Survey of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Canadian Astronomical Society

Dear Member of Astronomy Community in Canada,

The Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) is prioritizing the improvement of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in spaces of work and study. CASCA’s graduate student, post-doc, and equity and inclusion (EIC) committees invite Canadian astronomers of all career stages to complete this survey. The survey is intended to measure the demographics and climate of the field of astronomy in Canada for career stages beginning at the undergraduate student level and beyond. The survey may take approximately 15-30 minutes to complete and includes questions about demographics, education, work, and personal experiences. You may access the survey here: .

Please find additional information about participating in this survey in the Letter of Information and Consent Form on the first page of the survey. If you have any questions about participating in this survey, please contact the principal investigator, Dr. Kristine Spekkens, at kristine.spekkens@queensu.ca. This study has received ethical approval from the Queen’s University General Research Ethics Board.

Thank you for your interest and support of EDI improvement in the Canadian Astronomical Society.

Sincerely,
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion Committee, Graduate Student Committee, and Post-Doctoral Committee
Canadian Astronomical Society

AGM early-bird deadline extended until 17 Apr

The early-bird registration deadline for the CASCA 2025 AGM in Halifax has been extended until Thurs 17 April. The SOC expects to respond to those who submitted abstracts before that date.

Deadlines for conference rates at hotels: 30 Apr (SMU Residence), 1 May (Marriott), 3 May (Atlantica)

Final Registration deadline: Fri 16 May

Please see earlier announcements or the AGM website for other details:

CASCA 2025

Dear CASCA members,

Reminder of the early-bird registration deadline for the 2025 CASCA AGM: Fri 4 April

Deadlines for conference rates at hotels: 30 Apr (SMU Residence), 1 May (Marriott), 3 May (Atlantica)

Final Registration deadline: Fri 16 May

(Abstract submission closed on 14 March)

Updated first announcement with other details below…

Many thanks to our sponsors, MDA, Honeywell, CFHT, and Saint Mary’s University.

The 2025 AGM LOC is delighted to inform the community that the website is now online:
https://www.ap.smu.ca/~casca2025/
Key dates prior to the AGM:
Registration opens: Mon 3 Feb 2025
Abstract deadline: Fri 14 March 2025
Early bird deadline: Fri 4 April 2025
Registration ends: Fri 16 May 2025

Dates during the AGM:

Grad Student Workshop: Mon 2 June 2025
CASCA Board Meeting: Mon 2 June 2025
Opening reception: Mon 2 June 2025
Main conference begins: Tues 3 June 2025
Banquet (Atlantica Hotel): Wed 4 June 2025
Main conference ends: Thurs 5 June 2025

Regular member fees, which include lunches are $350, pre-tax. The banquet will be held in the Guild Hall at the Atlantica hotel, and tickets are $69 ($59 for students).

Hope to see many of you in Halifax in June,

The 2025 AGM LOC

CFHT News and Updates

By Nadine Manset (Director of Science Operations, on behalf of the CFHT ‘ohana)

Recently

At its December 2024 meeting, the CFHT Board of Directors made an important recommendation regarding the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer. See Pat Hall’s update in this newsletter.

In the science news, University of Hawaiʻi astronomers played a pivotal role in tracking an asteroid once feared to pose a risk to Earth. The asteroid, 2024 YR4, was discovered in late December and observed with MegaCam on the first night of the February run. Before the CFHT observations, the asteroid had a 3% probability of colliding with Earth in December 2032. Thanks to the MegaCam data and observations from other facilities, the likelihood dropped to just 0.28% and is now 0.001%. https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/02/20/hawaii-astronomers-asteroid-impact-probability-decreases/

MegaCam and its wide field of view also enabled another major discovery within our solar system, this time thanks to the work of Canadian astronomers. In March, a team from the University of British Columbia that includes Brett Gladman announced that Saturn now has 128 additional moons. Repeated monitoring of the sky around Saturn between 2019 and 2021 revealed the existence of the newly discovered irregular satellites. https://phas.ubc.ca/2025-discovery-more-saturnian-moons

Soon

The 14th CFHT Users’ Meeting will be held May 26 – 28 at Lac-à-L’Eau-Claire, in Québec. Although the abstract submission deadline has passed, registration is still open until April 1st. We are getting close to capacity for in-person attendance, so register quickly to save your seat if you’d like to join us in person! Remote participation is also possible. The Scientific Organization Committee is currently working on the program, which will include 2 or 3 sessions to prepare the Community Survey. The first session will present, on Monday, the scope, context, and process for the CS. Sessions on the following days will enable discussions among participants. https://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/en/news/UM2025/2ndannouncement.php

Canadian Gemini Office News

By Eric Steinbring (Canadian Gemini Office, National Research Council Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics)

Calls for Proposals

Another springtime (in the northern hemisphere) brings three opportunities for Canadians to propose for time:

Although not so much for Gemini-South, there has been a somewhat concerning trend towards fewer Canadian requests for Band 1+2 time (statistically, getting the best 60% of conditions) in the North, which may be for several reasons, such as competing instruments and opportunities. For reference, Figure 1 is a plot of the oversubscription for available Canadian time on both North (blue) and South (red) in the last few years. Recall also that it is smart to imagine whether relaxed, Band 3 conditions (so the usable 80% of time) can help achieve your science – even if it means asking for more time to get the job done. There is a special section of the proposal to describe exactly this strategy for consideration by the TAC. If instead, Band-4 conditions (essentially just needing the dome to be open!) would work, you can always try a Poor Weather proposal.

Figure 1. Oversubscription for Regular-Semester Canadian Band 1+2 time on both North (blue) and South (red) in the last few years.

 

Relatedly, there was a nice uptick recently in Canadian requests for the FT program, including for instruments in the North. Note that FT is a separate (quick) proposal system that does not go through CanTAC, and involves 10% of Canadian Gemimi time. FT can be a very good fit when a proposal needs a fairly modest amount of time and would benefit from not waiting until the bigger full-semester Call. Remember that there is always Director’s Discretionary time available (currently up to 5% per telescope) for those things that cannot wait, and are scientifically important enough not to. And finally, it is worth mentioning a couple of new instrument modes on Subaru requestable via exchange time are AO3k (the new adaptive optics deformable mirror) and the availability of PFS (Prime Focus Spectrograph). Good luck with all of your proposals.

Strategic Planning Survey

Farther off on the horizon is to imagine what Gemini should look like in the 2030s. Gemini is now formulating a new Strategic Vision plan, guided by the needs of the user community, together with all the partners and community stake-holders. What are your scientific priorities for Gemini, and how should Observatory operations change (if at all) to better work towards those? What new capabilities do you think should be built to achieve those? Your thoughts on this long-range plan for the next decade are sought. Go to https://www.gemini.edu/about/gemini-strategic-planning for more, and fill in the survey at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScEkv2fiXwPZYXD05zBIo3eMhVF8jPwgHDWWYRdouKxSakxIg/viewform. It is open until 12 June 2025. Make sure your voice is heard!

CCAT Update

By/par Mike Fich (Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics) and the Canadian CCAT team

The CCAT team is pleased to announce that another major milestone has been reached in this project: the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) has arrived in Chile and assembly on the CCAT Observatory site will begin within the next few weeks.  Telescope commissioning will follow in August 2025.  First light instruments (a broad-band camera and a heterodyne spectrometer) will be installed in February 2026.

The Sloman Discoverer carrying the CCAT telescope through the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal

FYST is a 6-meter diameter submillimeter survey telescope and will be located at the best submillimetre site that has been identified anywhere in the world.  The CCAT partnership is led by Cornell University with German, Canadian, and Chilean partners. The Canadian participation is channelled through the Canadian Atacama Telescope Consortium (CATC) and includes researchers at ten Canadian universities.  The central camera module for FYST – a 350-micron 50,000-pixel device – is under development by a multi-institutional team led by Scott Chapman at UBC and scheduled for installation in 2027.  This camera will be the crowning jewel of FYST Planning is now underway for the Canadian provision of a second-generation camera to follow in a few years.  Much more detail on the project is available at the website www.ccatobservatory.org.

The CCAT team has been actively planning the science activities for FYST for several years and the plans are now in a quite mature state.  All of the observing time with FYST will be used in large surveys that are now well-defined.  Eight Key Projects have been identified.  Four of these Key Projects have Canadian leadership.  The sixth (annual) CCAT Consortium Meeting (CCM6) will be held in the Fall at Cornell (CCM5 was held at the University of Toronto).

The CCAT team is very much open to new members. We are especially encouraging new science ideas that we can explore with the amazing survey datasets we will create with FYST. If you have an interest in participating in the technology development or in any of the Key Projects please contact the author of this note, or Norm Murray (a CCAT Director), or a Key Project leader (listed on the website above).

President’s Message

Dear CASCA Community,

I am closing out the final months of my term as CASCA president in a time of significant upheaval.  In light of recent and dramatic political changes, the expectations of long-standing partnerships are shifting.  We will have significant turnover in the CASCA Board in June, and the current members aim to finish specific community recommendations from the 2020 Long Range Plan before the transition.  Adopting a Mission and Values statement is foundational to this end, and the final consultation on the wording is open now.  Subsequently, we will have another round of consultation on a proposed Code of Conduct.  These documents are important for defining who we are and aspire to be, and how we treat each other.

The Mid-Term Review Committee has been working hard to gather information and engage our community.  The participation in the Town Halls to date has been robust and productive.  We will have further opportunity for discussion (in-person and virtual) at the CASCA AGM in Halifax in June.  Thank you to the Committee and all of you who have contributed to date in the consultations.  We are cognizant that the landscape in March 2025 is remarkably different than when papers and reports were submitted at the end of 2024.  We are in the process of figuring out how to incorporate new realities without being too reactive.  I ask for your patience as we work to navigate this challenge.

CASCA is only as effective as its leadership and the contributions of its members.  Suggestions of potential candidates (including yourself!) for the open Board positions (VP, Treasurer, Secretary, and Directors) continue to be most welcome.

Best wishes,
Sarah Gallagher

casca-president@casca.ca

Dark Side of the Universe 2025

We are pleased to announce the Dark Side of the Universe 2025 conference in Montreal, 7-11 July.  It is jointly hosted by McGill University and University of Montreal at the new science campus of U.de M.

Registration and abstract submission are now open at https://indico.global/event/551/, until April 6.

We encourage you to reserve housing as soon as possible at one of the recommended hotels, or other housing of your choice, since Montreal is a popular summer destination. Please pass this on to any of your colleagues who might be interested.  We hope to see you there!

CASCA AGM 2025

Dear CASCA members,

Reminder of Abstract submission deadline for the 2025 CASCA AGM: Fri 14 March

Early-bird registration deadline: Fri 4 April

Updated first announcement with other details below…

——————————————————————————–

The 2025 AGM LOC is delighted to inform the community that the website is now online:

https://www.ap.smu.ca/~casca2025/

Key dates prior to the AGM:

Registration opens: Mon 3 Feb 2025
Abstract deadline: Fri 14 March 2025
Early bird deadline: Fri 4 April 2025
Registration ends: Fri 16 May 2025

Dates during the AGM:

Grad Student Workshop: Mon 2 June 2025
CASCA Board Meeting: Mon 2 June 2025
Opening reception: Mon 2 June 2025
Main conference begins: Tues 3 June 2025
Banquet (Atlantica Hotel): Wed 4 June 2025
Main conference ends: Thurs 5 June 2025

Regular member fees, which include lunches are $350, pre-tax. The banquet will be held in the Guild Hall at the Atlantica hotel, and tickets are $69.

Many thanks to our sponsors, MDA, Honeywell, and Saint Mary’s University.

Hope to see many of you in Halifax in June,

The 2025 AGM LOC

Annual Fast Radio Burst Conference (Montreal, July 2025)

Dear colleagues,

We are excited to announce that the annual Fast Radio Burst (FRB) Conference, FRB 2025, will be hosted by McGill University in Montreal, Canada from July 7–11, 2025.

FRB science has entered a new era: the rate at which FRB sources are precisely localized has surged from a handful to hundreds per year—and will soon reach thousands. With this rapid progress, FRB 2025 is a timely opportunity to discuss the latest advancements and future directions in the field. We especially encourage participation from researchers across a wide range of disciplines, as we explore both the astrophysical origins of FRBs and their utility as cosmological probes.

The conference will be fully hybrid, with low registration fees, particularly for early-career researchers. Abstract submission is open now at https://www.conftool.com/frb2025 with an abstract deadline of April 4th, 2025. Further conference details and confirmed invited speakers are available on our website: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/frb2025.

We hope you’ll join us for a stimulating week of discussion in vibrant Montreal — whether in person or online!

Best regards,

Alice Curtin (co-chair; McGill University)
Amanda Cook (co-chair; McGill University)
Reshma Anna-Thomas (ASTRON)
Tarraneh Eftekhari (Northwestern)
Kelly Gourdji (CSIRO)
Jason Hessels (McGill/UvA/ASTRON)
Jordan Hoffmann (Curtin)
Victoria Kaspi (McGill)
Ben Margalit (U. Minnesota)
Yogesh Maan (NCRA – TIFR)
Inés Pastor Marazuela (U. Manchester)
Myles Sherman (Caltech)
Weiwei Zhu (NAOC/BNU-IFAA)