Short White Shift Dress

On Saturday 26 were held in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina (Astronomical Observatory facilities CODE - Observer Space Center, "enclave which houses the Headquarters of the LIADA) The International Symposium LIADA 2011. The CODE is a landmark located in a beautiful spot on the banks of the Parana.

official poster of the Symposium. Author: Claudio Martinez.

This time the general themes were scheduled Astrophysics, Asteroids and Double Stars, dividing the day into three distinct conference. The organizing committee also allowed the introduction of poster-type contributions. The conference this year takes on the character Pro-Am, to involve several professional speakers, and also is rooted the hallmark of the intervention of international speakers from various nationalities (Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, United States and Spain). Without doubt, a challenge for the organizing committee (Carlos A. Krawczenko, Daniel Mendicini and Jorge Coghlan) who have developed a great job coordinating everything to go perfectly.

Symposium organizers. From left to right: Daniel Mendicini, Jorge Coghlan, Carlos A. Krawczenko.

Given the Pro-Am of the meeting, about a month ago I thought that the symposium could well be referenced on the official website of the Commission 26 (Double Stars) of the International Astronomical Union ( The Double Star Library, DSL ), hosted on the site Naval Observatory United States, also based WDS catalog. This was communicated to the organizing committee of the symposium and gave me a free hand to manage the request with the perpetrators. After communicating with Brian Mason, informing LIADA Symposium 2011 and of their characteristics, his answer was yes, so a few days the link was included in the list of international events.

Capture web DSL.

Following the success of management, Jorge Coghlan, Secretary of the LIADA, had the excellent idea of \u200b\u200bdesigning a logo alluding to the Pro-Am collaboration within the bosom of the LIADA, which was inserted in all sub-pages LIADAweb and encouraged me that if it was my wish and have time, write a text to explain the concept Pro-Am and serve to give substance to the newly created logo. Of course, I got to work and the result you can see it in the specific new page that we call What is Pro-AM? , and integrated into the site LIADA.

Pro-AM New logo of LIADA. Author: Jorge Coghlan

While across the pond, and indirectly, these small jobs that I have made have allowed me to live close to the Symposium and I am very pleased to be able to work, even if fleetingly, in its organization.

The dense program of planned interventions, all conducted by expert speakers in their respective areas of research and observation, made the day was intense and very attractive, for more than 40 enrollees who came in person to Santa Fe a day full of camaraderie and good astronomy. Here you have the typical group photo, Courtesy of Roberto Vasconi.

Participants in the group photo.

Just start

organizational tasks of the symposium, Carlos A. Krawczenko invited me to participate as a speaker in the section on double stars. Of course I accepted, and my speech on Saturday was made via teleconference, in the same way as we carry out the virtual workshops. And value must be said that the connection was perfect, no faults or cuts of any kind and I was able to continue my speech without incident. My congratulations to those responsible.

The other lectures from abroad were:

1) Carles Schnabel - Spain.

2) Pedro Ignacio Deaza Rincon - Colombia.

3) Brian D. Mason - United States.

My turn was established just after the lunch break (14:25 pm in Argentina), here in Spain amounted four hours: I was already on my second cup of coffee while waiting for the connection. My presentation took the title of "Neglected Double Stars. The importance of identification and observation: Project SEDA-WDS" and was developed in the 30 minutes I was assigned. Well, actually I think that slightly exceed the time limit and in certain passages had to accelerate more than normal to adjust everything possible against the clock. I think the general ideas I tried to defend became clear and I am happy with my speech, plus it was a very rewarding experience, I must say.

As is customary every time I participate in tele-borne activities, my son Adrian serves as a photojournalist and here's proof:

I have received also an image taken in the auditorium at the beginning of my talk. Behold

I would like to discuss now the structure of my presentation, which I divided into four blocks:

1) Cataloging of double stars: historical overview. A review of the life and work of the great historical catalogers and discoverers, intending to highlight the enormous efforts of several generations of astronomers to reach the current state: the integration of all double stars in a single macro-catalog The WDS. The novelty of this section is its remarkable contribution documentary and computer graphics. At least conceived the idea. In addition to numerical data and dating it occurred to me to include in each catalog, photograph or portrait, an image of the original cover of the catalog in question and one of the telescope used in observations. Quite a challenge, come on. Although I already had enough of this material (spent years trying to write a story double stars), there have been many hours of searching on the internet in the most varied sources. Finally, I had to go to the library of USNO in search of the last three covers that I still had to meet the target, curiously modern catalogs and thanks to the excellent provision of Brian Mason, who the scanned specifically for me, were provided in a couple of days. My thanks to Mr. Mason is doing for both the amateur doubles player. This historical research has certainly been very rewarding. I leave a slide to illustrate the idea.

2) The WDS catalog today. Mainly statistical data concerning the number of double-scheduled abandoned percentage of double stars, significant contributions from amateur astronomers, etc..

3) Double Stars abandoned. Causes for a significant number of double stars listed are considered abandoned or forgotten, with illustrative examples from actual observation in my observatory: positions and misidentifications, duplicate pairs, lost systems, Investment quadrants, confirmation of peers and discoveries of new components.

4) The Project SEDA-WDS. Promotion of the project as an option for the systematic observation of double stars left in both hemispheres.

When I finished, I stayed for a while still connected and listening, so I enjoyed the presentation of Roberto Vasconi, who was in person in Santa Fe at the end of it intervened from Cordoba Alejandro Garro. Between the two discussed their plans for the future in terms of double stars and expectations in the observation group that just opened, GEDRAA , of \u200b\u200bwhich I spoke in the previous post.

Roberto Vasconi hard at work.

Apart from the mine, the other talks of double stars were

• Entering the world of Double Star , Alejandro Garro - Roberto Vasconi.

• dual system study STF 1341, Carlos Alberto Krawczenko.

• Programmes Introduction to the Washington Double Star Catalog (WDS) , video deferred Brian Mason.

• Occultations and discovery / identification of double stars , Claudio Martínez.

• equipotential Systems a multiple star system , Prof. Rafael Girola.

Carlos Alberto Krawczenko during one of his lectures: he double. Great!

I would highlight the participation of Brian Mason, who immediately accepted the invitation of Carlos Alberto Krawczenko. Despite his many commitments to the organization sent a video in which praised the cooperation Pro-Am on double stars, or rather, in his words, the work of "professional astronomers without compensation" . The video, course was in English and that listeners could grasp all the nuances, I volunteered to transcribe their words into Castilian. I sent a few days before the text to the organizers and those in print as distributed among the attendees who were thus able to follow Brian Mason's speech during the broadcast of video.

Video Broadcast of Brian Mason.

Some of my friends in Argentina: From left to right: Sergio Morero (club Chakana), Carlos Colazo, Fernando Mazzone, Vasconi Roberto Carlos Krawczenko and Aldo Mottino (Rosario).

I am told that there were the level of many talks that were held on the scheduled topics was very high, so during the day was very interesting and valuable. It is what it is doing things with passion and makes you enjoy enjoy. Congratulations to everyone for the success. Here.

Note: Symposium Images courtesy of Roberto Carlos Vasconi and Krawczenko.

Post Scriptum: You can check the Official Report of the Symposium published by the LIADA here .