Issue #03/2024 - 27 Aug 2024 - SCI News

ESA SCIENCE NEWSLETTER

ISSUE #03/2024 - 27 AUG 2024

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			Call for ESA Research Fellowships in Space Science is Now Open! We are pleased to announce the 2024 Call for Applications for the ESA Research Fellowships in Space Science. Our postdoctoral fellowships offer early-career scientists from ESA states the possibility to carry out independent research in heliophysics, planetary science, astrophysics, and fundamental physics. The fellowships can be taken at ESAC near Madrid, Spain, ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, or ESA office at STScI in Baltimore, USA. Applicants should have completed their PhD or be able to complete it before taking up the fellowship starting in fall 2025. The deadline for applications is 16 September. Please visit the fellowship website for more information about the fellowship, the application process and the current and past fellows as well as a link to the application portal. Read more

			XMM-Newton Twenty-Fourth Announcement of Opportunity (AO-24) The scientific community is invited to respond to the twenty-fourth "Announcement of Opportunity" to submit proposals for observations to be performed with the XMM-Newton observatory. This announcement solicits proposals to be carried out between May 2025 and April 2026. Proposers from institutes located worldwide are welcome to participate. All proposals will be subject to peer review by the XMM-Newton Observing Time Allocation Committee. The deadline for XMM-Newton AO-24 proposal submission is Friday 11 October 2024, 12:00 UT.  The detailed schedule of milestones of the announcement, the required software tools and the documentation are available from on the AO-24 website. Read more

			ESA and NASA Appoint the LISA Science Team ESA and NASA have officially appointed the LISA Science Team (LST), selected among scientists in institutions of ESA Member States (11 members) and the US (6 members) who responded to an open call for membership. The LST membership also includes one representative from the LISA Consortium. In addition, two interdisciplinary scientists will be selected through an open call later. The LST is jointly chaired by the ESA and NASA Project Scientists and will monitor the implementation of the mission's scientific objectives to maximize its scientific return. Read more

			Cheops Guest Observers Approved Programmes in Cycle 5 The list of proposals awarded CHEOPS Guest Observers time in Cycle 5 after a competitive process have been published on the CHEOPS Guest Observers website. Congratulations to the teams awarded time! The selected programmes span an exciting range of exoplanet and stellar science topics that use Cheops' unique capabilities and include observations that will be simultaneous with JWST and other facilities. Some example topics include nanoflares in M-type stars, more precise radii and masses for low-mass and young exoplanets, searches for Exo-Trojans and signs of recent potential planetary collisions. Read more

	Recent science highlights: Gaia spots possible moons around hundreds of asteroids Rosetta and beyond: tales of a mission that left a mark Webb images new, cold exoplanet 12 light-years away Vivid portrait of interacting galaxies marks Webb’s second anniversary Hubble finds evidence for rare black hole in Omega Centauri Jupiter’s upper atmosphere surprises astronomers Webb captures star clusters in Cosmic Gems arc

	Upcoming ESA conferences: Mercury Laboratory Workshop *16-18 September 2024, Berlin, Germany* The aim of the workshop is to bring together the Mercury community from different institutions and laboratories to: present laboratories, facilities and ongoing work on Mercury analogues, discuss Mercury surface composition studies (from MESSENGER to BepiColombo), design a plan of experiments on common samples, and prepare for the BepiColombo observations.

	DASH (Data Analysis and Software in Heliophysics) and IHDEA (International Heliophysics Data Environment Alliance) meetings *14-18 October 2024, ESA/ESAC, Madrid, Spain* The DASH meeting (14-16 Oct.) serves as a forum for software developers and scientists to present and discuss software and data systems used in the acquisition, calibration, analysis, and dissemination of data for Heliophysics, including space and ground-based measurements as well as models. The IHDEA (17-18 Oct.) meeting will complement this conversation by focusing on the challenges and opportunities in aligning data and data products with community standards.

	22 years of INTEGRAL: catching results and discoveries *21-25 October 2024, ESA/ESAC, Madrid, Spain* INTEGRAL has been crucial in our understanding of astrophysical phenomena over a wide energy and temporal range. This conference is the occasion to discuss novelties in high-energy astrophysics, new instrumental facilities, and innovative data-analysis methods. Anticipated lively interactions among participants will be harnessed to refine the plan for maximizing data exploitation now and in the decades to come.