Next week, from 14th to 18th of March, the conference of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) “Formation and Evolution of Galaxy Outskirts” will be celebrated in Toledo. This is a subject which has often been ignored because of the difficulties in making the observations. The final meeting of the European “Marie Curie” network for Early Training of Researchers DAGAL, (Detailed Anatomy of Galaxies) will occur within the framework of this conference, and will be coordinated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC).
The objective of the Symposium to be held in Toledo, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage City since 1986, is twofold. Firstly, it aims to bring together our knowledge about the formation and evolution of the outer reaches of galaxies, ranging from analysis of nearby objects to those in the distant universe, using the most powerful telescopes and the most up to date simulations. This is a new field, and a challenge to the latest infrastructures which will give it an interest for technologically based companies as well as for the general public.
Secondly, this meeting will celebrate the achievements of the four year DAGAL project, which has involved a dozen researchers, 2 postdocs and 8 doctoral students. The object of the programme has been to give training of excellence to the new generation of scientists, via a series of activities, such as project management, instrumentation, publication, outreach, attendance at conferences, and periods spent in commercial or technical companies.
The DAGAL network, funded by the 7th Framework Programme of Research and Technological Development of the European Union, comprises six institutions: the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM, Spain) the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute of the Universiteit te Groningen (the Netherlands) the University of Oulu (Finland) the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (France), the Max Planck Institut für Astronomie, (Heidelberg, Germany) and the Insituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) which has coordinated the initiative through the researcher Johan Knapen.
The IAU Symposium will be completed by a set of parallel activities which include a popular lecture on Tuesday 15th March at 19.30 entitled “Toledo and the birth of modern astronomy” to be given by Eduardo Battaner, of the University of Granada, and an astronomical observing session with telescopes open to the general public on Wednesday 16th March from 19.00 to 22.00 organized by students of the Physics Department of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ASAAF-UCM) in collaboration with the Departamento de Astrofísica y Ciencias Atmosféricas.
Website of the conference: https://galaxyoutskirts.org/
Website of DAGAL: dagalnetwork.eu
