EWASS (European Week of Astronomy and Space Science) is the biggest annual astronomical conference at European level. Its 2015 edition, co-ordinated locally by the Institute of Astronomy of the Canaries (IAC) will be celebrated in a month´s time on the Guajara Campus of the University of La Laguna (Tenerife) from 22nd to 26th of June, and there are already over a thousand professional astronomers from over 50 countries registered for the event.

EWASS 2015 will comprise a number of diverse plenary lectures, and some 40 parallel symposia, in which scientists from all over Europe will share the most recent advances in the varied fields of astronomy and astrophysics. There will also be time to hold debates on European scientific politics in astronomy, and to award a number of prizes, some for astronomers with long research histories, and others to young European Researchers.

The conference is organized by the European Astronomical Society (EAS) in collaboration with the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA) the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canaries (IAC) and the University of La Laguna (ULL).

Results of Gaia, Rosetta, and several anniversaries

The evolution of the galaxies and stellar astrophysics are undoubtedly the two starring themes during EWASS 2015. We will also be offered the first results from Gaia, the mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) which since December 2013, from its orbit at one and a half million kilometres from the Earth, has been gathering information with which to make a map of the positions and motions of more than a thousand million stars in our Galaxy. In addition new results will be presented from the Rosetta mission of ESA, including the observations taken by the Philae module which landed on Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko. We can also expect new studies based on observations with telescopes in space, such as the Hubble, and from ground-based telescopes such as ALMA in Chile and the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) on the Island of La Palma.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of its discovery, the inaugural lecture, to be given by the astronomer Licia Verde, of the Institute of Sciences of the Cosmos, University of Barcelona (ICCUB), will be about the cosmic microwave background, the key proof of the theory of the Big Bang. 2015 is also the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the first brown dwarfs which will be the subject of the lecture by María Rosa Zapatero Osorio, researcher at the Centre for Astrobiology in Madrid, the co-discoverer of those objects.

And yet another anniversary: it is 20 years since the discovery of the first exoplanet around a normal star. One of its discoverers Michel Mayor, of the Geneva Observatory, will be present at EWASS 2015 to receive the Tycho Brahe Prize in recognition of his scientific career, and in particular to recognize this particular scientific achievement.

Recognition for Spanish astronomy

More than a thousand astronomers (the organizers forecast a final figure closet o 1,200) at a single meeting is an unprecedented number in Spain. Javier Gorgas, the President of the Spanish Astronomical Society stated that “EWASS 2015 will let us demonstrate yet again to the whole of the astronomical community in Europe the potential and the reality of astronomy in our country. Our participation in this conference will be very high, and we will show that Spanish astrophysics is at a very high level. We must remember that at the present time Spanish astronomy produces 8% of the world’s astronomical research, and Spain is one of the major European powers in this science”.

Along the same lines Johan Knapen, an astrophysical researcher at the IAC, co-President of the Scientific Organizing Committee of EWASS 2015, and Treasurer of the EAS state that “the celebration of EWASS 2015 in Tenerife no only recognizes Spanish astronomy, but is a unique opportunity to host many astronomers from the rest of Europe in our country”.

Rafael Rebolo,Director of the IAC and also a member of the Scientific Organizing Committee considers that this notable success in the number of attendees is in large measure “ implicit recognition of the service to European astronomy which has been provided by the Canarian Observatories since they were officially inaugurated in 1985, thirty years ago”.

Activities to which the general public is invited

Parallel to EWASS 2015 and on dates which are close, three lectures have been organized which will be open to the general public, in collaboration with the Museum of Science and the Cosmos, of Museum of Tenerife. In the first of these lectures, which will take place on Friday 19th June, Amanda Karakas, of the Mount Stromlo observatory (Australia) will talk about red giant stars.

On Thursday 25th June Alvaro Giménez, Director of Science at the European Space Agency (the Spaniard who has held the highest office in ESA up to now)  will give a talk about astrophysics from space.

Finally, on Friday 3rd July, Stéphane Courteau, of Queen’s University Ontario (Canada), will give a lecture on galaxies.

ATTENTION: Accreditation for journalists

The organizers of EWASS 2015 have provided a limited number of accreditations for journalists, living access to the lectures and the symposia. Anyone interested please let us know as soon as possible, by sending an email to prensa [at] iac.es (prensa[at]iac[dot]es) 

For more information and contact:

The web of EWASS 2015: http://eas.unige.ch/EWASS2015/

Anna Boluda                                   Carmen del Puerto

Comunicación SEA                           Unidad de Comunicación y Cultura Científica, IAC

contacto [at] sea-astronomia.es (contacto[at]sea-astronomia[dot]es)          cpv [at] iac.es (cpv[at]iac[dot]es)

Tel. 619 77 45 16                          Tel. 922 605 200