Calendar

Speaker: Víctor Almendros Abad (CENTRA, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa; European Southern Observatory)

Title: Milky Way’s young substellar population

indirizzo google meet: https://meet.google.com/sxz-cctp-tsc

Abstract:
Young clusters and star forming regions are home to a large number of substellar objects with masses below the hydrogen-burning limit at ~0.075 MSun. Most of our knowledge about their populations comes from nearby regions (d < 400 pc), where we find consistent formation rates of 2-5 young brown dwarfs per 10 newborn stars. Brown dwarf theories, on the other hand, predict that high gas or stellar densities, as well as the presence of massive OB stars, may be factors that boost the incidence of newly formed brown dwarfs with respect to stars. The next frontier in substellar studies, therefore, is the exploration of massive star clusters, characterized by significantly different star-forming environments than those found in our immediate vicinity. In this contribution I will present our deep NIR imaging using the AO-supported instrument HAWK-I/VLT in Galactic massive clusters RCW 38 and NGC 2244, complemented by the spectroscopic follow-up using KMOS/VLT. We report the most complete substellar IMFs in the two clusters, along with the first bona-fide brown dwarfs beyond 1 kpc, providing an ideal dataset for a comparison with nearby star forming regions. Finally, I will present our future plans with two approved JWST programs, which include the first substellar IMF in a starburst cluster, and spectroscopic confirmation of first single Jupiter-mass objects in a nearby star forming region.

SPEAKER: Julien Gressot, Doctorant FNS – Histoire des techniques et de l’innovation, Institut d’histoire
AFFILIATION: Université de Neuchâtel (Switzerland)
TITLE: The Photographic Zenith tube (PZT) of the Neuchâtel Observatory: Achievement of time determination or failure of innovation?
ABSTRACT: Throughout its existence, the Neuchâtel Observatory has sought to be at the forefront of astronomical time determination. In the mid-20th century, a technological innovation began to spread in observatories with PZTs (Photographic Zenith Tube). The Neuchâtel Observatory was one of the first to obtain this instrument, the purpose of which was to eliminate the human factor by automating the time determination and certain other instrumental errors. PZTs were presented as the most accurate instruments of their time, but their development was soon halted. In this paper, we will examine the technical evolution of PZTs, the reasons why they became the must-have instrument, and the explanations for their rapid abandonment.

Google Meet room: https://meet.google.com/sxz-cctp-tsc

8 pax ref. Sara Bonito

Speaker: Quentin Changeat (UCL)

Title: Atmospheric retrievals in the era of next generation telescopes.

Abstract: With the recent launch of the NASA/ESA/CSA-JWST telescope and the upcoming ESA-Ariel, we are now entering a new era of exoplanet characterisation. These next-generation telescopes will revolutionise our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres, but the analysis of their observations will be very challenging.

Lavori di messa in sicurezza cupole astronomiche