In Memoriam: Morley Bell (Oct. 7, 1937 – Feb. 24, 2023)

Morley passed away peacefully at The Ottawa Hospital, General Campus, in Ottawa on February 24, succumbing to Parkinson’s disease. He is survived by his partner of over fifty years, Pierre (Peter) Brault, his brothers Mervyn (Iris) and Glen (late Shirley), his niece Marcia Bell, and his nephews Daniel (Leanne), John (Lisa), and Tim (Linda). He is predeceased by his parents Melville Bell and Irene Bell (née Wylie) of Coldwater, Ontario.

Born in Coldwater, Morley spent his formative years on his family’s farm in the neighboring area. Later, he studied at the University of Western Ontario and undertook his graduate studies at the University of Toronto. Morley then moved to Ottawa where he began his career as a radio astronomer at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics at the National Research Council of Canada. His work took him to major observatories around the world, including a year at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh; Hilo, Hawaii; Greenbank, West Virginia, and others.

Throughout his career, Morley, in collaboration with colleagues, authored a substantial number
of scientific papers that were published in major science journals. A notable contribution was in
the detection of the largest molecule known at the time of the discovery. Morley remained
passionate about astrophysics both during his career, and in retirement, where he continued his
research at the National Research Council.

As well, after he retired, Morley took up violin-making, a hobby inspired by his background in
physics. Over the years, he made about thirty instruments, many of which are now in the hands
of appreciative musicians.

Special thanks to the staff in the emergency ward and in ‘8 West’ at the General Hospital, for
their care and compassion during Morley’s last days. Special thanks also to staff at Champlain
LHIN and at Carefor for their valuable in-home assistance earlier.

Burial will be at the Hobart Cemetery, Oro-Medonte in late spring. At Morley’s request, there will
be no funeral.

Le Canada franchit un grand pas afin de rester un meneur dans le domaine de l’astronomie

Le Canada annonce son intention de devenir membre à part entière du projet du SKAO

Le 24 janvier 2023 (OTTAWA) – Le gouvernement fédéral a annoncé aujourd’hui que le Canada entendait devenir membre à part entière du projet de l’observatoire du Square Kilometer Array (SKAO) pour asseoir sa position sur la scène internationale en tant que chef de file du domaine de l’astronomie. Cette décision se traduit par un rôle de premier plan pour le pays dans le cadre d’un des plus importants projets scientifiques de toute l’histoire, et par de notables avantages pour nos astronomes, nos universités et notre industrie.

« Le SKA sera le réseau de radiotélescopes le plus performant au monde, et les Canadiens contribuent à sa conception depuis le début. Je tiens donc, au nom de la Coalition, à remercier le ministre de l’Innovation, des Sciences et de l’Industrie François-Philippe Champagne, qui a annoncé cette décision cruciale pour le Canada. On profitera de ses retombées pendant des générations », a déclaré Don Brooks, coprésident de la Coalition et directeur général de l’Association des universités canadiennes pour la recherche en astronomie (ACURA).

Seize pays partenaires prennent part au projet d’envergure mondiale qui comporte l’installation de près de 200 antennes paraboliques en Afrique du Sud et de plus de 100 000 antennes basse fréquence en Australie. La construction du SKA, qui a démarré en juin 2021, devrait se terminer d’ici 2029. Quant à elles, les opérations scientifiques devraient commencer lorsque les travaux seront à mi-chemin. Il a aussi été annoncé que des centres de traitement de données rattachés au SKA verront le jour à travers le monde, dont un au Canada.

« La position de meneur du Canada en astronomie sur le plan international est étroitement liée à l’approche de la Coalition qui veut que les scientifiques, les universités et l’industrie canadienne déterminent ensemble les projets qui permettront au pays de maintenir son leadership. Le SKA figurait en tête des projets qui nous intéressaient le plus depuis une vingtaine d’années. Ce jour est des plus emballant pour la communauté des professionnels de l’astronomie. Cette décision donnera lieu à de très grandes découvertes scientifiques dont les Canadiens entendront parler au cours des décennies futures », a affirmé Christine Wilson, coprésidente de la Coalition et présidente de la Société canadienne d’astronomie (CASCA).

« Pour fidéliser et attirer des chercheurs et des étudiants de haut calibre, les universités canadiennes doivent avoir l’accès aux meilleures installations sur la planète. Dans le milieu de l’astronomie, ceci suppose des partenariats dans le cadre de projets auxquels participent plusieurs pays comme le SKA. L’annonce d’aujourd’hui est particulièrement bonne pour les universités d’ici », a ajouté M. Brooks.

En plus du fait que l’excellence scientifique soit au cœur des activités de la Coalition, l’industrie canadienne a toujours été une partenaire qui reconnaît que les installations de prochaine génération ne peuvent être mises en place que par des experts en conception, en ingénierie et en construction, trois des domaines où s’illustre le Canada.

« L’industrie canadienne procure depuis longtemps la main-d’œuvre qualifiée et les connaissances les plus pointues en ingénierie que nécessite la création d’installations de prochaine génération comme celles du SKA, ce qui mène à des projets dans d’autres domaines. Cette décision est à la fois une victoire pour la science au Canada et une bonne nouvelle pour notre économie et les entreprises d’ici qui fourniront des composantes essentielles au projet », a déclaré Guy Nelson, chef de la direction de Dynamic Technologies Group et coprésident de la Coalition.

La Coalition sera fière de faire connaître les découvertes qui émergeront du projet.

« Le SKA nous fera mieux comprendre l’histoire, les éléments, les conditions et les possibilités de la vie dans l’univers », a précisé Kristie Spekkens, directrice scientifique du SKA au Canada et professeure au Collège militaire royal du Canada et à l’Université Queen’s. « Il existe une synergie prometteuse entre les capacités du SKA et l’expertise des astronomes canadiens qui favorisera certainement plusieurs découvertes révolutionnaires. Cette décision marque le début d’une nouvelle ère pour les astronomes canadiens. »

Le projet du SKAO, tout comme la Coalition, a entre autres pour objectif de promouvoir l’équité, la diversité et l’inclusion et offre des occasions de préparer les prochaines générations de scientifiques et d’ingénieurs. De plus, sa mission consiste à profiter à la société, de la mise sur pied à l’exploitation de ses radiotélescopes de pointe. Des partenariats constructifs et respectueux à l’égard de tous sont tissés avec les communautés autochtones et autres qui vivent à proximité des installations, une priorité énoncée dans le Plan à long terme de l’astronomie canadienne 2020-2030.

« L’annonce faite aujourd’hui bénéficiera de différentes façons aux prochaines générations. Au nom de tous les intervenants du secteur de l’astronomie canadien, je remercie le ministre Champagne et tous les autres membres du gouvernement fédéral qui ont pris part à cette décision », a conclu Mme Wilson.

À propos de la Coalition pour l’astronomie canadienne

La Coalition inclut des représentants de :

  • L’Association des universités canadiennes pour la recherche en astrophysique (ACURA), qui compte 20 établissements membres;
  • La Société canadienne d’astronomie (CASCA) et;
  • L’industrie canadienne, c’est-à-dire des sociétés engagées dans des projets d’envergure liés à l’astronomie.

La stratégie de la Coalition repose sur le Plan à long terme (PLT) pour l’astronomie, un programme canadien décadaire lancé en 2000, puis renouvelé en 2010 et 2020 qui vise à déterminer les projets internationaux qui permettront à notre pays de garder une longueur d’avance dans la sphère de l’astronomie. Grâce au PLT et à l’appui de la Coalition, l’astronomie reste un domaine où le Canada et ses astronomes continuent de se démarquer.

Personne-ressource :

Kristina Farrell – 613 322-9235
kfarrell@tsa.ca

Surveys 2 Discoveries workshop in Montreal from May 16-18, 2023

The coming decade is bright for optical/infrared surveys! The Ultraviolet Near Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS) is well on its way to covering its goal of over 5000 square degrees of the sky, and it will provide ugriz images to the Euclid Space Telescope. Euclid is itself set to launch from Cape Canaveral in summer 2023.  The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will begin science operations in 2024 and the Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and uv Research (CASTOR) is being developed for launch in the late 2020s. Canadian astronomers are at the forefront of these current and future surveys. Some key challenges for Canadian astronomers are determining the best ways to gain access and significantly engage with these large international surveys as well as the methods to process, analyse, store, and share the increasingly large and complex data sets. The Surveys 2 Discoveries (S2D) workshop will focus on the Canadian science of these surveys and building critical mass in Canada to make discoveries with these data. The three-day workshop will focus on talks by scientists actively engaged in the survey collaborations, data analysis methods and pipelines, and results and forecasts from the surveys. In addition, there will be collaboration meetings for each of the surveys on separate days of the meeting. Afternoons may include science tutorials or hack sessions to get acquainted with the data products, formats, and analysis methods. Registration and abstract submission is now open until March 15, 2023. We especially welcome abstracts and tutorial proposals from Canadian students and postdoctoral researchers doing and planning science with these optical/infrared surveys.

Applications Open for LEAPS 2023

We are now accepting applications for the Leiden Observatory/ESA ESTEC Astrophysics Program for Summer Students (LEAPS) 2023. LEAPS is open to university students of any nationality not enrolled in a PhD program. In 2023, LEAPS will run in-person for 10 weeks from June 5 to August 11. Please visit the LEAPS website to learn more: https://leaps.strw.leidenuniv.nl/

The deadline to submit application forms and reference letters is February 20, 2023.

Please feel free to drop us an email at leaps-leiden@strw.leidenuniv.nl with any questions you may have regarding LEAPS.

Call for nominations for Honorary IAU Members

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has initiated a relatively  new category of membership called « IAU Honorary Members ».  Details  about this category can be found at https://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann20035/ and https://www.iau.org/administration/statutes_rules/working_rules/

In brief, Honorary Members would be individuals who are not  professional astronomers and do not qualify as ordinary IAU members,  but they have substantially contributed to the development of  astronomical research in their country.  According to the IAU General  Secretary, these individuals would have « significantly contributed to  the progress of astronomy. This includes training, education,  communication, etc. »

Only **ONE PERSON per year** can be nominated by the Canadian National  Committee (CNC) of the IAU.  The CNC is the CASCA Board of Directors.

This announcement is a call for nominations (or self-nominations) for  Honorary IAU members.

**BY FEBRUARY 1, 2021**, please send (or arrange to have sent):

1. The CV of the nominee.
2. Two letters of recommendation outlining why the nominee should  become the Canadian Honorary Member nominee.

Send this information to:
secretary@casca.ca
with the subject line:
IAU Honorary Membership Application (followed by the name of the candidate)

New Page Charges in AAS Journals

As most of you are aware, AAS journals (ApJ, ApJL, ApJS, AJ, etc) switched to Open Access at the start of this year. Several of you have expressed concern to the AAS publications committee that the new resulting page charges are quite high and cannot be easily covered by a typical NSERC Discovery grant.

This was raised during this week’s meeting of the publications committee in Pasadena. Amongst a wide ranging discussion, the main message we’ve been asked to convey back to the CASCA community is that the AAS journals have a substantial budget for full or partial waivers of publication charges, and that it is quite reasonable for a Canadian astronomer to request such waivers given our funding landscape.

You are given the option to request a full or partial waiver during the manuscript submission process. Your request will be confidential to the editor-in-chief, and will not affect how your paper is handled by the associate editor or referee. You are welcomed and encouraged to request a waiver if you cannot easily meet the cost of publication.

If you have any questions or concerns about AAS publication charges or anything else about AAS journals, please reach out to Bryan Gaensler (contact information below) and he will make sure that any concerns you raise are brought to the attention of the publications committee.

Bryan Gaensler
bryan.gaensler@utoronto.ca

CATAC Update on the Thirty Meter Telescope

par Michael Balogh (CATAC Chair)
(Cassiopeia – été 2022)

TMT Canada Information Session

Just over 50 people attended the CATAC webinar discussion on May 12, 2022. The slides that CATAC presented are available here. Some of the key points of information include:

  • Description of the anticipated steps and milestones in the NSF Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) process. Once the NSF accepts the project, it enters the MREFC queue and a well-defined process of reviews and studies is initiated. This process hasn’t started yet.
  • The earliest likely first light for TMT is 2032, if the project enters the MREFC queue now. This timeline relative to ELT is still competitive, but further delays will push first light farther into the future, as there is little scope for accelerating construction.
  • We are still awaiting publication of the decision on the appeal to the rescinding of the construction permit on the alternative site, in the Canary Islands.
  • TMT partners are signatories to a Master Agreement, which cannot be changed without unanimous approval from all members. A single member cannot withdraw from the agreement without significant financial compensation to the others.

This was followed by a presentation by the Project Manager, Fengchuan Liu. Highlights include:

  • A summary of the recent full system, PDR-level design review by non-advocate reviewers. The review was successful, with notable identified strengths including the technical readiness of the project and the solid cost estimates and risk assessments. The panel identified the broader impacts program as a major risk – this team has already been rebuilt as recommended by the review.
  • The design is very mature, with 82% of the project in either Final Design or Fabrication stage.
  • A thorough and frank description of dialogue and outreach activities underway in Hawaii. In particular, acknowledgement that past astronomy outreach has mostly been with a subset of the community, typically already well assimilated to western culture. Efforts are underway to also engage much more broadly. Hawaiian communities have appreciated any efforts related to the protection and restoration of the Mauna Kea environment, and to education opportunities that are accessible by all (including K-12 and community colleges).

Recent News

Bob Kirschner is the new Executive Director of TIO, succeeding Ed Stone who retired May 15, 2022. For more information, see here.

Site Update

The Hawaii State Legislature passed a bill which creates a new Authority to manage the Mauna Kea lands. The bill passed with a large majority, and now awaits the Governor’s approval to become law. The full text of the approved bill can be found here. There will be a transition period of up to five years before the new Authority takes over fully from the University of Hawaii; no leases can be renewed or issued during that time. The impact of this new law on TMT and the other observatories on the mountain remains to be seen. However, the bill does include a statement that “the support of astronomy…is a policy of the State”.

CATAC Membership

Kristine Spekkens and David Lafreniere ended their terms on CATAC in May 2022. Their advice to CATAC over the years has been outstanding and essential, and we are very grateful for their service. We are currently awaiting replacements to be nominated by CASCA and ACURA.

Michael Balogh (University of Waterloo), Chair, mbalogh@uwaterloo.ca
Bob Abraham (University of Toronto; TIO SAC)
Stefi Baum (University of Manitoba)
Laura Ferrarese (NRC)
Harvey Richer (UBC)
Kim Venn (University of Victoria)
Luc Simard (Director General of NRC-HAA, non-voting, ex-officio)
Don Brooks (Executive Director of ACURA, non-voting, ex-officio)
Christine Wilson (Acting CASCA President, non-voting, ex-officio)
Stan Metchev (TIO SAC, non-voting, ex-officio)
Tim Davidge (TIO SAC Canadian co-chair; NRC, observer)
Greg Fahlman (NRC, observer)

ALMA Matters

ALMAlogo

par Brenda Matthews (ALMA)
(Cassiopeia – été 2022)

Cycle 9 Proposal Statistics

Cycle 9 set yet another record for the amount of time requested on ALMA. There were 1769 proposals requesting a whopping 51,370 hours of observing on the 12m-, 7m- and TP-arrays, an overall oversubscription rate of 7.0. Forty Large Program proposals were submitted.

Proposals with PIs/co-PIs from Canadian institutions also requested a record amount of time. There were 46 Canadian-PI proposals, requesting 4,721 hours of time, more than 3.5 times the previous record of 1335 hours set in Cycle 5. This is over 20% of the time requested by the entire North American community in Cycle 9.

For a more complete summary of global Cycle 9 proposal submissions, see here.

Cycle 8 Status

Cycle 8 observations began on September 30, 2021. The array is currently in Configuration 5, and the array configurations will gradually expand over the coming months.

Science Ready Data Products

Not an interferometric expert, or short on time to reduce your own or archival ALMA data? No problem!

The North American ALMA Science Center can produce Science Ready Data Products for you, to your specifications! For ALMA data, this includes a calibrated measurement set (Cycles 5 and later) and via the AUDI (ALMA User-Defined Imaging), continuum or spectral imaging with modified spatial and spectral resolution.

These are great ways to optimize your use of ALMA data!

Visualize Data in the ALMA Archive with CARTA

The ALMA Archive has recently incorporated the Cube Analysis and Rendering Tool for Astronomy (CARTA) into the ALMA archive. With CARTA you can quickly visualize ALMA data products interactively in the archive without spending the time and bandwidth downloading them to your personal computer. In particular, some imaging products are being stored in the ALMA archive, like the ARI-L imaging products from early ALMA cycles. ARI-L images can be explored with CARTA and the downloaded in a science ready form. The successful integration of CARTA is nationally exciting since CARTA was initially developed in Canada using ALMA Development funding based on prototype work from Canada’s CyberSKA project. For more information on using CARTA in the ALMA archive, see here and for more information about the CARTA project in general, see the CARTA page.

Video Tutorials for ALMA Users

At the end of 2021, the NAASC announced a new YouTube channel for the ALMA Primer Series of video tutorials. The platform currently hosts several short video tutorials designed to explain aspects of ALMA and interferometry, such as estimating sensitivities for proposals, understanding the largest angular scale, and the ins and outs of weighting schemes.

The site will be populated as well with short animations from the videos suitable for use in seminars and live training. New videos will be added from time to time.

Check out and subscribe, here!

Report from the LCRIC

par Sharon Morsink (LCRIC chair)
(Cassiopeia – été 2022)

The Long Range Plan Community Recommendations Implementation Committee (LCRIC) has been meeting weekly from March – May this spring and is now taking a summer recess. We thank Chris Wilson (LCRIC Chair June 2021 – May 2022) and LCRIC members Shantanu Basu, Michael Reid, Etienne Artigau, and Hilding Neilson for their work on this committee over the last year. Brenda Matthews, Laurie Rousseau-Nepton, and Sharon Morsink (LCRIC Chair June 2022 – May M023) will be continuing to work on this committee over the next year along with new LCRIC members.

In the months since the vernal equinox, LCRIC has written and released to the CASCA community a document on Land and Consent, in response to Recommendation #1 of the Long Range Plan (LRP2020). We thank the CASCA members who gave us thoughtful comments and feedback at the CASCA AGM or privately. We will release a final revision of this document in Autumn 2022 and look forward to working with the CASCA Board on issues related to Land and Consent in astronomy.

We have made excellent progress on developing terms for the creation of an Indigenous Engagement Committee, in response to Recommendation #46 of LRP2020. We are interested in consulting with the new President’s Indigenous Advisory Circle to get their input before presenting plans for a new committee to the CASCA Board.

On March 31, 2022, we hosted a webinar titled « Including Indigenous Voices in Astronomy Education ». This webinar included panelists Jason Bazylack (Professor of Engineering at University of Toronto), Samantha Lawler (Assistant Professor of Physics at University of Regina), Ismael Moumen (Researcher at Universite Laval/CFHT), and Laurie Rousseau-Nepton (Resident Astronomer at CFHT). The panelists discussed their work on bringing Indigenous perspectives to their classrooms, outreach with Indigenous communities, and facilitating an inclusive environment. We hope that the CASCA community who were able to attend this webinar found it educational!

Over the last 3 months, we have met with the Sustainability Committee and the Graduate Student Committee to discuss their concerns and LRP2020 recommendations related to these specific committees. In the coming months, we plan to meet again with the Postdoc, Equity and Inclusivity, and Education and Public Outreach Committees to discuss progress on LRP2020 recommendations.

Over the next few months, we will be carefully examining progress on the LRP2020 recommendations in collaboration with the Ground-based Astronomy Committee, the Joint Committee on Space Astronomy, and the CASCA Board to make sure that all recommendations receive attention, and that we have a detailed plan and timeline for acting on the LRP2020 recommendations.

The LCRIC recognizes that transparency and consultation are very important as our community moves forward to implement the recommendations of the LRP. We will be seeking input from a diversity of perspectives, recognizing that astronomy and astronomers exist in a broader societal context. We welcome feedback and comments at any time, via email to the LCRIC chair. Communications will be kept confidential if requested.

President’s Message

par Chris Wilson (CASCA Acting President)
(Cassiopeia – été 2022)

I would like to start this President’s report by welcoming the new members of the CASCA Board: Adam Muzzin as Vice President, Rob Cockcroft as Secretary, and Renee Hlozek and Karun Thanjavur as new Directors. Lewis Knee has been acclaimed to a second term as CASCA Treasurer, while Laura Parker and Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo are continuing in their third year as Directors. Thanks to all of you for being willing to serve! Thank you also to the outgoing Board members: Judith Irwin (Secretary), Ivana Damjanov (Director), and Etienne Artigau (Director). A special thank you to Erik Rosolowsky (Acting Vice-President) and Rob Thacker (Acting President) for stepping up to serve in these important CASCA roles last summer.

As those of you who attended the CASCA Business Meeting in May will know, I have agreed to step in to serve as CASCA Acting President for 2022-2023. Like Rob Thacker this past year, I am in this position under Bylaw 9.1, and will not be continuing in this position beyond the 2023 AGM. Thus, in 2023 we will look to elect a new President, as well as two new Directors. More information about the elections, including how to nominate someone or be nominated yourself, will be circulated later this year.

As I have been in the Acting President position for just over a month, this message will provide a short update on a few key areas. I plan to provide a more extensive discussion in my fall message, once I have had more time to review what the CASCA Board has on its “to do” list.

Coalition activities continue to focus on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), where things appear to be progressing well. The SKA is now one year into construction of SKA Phase 1 and continues to evolve rapidly. Canada’s scientists and engineers are participating in SKA through March 2023 via a co-operation agreement between NRC and the SKAO. To continue our leading role in SKA construction deliverables such as the SKA1-mid correlator will require the Canadian government to commit to construction and operations funding quite soon. Please refer to the excellent article by Kristine Spekkens for more information on the SKA.

Another important initiative that is gaining significant momentum is CASTOR, a Canadian-led optical-UV space telescope and the highest priority in space astronomy in the 2020 Long Range Plan (LRP2020). The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) held a virtual Canadian Space Exploration Workshop June 14-16, 2022, which I am sure many of you attended. The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss ideas for Canadian space exploration over the next 30 years and will serve as input to CSA’s planning process.

The LRP Community Recommendations Implementation Committee (LCRIC) has continued their hard work over the past three months. They hosted a well-attended webinar on “Including Indigenous voices in astronomy education” at the end of March. They have drafted a very important policy paper on land and consent (LRP2020 Recommendation #1) as it relates to new astronomical facilities that has been circulated to the community and was presented and discussed in a special session at the CASCA AGM. Sharon Morsink has taken over as chair of LCRIC for 2022-23 and I look forward to working closely with her and the rest of the LCRIC as they work to move the societal recommendations from LRP2020 forward.

I hope everyone has a healthy and productive summer,

Chris