donation in our black box would be appreciated.

Guest Speaker

Dr Ángel R. López Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Optics - Macquarie University).

Topic: "Dissecting Dwarf Galaxies with The Anglo Australian Telescope"

Dwarf galaxies provide fundamental clues about galaxy origin and evolution. Many of them have irregular shapes and have processed little of their gas, although they possess many old stars born billions of years ago. Still, many dwarf galaxies are very gas-rich and are currently forming stars, sometimes in a spectacular way.

With these new observations using the powerful KOALA+AAOmega instruments at the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope we are "dissecting" these dwarf galaxies to characterize the properties of the gas and the stars within them.

Combining the new data with deep radio observations at 21 cm of the diffuse, cold gas within and surrounding these dwarf galaxies we will get a better understanding of the local and global star-formation processes in galaxies, the feedback of the newborn stars into the galaxies, the importance of inflows and outflows of gas, and the chemical evolution of nearby dwarf galaxies.

Bio: Dr. Ángel R. López-Sánchez

Dr. Ángel R. López-Sánchez is an astrophysicist and science communicator working at the Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the Macquarie University (MQ) in Sydney (NSW, Australia). His research is focused on the analysis of star formation phenomena in galaxies of the Local Universe, especially in dwarf starbursts and spiral galaxies, using multi-wavelength (UV, optical, IR, radio) data.

He presented his PhD Thesis at University of La Laguna & Instituto Astrofisica de Canarias (Spain) in 2006. In 2007 he joined CSIRO Astronomy & Space Science (Sydney) with a postdoctoral position. He then joined the AAO/MQ in 2011. Part of his work is providing observational support to the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT, Siding Spring Observatory, NSW).

He has been providing instrument and observing support at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) since 2011, being the instrument scientist of several instruments: the multi-fiber spectrograph 2dF+AAOmega and the near-infrared imager and spectrograph IRIS2. He also has large experience with integral-field spectroscopy (IFS), being a very active member of the SAMI collaboration at the AAT. Currently he is the Instrument Scientist of KOALA+AAOmega at the AAT, and leads the international astronomy survey "HI KOALA IFS Dwarf and irregular galaxy Survey" (Hi-KIDS), that is getting unique, high-quality IFS data of a sample of 100 nearby dwarf and irregular galaxies for which 21cm H I interferometric data is available

He has large experience teaching undergraduate and PhD students and giving lectures and classes about Astronomy. Dr. López-Sánchez is a passionate science communicator who continuously gives talks and public lectures, writes popular science articles and organizes science communication events and stargazing activities. He is very active in social media, his Twitter feed is @El_Lobo_Rayado.

Coming Up At MAS:

Stargard by R Forster Crop 2

Date	Day	Event & Location	Event Details	Times*
2nd Mar	Sat	Stargard at The Oaks	Members Private Observing	SS 7.31 pm MR 3.19 am
8th-9th Mar	Fri-Sat	The Forest at Belanglo Forest	New Moon Weekend Members Private Observing	SS 7.22 pm
15th Mar	Fri	Picnic Under The Stars at The Australian Botanic Garden	First Quarter Moon Public Outreach Event Mt Annan	Set up from 4.00 pm SS 7.16 pm
18th Mar	Mon	Macarthur Astronomy Forum at Western Sydney University	Guest Speaker: Dr Angel R. Lopez Sanchez (Macquarie Uni)	7.15 pm for a 7.30 pm start
30th Mar	Sat	Stargard at The Oaks	Members Private Observing	SS 6.54 pm MR 2.06 am

Time Key for observing nights: SS = Sunset; MS = Moonset; MR = Moonrise. In the event of inclement weather, Forest nights may be cancelled and Stargard may be postponed.* Before setting out: if an event is in doubt, members should check both here AND the MAS Facebook page. See also our 'Maps' page; and the 'Field Etiquette' page. Macarthur Astronomy Forum is normally held on the third Monday of the month (Jan-Nov). A full observing planning list for 2019 is available > Here <

Members Notices

Membership & Followers

As at 18th February, we had:

151 full members of the Society.

890 Facebook followers.

171 followers on Twitter.

Thank you for your support!

Membership Renewal Fees

Members are reminded that the 2018-19 financial year ends on 28th February and membership fees for 2019-20 will become due on 1st March. The new year promises to be as good or even better than the one just passed - so we hope that your financial membership will be continued.

Membership fees for 2019-20 are pegged at the same level as 2018-19 and we hope that you will assist Treasurer Andy Milton by paying in a timely manner.

Please visit our Renewal page for details.

One Small Step

We will be hosting a special event in July to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Lunar landing.

Further details will be announced soon.

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Don't forget to tell us if any of your contact details have recently changed - especially your e-mail address, which is our primary means of communication with all our members.

Please contact Henry Swierk This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your new details.

See our MAS Astronomy Books page!

The Guinness World Record for the most people stargazing at multiple venues at the same time is now Australia with 7,960 participants on 21st August 2015. This was organised by ANU across 37 locations in Australia, of which we at MAS were one.