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Lord Drayson to open European Week of Astronomy at Hertfordshire
Lord Drayson, the Government's Minister for Science and Innovation, is to open the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS), which will be hosted by the University of Hertfordshire next week (20-23 April 2009).
Following his address to EWASS on Monday (20 April) at 9:00 AM at the University's de Havilland campus, Lord Drayson will view exhibits, which include ExoMars, a space rover which will be used on a future Mars mission, together with satellite models from the European Space Agency and Astrium, and models from future very large ground-based telescopes.
Professor Tim Wilson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire will deliver the welcome address at the conference, followed by an address by Professor Andy Fabian, President of the Royal Astronomical Society.
EWASS, which is Europe's largest astronomy gathering since 2000 and incorporates the 2009 Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2009) and the European Astronomical Society Joint Meeting (JENAM 2009), has attracted more than 1000 astronomers and space scientists.
Professor Jim Hough, Director of Astronomy Research at the University said: 'This year, being the International Year of Astronomy, is a particularly important year for astronomy, and we hope that the meeting will provide the opportunity to show-case European astronomy, space science and planetary science, not only to the community but also to the public.'
Further highlights of the event are:
- Eleven plenary lectures and forty-one parallel sessions featuring recent research on a wide range of astronomical topics, including the formation of planets around other stars, the coming generation of large telescopes, forthcoming missions in the Solar System, cosmology, gravitational waves and lenses, and the current extended minimum of solar activity.
- A Schools Day on Friday 24 April at which Cambridge-born NASA Astronaut, Michael Foale, will field an 'Ask an Astronaut' session.
- Four public lectures will also be delivered, one on each evening, by Michael Foale and three eminent academics in astrophysics.
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