Southampton leads conference to tackle challenges of studying astrophysical phenomena

Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southampton is playing a leading role in organising a new conference that will tackle the many challenges faced by scientists when studying astrophysical phenomenon simultaneously with multiple observatories.

The Paving the Way to Simultaneous Multi-wavelength Astronomy conference will explore this new concept that is becoming increasingly important in the field of astronomy.

Organiser Dr Poshak Gandhi, Science and Technology Facilities Council Ernest Rutherford Fellow at the University, said: “Astronomers have realised that many phenomena such as black hole accretion and outflows, supernovae, and gamma ray bursts require us to study the entire electromagnetic spectrum at the same time in order to understand the underlying physics. However, there are numerous challenges in carrying out observations simultaneously across multiple facilities globally and in space. So far there has been little coordinated effort to tackle the logistical difficulties involved and this conference is a first step in the right direction.”

The conference is being held at the Lorentz Centre, in Leiden, Netherlands, from July 13 to 17, and already top-level directors and high-ranking staff from many observatories have signed up.

Poshak added: “The aim of the conference is to obtain a complete understanding of the processes driving multi-wavelength emissions from rapidly varying objects. This demands new approaches and the ability to observe across wavebands simultaneously.

“We hope to develop strategies that can answer such demands and will lay the groundwork for major advances in our understanding of transient and rapidly varying phenomena. This meeting is about uniting the global multi-wavelength astronomy community, based upon the realisation that what we can achieve through coordinated actions is much greater than the sum of our individual efforts.”

The meeting’s other core organisers are Dr Matthew Middleton (Cambridge) and Dr Piergiorgio Casella (INAF-Rome).