Search the AAO:
International Year of Astronomy logo
General Links
Professional Links

AAO Colloquia

What's the next Colloquium? When is it? Where is it?

Colloquia and Talks at Epping.

Informal Talks at Epping

AAO and other Australian Conferences

Colloquia and Talks at the AAO/ATNF Epping.

The AAO organises frequent colloquia at our Epping headquarters. These are usually held on a Thursday afternoon, normally at 3:30pm, though other dates are occasionally scheduled. We welcome talks from visiting astronomers - if you are passing through Sydney and would like to tell us about your work, please contact Quentin Parker (qap@ics.mq.edu.au)

The ATNF (Australia Telescope National Facility) also organises colloquia at their Epping offices. A schedule for these talks can be found here.

The AAO and ATNF also occasionally organise Joint Colloquia when the speaker is likely to be of interest to both radio and optical communities. These talks will be found in both the list below, and the ATNF schedule.

A list of past speakers can be found here.

Informal Seminars

As well as the more formal colloquia described above, there are a number of informal discussion groups which meet regularly on the ATNF/Radiophysics/AAO grounds. All are welcome to these discussions.

Forthcoming AAO colloquia....

AAO Colloquia


Thursday 17th December 2009 3:30pm

AAO Colloquium

BiQing For, Univ.Austin, Texas

Abstract:
Probing stellar evolution through the study of chemical abundances of horizontal branch Stars.

Horizontal branch (HB) stars are evolved helium core-burning objects that are observable as globular cluster members and halo field population. Those found in Galactic globular clusters exhibit various distributions of photometric colors (or temperatures), popularly called the "HB morphology". These distributions usually are subdivided into three groups: the stable bluer and redder portions of the HB, and the variable RR Lyrae stars in between. The practical assignment of star to a particular group is based on color (or temperature). However, the physical cause that determines the position of cluster HB stars can be due to multiple parameters (e.g. metallicity and age). I have conducted a detailed abundance ratios study of field HB stars (Teff< 9000K) to give potential insight into HB morphology from a different perspective. Here I present the results of this study. Such a controlled-sample and internally consistent analysis of many elements has never been previously conducted. The analysis shows that the abundance ratios of almost all elements are consistent across ~4000K domain for the first time. I will discuss any abundances anomalies and the implications on the HB evolution.


 

2009: Recent and Future AAO Colloquia

2009: Recent and Future AAO Colloquia
Date Venue & Time  Speaker Title
8th January 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Eike Guenther, Thuringa, Germany Searching for extra-solar planets with CoRoT
14th January 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Berian James, ROE, Scotland, UK Structure Large and Small in the Clustering of Galaxies
21st January 2009 Joint ATNF/AAO Colloquium: ATNF Lecture Theatre 3:30 p.m. Simon Driver, St.Andrews, Scotland, UK Modeling the total energy output of the nearby UniverseFlo
28th January 2009 Joint ATNF/AAO Colloquium: ATNF Lecture Theatre 3:30 p.m. Leslie Sage, Senior Editor, Nature How to publish a paper in Nature
9th March 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. David Floyd, Las Campanas, Chile Examining quasar accretion discs through microlensing
18th March 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Caroline Foster, Swinburne Metallicity Gradients at Large Galactocentric Radii Using the NIR Calcium Triplet
25th March 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Aaron Robotham, St.Andrews The progress, stress and future success of GAMA
26th March 2009 MQ theatre E6A 102 11:00am Andreas Kelz, AIP, Potsdam, Germany Developments in 3D- and Fiber-spectroscopy at the AIP
2nd April 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Mario Mateo, Michigan, USA Examining quasar accretion discs through microlensing
3rd April 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Jon Loveday, Sussex, UK Colour and luminosity-dependence of galaxy clustering
15th June 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Brent Miszalski, Macquarie University/Strasbourg Planetary Nebulae in our Galaxy and the binary hypothesis
19th June 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Henry Lee, Gemini Observatory Spitzer LVL Luminosity- and Mass-Metallicity Relations for Star-Forming Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Volume
9th July 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Rob Sharp, AAO The interstellar medium in the laboratory
17th July 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Peter Barnes, Univ Florida Conceptual design for the High Resolution Optical Spectrograph for the Giant Magellan Telescope
30th July 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Philip Lah, Stromlo Measuring the Gas Content of Distant Galaxies using the AAT
5th August 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Univ.Syndey HERMES: reconstructing the ancient Galaxy
3rd September 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Chris Springob, AAO The New Generation of Galaxy Peculiar Veolocity Surveys: Cosmology and Comsography in the Local Universe
24th September 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Sarah Brough, AAO The evolution of the brightest cluster Galaxies
14th October 2009 Joint AAO/ATNF Colloq. ATNF lecture theatre 3:30 p.m. Peter Tuthill, Univ.Sydney ELT:The Emperor's Large Telescope?
15th October 2009 Joint AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Chris Lidman Galaxy clusters as probes of dark energy
5th November 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Quentin Parker, Macquarie/AAO Space to Grow. The ARC Faulkes Telescope Linkage project: Engaging high schools students in science using the hook of astronomy
12th November 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Stan Owocki, Univ.Delaware Magnetospheres of Magnetic Massive Stars
18th November 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. David Wake, Yale The evolution of the most massive red galaxies: A problem for hierarchical galaxy formation?
23rd November 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Grazziano Rossi & Changbom Park, Korea Primordial non-Gaussianity and Distance Errors in Cosmology & Galaxy Clustering Topology
26rd November 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Mike Reed, Missoursi State Asteroseismology of compact pulsators.
3rd December 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Stephane Courteau, Queens Univ. Canada, The distribution of Baryons in galaxies.
10th December 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Nathan Smith, UC Berkeley Eta Carinae and Pre-Supernova Temper Tantrums of Massive Stars
17th December 2009 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. BiQing For, Univ.Austin, Texas Probing stellar evolution through the study of chemical abundances of horizontal branch Stars
14th January 2010 AAO Conference room 3:30 p.m. Stuart Ryder, Gemini Office, AAO Supernovae as revealed by Gemini

AAO Conferences

Current and Past meetings


An international confererence to celebrate the AAO: Past, Present, and Future. The Shire Hall, Coonabarabran, 21 to 25 June 2010

An international workshop in honour of Agnes Acker: Legacies of the Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg H-alpha Planetary Nebula project; February 16-18th 2009, Sydney, Australia, organised by Macquarie University and the Anglo-Australian Observatory.

Major Topics Covered: PN Surveys, the Galactic distance scale and PN luminosity functions in our Galaxy, the Magellanic clouds and beyond


Quentin Parker, AAO/Macquarie Unviversity - last updated 6/03/09