4MOST All Hands Meeting 2015

by Joe Liske on 2015-07-15

Location: Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK

Dates: 28 Sept - 2 Oct 2015

The 4MOST facility, providing a massively multiplexed optical spectroscopy capability for the European Southern Observatory's VISTA telescope, is now in the design phase, with on sky survey's planned to commence in 2021. 4MOST will carry out a number of significant and transformational spectroscopic survey's which will enable significant advances in our understanding of our cosmos, from the evolution and structure of our Milky Way, to the growth of structure and evolution of the distant Universe.

This first 'All Hands Meeting' of the 4MOST consortium, will bring together those working to define, construct, operate and scientifically exploit the 4MOST Facility. This includes the scientists from the large number of institutes involved in defining the ground breaking consortium science survey's, the applications specialists involved in the infrastructure groups, and the engineers, managers and scientists responsible for the delivery of the 4MOST Facility. All consortium members and prospective consortium members are invited to attend.

The meeting will take place over five days. The first day will focus on the key science topics to be addressed by the 4MOST Project, together with a description of the 4MOST Facility. The following days will be devoted to plenary and parallel sessions involving the survey and infrastructure working groups, the operational model for 4MOST, interface discussions between the different engineering, operations, and science subsystems, planning meetings of management and oversight bodies, and in general preparation for PDR. The last day (closing by 2pm) will enable feedback from the various parallel sessions and a look ahead to the next development period of 4MOST.

All involved with 4MOST are encouraged to reserve these dates and aim to attend. Registration and payment of the £100 registration fee are arranged through the 4MOST wiki page at http://wiki.4most.eu/all-hands-meeting-2015 (please contact Diana Johl djohl@aip.de in case you have no wiki access and are (prospective) Consortium member). Here you will also find details about accommodation and travel, and a preliminary meeting agenda.

Looking forward to seeing you all in Cambridge in September 2015.