Newsletter 19-26

Issue 19-26, June 30, 2019

 

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  1. UPDATE: NEW COMETARY INSIGHTS FROM THE CLOSE APPROACH OF 46P/WIRTANEN – A SYMPOSIUM IN CELEBRATION OF MIKE A’HEARN
  2. EPSC-DPS 2019 DPS DEPENDENT CARE GRANTS
  3. ROCKY EXOPLANETS IN THE ERA OF JWST: THEORY AND OBSERVATION, NOV 4-8, 2019
  4. INCLUSIVE ASTRONOMY 2 CONFERENCE: ABSTRACT SUBMISSION/PRE-REGISTRATION
  5. CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: 2019 AGU FALL MEETING
  6. GROUND AND SPACE OBSERVATORIES: A JOINT VENTURE TO PLANETARY SCIENCE
  7. THIRD CALL: “MODELING AND SIMULATION OF PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES” SPECIAL ISSUE
  8. JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES

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UPDATE: NEW COMETARY INSIGHTS FROM THE CLOSE APPROACH OF
46P/WIRTANEN -A SYMPOSIUM IN CELEBRATION OF MIKE A’HEARN

This is a reminder that registration for the meeting (August 6-8, 2019
on the University of Maryland campus) is currently open. Early
registration ends on July 12, at which time the registration fee
increases from $125 to $135.

We also note that although comet Wirtanen, due to its recent close
approach, was highlighted for the theme of the symposium, we invite
other talks as well, including those about other comets, about
big-picture views of comets, or simply talks presenting memories of
Mike.

Abstracts requesting an oral talk are due on July 12. Submissions after
that date are likely to be assigned poster status.

We have a small amount of funding available to help support student
travel. If you are interested in applying for this support, please send
a 1-page application describing your student status, Institution, who
you are working with, and what you intend to present. Applications are
due by the July 12 registration deadline and can be emailed to
[email protected].

For more information about the meeting and a link to the registration
site, go to:

http://wirtanen.astro.umd.edu/symposium/index.shtml

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EPSC-DPS 2019 DPS DEPENDENT CARE GRANTS

 

The DPS Susan Niebur Professional Development Fund provides financial assistance

to qualifying members of the DPS in order to facilitate their meeting attendance by

offsetting dependent care costs (such as child care, elder care, spousal care, etc) at

the meeting location, or at home, during the DPS conference week. For 2019, the

DPS Professional Development Subcommittee will accept applications for dependent

care subsidies to assist an eligible DPS member to attend the Joint EPSC-DPS Meeting

in Geneva, Switzerland (September 2019). The deadline for applications is 12 August 2019. 

Please access the grant application form at development#grants .

 

Mark Gurwell, DPS Professional Development Subcommittee member

 

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ROCKY EXOPLANETS IN THE ERA OF JWST: THEORY AND OBSERVATION, NOV 4-8, 2019

 

Dear Colleagues,

We’d like to remind you about the 2nd Annual NASA Goddard SEEC

Symposium, titled “Rocky Exoplanets in the Era of JWST: Theory and

Observation”, which will be held November 4 – 8, 2019 here at NASA

Goddard. The Symposium will be hosted by the GSFC Sellers Exoplanet

Environments Collaboration (SEEC) and co-supported by the University

of Maryland Astronomy Department.

The goal of this meeting is to bring together theorists and observers interested

in rocky exoplanets from across the exoplanet and planetary community and

related fields, in order to help us all prepare for the first light of the James

Webb Space Telescope era by framing the key questions about these worlds

and the exciting new observations that will help us characterize them.

 

The workshop will include invited overview talks combined with short

research presentations, as well as ample time for group discussion and

collaborative work sessions. The Symposium website now has a full list

of sessions topics and the current invited speakers list: https://seec.gsfc.nasa.gov/Symposium.html.

 

The website for Registration and Abstracts for combined poster+flash talks

will open at the beginning of August.  Attendance will be limited by space

(max of 150 attendees), so please check out the meeting’s webpage and pre-

register now. We will alert pre-registrants first when the full registration and 

abstract submission pages are available.

 

Best,
Avi Mandell, Eliza Kempton, and the Symposium SOC and LOC

 

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INCLUSIVE ASTRONOMY 2 CONFERENCE: ABSTRACT SUBMISSION/PRE-REGISTRATION

The Inclusive Astronomy 2 Conference will be held from October 14-15,
2019, at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD. Like
the first Inclusive Astronomy conference, IA2 will serve as a venue to
advocate and provide resources for the inclusion in the astronomy
community of people of color; LGBTQIA+ people; people with
disabilities; women; and everyone who holds more than one of these
underrepresented identities. Come take part in a community discussion
to reflect on the state of the profession and envision how to improve
it into the 2020s. Pre-registration and abstract submission for IA2
are now open, and due by Friday, July 19, 2019. To pre-register and
submit an abstract, please fill out the form here:

https://tiny.cc/IA2PreReg

Please note that pre-registration is mandatory for attendance at the
conference. For more information, please visit the website pages about
registration and abstract submission. Direct any questions to
[email protected] – and spread the word!

 

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CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: 2019 AGU FALL MEETING

 

  1. SESSION ED026 – ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVERYONE THROUGH SCIENCE FESTIVALS

 

Anyone interested in sharing their experiences participating in science festivals as a 

means of engaging audiences is encouraged to submit an abstract to the 2019 AGU 

Fall Meeting session Engagement Opportunities for Everyone through Science Festivals.

 

Increasing numbers of think pieces and news articles position scientists as experts yet 

still leave people questioning the science. Now, more than ever, it is crucial for scientists 

to be present in conversations around scientific subjects. Enter: science festivals. This 

session will illustrate the power of engaging public audiences with science festivals through 

descriptions of ongoing events, discussions of evaluation methods and results, and connecting 

scientists with resources and experts to help them join current festivals, or start their own. 

For scientists already engaging with public audiences, this session will provide next-steps 

for communicating their science. This session will focus on what science festivals are, why 

engagement is important for scientists, and how scientists can connect with this living resource. 

Abstracts from education/communication professionals and scientists are welcome. Topics of 

interest may include science communication at live events, scientists’ engagement and outreach 

activities, and evaluation.

 

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/82194

 

2019 Fall AGU abstract submission deadline is July 31, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Don’t forget: 

submitting an education abstract won’t count against your first author science abstract submissions! 

At AGU, one first author education abstract is allowable in addition to a science abstract.

 

Questions? Contact Andy Shaner.

 

  1. SESSION P005: CARBON ACROSS THE SOLAR SYSTEM

    We invite abstracts for the following session at the 2019 AGU Fall
    Meeting in San Francisco, CA, December 9-13, 2019.

    Recent results ranging from the Kuiper Belt, the Pluto system, the
    Saturn system, other locations beyond ~5 AU, all the way to Mercury in
    the inner Solar System, and nearly all points in between, raise
    questions about the state of carbon in the Solar System: how do
    carbonaceous compounds become weathered in response to thermal
    processes and irradiation? How do we recognize carbon compounds and
    their various weathering products? The syntheses of these results
    improve our scientific understanding of the role of carbon in the Solar
    System, how it evolves and how to recognize it. The carbonaceous
    near-Earth asteroids 162173 Ryugu and 101955 Bennu are now being
    visited and sampled; the analyses of these samples will provide context
    for the presence of carbon. In this session, abstracts covering
    observational, laboratory and modeling work related to carbon and
    carbonaceous species on Solar System bodies are welcome.

    The deadline for abstract submissions is Wednesday, 31 July, 23:59 EDT

    Conveners: Faith Vilas (PSI, [email protected]), Amanda R. Hendrix (PSI),
    Yvonne J. Pendleton (NASA ARC)

 

  1. SESSION P013: FINDING, EXPLORING AND CHARACTERIZING TERRESTRIAL
    EXOPLANETS: THE NEXT FRONTIER

    We are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract for the following
    session at the 2019 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, CA, December
    9-13, 2019.

    This session is a discussion of the potential of new and future
    facilities and modeling efforts designed to detect, image and
    characterize Earth-size and super-Earth terrestrial exoplanets,
    studying their formation, evolution and also the existence of possible
    biospheres. Topics to be covered in this session include instrument
    requirements and technologies to detect these exoplanets; strategies
    for target selection and prioritization; signs of exoplanet
    habitability and global biosignatures that can be sought with upcoming
    instrumentation; impacts of planetary system properties; and future
    ground-based and space telescope architectures.

    For more information, visit:

    https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/75474

    The submission deadline is Wednesday, July 31, 2019.

    Conveners:
    Franck Marchis (SETI Institute)
    Ramses Ramirez (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
    Douglas A. Caldwell (SETI Institute)

 

  1. SESSION P040: TITAN: THE EXOTIC AND ENIGMATIC MOON

 

Saturn’s giant moon Titan is one of the most mysterious, and yet strangely familiar,

realms in the solar system. Possessing a dense atmosphere enriched in organic compounds,

its active photochemistry works to produce a panoply of molecules of increasing size and

complexity, running the gamut from ethane to haze particles. This session solicits presentations

on all aspects of Titan research, including on-going Cassini dataset analysis, Earth-based

observations, modeling, laboratory investigations, and comparison with other bodies.
 

Conveners: Conor Nixon (NASA GSFC), Alex Hayes (Cornell University), Kathleen Mandt (Johns Hopkins APL)

 

Submissions welcome until: 31 July 2019 23:59 EDT/03:59 +1 GMT.

 

At: 

 

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GROUND AND SPACE OBSERVATORIES : A JOINT VENTURE TO PLANETARY SCIENCE

 

Dear all,

I am pleased to announce that pre-registration is now open for an ALMA workshop on:

“Ground and space observatories: a joint venture to planetary sciences”

March 2-6, 2020
Santiago, Chile
https://conference.almaobservatory.org/planets2020/

This is a follow-up to the successful workshop organized in March 2015. 

The goal will be to investigate further the potential synergies between ground

and space-based observatories in the exploration of the Solar System, and to

continue fostering collaborations among planetary scientists through the sharing

of scientific and technical knowledge.

Topics for scientific discussion will be open to all bodies of the Solar system 

(planets, moons, asteroids, TNOs and comets), and will cover the body itself

as well as its atmosphere, and any rings. We also look forward to discussing

results on exoplanets, as comparative planetology investigations relating to

the properties of our Solar System. We intend to organize the sessions in a

way that emphasizes the parallels between the results from ground and space-

based observatories. There will also be the opportunity to display posters with

dedicated sessions for everyone to read and discuss them.

On the last day, we will run a proposal preparation workshop for ALMA and 

JWST. Both observatories will have a proposal deadline soon after March 2020,

such that the timing will be perfect to work on coordinated investigations.

Invited speakers will be announced on our website in the next few weeks as 

soon as they have been confirmed.

The meeting will be held at the ALMA office in Santiago, which is located on 

the ESO campus in Vitacura. Participation will be limited to 100. The registration

fee will be 250 EUR (150 EUR for students). We hope to be able to offer financial

support for a number of students.

The deadline for abstract submission will be mid-November 2019.

Finally, there will be the opportunity for a limited number of participants to fly

to the North of Chile and enjoy a guided tour of the ALMA observing site on

March 7. More details will be given on the website in the next weeks.

We hope to see you next year in Santiago!

Best regards,
Eric Villard

 

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THIRD CALL: “MODELING AND SIMULATION OF PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES” SPECIAL ISSUE

 

This is the third and final call for submissions to the special issue 

“Modeling and Simulation of Planetary Atmospheres” in the open-access

journal Atmosphere. There are on the order of two dozen contributions in every

stage of preparation, and we are excited about the breadth of the response. If

necessary, reasonable time extensions may be negotiated before the 16 August

2019 due date by contacting the Managing Editor, Colin Chen

<[email protected]> or the Guest Editor,

Tim Dowling <[email protected]>.

 

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JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES

 

A) POSTDOCTORAL POSITION IN PLANETARY SCIENCES

     University of Maryland

     College Park, Maryland

 

The Small Bodies Group in the Department of Astronomy at the University

of Maryland, College Park invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research

Associate to work with Dr. Tony Farnham and Dr. Jessica Sunshine to develop

and apply models to simulate sublimation processes on solar system bodies, to

explore how they impact the surface features and morphology, and to intercompare

results among different objects. Of particular interest in this study are bodies

with microgravity environments, including the Rosetta target comet 67P/Churyumov-

Gerasimenko.  

 

The UMD Small Bodies Group specializes in remote sensing observations,

both ground-based and space-based, and theoretical modeling, primarily of

comets, asteroids, and the Moon. Our group has been involved with multiple

spacecraft missions and instrument teams, including Deep Impact, EPOXI,

Dawn, Lucy, Rosetta, Stardust NExT and Chandrayaan. We are also at the

forefront in using current and upcoming facilities to study small bodies,

including JWST, TESS, LSST, DCT and numerous other ground-based

observatories. UMD also operates the Small Bodies Node of NASA’s

Planetary Data System, which maintains all mission data related to small

bodies in the Solar System. 

 

Candidates for this position should have a Ph.D. in Physics, Astronomy,

Planetary Science or a related field, which must be obtained by the time of

the start date. IDL or similar experience is preferred. We recognize that

strength comes through diversity and actively seek and welcome candidates

with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and identities. We encourage women

and minority candidates to apply. 

 

Those interested in applying should send a CV, a short statement (no more

than 2 pages) of research goals and their experience with computer simulations

and small body studies, and arrange for three letters of reference to be sent

electronically to: [email protected] and [email protected]. The position

will remain open until filled. 

 

This appointment will be for two years with a possible third year extension

based on performance and funding availability. Requests for additional

information should be sent to Tony Farnham ([email protected]). 

 

The University of Maryland, College Park, an equal opportunity/affirmative

action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws and

regulations regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action; all qualified

applicants will receive consideration for employment. The University is

committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not

discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical

or mental disability, protected veteran status, age, gender identity or expression,

sexual orientation, creed, marital status, political affiliation, personal appearance,

or on the basis of rights secured by the First Amendment, in all aspects of

employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

 

B) NASA JOB OPENING: ORBITAL DEBRIS PROGRAM OFFICE MODELING LEAD,
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
 
Announcement open 6/24-7/15. Apply here:

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/537515300

Position summary:

Serves as Lead in the ARES Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) in the
area of computer model development, providing Agency unique expertise
in measuring, modeling, and providing guidance in mitigating the
orbital debris environment to support NASA missions.

Qualifications:

– Knowledge of orbital mechanics and computer modeling of orbital
debris populations. Specific knowledge of orbital debris software such
as Orbital Debris Engineering Model (ORDEM) and Debris Assessment
Software (DAS).

– Experience performing management of software development projects.

– Ability to effectively communicate scientific results and technical
instructions, orally and in writing, to scientific peers, subordinates,
management, and to the general public.

– Ability to apply originality, creativeness, and ingenuity to solve
orbital debris modeling and data collection related problems.

Education Requirements:

– A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with
major study in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life
sciences, computer science, or other field of science.

– Ph.D. or equivalent experience in computer science, astronomy,
physics or engineering and five or more years in computer modeling,
particularly orbital debris modeling is highly desired.

 

C) JOB ANOUNCEMENT: ASTROMATERIALS ACQUISITION AND CURATION OFFICE
CARBONACEOUS ASTEROID SCIENTIST, JOHNSON SPACE CENTER

Announcement open 7/3-7/24. Apply here:

http://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/537404200

Position summary:

Serves as a Space Scientist in the Astromaterials Acquisition and
Curation Office, studies the origin, composition, structure and
evolution of the bodies of the solar system; plans and conducts mission
operations; and serves as a Curator of an astromaterial sample
collection.

Qualifications:

– Knowledge of the chemical and physical properties of the primitive
materials that may be returned from the carbonaceous asteroids targeted
by robotic or human exploration (i.e., Carbonaceous Chondrites and/or
Interstellar Dust Particles).

– Experience with state-of-the-art techniques used to analyze
carbonaceous chondrites and other primitive solar system samples.

– Ability to make connections between meteorite and asteroid samples to
inform Curation (lab management, protocols and techniques) of the
asteroid samples and determine appropriate sample requests.

– Demonstrated ability to publish peer-reviewed science on primitive
Solar System samples.

Education Requirements:

– A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with
major study in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life
sciences, computer science, or other field of science.

– Ph.D. in Planetary Science or similar field is highly desired.

 

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Send submissions to: 

Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary ([email protected]

 

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