RAS Bulletin, November 2017 

•	Specialist Discussion Meeting – 10th November
•	RAS Public Lecture: Cassini – The Grand Finale 14th November
•	BBC’s "Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?" – RAS Fellow wins
•	iCubeSat 2018 - the 7th Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop, Paris.
•	Library update
•	RAS Job List
•	Friends of the RAS
•	Notes for Fellows

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RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting  - 10th November

Solar Orbiter: Synergy between Observation and Theory
10:30–15:30 in the Royal Astronomical Society Lecture Theatre, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BQ
Organisers: Duncan Mackay (St. Andrews)
                       Andrzej Fludra (RAL)
                       Louise Harra (MSSL)
                       Tim Horbury (Imperial)
                       Chris Owen (MSSL)

The Initial Mass Function, from Top to Bottom
10:30–15:30 in the Geological Society Lecture Theatre, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG
Organisers: R.J. Smith (Durham)
                        R.L. Davies (Oxford)
                        I. Ferreras (UCL)
                        C. Maraston (Portsmouth)
                        D. Thomas (Portsmouth)

More information can be found on our website: http://www.ras.org.uk/events-and-meetings 

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RAS Public Lecture: Cassini - The Grand Finale– Tue 14TH November

On 15 September 2017, after almost 20 years in space, NASA's Cassini spacecraft plunged into Saturn's atmosphere, sending back new and unique science and completing the end of its remarkable story of exploration: its Grand Finale.

In this lecture, Professor Dougherty will share some of the highlights from the Cassini mission and look at what we have learnt, and hope to learn, from the last six months of the mission when Cassini undertook a daring set of 22 orbits diving between the planet and its icy rings, exploring this unique region for this first time. Professor Dougherty will also explain why it was necessary for Cassini to have such a spectacular end to its mission.

The Geological Society, Burlington House,LONDON,W1J 0BG 13:00 – 14:00

The Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House,LONDON,W1J 0BQ 18:00 - 19:00 (booking required)
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BBC’s "Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?" 

The RAS congratulates Fellow Dr Suzie Imber, who has been announced as the winner of the BBC show, "Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?". The results were broadcast on Sunday 1 October, when it was revealed that Suzie had emerged from a line-up of 12 people as the one who has the best qualities to be an astronaut.

The candidates were put through a series of gruelling tests by a team headed by former Commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield. The challenges were designed to test the candidates' ability to cope with a variety of mentally stressful and physically tough situations.

Suzie has been a member of the Royal Astronomical Society since May 2012. She is currently an Associate Professor in Space Physics at the University of Leicester, where she conducts research into the magnetosphere of Mercury. Winning the show means that she will now receive a recommendation to join the European Space Agency.
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Call for nominations: PhD thesis prizes 2017

Each year the RAS recognises the best PhD theses in astronomy and geophysics completed in the UK. The deadline to nominate theses completed during 2017 is 31 January 2018.

Three prizes are available: the Michael Penston prize for astronomy, the Keith Runcorn prize for geophysics, and the Patricia Tomkins prize for instrumentation science in either astronomy or geophysics. The winners receive £1000 and an invitation to present the results of their thesis at a meeting of the RAS. The Michael Penston prize and Keith Runcorn prize runners up will receive £50 book tokens. The Patricia Tomkins prize is sponsored by the Patricia Tomkins Foundation.

Nominees must have completed their PhD (viva held and all corrections completed) at a UK university during 2017. For more details and to submit a nomination, see the pages on each prize:

•	The Michael Penston prize, for theses in astronomy and astrophysics, including cosmology, astrobiology etc.
•	The Keith Runcorn prize, for theses in geophysics, including seismology, solar physics, planetary science etc.
•	Patricia Tomkins thesis prize for theses in instrumentation science for astronomy and geophysics - while the support is aimed at developing skills in scientific hardware such as electronics, detectors and optics, the development of novel software specific to a hardware project will also be considered.
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iCubeSat 2018 - the 7th Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop, Paris.

iCubeSat 2018, the 7th Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop, will address the technical challenges, opportunities, and practicalities of interplanetary space exploration with CubeSats. The workshop provides a unique environment for open wide ranging practical collaboration between academic researchers, industry professionals, policy makers and students developing this new and rapidly growing field. The full call for papers and presentations from previous workshops at Caltech, Cornell, Imperial, MIT, Oxford and Cambridge can be found at www.iCubeSat.org

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Library update

Many new titles have been added to the Library over the summer. All new books are displayed under the 'What's new' tab on the Library catalogue http://royast.cirqahosting.com/HeritageScripts/Hapi.dll/search1?SearchPage=srchgen.htm 

We have also updated the list of duplicate books available to Fellows: http://royast.cirqahosting.com/HeritageScripts/Hapi.dll/DisplayWidgets?Widget1=LibraryNewsFull&PageName=Widget1.htm#LN0001 

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RAS JOB LIST

The RAS Jobs List service provides email alerts for new posts for jobseekers, together with an online archive of previous mailings. For advertisers, it provides a free, moderated distribution service. Anyone can post or subscribe to the list. 

For further information visit:
http://www.ras.org.uk/education-and-careers/208-miscellaneous/221-jobslist
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FRIENDS OF THE RAS

If you know someone interested in astronomy that enjoys attending popular lectures and social events why not tell them about the 'Friends of the RAS'? 

See: http://friends.ras.org.uk/
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NOTES FOR FELLOWS

You can now look at minutes of RAS Council meetings:
http://www.ras.org.uk/about-the-ras/council 

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