News

RadioNet "Advance Radio Astronomy in Europe" listed in the Assessment report on Research & Innovation of the European Commission The European Commission recently made public the "Consultation on possible topics for future activities for integrating and opening existing national research infrastructures - Assessment report" (February 2013). http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=consultation

ALMA has become now reality! Two main events happened in the last couple of months: The ALMA Inauguration on March 13, 2013 (http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1312/) and the "First Year of ALMA Science Conference" (http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann12101/) held in Puerto Varas/Chile on December 17, 2012 and made possible by the support of RadioNet3.

The European Commission has been supporting access to effective research infrastructures for researchers all over Europe for more than a decade. This action has been instrumental in enhancing European researchers' access to the infrastructures they require to conduct their research, irrespective of the location of the facility.

The RadioNet workpackage QueSERA (addressing Questions on Structuring European Radio Astronomy) is providing opportunities for travel support in two categories. The aim of these is to entertain fellow astronomers who have typically not used RadioNet facilities with the excitement of modern Radio Astronomy. The two categories eligible for support are: 1. Colloquia at astronomy institutes or national astronomy conferences in countries with little radio-astronomy tradition. 2. Talks at conferences with astrophysics topics that have made limited use of radio-astronomy techniques (so far).

RadioNet3 has been invited to take part to the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science 2013 conference that will be held in the Logomo Centre, Turku, Finland, from 8 to 13 July 2013 - http://www.astro.utu.fi/EWASS2013/. RadioNet3 accepted the invitation of Prof. Mary Kontizas, Vice-President of the European Astronomical Society, and will organise a Special Session - Sp2 -The role of modern radio observatories in black hole and jet studies on Monday July 08, 2013. DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: April 30, 2013, submission should be done via the web page: RadioNet Sp2

RadioNet at the 11th European VLBI Symposium The 11th European VLBI Symposium was held from 9 to 12 October 2012 at the Palais de la Bourse in Bordeaux, efficiently organized by the Observatoire de Bordeaux staff. The meeting was sponsored by RadioNet3 and other institutions. More than 120 participants from Europe and abroad were present. The intense programme covered in 10 sessions all aspects of the present day research made possible by the VLBI technique. The Symposium was closed followed by the EVN Users Meeting. The RadioNet3 Project Scientist Franco Mantovani (MPIfR) introduced the RadioNet3 programme to the participants of this biennial meeting.

The Coordinator Anton Zensus (MPIfR) has represented personally the RadioNet3 project at the XXVIII IAU General Assembly held in Beijing, China, from August 20 to August 31. The IAU GA is a triennial gathering of astronomers from around the world to discuss and debate the most recent discoveries about the Universe. The assembly was hosted in the new China National Convention Center housed in the Olympic Park.

JIVE is pleased to announce the first fringes produced by the first prototype of its UniBoard VLBI correlator, a significant milestone in the development of a new operational correlator for the European VLBI Network.

The RadioNet3 project has been officially opened by the successful Kick-off on February 28, 2012 held at the Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie in Bonn, Germany. 63 participants from 24 key players in radio astronomy from Europe, Australia, South Africa and South Korea met together to discuss the course of action.

27 Partner Organizations with World-class Instruments work together in Observations, Research & Development The European radio astronomy collaboration, RadioNet, is recognized as the European entity to give access to and to exploit a number of excellent facilities in this field of astronomical research. The application for funding its latest version - RadioNet3 - has been successful, and a total of 9.5 million Euro have been granted by the European Commission for the years 2012 to 2015. This not only continues the two preceding European projects, but also takes a leap forward including ALMA, the radio interferometer for submillimetre wavelengths in Chile as well as a number of pathfinder programs for the Square Kilometre Array, SKA.