European Astronomical Society
e-Newsletter  12
March 2021

Prominent among your concerns has been the impact that the rapid deployment of a few thousands (and soon to be tens of thousands) of satellites in low earth orbit will have on observational astronomy. The focus of the efforts of our Working Group on Satellite Constellations (chaired by Robert Massey and Sara Lucatello), working with the IAU and national astronomical societies, has been to get international endorsement for the paper prepared by an international team of experts on the occasion of the Dark and Quiet Skies for Science and Society workshop organised by the IAU and UNOOSA. This paper is to be presented to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (COPUOS) calling for international regulation to mitigate the effects of satellite constellations. A number of national delegations have been approached but if you think your national representatives would be able to help please contact Robert (rmassey @ ras.ac.uk) or Sara (sara.lucatello @ inaf.it).

We are now preparing for our second Annual Meeting that will be virtual. After last year's award winning online conference (see below) it is looking as if participation will once again be at a healthy level and the meeting organisers are preparing some new features. I want to express my personal thanks, and the thanks of the entire Society membership, to the Leiden team and the wider Netherlands community for taking on the responsibility of organising the virtual Annual Meeting for the second year. It is clear from the record attendance last year that, despite the restrictions we continue to work under, there is an undiminished enthusiasm to share and discuss research results with colleagues internationally. Without the dedication of the Leiden team, and the Council members who serve on the Annual Meeting Board, the EAS could not have provided that opportunity to participants. We all owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

I will close these remarks on a note of congratulations to Françoise Combes, the chair of our Nominating Committee, on winning the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award. Warm congratulations Françoise, this is a richly deserved recognition of your many contributions to astronomy (see more detail below).

Roger Davies
EAS President

A record number of over 2200 abstracts have been received this year, and the session SOCs have the evaluation process. The EAS Council warmly encourages everyone to register to the meeting, and points out that EAS members profit from a lower registration fee. All details of the programme and the registration procedure can be checked online at the EAS 2021 website.

The MERAC Prizes for the Best Early Career Researcher are awarded in Theoretical Astrophysics to Dr Antoine Strugarek (CEA Saclay) for ground-breaking contributions in stellar astrophysics, including dynamo theory, predictions of solar flares and pioneering work on star-exoplanet interactions. Observational Astrophysics to Dr Cosimo Inserra (Cardiff University) for the investigation of the extremes of stellar explosions, providing a pioneering contribution to their understanding and their role in astronomy and astrophysics. New Technologies (Computational) to Prof. Judit Szulágyi (ETH Zürich) for her fundamental contribution to the study of circumplanetary disks in planet formation, and the origin of the moons of giant planets.

The Inaugural Jocelyn Bell Burnell Inspiration Medal is awarded to Prof. Mirjana Pović (Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute and Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía) for her work on the developing astronomy, science and education as a route out of poverty and to improve the quality of life for young people in Africa.

The Tycho Brahe Medal is awarded to Dr Frank Eisenhauer (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics) for his leadership of the SINFONI and GRAVITY instruments on the ESO VLT, which revolutionized the study of exoplanets, supermassive black holes, and star forming galaxies in the Early Universe.

The Lodewijk Woltjer Lecture is awarded to Prof. Amina Helmi (University of Groningen) for advances in the understanding of how the Milky Way assembled using dynamical simulations together with Gaia observations of the distances, velocities, ages, and chemical abundances of stars.

The EAS Sustainability Working Group comprises ten professional astronomers from seven European countries, who hold monthly meetings. The group is co-chaired by Hannah Dalgleish (University of Oxford, UK) and Leonard Burtscher (Leiden University, The Netherlands) and tackles the following high-priority objectives:

• Develop a European sustainability network between astronomical institutes, societies and organisations.
• Investigate, communicate, and make recommendations to Council on sustainability matters.
• Collate information on sustainability practices and policies across the European astronomy community.
• Advocate for and organise special sessions dedicated to sustainability at European astronomy meetings. See this year's Astronomy for Future session SS30 at the EAS 2021 Annual Meeting.

We invite you to join us on our collective mission to reduce the carbon footprint of the average European astronomer and to pave the way for a resilient and sustainable future of European astronomical research. If you would like to contribute to these efforts or get in touch with the Sustainability Working Group to find out more, please contact sustainability-eas @ unige.ch.

The DIWG currently has 12 members. EAS members who are interested in serving in the DIWG for the next term (starting in July 2021) are invited to contact eas @ unige.ch. The DIWG main tasks are:

• Identify the initiatives in place to improve better conditions of work for astronomers within universities at a national, European and international level.
• Identify best practices, tools, and methods to overcome inequity and lack of diversity in different astronomy-related areas.
• Promote discussion about the status of the European astronomical community regarding equal opportunities through any kind of meetings and conferences.
• Engage the community of astronomers and promote awareness on the barriers for entering, staying and being successful in academia related to inclusion and diversity.
• Promote interdisciplinary dialogue among experts on inclusion, equity, and diversity.
• Update the Ethics document.
• Promote the Diversity Day on the EAS 2021 Annual Meeting, discussion within the EAS community, and awareness on nominations of underrepresented groups of candidates for EAS prizes.

In April 1968, astronomers from five European countries met with the goal of creating a journal substituting their many national and local astronomical journals and bulletins. In December the same year an agreement was signed with ESO, in which ESO would provide administrative and legal services that would allow A&A to establish contracts with a publisher and other services necessary for running the journal. The first issue of A&A was published in January 1969. You are invited to watch the very nice documentary on the history of A&A on the journal's YouTube channel available in a full 1h version and in a short 12 min version.

A&A, which 52 years ago started as an association of 5 countries, is today owned by a consortium of 27 sponsoring countries, no longer restricted to Europe, in a long lasting collaboration with ESO. It is the only main astronomical journal that does not belong to one single organisation or country, which makes it a truly international journal, open to receiving new member countries, with the motto "a journal run by astronomers for astronomers".

A&A is governed by the Board of Directors, whose members are designated by the sponsoring countries plus a representative of ESO. The Board decides on the policies for A&A which include the general guidelines for publishing, the selection of the editors, the various financial aspects, as well as the membership of countries. This sponsoring model for A&A allows authors from the sponsoring countries to publish free of page charges, while keeping the journal subscription price low for all countries (not just the A&A countries). In addition, publishing in the A&A Letters section is free for all.

Several sections of the journal (Letters; Atomic, molecular, and nuclear data; Astronomical instrumentation; Catalogs and data; Numerical methods and codes) are available in Open Access. In addition, the most recent issue is available free of charge on the journal website and all articles are made freely available 12 months after publication.

A&A also organises a Scientific Writing for Young Astronomers school (SWYA) aimed at postgraduate students and young researchers. The purpose of these schools is to teach young authors how to express their scientific results through adequate and efficient science writing. Up to now, 5 of these schools have been organised: in Belgium (2008 and 2009), Hungary (2014), Chile (2016) and China (2020). The next one will be in Portugal in 2022.

A&A has recently established two annual awards: one for best PhD and one for early career works published in A&A. The first edition is happening this year, 2021, and the announcement of the winners will be made at a ceremony in the upcoming EAS annual meeting!

She is universally recognised for her outstanding contribution to astrophysics which ranges from the discovery of molecules in interstellar space to supercomputer simulations of galaxy formation. Her work has been crucial to our understanding of the birth and evolution of stars and galaxies, including the role played by supermassive black holes in galactic centers.

The first European Science Vision and Infrastructure Roadmap for Astronomy was created by Astronet, using EU funds, in 2008/09, and updated in 2014/15. Astronet is now developing a new Science Vision and Infrastructure Roadmap, in a single document with an outlook for the next 20 years. A delivery date to European funding agencies of mid-2021 is anticipated.

The Science Vision and Infrastructure Roadmap revolves around the research themes listed below:

• Origin and evolution of the Universe
• Formation and evolution of galaxies
• Formation and evolution of stars
• Formation and evolution of planetary systems
• Understanding the solar system and conditions for life

but will include cross-cutting aspects such as computing and training and sustainability.

After some delays due to the global pandemic, the first drafts of the chapters for the document are now available from the panels asked to draft them, for the astronomical community to view and comment on. For the Science Vision and Infrastructure Roadmap to be truly representative it is essential we take account of the views of as much of the European astronomy and space science community as possible. All input is really valued by the panels and Astronet.

Please leave any comments, feedback or questions on the Astronet site by 1 May.

It is intended that a virtual "town Hall" style event will be held in late Spring 2021, where an update on the project and responses to the feedback will be provided.