The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA, http://www.cta-observatory.org/) consortium celebrates the regularly meeting of the Common Camera Components (CCC) work-package, since its creation in late 2012. The meeting deals with the main components of the camera: Slow control and Power, Mechanics and Cooling, High Voltage and pre-amplification, Signal processing, Interface board: HVPA-FEB, Camera/Array trigger, Readout and Data transfer, Integration and Test and Calibracition. About 35 participants will discuss about the proposed design and methodologies, and it will fix the common guidelines to share as much parts as posible the common sistems between the diferent kind of cameras. This is the second of a series of meetings of the NectarCAM-CCC work-package group, to be held every 6 months as face to face meetings, and monthly as phone-conferences.

Place: Barcelona, Facultat de Física de la Universitat de Barcelona

Date: 17-19 September 2013

Contact: Marc Ribó (mribo@am.ub.es)

MAGIC Galactic meeting 2013

On 12 and 13 September 2013 a meeting of the Physics Working Group on Galactic sources of the MAGIC Collaboration took place at Facultat de Física of UB. A total of 20 researchers attended the meeting, which has been organized by members of the Departament d'Astronomia i Meteorologia of UB. Possible observational proposals with the MAGIC Cherenkov telescopes of sources of very high energy gamma rays were discussed in the meeting. Some of these proposals will be submitted for evaluation during October, to conduct observations during MAGIC Cycle 9, which starts in November 2013.

The MAGIC Collaboration (https://wwwmagic.mpp.mpg.de), is composed by 160 researchers from Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Finland, Bulgary, Croatia and Japan, and operates the two MAGIC telescopes of very high energy gamma rays. These telescopes, of 17 m diameter each and operating in stereoscopic mode, are able to detect the Cherenkov light emitted by gamma rays of energies above 50 Gigaelectronvolts that enter the atmosphere. The MAGIC telescopes are located at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, in the Canary Island of La Palma.

Web of the meeting:
http://www.am.ub.edu/~mribo/meetings/magic_galactic_2013/magic_galactic_2013.html

Place: Barcelona, Facultat de Física de la Universitat de Barcelona

Date: 12-13 September 2013

Contact: Marc Ribó (mribo@am.ub.es)

In order to introduce the space mission Gaia to the public, a group of researchers of the Department of Astronomy and Meteorology of the University of Barcelona have ellaborated the itinerant exhibit "Mil milions d'ulls per a mil milions d'estrelles" which was presented on July the 1st at the Parque Astronómico Montsec and which can be found in digital format at http://www.am.ub.edu/twiki/bin/view/ServiAstro/ExpoGaia.

The short film “Gaia, el satélite” made by some of the department's Gaia project members has been awarded the prize (Ex Aequo) of the scientific shorts contest on "science in action".

The comission of "science in action" agreed that "In virtue of the technical quality of the documentary on technical aspects of the satellite which, in the framework of the Gaia mission of the European Space Agency, will obtain essential data that will help us to better comprehend the origin and evolution of the Milky Way and other aspects of the Universe, among which dark matter is a highlight, the 1st prize to Scientific Shorts is awarded Ex Aequo to the work: “GAIA: EL SATÉLITE”".  

This short is one of a set of videos on Gaia elaborated in the Astronomy and Meteorology Department (DAM) of the University of Barcelona where the details of the mission are explained, and which can be found at http://gaiavideo.ub.edu/index.html.