Importance of WN stars on the ionisation and chemical evolution of galaxies (Webinar, Friday 22nd May @ 11:30)

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Arpita Roy (Australian National University) Massive stars are primary sources of chemical yields and mechanical and ionization luminosity budgets. Therefore, understanding massive stars’ evolution is crucial to have a complete understanding of the chemical and ionization evolution of galaxies. Moreover, with the advent of instruments like MUSE, JWST (upcoming), HST, etc., we have (/are going …

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UWC Astro sponsors Molo Mhlaba visit to SAAO

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Girls from Grades 1 & 2 from the Molo Mhlaba School (www.molomhlaba.org) in Khayelitsha visited the South African Astronomical Observatory today to celebrate International Women’s Day. The trip was made possible by the Astro UWC department, which covered the costs of the visit. The school, in partnership with Astro UWC and the Office of Astronomy …

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On the origin of Lithium

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Paolo Molaro (Astronomical Observatory of Trieste) Abstract: Li is the element with the largest number of astrophysical nucleosynthetic processes. Although a primordial element, it is also produced by spallation processes in the interstellar medium, in a slow process lasting billions of years. The Li abundance in the old halo population of the Galaxy, however, is …

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Tensions in cosmological data: impact of non standard models and systematic effects

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Matteo Martinelli (Instituto de Fisica Teorica UAM/CSIC) Abstract: In recent years, measurements of cosmological parameters coming from different observables have shown tensions between each other, the most striking the approximately 4.5 sigma tension on the Hubble constant between CMB and local measurements. In this talk I will briefly review the status of these tensions and …

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Announcement of NRF One Call for Proposals 2020/2021

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The Call includes the following funding categories: 1)     Concept Notes 2)     Customised Programmes 3)     Infrastructure 4)     Institutional Grants 5)     Postdoctoral Grants 6)     Research Grants: General 7)     Research Grants: International 8)     Research Grants: Thuthuka 9)     Research Grants: Without Student Support  10)  Travel, Training and Conference Grants 11)  Travel, Training and Conference Grants: Scholarship- and Fellowship-holders  Applications must be submitted electronically on the NRF Online Submission System at https://nrfsubmission.nrf.ac.za. …

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Building stars, planets and the ingredients for life in space

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“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”― Carl Sagan On January 29th, the UWC Astro group was delighted to host Prof. Ewine F. van Dishoeck from the Leiden Observatory. Prof van Dishoeck is a world-leading expert in the realm of molecular astrophysics, …

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Visitors from Missouri (USA)

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The UWC Astrophysics group is playing host to two visitors from the Missouri University of Science and Technology; Prof. Shun Saito and Dr Sid Gurung Lopez. With over 30 years of partnership between the two universities, strengthening the ties between the two astrophysics groups would aide in improving international collaboration.  Our guests also presented their …

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