This asteroid was discovered on November 17, 1941, in Fabra Observatory, by Isidre Pòlit i Buxareu, who was also professor of Astronomy of the UB and director of the Astronomical Area of the Fabra Observatory between 1937 and 1957. Pòlit gave name to another asteroid, the 1708 Polit, discovered in 1929 by Josep Comas i Solà.

The asteroid (4298) Jorgenunez was the last asteroid to be discovered in Fabra Observatory. It has an orbital period of 5.3 years around the Sun, which corresponds to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it has a 16.5 km diameter, quite big for these kinds of celestial objects. The technique they used to look for asteroids, similar to the current one, consisted on making two expositions, separated by a spacetime. According to Jorge Núñez, “each object shows two images which are almost vertically put; however, the asteroid’s two images show an inclination of 45º between them, thus different from the rest of the objects (background stars)”. This shows that “it is a moving object, that is, an asteroid”.

The naming process of an asteroid can last two decades. It starts when two observations of a potentially new object are done and it is told to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Then a provisional designation of the object is done, and its final name is not confirmed until there are enough observations to verify this finding. Regarding the asteroid (4298) Jorgenunez, there have been a total of 1.677 observations from 1941 (its discovery) to 2017.

The asteroid’s file card of the Minor Planet Center provides information on the main features of this celestial body and it describes the contribution of the researcher after whom it’s named: “The physician and astronomer Jorge Núñez is mostly interested in the robotic observations and CCD imaging, an area in which he has contributed to with several reviewed articles. Since 2002, he has been member of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Barcelona”.

Núñez is a permanent researcher at the Institute of Science Cosmos of the UB (ICUB-IEEC) and professor of the the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics of the University of Barcelona. He is also a member of the IAU’s Commission A1 “Astrometry”. He was visiting lecturer at Yale University and made a scientific stay at the University of Caliornia – Berkeley. He promoted the robotic telescope Fabra-ROA Montsec, located in the Astronomical Park Montsec, where researchers study space debris, exoplanets, potentially hazardous objects and sources of high-energy emission, among others. He has been director of the Fabra Observatory since February 2015.

Eighty experts in Theory, Modelling and Measurements of light pollution from 20 countries have participated. The conference has been organized by the Parc Astronòmic Montsec (PAM), Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovak Academy of Sciences, and the Cégep de Sherbrooke in Quebec in Canada.

During the Congress, has begun process of preparing the Montsec nomination for the certification of the Dark Sky Association (IDA), which will open the possibility of accessing to the astronomical tourism market.

One of the papers presented in the conference has been "First Night Sky Modeling Montsec protected area of light pollution and its sources" by Hector Linares, master of astrophysics at the University of Barcelona. To make this first model, the main sources of light pollution in the area have been evaluated, and in particular Lleida, the largest city near Montsec.

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• The new ICCUB facilities, which are about 500 square meters in size, have been officially inaugurated today in a ceremony attended by the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, Carmen Vela; the Secretary for Universities and Research, Arcadi Navarro; and the UB rector, Joan Elias.
• The new technology unit will apply the expertise acquired in space science and particle physics projects to other fields, such as medicine, genomics and marine geociences.

Barcelona, 11 May 2017. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the UB (ICCUB) has set up a Technology Unit (ICCUB-Tech) that will develop instrumentation and big data systems for scientific and technology projects, as well as for companies. The inauguration ceremony of the new facilities of the ICCUB, a center awarded with the María de Maeztu distinction, has been held today, 11 May, with the participation of the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, Carmen Vela; the Secretary for Universities and Research of Generalitat de Catalunya, Arcadi Navarro; the rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Elias; and Lluís Garrido, director of the ICCUB. The new facilities are located at Parc Científic de Barcelona and take up about 500 square meters.

During her speech, Carmen Vela has emphasized the high scientific quality achieved by the ICCUB, “a center which has earned a place «among the Spanish research elite and which meets exactly the same scientific quality requirements as the ones imposed to Severo Ochoa Centers». «The ICCUB, » continued Vela, «generates first order scientific output, attracts talent and manages to benefit society through knowledge transfer. It is an example of what we want R&D to be in Spain. We do not need to look outside to find models because we have them here, in Severo Ochoa centers and María de Maeztu Units.»

Rector Joan Elias has underlined «the added-value that having a specialized institute provides to create the critical mass required to apply in Centers of Excellence calls such as María de Maeztu Units».

For its part, Arcadi Navarro has referred to the last years of crisis: «It has been ten tough years, but also golden years for research in Catalonia and Spain».

On the other hand, during his presentation of ICCUB-Tech, the ICCUB director Lluís Garrido has claimed that «this unit represents a unique opportunity to centralize resources, promote synergies within groups of engineers and take on new challenges, as well as to transfer this technology to society».

Transversal unit

ICCUB-Tech gathers engineers specialized in instrumentation, electronics and big data who, before the creation of the unit, worked within different research groups of the ICCUB developing technology for space missions, telescopes, accelerators and particle detectors.
The aim of this unit is to centralize and increase the technological activity of the ICCUB and to allow all its members to participate in high-tech projects, giving them assessment and direct support.
At present the unit consists of 25 electronic and telecommunication engineers, computer specialists and physicists and includes, among other facilities, an electronics lab, a precision measurement lab and a clean-room for instrumentation assembly. Further equipment is foreseen to be installed to develop instrumentation for radiation detectors, cameras and space projects.

Technology Transfer

The ICCUB has an important role in international projects such as Gaia and Solar Orbiter missions, from the European Space Agency; LHCb experiment of the Large Hadron Collider, located at CERN; and gamma ray telescopes Magic and CTA. One of the aims of ICCUB-Tech will be to look for technology transfer projects where the expertise acquired in these big scientific projects can be applied, so that their results can also benefit society.
Among such projects, at the moment ICCUB-Tech is applying technology developed for LHCb chips to improve the temporal precision in positron emission tomography (PET). A second example is the application of a compression data algorithm, developed for Gaia, to other areas like genomics, marine geociences and new nanosatellites.

• Inauguration program
  

These two workshops will be held at the UB stand, coordinated by UB Divulga (UB Reports) at Espai Ciència (the Science Space).

"Gaia Mission" workshop

This workshop will show various materials and activities related to mapping the sky and measuring stellar distances, and in particular those used in Gaia, a mission of the European Space Agency that has a relevant UB participation.

"Ultracold UB" Outreach on Quantum Mechanics and Ultracold Gases

Participants will be able to learn about some of the most relevant phenomena of quantum mechanics, modeled after current research in physics laboratories on ultracold gases. Quantum technologies will be of great importance in the near future incomputing and cryptography techniques and information handling. This makes it interesting for the general population to acquire a minimum familiarity with its most fascinating aspects. All the material in this workshop has been made in open code by university students of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona.

The workshop consists of computer simulations of several experiments in which the quantum properties of matter are revealed. For example, the simulation of the movement of a set of ultra-cold atoms trapped in a potential well (analogous with the movement of a pendulum), the simulation of the movement of a soliton of anatomic gas at 0 K, and the simulation of a quantum Newton pendulum. At the end of the workshop the participants will receive one of the simulations by e-mail.

The ICCUB members Jordi Torra and Jordi Portell will participate in the conference 'Gaia: Three years studying the Galaxy', one of the conferences included in the series “Diálogos de Espacio” organized by the Basque firm SENERto celebrate the 50th anniversary of its Space division.
SENER

SENER

Sener is among the Spanish firms with a higher contribution to the Gaia Mission. In particular, SENER has participated in Gaia by developing the mission deployable sunshield and the positioning mechanism for the secondary mirrors of the telescopes linking the reflector mirror to the optical bench.

The Gaia Mission

The Gaia Mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) was launched in December 2013. Since then, it has repeatedly observed more than a billion stars and other celestial objects, listed in its first star catalog, which was published on 14 September 2016.
ICCUB researchers have a leading role at the highest technological, scientific and management levels of the Gaia Data Processing & Analysis Consortium (DPAC). They have responsibilities in the Simulations, Core Processing and Photometry units, and they manage the Data Processing Center of Barcelona.

Read more about:
- The event: http://www.pioneeringspace.sener/conference
- Sener contribution to Gaia: http://www.engineeringandconstruction.sener/press-releases/sener-outstanding-participation-gaia-mission
- Sener contribution to Gaia: http://icc.ub.edu/research/key_projects/gaia

On 2nd March, students from secondary schools will be closer to Quantum Mechanics and Ultracold Gases. Bruno Julià, Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences and the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics of the UB, has organised the workshop "Ultracold UB. Outreach on Quantum Mechanics and Ultracold Gases" which will represent the University of Barcelona at the Youth Mobile Festival.

YOMO, the Youth Mobile Festival, is an event of the Mobile World Congress devoted to Science and Technology for young people. It is organized with the collaboration of the Departament d'Ensenyament de la Generalitat de Catalunya.

The Workshop

Instructors: Bruno Julià (in charge); Muntsa Guilleumas, Artur Polls; and the students: María Arazo, Laura Moreno, Ivan Morera, & Alejandro Romero.

Age: Over 16

Place: stand #32 Fira de Montjuic

Participants will be able to learn about some of the most relevant phenomena of quantum mechanics, taking as an example the current research in physics laboratories of ultracold gases. Quantum technologies will be of great importance in the near future in both computing and cryptography techniques and information handling. This makes it essential that the whole population acquires a minimum familiarity with its most fascinating aspects. All the material of this workshop has been made in open code by university course students of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona.

The workshop consists of making simulations with computers of several experiments in which the quantum properties of matter are revealed. In particular, the simulation of the movement of a set of ultra-cold atoms trapped in a potential well (analogy with the movement of a pendulum), the simulation of the movement of a soliton in an atomic gas at temperature 0 K or the simulation of a quantum Newton pendulum. At the end of the simulation the participants will receive one of the simulations made by e-mail.

To celebrate the "International Day of Women and Girls in Science", the supplement of the ARA newspaper published an article about the presence of researcher women in Astronomy, commented by Cesca Figueras, an ICCUB researcher and the president of the Spanish Astronomy Society.

In the article, Cesca Figueras point out "we are progressing very slowly with the famous scissor effect graphic, which shows how the student and graduate women are the majority but also how it is inverted when women occupy fixed positions or responsibility". Figueras also highlights the low female presence in the professorial chairs of the Spanish public universities, currently situated at 21%.

The text continues with a review of the book written by the North American journalist and scientist Dava Sobel 'The Crystal Universe', which talks about the women researchers of the Harvard Observatory. In addition, the article highlights the role of Assumpció Català in Catalan Science.

Image: Gaia researchers at UB / FRANCESC MELCION