Faculty of Science MU hosts conference on variable stars

Brno, 30 October 2017

The Conference on the Research of Variable Stars, organized by the Section of Variable Stars and the Exoplanets of the Czech Astronomical Society, will be held this year at the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University. The theme will be not only the research of variable stars, but also methods to facilitate their classification, detection and processing of measured data.

After four years, researchers and fans of variable stars will meet in Brno, this time for the first time at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University. This is an important place in the study of variable stars for several decades. The conference will be held from 3 to 5 November 2017 and has so far attracted more than 50 candidates from four countries. The program of the conference is varied and with 21 entries it promises a very intense view not only of Czech and Slovak work.

In recent years, the conference has also been internationally involved. For the first time two guests from Warsaw University will be present: Mgr. Henryk Netzel, who introduces the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) project and the use of data to study the vibrating stars, and Pawel Zieliński, who specializes in exoplanets in young open clusters.

The important topics of the conference are the detection and classification of variable stars from robotic telescopes directed by Ondřejov scientists or the automation of photometric data processing. The main theme is the study of variable stars, which is based on significant Czech and Slovak observations. There will be lectures on changes in the periods of eclipsing stars, pulsating or symbiotic variable stars. The conference will discuss the discovery of eruptions at some eclipsing stars that Czech observers have consistently been devoted to in recent years.

The traditional part of the conference is the Saturday social evening preceded by the Jindřich Šilhán Award "The Prometheus of the Year 2017", which is presented annually for extraordinary observational or study results in the field of variable stars. This year, the conference will start with a popular-lecture by RNDr. Jiří Grygar, CSc. entitled "The Wandering Way to Discovering the Exoplanet".

Autor: Mgr. Kateřina Hoňková (SPHE ČAS) a Mgr. Lenka Zychová, Ph.D. (ÚTFA)

Website of the conference is here

Abstracts are presented here

Mgr. Lenka Zychová, zychova@physics.muni.cz

---

Section of the Variable Stars and Exoplanets of the Czech Astronomical Society (SVSE CAS) Observation and study of variable stars has a long history in Czechia. SVSE was established in 1924 as the Observers Section of the Stars of the Czech Astronomical Society. Nowadays, the Star and Exoplanet (SVSE) division has about 80 members of amateur as well as professional astronomers and observation is almost on a professional level - many of the observers have remote-controlled telescopes and a scientific CCD camera. The very narrow interest of this community allows for mutual learning, the transfer of experience, and the establishment of significant international co-operation, which enables the enthusiasts to join those who write scientific articles from these valuable data.