European Astronomical Society
e-Newsletter  23
December 2024

The EAS, together with the affiliated societies, has worked to raise awareness on this topic among policymakers and regulators at both the national and international levels. Our advocacy efforts successfully led to this issue being added to the agenda of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), marking a significant step toward global action. The EAS also signed the ESA Zero Debris Charter, reaffirming our commitment to sustainable practices in space.

Another major success this year was securing funding for three additional years, until 2028, of the HERA program. Generously supported by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation, HERA has, over the past two years, established itself as an important training opportunity for early-career scientists. This renewed funding ensures the program will continue to nurture the next generation of astronomers well into the future.

The EAS Annual Meeting, EAS2024, was another highlight of the year, providing a vibrant platform for scientific exchange and collaboration. Planning for EAS2025 is already well underway, and I look forward to seeing many of you in Cork next year. As we celebrate these achievements, I look forward to the continued growth and success of the EAS in the coming year. The society remains committed to advancing astronomy in Europe and beyond, through free exchange of scientific ideas and in peaceful collaboration at a global level. At the same time, I would like to extend my heartfelt support and condolences to colleagues who have been negatively impacted by ongoing armed conflicts and geopolitical instabilities, and I stand in solidarity with them. I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season and a peaceful 2025, filled with hope and unity.

We are currently evaluating the hybrid aspect of the EAS Annual Meeting in 2024 in Padova, where all sessions were accessible for online participants. All sessions have been recorded and made available to be viewed up to 3 months after the meeting; only very few people have made use of this service. It is obvious that we cannot offer the same experience to online participants compared to those on site, but our aim is to find an acceptable and affordable compromise for online participation in Cork. You may have noticed that the abstracts at the EAS Annual Meeting 2024 have been registered in the SAO Astrophysics Data System (ADS). We are working to have abstracts from earlier EAS annual meetings soon available in ADS.

The Institute is located on the grounds of the former Babelsberg Observatory in Potsdam, which began operations in August 1913. Active external facilities include the Einstein Tower Solar Observatory on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam, the antenna field for radio astronomical observations LOFAR near Bornim, and the robotic STELLA Observatory on Tenerife.

Additionally, the AIP maintains the historic Great Refractor on the Telegrafenberg as a scientific heritage site and for public outreach purposes. The Institute is involved in the design, development, construction, operation and scientific exploitation of a number of large-scale astrophysical projects to achieve its research objectives. As the consortium leader for the development of the 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (4MOST) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile, the AIP continues to develop and plan cutting-edge instruments in the field of astrophysics. The AIP is also involved in the construction of the two spectrographs, ANDES and MOSAIC, for ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).

As a key radio astronomy institute in Europe and the central organisation of the European VLBI Network, JIVE's partnership with the EAS is a natural and exciting next step.

This collaboration reinforces our shared commitment to advancing impactful science across Europe and beyond. We look forward to the opportunities this partnership will bring, as we work together with JIVE to connect, innovate, and deepen our understanding of the universe.

The research program is carried out by approximately 350 scientific staff members, including PhDs and postdocs, distributed across the four universities. NOVA's research program is organized into three networks across the institutes. Network 1 focuses on cosmology and galaxy evolution. Network 2 on stellar evolution, including the formation of circumstellar disks and planets. Finally, Network 3 studies massive compact objects, such as neutron stars and black holes.

NOVA invests in instrumentation development as a means of achieving their scientific goals. Around 45 highly qualified technical staff are organised into two instrumentation groups: The Optical-IR instrumentation group hosted by ASTRON in Dwingeloo, and the Sub-mm instrumentation group at the University of Groningen. The Optical-IR group has been a key partner in many projects for the VLT, such as X-shooter, Sphere-Zimpol and MATISSE, and is now working on the ELT projects METIS, MICADO and MOSAIC. The Sub-mm group has led the development and production of the receivers for ALMA Band 2, 5 & 9. The NOVA Information Centre, with 4 staff located at the university of Amsterdam, disseminates astronomy knowledge and news to a wide audience, through the website astronomie.nl, press releases and with their mobile planetaria. NOVA is managed from the NOVA Office at Leiden University. More information on NOVA can be found at nova-astronomy.nl. The figure shows a rendering of the METIS instrument. NOVA is the PI institute of METIS, the mid-infrared ELT imager and spectrograph, currently under construction.

The RAS is the oldest astronomical society in the world, founded in 1820 with the aim of promoting the study of astronomy, solar system science, geophysics and related branches of science. This year, the RAS celebrated 150 years at Burlington House, the official site of the RAS in central London. An open house festival was held in September, celebrating the event that included a visit to the library with some of its treasures on display: observation notebooks of Caroline and John Herschel, or a first edition of Newton's "Principia". The event included the presence of the Herschels themselves (actors of course !), and was attended by hundreds of people. This event coincides with the great news that the lease of Burlington House has been extended for another 999 years (!) allowing the RAS to keep such an iconic site. More information can be found at the RAS webpage.

The Hellenic Astronomical Society was formally established in 1993 and serves the Greek astronomical community with events, meetings, travel grants and prizes for students, etc. In recent years there has been a significant upgrade of National Facilities, including the Helmos Observatory (2.3m Aristarchos telescope) and Skinakas Observatory (1.23m), to name the two largest ones, while three radio astronomy facilities are currently under construction. Every two years, the Society hosts a thematic Summer School to provide scientific training for its younger members, including graduate students and early-career postdoctoral researchers. This September, in collaboration with the University of Ioannina (UoI), Hel.A.S. organized the 5th Summer School entitled: "Magnetohydrodynamics in Astrophysics". More information about the society can be found at the Hel.A.S. webpage . The next major event is the 17th Hel.A.S. Conference, which will take place in Patras, Greece, from 30 June to 2 July 2025.

Given the success of HERA23 (Garching) and HERA24 the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus foundation has agreed to provide 120,000 Euros to extend the workshop series beyond 2025 till 2028. HERA25 with the topic of "Galaxy evolution in the cosmic re-ionisation era" is now in planning and will take place in the week of September 22-26, 2025 in Pisa, organised by the Scuola Normale Superiore. More information about the workshop, including registration, will be available on the EAS website soon. We are also starting the planning of HERA26, which will take place in Warsaw.