When the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory was launched on November 20, 2004, its prime objective was to chase Gamma-Ray Bursts. Since then, the mission has far exceeded its original scientific goals. Swift discovered the first afterglows and host galaxies of short-hard GRBs, and a growing sample of events from the local Universe to the epoch of reionization, providing arcsecond positions, light curves, and spectra for more than 1,500 events.

Over time, Swift has become an unequalled Target of Opportunity machine for the astronomical community, thanks to a unique combination of sensitive instrumentation and operational flexibility that provides unprecedented observational capabilities: rapid response coupled with multi-wavelength monitoring of any class of transient/variable object.

After almost 20 years of operations, we think it a fitting occasion to revisit Swift's achievements and to put our mission in the context of the rapidly evolving fields of time-domain and multi-messenger astrophysics. Therefore, we are organizing the meeting "Celebrating 20 years of Swift Discoveries", to be held on March 24-28, 2025, in Florence, Italy, at the Firenze Fiera conference center.

Please mark your calendar to save the date!

Please visit our webpage for details, including upcoming deadlines.

Jointly with our ESA partners, we will be holding a 3-day virtual data analysis workshop on April 1-3 2025. It will focus on the basics of XMM data analysis with pySAS in the python environment, in the cloud: data processing and storage will be handled remotely via SciServer.

More information, including how to register, can be found here.

A conference in honour of Enrico Cappellaro, Massimo Della Valle, Laura Greggio, Massimo Turatto

We are delighted to announce the conference: "An extraordinary journey into the Transient Sky: from restless progenitor stars to explosive multi-messenger signals. A conference in honour of Enrico Cappellaro, Massimo Della Valle, Laura Greggio and Massimo Turatto", which will be held from 1st to 4th April 2025, in Padua (Italy).

Supernovae play a key role in various issues in modern astronomy and cosmology. Current surveys have given an enormous boost to the study of transients and supernovae in particular, and it is essential to discuss the state-of-the-art before entering a golden age of the study of the transient Universe. Thanks to the synoptic surveys that will monitor every night the entire visible sky, from optical to radio, and the new-generation instrumentation that will make it possible to observe all the messengers associated with supernova explosions, from photons to neutrinos, from high-energy particles to gravitational waves, it will finally be possible to have both a statistically significant sample of events and a very detailed overview of individual events.

The study of supernovae in the Italian scientific community began in the 1960s with the work of Leonida Rosino and Roberto Barbon and subsequently received a great impulse thanks to Enrico Cappellaro, Massimo Della Valle, Laura Greggio and Massimo Turatto, who studied in Padua in the same years. With this international conference, we intend to celebrate their retirement by recalling their important contribution to the study of supernovae and discussing the still open challenges that we are ready to take up.

Reviewing the trajectory of our honorees, we will touch on topics such as the progenitors of supernovae, the search for supernovae and their rates, the supernova class zoo, supernovae in connection with gamma-ray bursts, and supernova observations in the age of multi-messenger Astronomy.

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

The unparalleled near-infrared capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) allow us to study distant galaxies in remarkable detail. This has ushered in a new era of galaxy evolution studies. With new knowledge of the properties of the stars, gas and dust that make up these early galaxies, we can now start to gain insights into the physical processes driving the assembly of the earliest galaxies, and how they evolve into their lower redshift descendants.

This conference will be an opportunity to highlight recent observational and theoretical results shedding new light on the detailed properties of the stellar populations and interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies through the early phases of cosmic history. It will also serve as a forum for discussing how new JWST results are transforming our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies from early times through to the present day.

Scientific Focus:

• Nature of stellar populations in distant galaxies
• Properties of the interstellar medium across redshifts
• Chemical enrichment and build-up of dust across cosmic time
• Spatially resolved studies of galaxies and their environments
• Impact of galaxies on cosmic reionization
• How can simulations and theory help interpret the latest observations
• Feedback and regulating galaxy growth

Rebecca Bowler (Manchester); Andy Bunker (Oxford, co-chair); Alex Cameron (Oxford, co-chair); Emma Curtis-Lake (Hertfordshire); Richard Ellis (UCL); Laura Pentericci (INAF-Rome); Aayush Saxena (Oxford, co-chair); Stephen Wilkins (Sussex)

LOC:

Kit Boyett; Andy Bunker; Alex Cameron; Leanne O'Donnell; Gareth Jones; Aayush Saxena

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

On December 10, 1999, XMM was launched into orbit on an Ariane 5 rocket, beginning its 25 year journey for X-ray astronomy. In honor of this occasion, there will be a 3-day conference that will be a similar but expanded version of our 20th Anniversary symposium at GSFC in 2019.

Please visit the webpage for details, including upcoming deadlines.

The aim of this international conference is to bring together observers and theorists to discuss the formation and cosmic evolution of the most massive galaxies in the Universe, focusing on their mass and luminous structure, stellar populations, and the environments in which they live. The most massive M* > 10¹¹ and oldest galaxies account for more than half of the total stellar mass in the local Universe. Their formation and evolution still represent an open contentious question in present-day astrophysics and cosmology. Recent observations have revealed the presence of massive quiescent galaxies even in the first cosmic epochs (out to z>4), representing a challenge for galaxy formation models: it is unclear how they became so massive  over such short timescales, how their stellar metallicity grew so fast to solar or supersolar values and, finally, what quenched these objects so quickly and efficiently.

The main aim of this symposium is twofold: Review results from the latest observations of massive quiescent galaxies in the Universe, from high-z to z~0; then, critically analyze to what extent state-of-the-art theoretical models of galaxy formation and evolution can reproduce observations. Key Topics

• Physical processes driving the early phases of massive galaxies formation
• Metal enrichment, abundances, star formation and the ISM in massive galaxies
• Stellar population properties of massive galaxies
• The stellar Initial Mass Function in massive galaxies
• Influence of internal and external physical processes, and of environment on the evolution of massive galaxies
• The co-evolution between black holes and hosting galaxies
• Kinematics and dark matter content in massive galaxies, 3D structure of DM halos

Felipe Barrientos (Universidad Catolica di Chile); Davide Bevacqua (INAF IT, PhD); Paula Coelho (University of São Paulo, Brazil); Roberto de Propris (FINCA, Turku, FI & BIUST Botswana); Anna Ferré-Mateu (IAC, Tenerife, ES); Ignacio Ferreras (IAC, Tenerife, ES); Karl Glazebrook (Swinburne University, AUS); Johanna Hartke (FINCA, Turku, FI); Michaela Hirschmann (CH); Mariska Kriek (NL) Wang Lan (Academy of Sciences, China); Michalina Maksymowicz-Maciata (Bristol UK, PhD); Danilo Marchesini (USA)Nicola Napolitano (Univ. Federico II, IT); Anna Pasquali (Universität Heidelberg, DE); Rosalind Skelton (South Africa Astronomical Observatory); Paolo Saracco (Chair; INAF, Brera); Chiara Spiniello (Co-chair; Oxford University, UK); Masayuki Tanaka (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan); Daniel Thomas (Univerasity of Portsmouth, UK)

Local Organising Committee (LOC):

Gabriella De Lucia (INAF); Fabio Fontanot (INAF); Anna Gallazzi (INAF); Adriana Gargiulo (INAF); Francesco La Barbera (INAF); Amata Mercurio (Univ. Fisciano); Nicola Napolitano (Univ. Federico II); Maurizio Paolillo (Univ. Federico II); Paolo Saracco (INAF); Crescenzo Tortora (INAF); Stefano Zibetti (INAF)

The symposium will take place in Naples, a beautiful and attractive city by the sea in the south of Italy. Naples is home to the Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory, belonging to the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), and the Federico II University which hosts a department of Physics and Astrophysics. The city is easily reachable, being served by an international airport and a fast railway.

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

A series of extreme-variability phenomena associated with supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei are being revealed with increasing frequency in recent years thanks to enhanced survey capabilities across the electromagnetic spectrum. The observation of these extreme phenomena has opened the way to the study of the physics of SMBHs in real time - something that, until a decade ago, was exclusively associated with stellar-mass black holes. As the baseline of follow-up observations extends, repeating events have gathered more and more observational evidence in the recent past.

Understanding the diverse phenomena presented by multi-wavelength observations - a non-exhaustive list of which is given below - is challenging and competing interpretations are being actively debated. With this workshop, we aim at providing an environment where observers and theorists can gather together to investigate whether a detailed look at individual sources, and the broader characteristics of source samples, can reveal common threads which will enable us to advance our understanding of the dynamic and complex environments which exist in galactic nuclei.

Topics:

• Full and partial Tidal Disruption Events
• Multi-wavelength emission and outflows in nuclear transients
• X-ray Quasi-Periodic Eruptions in galactic nuclei
• Quasi-Periodic Oscillations from supermassive black holes
• Changing-look and changing-state Active Galactic Nuclei
• Supermassive black hole binaries, Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspirals, Gravitational Waves
• Theory and numerical simulations

LOC: Lucia Ballo, Ignacio de la Calle, Jacobo Ebrero, Margherita Giustini (co-chair), Aitor Ibarra Ibaibarriaga, Jose López Miralles, Erwan Quintin (co-chair), Juan Pablo Vega González

Further information: The workshop is intended to be in-person to ease productive discussion and will lead to the publication of conference proceedings.

For additional questions, please see the workshop website.

The formation and evolution of galaxies is a complex sequence of physical processes leading to the sources we observe across different epochs of the Universe. Among these processes, mergers play a crucial role. Whether simple accretion events or minor and major mergers, these interactions can dramatically influence the nature, shape, and physical properties of the resulting galaxies, making them vastly different from their progenitors.

Mergers can change the morphology of galaxies, for example, transforming a spiral galaxy into an elliptical galaxy, and altering the distribution of stars and gas within them. Another consequence is that these violent interactions can compress gas clouds, triggering intense starburst periods and enriching the remnant with new stars. Moreover, gas funnelled to the galaxy's core during mergers can fuel the central engine, igniting an active galactic nucleus (AGN), which can significantly influence galaxy evolution by either inhibiting or promoting star formation. Lastly, merger events affect the distribution of dark matter, reorganising the surrounding dark matter halo and modifying their internal dynamics and rotation.

In the beautiful setting of the Dolomites where Haus Sexten is located, we will discuss how galaxies continuously evolve through these processes, contributing to the diversity of shapes and characteristics observed in the Universe over cosmic time. In the following, we list some fundamental questions we aim to address during the conference.

• What is our current understanding of how mergers change the morphology of the galaxies we observe in the present-day Universe?
• To what extent do mergers contribute to new star formation and alter the chemical distribution in galaxies at different epochs?
• How is the supermassive black hole (SMBH) of galaxies affected by accretion events and mergers? Furthermore, how do mergers influence SMBH-galaxy co-evolution and establish the observed scaling relations?
• How does our ability to determine the rate of galaxy mergers across different epochs and environments impact our understanding of cosmic structure formation?
• What role do mergers play in the evolution of the size, velocity dispersion and other physical properties of galaxies?
• Can our current approaches to studying galaxy evolution, whether they are physically motivated high-resolution cosmological simulation, semi-analytical models, or semi-empirical methods, faithfully reproduce the assembly history of galaxies at different epochs?
• What are the most plausible scenarios for assembling the massive galaxies that telescopes such as JWST are observing early in the history of the Universe?
• How can diverse mergers be most effectively identified across various cosmic epochs through machine learning, visual classification, or morphological statistics?

Mariangela Bernardi (University of Pennsylvania); Caitlin Casey (TBC, University of California Santa Barbara); Christopher Conselice (University of Manchester); Victor Debattista (TBC, University of Central Lancashire); Helena Domínguez Sánchez (Instituto de Física de Cantabria); Sara Ellison (University of Victoria); Anna Ferré-Mateu (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias); Marc Huertas-Company (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias); Peter Johansson (University of Helsinki); Jennifer Lotz (Space Telescope Science Institute); Rhea-Silvia Remus (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich); Katherine Suess (University of Colorado Boulder)

Scientific Organising Committee (in alphabetic order): Carlo Cannarozzo (chair, New York University Abu Dhabi); Benjamin Davis (New York University Abu Dhabi); Thales Gutcke (University of Hawaii); Susan Kassin (Space Telescope Science Institute); Claudia Lagos (University of Western Australia); Andrea Macciò (New York University Abu Dhabi); Mireia Montes (Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio); Carlo Nipoti (Università di Bologna); Salvatore Quai (Università di Bologna); Aldo Rodriguez-Puebla (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

Local Organising Committee (in alphabetic order):

Bianca Arkeen, Carlo Cannarozzo, Benjamin Davis, Gabriella Deconi, Andrea Macciò, Mandy Mudhar.

For any questions regarding the conference, please visit the conference website or send an email to carlo[DOT]cannarozzo[AT]nyu[DOT]edu with the subject line "Dancing in the Dark - Question" .

Globular clusters provide a powerful tool for decoding the Milky Way?s history, offering a direct link between large-scale galactic structures and the life cycles of individual stars. Their chemical and dynamical properties preserve vital clues about the formation and evolution of the Galaxy, shedding light on the processes that have shaped its structure over billions of years. As some of the oldest and most massive stellar systems, globular clusters serve as stellar fossils, preserving crucial insights into the Milky Way early epochs. Many stars in the Galactic halo are thought to have originated in globular clusters that dissolved over time, highlighting their significant contribution to the Galaxy's assembly.

Recent discoveries have revealed that globular clusters are far more complex than once thought. It is now widely accepted that multiple stellar populations (MPs) in globular clusters reflect intricate star-formation histories, where second-generation stars, enriched in helium and light elements such as sodium and nitrogen, formed from material processed by the first generation. The discovery of MPs has fundamentally changed our understanding of stellar formation and evolution, uncovering physical processes that occur only in the dense and extreme environments of globular clusters. Understanding their origin and evolution is key to reconstructing the role of globular clusters in shaping the Milky Way and its stellar populations.

This session aims to bring together researchers from various disciplines to discuss the latest advances in the study of globular clusters, focusing on their formation, evolution, and the presence of multiple stellar populations.

The session will explore how observations using techniques such as spectroscopy, photometry, and dynamics, combined with theoretical modeling, can connect scientists from different fields and offer new insights into how globular clusters have shaped the universe we observe today.

Program:

• The role of stellar dynamics in cluster evolution
• Globular clusters and the Milky Way evolution
• Understanding the origin of multiple populations
• Synergy between spectroscopy, photometry, and dynamics
• Globular clusters and multiple populations in extraGalactic environments Insights from young star clusters
• Future prospects and surveys

Giacomo Cordoni (Chair, Australian National University, AUS), Emanuele Dondoglio (co-Chair, INAF-Padova, IT), Amanda Karakas (Monash University, AU), Mattia Libralato (INAF-Padova, IT), Anna Marino (INAF-Padova, IT), Davide Massari (INAF-Bologna, IT), Alessandra Mastrobuono-Battisti (University of Padova, IT), Madeleine McKenzie (Carnegie Observatories, US)

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

The study of binary stars is one of the oldest areas of astrophysics. Results from binary stars are fundamental to our understanding of how stars form and evolve, galactic stellar populations, chemical evolution, and the cosmological distance scale. Wide binaries allow us to probe the properties of normal stars, including direct measurements of their masses. Eclipsing binaries are the only stars whose masses and radii can be measured to high precision. Close binaries can be used to study the physics of mass transfer, mass loss, accretion discs and how stars evolve. Binary star evolution is critical to the formation of cataclysmic variables, novae, supernovae, X-ray binaries, millisecond pulsars, gamma-ray bursts and gravitational wave events. Planets are found in binary star systems in both S-type and P-type orbits.

We are now firmly in the space-photometry era, with observations of binary stars available from the WIRE, MOST, BRITE, CoRoT, Kepler, TESS and CHEOPS satellites. In the near future PLATO will offer another leap forward in the quality of photometric data, and binary stars will in turn provide crucial information for the interpretation of the many planetary systems it will find. What legacy of achievements can we attribute to the study of binary systems? What is the current state of this area of astrophysics? What problems are still to be solved? How can we further improve our understanding of normal stars? What new analyses are now possible with Kepler, TESS and CHEOPS data? What more will PLATO allow us to do? How should we prepare? The aim of this conference is to bring together observational and theoretical astrophysicists to critique the past, understand the present, and organise the future of binary star research.

The intended sessions are:

• Space photometry
• Modelling binary systems
• Spectroscopic binaries
• Astrometric binaries / Gaia
• Pulsations in binaries (observations)
• Pulsations in binaries (theory and modelling)
• Benchmark binaries
• Binaries and planets
• Interacting binaries and mergers
• Binary formation
• Binary evolution
• Binary populations
• Comparison to theoretical models
• Looking forward to PLATO

Poojan Agrawal (Leuven, Belgium); Dominic Bowman (Newcastle, UK); Paul Clark (Cardiff, UK); Dariusz Graczyk (CAMK, Toruń, Poland); Kelly Hambleton Prša (Villanova, US); Cole Johnston (Surrey, UK); Krzysztof Hełminiak (NCAC, Toruń, Poland); Pierre Kervella (Paris, France); Nikki Miller (Uppsala, Sweden); Maxwell Moe (Wyoming, US); Andrej Prša (Villanova, US); John Southworth (Keele, UK); Elizabeth Stanway (Warwick, UK); Andrew Tkachenko (Leuven, Belgium)

Scientific Organising Committee (SOC):

John Southworth (Keele University, UK); Conny Aerts (KU Leuven, Belgium) ; Jan Eldridge (University of Auckland, NZ); Kareem El-Badry (California Institute of Technology, US); Pierre Maxted (Keele University, UK); Nikki Miller (University of Uppsala, Sweden)

Local Organising Committee (LOC):

Pierre Maxted (Keele University, UK); John Southworth (Keele University, UK); Barry Smalley (Keele University, UK); Ayush Moharana (Keele University, UK); Steve Overall (Keele University, UK); Lex Griffiths (Keele University, UK)

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, planned to launch in late 2026, will be capable of surveying the sky 1000 times faster than the Hubble Space Telescope with similar sensitivity and resolution. A combination of near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic surveys, designed by Roman's community-defined Core Community Surveys and General Astrophysics Survey programs, will generate unique data-sets and large-area maps of the sky that will catalyze scientific discovery across all of astrophysics. Roman's accurate mapping of stars, galaxies, and galaxy clusters will offer the unique ability to map our Universe, both the seen and the unseen.

This conference aims to focus on the intersection of galaxy formation and evolution with dark matter and dark energy. It will explore the novel research that is possible only with large cosmic surveys and simulations and discuss how the community will be able to optimize scientific output with Roman in the future. Topics of discussion will include, but are not limited to, the expected impacts from Roman observations of galaxy clustering, baryon acoustic oscillations, weak lensing, galaxy clusters, supernova cosmology, stellar streams, and dwarf galaxies. The conference will also strive to foster synergies between contemporaneous experiments to Roman, such as Euclid, Rubin's LSST, DESI, and Simons Observatory. The schedule will feature invited talks, contributed talks, posters, discussion panels, and fun social activities.

Attendance: The workshop will be a hybrid event (in-person and virtual). To maximize engagement, in-person attendance is encouraged for all participants, especially speakers.

SOC

Ami Choi (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Co-Chair), Javier Sanchez (STScI; Co-Chair), Alexandra Amon (Princeton University), Ori Fox (STScI), Konrad Kuijken (Leiden University), Patricia Larsen (Argonne National Laboratory), Lado Samushia (Kansas State University), Yun Wang (Caltech/IPAC), Yuanyuan Zhang (NOIRLab)

LOC

Leslie Beauchamp (STScI), Annalisa Calamida (STScI), Samantha Hoffmann (STScI), Max Mutchler (STScI), Cristina Oliveira (STScI), Melissa Shahbandeh (STScI), Shemiah Smith (STScI)

Further information:

The workshop is intended to be in-person to ease productive discussion and will lead to the publication of conference proceedings.

For additional questions, please see the workshop website.

The International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation is organised every three years under the guidance of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation. It is the principal international meeting for scientists working in all areas of relativity and gravitation.

The Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves is organised every two years under the guidance of the Gravitational Wave International Committee. It is the principal international meeting for scientists working in all areas of gravitational-wave science.

In 2025, the 24th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation (GR24) and the 16th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves (Amaldi16) will be held together as a joint meeting, bringing together experts from across classical and quantum gravity, mathematical and applied relativity, gravitational-wave instrumentation and data-analysis, and multimessenger astronomy.

The GR24-Amaldi Meeting will be held as a primarily in-person event at the Scottish Event Campus, Glasgow. Online resources will be made freely available after the event. Meeting organisation is led by the Institute for Gravitational Research at the University of Glasgow and the Institute of Physics.

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

We are pleased to announce the inaugural open community conference for NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory, to be held at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC, from July 28 - 31, 2025. This milestone event will bring together scientists, engineers, industry and community stakeholders to propel the development of HWO, a mission expected to usher in a new era of astrophysics discovery and address one of humanity's oldest questions "Are we alone?"

The Habitable Worlds Observatory is NASA Astrophysics' next flagship mission, and builds on the heritage of the Hubble, Webb, and Roman Space Telescopes. It will deploy advanced ultraviolet, optical, and infrared technologies to identify potentially habitable worlds and analyze their atmospheres for signs of life. This same technology will empower astronomers to address fundamental, persistent questions in cosmology, galaxy evolution, the origins of elements, and our Solar System's place in the universe.

HWO has made significant progress in the past year, with NASA establishing a dedicated Technology Maturation Project Office at Goddard Space Flight Center, working in close collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ames Research Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center. This initiative advances critical technologies and science cases, and fosters collaboration across government, academia, and industry. Results of HWO working groups will be showcased together with contributions from the global astronomy and engineering communities.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Science:

• Galaxy Growth: Cosmic Web (Intergalactic & Circumgalactic Medium), Active Galactic Nuclei & Black Holes, Galaxy Evolution
• Evolution of the Elements: Stars & Stellar Populations, Star Formation & Interstellar Medium, Cosmic Explosions
• Cosmology: Nature of Dark Matter & Dark Energy, Distance Scale, Hubble Tension
• Planetary Systems: Formation, Evolution, Architectures, Our Solar System, Exoplanet Demographics
• Search for Life: Target Stars & Systems, Biosignatures, Habitability

• Starlight Suppression: Contrast Technology & Methods
• Ultrastable Telescope and Observatory Technology
• Ultraviolet, Optical, & Near-Infrared Instrument Technologies: mirror coatings, gratings, detectors, spectroscopic multiplexing technologies
• L2 Servicing technology and commercial synergies
• Emerging Technologies: photonics, quantum sensing
• Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning for mission development, engineering, science research

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

The High Energy Phenomena in Relativistic Outflows (HEPRO) conferences are a series of biennial meetings devoted to the discussion of the most recent theoretical, phenomenological, and observational developments in the field of high-energy phenomena associated with relativistic winds and jets. Previous editions were held in Dublin (2007), Buenos Aires (2009), Barcelona (2011), Heidelberg (2013), La Plata (2015), Moscow (2017), Barcelona (2019), and Paris (2023).

The HEPRO IX edition will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 4 to August 8, 2025. Some specific topics covered during the meeting will be gamma-ray and neutrino production in relativistic outflows, multi-wavelength jet emission, formation and propagation of relativistic jets on different scales, PeVatron sources, and particle acceleration in various relativistic contexts.

The sessions will be held in "Casa de Rui Barbosa" in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

Binary stars lie at the heart of many key astrophysical phenomena. Various explosive cosmic events result from binary stars, as do close double black holes/neutron stars/white dwarfs, type Ia supernovae, X-ray binaries, millisecond pulsars etc. Relying on existing large scientific facilities, classical optical, radio and X-ray observations are discovering increasingly large numbers of such binary stars. A decade ago, the ground-based LIGO/Virgo detected the merging of two stellar-mass binary black holes, opening a new window in gravitational wave astronomy. In the future, with the support of next-generation astronomical instruments, we shall discover many more binary-related celestial objects. Against this backdrop, we convene this conference, inviting all international observers and theoreticians in the field of stellar science to participate in and exchange recent progress related to binary stars and to look forward to future collaboration and development of new directions for research.

Topics:

• Binary star interactions: from mass transfer to common envelope evolution.
• Supernovae: from progenitor modeling to explosion simulation.
• Gravitational wave sources: from double black holes to white dwarfs.
• Exotic stars: X-ray binaries, binary pulsars, luminous red novae, hot subdwarfs, cataclysmic variables, symbiotic stars, etc.
• Binary population synthesis studies on binary objects.
• Binary star observations from large facilities: Gaia, TESS, LAMOST, JWST, FAST, etc.

Floor Broekgaarden; Xuefei Chen; Hongwei Ge (Chair); Zhanwen Han; Natalia Ivanova; Christopher Adam Tout

Local Organizing Committee:

Hailiang Chen; Hongwei Ge; Yanjun Guo; Wenyan Ji (Secretary); Shi Jia; Dengkai Jiang; Jiangdan Li; Jiao Li; Zhenwei Li; Zhengwei Liu (Chair); Xiangcun Meng; Bo Wang; Jianping Xiong; Lifu Zhang

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

Observations of the local and high-z Universe confirm that star formation is an inherently clumpy and clustered process and, as a consequence, the physical properties of star clusters are expected to be intimately linked with those of their hosts. In particular, the long-lived massive star clusters can be used to trace galaxy assembly and the gas properties at the time of their formation, and they may be one of the primary sources of reionization of the Universe. This field is currently undergoing a revolutionizing phase. Large surveys carried out with ground and space based telescopes (such as Gaia, HST, Euclid, ALMA, ESO/VLT) have enabled unprecedented photometric and spectroscopic studies in the Local Universe and the JWST's access to rest-frame optical wavelengths at z>3 along with the magnification power of gravitational lensing are opening a new era in the study of the star-forming modes well within the reionization epoch allowing us to directly probe star cluster formation and constrain unprecedented/unexpectedly dense stellar systems as possible sites of GC formation.

The formation and evolution of star clusters is inherently a multi-physics and multi-scale problem, involving star formation and feedback, galaxy formation and evolution, N-body dynamics, stellar and binary evolution. As a consequence, the broad range of interconnected issues concerning the study of star clusters and their host galaxies can be addressed only with an interdisciplinary approach.

In this exciting and rapidly changing context, we aim at bringing together observers and theorists from both the local and high-z Universe communities. The goal is to inspire discussions and exchange ideas about how to perform a transformative leap in the field, build a comprehensive picture of star cluster formation and evolution, explore the link between old massive, young star clusters and high-z proto-globular clusters, their connection to galaxy formation and their potential role in the reionization of the Universe. Focus will be given to how efficiently leverage available observations spanning different spatial, temporal and physical scales, along with those that will be soon on-line thanks to the several upcoming new giant facilities (such as E-ELT, Vera Rubin Telescope, Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, GMT), and the new generations of dynamical and cosmological hydro-dynamical simulations at spatial scales suitable to resolve stellar clusters.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

Angela Adamo (Stockholm University); Oscar Gonzalez (STFC UKRI); Sebastian Kamann (Liverpool LJMU); Natalia Lahén (Max Planck Institute); Hui Li (Tsinghua University); Matteo Messa (INAF Bologna); Massimo Ricotti (Maryland University); Elena Sabbi (NOIRLab)

Scientific Organizing Committee:

Emanuele Dalessandro (INAF Bologna; co-Chair); Alison Sills (McMaster University; co-Chair); Mario Cadelano (University of Bologna); Michela Mapelli (Heidelberg University); Florent Renaud (Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg); Eros Vanzella (INAF Bologna); Enrico Vesperini (Indiana University)

Local Organizing Committee:

Emanuele Dalessandro (INAF Bologna); Greta Ettorre (INAF Bologna); Alessandro della Croce (INAF Bologna); Mario Cadelano (University of Bologna); Cristiano Fanelli (INAF Bologna); Silvia Leanza (University of Bologna); Raffaele Pascale (INAF Bologna)

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

The decisive role of massive black holes in galaxy evolution is implied through scaling relations with galaxy properties and observations of ubiquitous nuclear outflows across a wide redshift range. In simulations, accretion onto black holes is a key ingredient in matching observed galaxy mass functions. Recently, the surprisingly high abundance of AGN at z>4 revealed through JWST observations has sparked renewed interest in massive black hole seeding and growth during the first billion years from both observational and theoretical sides.

The conference aims at bringing together researchers studying massive black holes across and beyond the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as theorists and simulators to discuss recent advances in the research of massive black hole growth, evolution, demographics, and impact across cosmic time.

We will focus on the following key themes:

• Observational indicators of massive black holes across cosmic time
• Observational constraints on black hole masses through a variety of techniques and across wavelengths (including stellar dynamics, reverberation mapping, single-epoch virial relations, scaling relations, and gravitational waves)
• Black hole demographics as a function of redshift through simulationsConstraints on massive black hole formation (including seeding models) and growth pathways through theory, and in combination with observations
• Impact of black holes on galaxy evolution evidenced through feedback and scaling relations in observations and simulations

Xiaohui Fan (University of Arizona); Jenny Greene (Princeton University); Sophie Koudmani (Herts/KICC); Roberto Maiolino (KICC, co-chair); Chris Moore (KICC/IoA/DAMPT); Priyamvada Natarajan (Yale University); Debora Sijacki (KICC); Hannah &Ueml;bler (MPE, co-chair)

Local Organising Committee:

Sophie Koudmani(Co-chair); Jan Scholtz(Co-chair); Leah Bigwood; Steve Brereton(admin); Stephanie Buttigieg; Sophia Geris; Lucy Ivey; Xihan Ji; Ignas Juodžbalis; Roberto Maiolino; Eun-jin Shin; Debora Sijacki; Alison Wilson (admin)

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

A working model for outbursts in dwarf novae was proposed by Prof. Yoji Osaki in 1974, which is currently known as the disk instability model. We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the invention of this model by organizing an international workshop.

This workshop aims to review the history of the development of the disk instability model, understand the essential physics, and share the latest research results with participants.

We hope that this workshop will help young researchers set the direction for future research. Also, this workshop will provide smooth communication between senior leading researchers and young researchers & students.

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

MMC2025: Multi-phase, Multi-temperature, and Complex. How Feedback Shapes the Nature of the CGM, Halo Gas, and Galaxies from Galaxy Groups to Clusters

The mechanisms driving galaxy evolution — AGN and stellar feedback — remain central to our understanding of how baryons are redistributed in collapsed structures. Despite significant progress, our theoretical models continue to diverge, particularly when predicting the gas content and star formation activity in low-mass halos, the circum-galactic medium (CGM), and the evolution of central galaxies across different environments. Feedback processes, in particular, play a critical role, with varying effects depending on the scale of the system, from individual galaxies in low-mass halos to massive galaxy clusters.

MMC2025 will bring together experts to address these challenges, focusing on the latest observational results and state-of-the-art hydrodynamic simulations. We will explore the multi-phase, multi-temperature nature of the CGM and its complex interplay with AGN feedback, gas inflow, and star formation across diverse environments —from bright clusters at high redshifts to low-mass halos. The workshop will highlight key observational datasets, including X-ray, SZ, and IFU data, as well as advancements in radio and submillimeter observations, offering fresh insights into the gas and feedback processes shaping galaxies.

Join us in Olbia, Italy, to discuss how these feedback mechanisms drive the evolution of galaxies and clusters, with a special focus on the role of AGN feedback in low-mass halos and its effect on gas content and star formation. MMC2025 will be a unique opportunity to combine cutting-edge observational data with theoretical models to advance our understanding of large-scale structure and galaxy formation and evolution.

We look forward to your participation in this exciting scientific event!

SOC:

Paola Popesso (chair); Ilaria Marini; Marcella Brusa; Dylan Nelson; Klaus Dolag; Paolo Tozzi; Stefano Ettori; Esra Bulbul; Veronica Biffi; Veronica Strazzullo; Eleonora Sani; Silvia Bonoli; Lorenzo Lovisari; Celine Peroux; Celine Gouin; Fabio Gastaldello

LOC:

Ilaria Marini; Paola Popesso; Denisa Tako; Victoria Toptun; Natan de Isidio; Daudi Mazengo

For additional questions, please see the conference website.

*** SAVE THE DATE ***

We are pleased to announce the 4th TDAMM Workshop: Advancing Community Observing Plans for Rapid Follow-Up of Explosive Transients will be held October 27-30, 2025 in Huntsville, Alabama.

NASA's new Astrophysics Cross-Observatory Science Support (ACROSS) initiative is organizing the 4th Time Domain and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (TDAMM) Workshop. This workshop will focus on developing community observing plans to enable the rapid and coordinated follow-up of explosive transients by space-based and ground-based observatories. NASA invites US and international members of the ground and space science communities to attend the workshop and contribute to its final product, a publicly available white paper with findings for relevant agencies and the broader astrophysics community.

If you are interested in attending and/or would like to be on our email list to receive further updates please fill out the following Google form here.

Please visit the website for additional information.

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are among the most dynamic and powerful sources in the universe, powered by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) through mass accretion. The accretion rate influences many AGN properties, with high accretion rates playing a key role in growing black holes and launching outflows that may shape the host galaxy's growth. Highly accreting AGN, particularly at low redshift, offer a benchmark to understand the rapid growth of the first SMBHs in the early Universe, which remains a mystery to be solved.

Significant theoretical and observational advancements have been made in understanding fast-accreting systems, thanks to long-running observatories like VLT, ALMA, JVLA, Chandra, XMM, HST, and NuSTAR, as well as the recently launched JWST, Euclid, and IXPE. With the first light of the ELT on the horizon and the recent results from JWST on the growth of SMBH at high redshift, now is the ideal time to convene and share insights on highly accreting SMBHs. The workshop will gather astronomers to summarize the field's current status, bridging the accretion history from the early to the local Universe, and explore the mechanisms driving their growth and impact on the Universe.

This workshop will focus on the following key themes:

• NLS1s and other low-z highly accreting AGN and their cosmological implications;
• Outflows, jets, feedback in highly accreting sources from the nearby Universe to cosmic dawn;
• Surrounding environment and host galaxy properties of highly accreting AGN at all epochs;
• Theoretical and observational advances in the nuclear properties of extreme accreting AGN from low-z to high-z;
• Changing-look, tidal disruption event and their implication in changing the accretion state of AGN;
• Recent progress in the study of QSOs at high-z and AGN evolution;
• Recent observations with state-of-the-art facilities (JWST, ALMA, XMM-Newton), future observations with new facilities (Vera Rubin, Athena, ELT, SKA, 4MOST, AXIS, PRIMA), theoretical modeling and AI.

For additional questions, please email to agn2025_loc[AT]eso[DOT]org or check out the conference website.