SUOMEN TÄHTITIETEILIJÄSEURA RY

Dear participants,
In just a bit over two weeks we will be meeting in Haikko for the Astronomers' Days. In this letter you will find additional information and practical details -- more information can be found on the website www.ttseura.fi/ad2012 .

PRESENTATIONS

Due to the large number of talks some of the talks had to be moved to poster presentations and the presenters have been informed. All posters were accepted. The scientific programme can be found at the website www.ttseura.fi/ad2012/programme.html

There is a data projector available and a PC computer with the basic PDF and PowerPoint viewers installed. We highly encourage presenters to use the laptop provided and bring their presentation in a PDF file on a USB stick (and test the system during the previous coffee break at the latest). It is possible to use one's own computer, but because setting it up reduces the time given for the presentation itself, we encourage presenters to use the provided computer unless they are certain they know what they are doing.

Structure and limitation of the presentations:
- Invited talk: 45 min + 15 min discussion
- Review talks: 25 min + 5 min discussion
- Contributed talks: 17 min + 3 min discussion
- Posters: max. A0 size, with 1 PDF/PPT slide and 2 min "talk" (overview of the poster work with highlights in one slide; the poster will present the actual research).

STUDENT SPONSORSHIP

All students who applied for the sponsorship will be sponsored by the Finnish Graduate School in Astronomy and Space Science.

GETTING THERE

The hotel's own directions for getting there can be found at http://www.haikko.fi/en/information/driving-instruction-and-bus-connections.php . In short, the essentials are:
- By bus: Direct bus from Helsinki (Kamppi terminal, platform 3) leaving at 09:08 and 10:08 (arriving 10:15 and 11:15); price approximately 12 eur one-way (7.50 student).
- By car: The address is Hotelli Haikon Kartano, Haikkoontie 114, Porvoo. Free parking at the Spa Hotel parking place. Google Maps: http://tinyurl.com/br2hwdg
- From the airport: There is a minibus for the participants from Oulu leaving at the airport around 11:00 on Monday with still a few seats free (cost 10-15 eur). If you are flying around that time and would like to join that bus, contact the LOC (info@ttseura.fi) immediately.
- Taxi: Expensive but available, call direcly to local taxi centres in Helsinki area(tel. 0100 7300) or in Porvoo (tel. 0100 86800). N.B. the call prices are of the order of 1.5 eur.

ARRIVAL

Registration desk opens at 10:00 and closes at 12:00. Please, try to register during this time. If you are arriving later, contact the LOC members identified with yellow-on-black nametag.

Registration:When you arrive, register at the AD2012 desk in the hotel lobby. Rooms are available at 13:00 (extended coffee break), but there will be a locked room for luggage during the first session. You can try to check in at the hotel desk earlier in case they have your room ready at that time. The accommodation is paid to the hotel either at check-in or when leaving (except for the sponsored students, whose rooms are paid by the Graduate School).

DIETARY REQUIREMENTS

The venue can accommodate special diets and restrictions that they know of in advance, but as the meals are mostly prepared according to our schedule and served to the table (with special dishes ordered by name), it may not be possible to get different food "in situ". Therefore, if you have special needs in this regards and you didn't include them in the registration form, let us know immediately to make sure your requirements can be accommodated.

See you in Porvoo in two weeks!

Regards,
The Local Organising Committee / Finnish Astronomical Society

Dear colleagues,

Please note that the Registration deadline: Sunday 29th of April is approaching for participating the Astronomers' Days 2012!

Registration is via web form at: http://www.ttseura.fi/ad2012/registration.html

To ensure your participation please register as soon as possible! The 29th of April deadline (until midnight) is very strict and cannot be postponed. However, if you have problems in getting your abstract done, you may send it after the registration until Wednesday 2nd of May. In this case, please write "TBD" in the abstract field of the registration form and send your abstract later to info@ttseura.fi .

Updated information about the venue and meals have been added to the society webpage: http://www.ttseura.fi/ad2012/venue.html If you are planning on taking special treatments at Haikko Spa, please reserve them as soon as possible, as they will be sold out before the start of the meeting. More information on this is available at the address above.

Also, information of the oral presentations and posters have been added to: http://www.ttseura.fi/ad2012/programme.html

We are looking forward seeing you in Porvoo!

Sincerely yours,
The Board of the Finnish Astronomical Society

Dear colleagues,

The Finnish Astronomical Society (FAS) will organise in June the traditional Astronomers' Days meeting (Tähtitieteilijäpäivät), and it is our pleasure to invite you to attend the meeting.

The Astronomers' Days will be held in June 4.-6., 2012 in the charming Haikko Manor in a beautiful setting of the Porvoo archipelago.

The Astronomers' Days gathers together researchers, teachers and students of astronomy and related fields (including cosmology, solar and space physics, etc.) from all around Finland in a relaxed three-day meeting. Special emphasis is on student participation; the meeting offers great opportunity for junior member of the scientific society to report and discuss their works, and get to know other people in their field.

Detailed up-to-date information can be found at the meeting website (www.ttseura.fi/ad2012), and in a nutshell below.

We are looking forward seeing you in Porvoo!

Sincerely yours,
The Board of the Finnish Astronomical Society

***********************************
ASTRONOMERS' DAYS 2012
***********************************

Meeting dates: 4.-6.6.2012.

Meeting venue: The venue of Astronomers' Days is the Hotel Haikko Manor in Porvoo (http://www.haikko.fi).

Schedule: The meeting will start on Monday morning 4.6. by registration in Haikko Conference Hotel, followed up by lunch in the historical Haikko Manor House. The first scientific session begins at 13:00. The meeting will end on Wednesday 6.6. at 17:00.

Registration and Deadlines: The registration to Astronomers' Days is via web form that can be found from the FAS webpage (www.ttseura.fi/ad2012). The number of participants is limited, so to ensure you participation please register as soon as possible.

*** The deadline for registration is Sunday 29th of April ***

Scientific program: We excited to present three invited speakers representing the top research in their respective fields that currently are "hot topics" in astronomy:

- prof. Jesper Sollerman (Stockholm University), who will talk about Supernovae - gamma-ray bursts - cosmology connection

- prof. Thorsten Naab (MPA, Garching), discussing Galaxy formation and evolution

- prof. Stephane Udry (University of Geneva) reviewing the current research related to Exoplanets

The language of the meeting is English. Options for presentations are contributed talks (20 minutes) and posters. Detailed scientific program will be announced in the next circular, which will be published after the deadline for registration (29th of April).

Participation fee: 120 € for members of the Finnish Astronomical Society, 150 € for non-members.

The participation fee includes all meals and social programmes (the conference dinner in Haikko on Monday evening and a beach sauna evening with dinner buffet on Tuesday), and it is to be paid in advance. FAS will send invoice for all participants after the registration form has been received.

Accommodation: We have allocated rooms to all participants in the Conference Hotel. The accommodation will be in shared rooms (80 € per night), with a limited number of single rooms (101 € per night) available. The accommodation will be paid directly to the venue at the meeting and it is not included in the participation fee. Haikko has a wide range of leisure programs and activities in the beautiful 14 hectare park by the sea (and all hotel rooms have wireless internet). The Wellness pools, public saunas and Fitness Studio are at your disposal from early morning till late evening.

Travel: The travel to Haikko is not included in the participation fee. Haikko is most easily approached via Helsinki, and there is a direct bus from Helsinki (Kamppi) to Haikko Manor (travel time 1 h 15 min). Options for free transport from Helsinki are being charted but not guaranteed. We will inform later on this opportunity. The hotel has ample parking space for those using their own car.

Students N.B.! The Finnish Graduate School in Astronomy and Space Physics sponsors all students and pays their participation (participation fee, accommodation in shared rooms, and social program). The requirement for the free student participation is having a talk or a poster at the meeting.

Organisation: The Astronomers' Days are organised by the Finnish Astronomical Society with the help of the Scientific Organising Committee. The event is funded by participation fees and sponsorship/grants from various sources.

Scientific Organising Committee:
Juri Poutanen (Oulu), Chair
Peter Johansson (Helsinki)
Jari Kotilainen (FINCA)
Anne Lähteenmäki (Metsähovi)
Seppo Mattila (Tuorla)

Local Organising Committee (info@ttseura.fi):
Seppo Katajainen (Tuorla), Chair
Karri Koljonen (Metsähovi)
Maarit Mantere (Helsinki
Vitaly Neustroev (Oulu)
Joni Tammi (Metsähovi)

Sponsors:
- Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV)
- Graduate School in Astronomy and Space Physics
- Aalto University Metsähovi Radio Observatory
- Division of Geophysics and Astronomy, University of Helsinki
- Astronomy Division, University of Oulu
- Tuorla Observatory, University of Turku
- FINCA, Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO

Poster available as a PDF (2.2 MB) and a lower-resolution JPG (290 KB)

Dear colleagues,

At the 2010 Astronomers' Days at Kangasala it was decided that the Finnish Astronomical Society shall organise similar kind of multi-day Astronomers' Days meetings every second year, and every other year the society would have the annual meeting at the FinCOSPAR meeting.

Now, after two years of waiting, it's again time for the Astronomers' Days! The meeting again spans three days from Monday to Wednesday, 4.--6. of June, in the famous Haikko Estate in Porvoo, some 50 kilometres east of Helsinki. (More information about the venue, which was awarded last year the best conference hotel in Finland, can be found on their website, www.haikko.fi .)

"The Astronomers' Days 2012" meeting offers unique opportunity for all researchers and students astronomy, space research, and related fields in Finland, to meet and discuss their research in a relaxed setting. The talks (20 minutes) and posters are an excellent way for students and younger researchers to introduce themselves to colleagues and get experience in presentation skills, while senior scientists could hardly wish for a better way to advertise open positions at their institute or in their group, and to get to know their new colleagues.

Note for all Ph.D. students! The Finnish Graduate School in Astronomy and Space Physics sponsors all doctoral students by paying their participation fees, including the accommodation and meals.

The details and the details of registration will be posted during March; the most up-to-date information can be found on the Society's new homepages at www.ttseura.fi .

See you in Porvoo!

Arvoisat kollegat

Vuonna 2010 Kangasalalla järjestetyissä Tähtitieteilijäseuran tähtitieteilijäpäivillä päätettiin, että seura tulee järjestämään samanlaisen monipäiväisen tapahtuman joka toinen vuosi, ja että joka toinen vuosi seuran vuosikokous pidetään FinCOSPAR-kokouksen yhteydessä.

Nyt, kaksi vuotta Kangasalan erinomaisesti onnistuneen kokouksen jälkeen, on jälleen tähtitieteilijäpäivien aika! Tapahtuma on edellisen tapaan kolmepäiväinen, maanantaista keskiviikkoon 4.-6. kesäkuuta, ja paikkana on upea Haikon kartano Porvoossa. (Viime vuonna Suomen parhaaksi kokoushotelliksi valitusta Haikon kartanosta ja sen tarjoamista virkistäytymismahdollisuuksista löydät lisätietoa osoitteesta www.haikko.fi.)

"Astronomers' Days 2012"-tapaamisessa tähtitieteen, avaruusfysiikan sekä tähtitieteeseen liittyvien alojen tutkijoilla ja opiskelijoilla on mahdollisuus esitellä tutkimustaan joko esitelmällä (20 minuuttia) tai esille ripustettavilla ja esiteltävillä postereilla. Nuoremmille tutkijoille tämä on erinomainen tilausuus esitellä tutkimustaan ja hioa esiintymistaitojaan, varttuneemmat tutkijat ja tutkimusryhmien vetäjät saavat lisäksi mainostettua mahdollisia opinnäytetyöpaikkoja ja luotua kontakteja alan uusiin ammattilaisiin.

Ja jatko-opiskelijat, huomio! Tähtitieteen ja avaruusfysiikan tutkijakoulu sponsoroi kaikkia jatko-opiskelijoita maksamalla osallistumismaksun, joka sisältää myös majoituksen ja ateriat!

Kokouksen tarkempi ohjelma ja ilmoittautumisohjeet julkaistaan maaliskuun aikana; ajankohtaisin tieto löytyy aina Tähtitieteilijäseuran uusilta kotisivuilta osoitteesta www.ttseura.fi .

Porvoossa nähdään!