Press Release

The Nicholas Copernicus Astronomical Center, Poland, is facilitating a gathering of astronomers from around the world at the Staszic Palace in Warsaw on September 6-8 to enhance the power of X-ray spectroscopy in astrophysics.

Professors Agata Różańska and Andrzej Zdziarski from the N. Copernicus Center are the lead organisers for the meeting which aims to widen opportunities for scientists to exploit both European-funded and international X-ray astronomy spectroscopic facilities. The meeting will include talks and presentation by international experts, and is designed to assist relatively inexperienced users in smaller institutes.

Spectroscopy is a major tool of astrophysics, and can provide us with the temperature, density, velocity and distance of the hottest objects in the Universe. Many types of sources can be studied by X-ray spectroscopy, including clusters of galaxies, supernova remnants, hot stars, active galactic nuclei, neutron stars and black holes.

Professor Agata Różańska said: “It is crucial to investigate how hot plasma accumulates in the centers of galaxies and clusters and how it shapes the Universe. During the conference we will present the latest results of X-ray spectroscopy of wide range of objects and discuss the scientific goals of the latest ATHENA satellite, which will provide us with revolutionary spectroscopic data.”

The programme forms a part of the AHEAD (Integrated Activities for High Energy Astrophysics) project funded under the European Union Horizon 2020 Research Infrastructure Program. The AHEAD project is led by Professor Luigi Piro, from INAF, Istituto Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome who said, “The AHEAD project provides the backbone for the High Energy Astrophysics community in Europe. Our consortium comprises among the best centers in the field, with 26 institutes and one space company from 16 countries in Europe. We want to keep our community at the cutting edge of science and technology in this highly competing research field and to strengthen the infrastructure for the development of future space observatories, with particular regard to Athena, the future large space Observatory for X-ray astronomy”.

Notes to editors:

For more information contact Agata Różańska and Andrzej Zdziarski, xray17@camk.edu.pl