First NCAC Symposium on "Physical and chemical aspects of late stages of stellar evolution" Warsaw, Poland 29 August - 01 September, 2011 Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce the 1st NCAC (Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center) Symposium which will be dedicated to physical and chemical aspects of late stages of stellar evolution. The proposed program is aimed at the most important discoveries and future prospects resulting from the recent space missions as well as ground based projects related to the late stages of stellar evolution in Milky Way and the Local Group of Galaxies, especially of low and intermediate-mass stars. In particular, the topics we would like to discuss are: - Circumstellar molecules and dust in evolved stars - Chemical composition of evolved stars and their environments - Pulsations and their effect on dust formation and mass loss - Red giant stars in interacting binaries - Post-AGB stars The program is still open and will be established by the SOC after receiving titles and short abstracts from the participants (see below). The conference is also intended to honour prof. Alain Omont to whom the NCAC medal will be presented in recognition of his great involvement in establishing the Polish-French collaboration in astrophysics and of his outstanding scientific achievements in many fields of astrophysics. ORGANIZATION The conference is organized by the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center. It will be limited to about 50 participants. We plan to have no more than 30-40 presentations (invited review talks and contributions) divided into 6 sessions, and plenty of time for discussions. Poster presentations will be also possible. The Scientific Organising Committe (SOC): Valentin Bujarrabal (Spain), Romano Corradi (Spain), Joanna Mikolajewska (co-Chair, Poland), Philipp Podsiadlowski (UK), Igor Soszynski (Poland), Grazyna Stasinska (France), Ryszard Szczerba (co-Chair, Poland), Patricia Whitelock (South Africa), Han van Winckel (Belgium) The Local Organizing Committee (LOC): J. Mikolajewska, R. Szczerba, N. Siodmiak CONFERENCE SITE AND ACCOMMODATION The conference will take place at the NCAC in Warsaw (www link will be activated soon at: http://www.ncac.torun.pl/ncac_symp). For the attendees looking for a budget accommodation there will be limited number of single (~100 PLN/night) and double (~70 PLN/night/person) hotel rooms at the NCAC hotel and nearby Space Research Center (SRC). There are also many good (and more expensive) hotels downtown, and several can be easily found in the region within 20-min by bus. The closest is Hyatt Regency (5-star, single rooms from 280 PLN), ~7 min by bus #167, and Sheraton (5-star, single rooms from 300 PLN) and any other hotels near Plac Trzech Krzyzy, ~15 min by bus #108. Please make reservation by yourself using e.g. http://www.booking.com/city/pl/warsaw.html If it is difficult to find accommodations you like, please feel free to contact us (ncac_symp@ncac.torun.pl). PLEASE NOTE: 1 EUR is about 4 PLN REGISTRATION Registration fee is 100 euro, which should be paid at the meeting reception by cash. It includes the abstract book, welcome reception, coffee/tea/refreshments and banquet. We will charge 30 euro registration fee for accompanying persons. In order to help the organization, we ask you to fill in and submit the accompanying registration form, before APRIL 30, 2011. The data from these forms will be used to elaborate a preliminary programme and to arrange accommodations at the NCAC and SRC hotels. We encourage you to send it as soon as possible, since we plan to have a limited number of participants, and not all can be accommodated in our hotels. FINANCIAL SUPPORT We have some financial support from the Polish-French collaboration programme to organize this conference, and to help the participants who are short of funding. Those applying for such financial assistance should fill in and submit the registration form before APRIL 15, 2011, accompanied by an email to explain why they need help, and in the case of students e-mailed support from their supervisors may also be useful. Please distribute this announcement to your colleagues. We are looking forward to your participation. Joanna Mikolajewska & Ryszard Szczerba on behalf of the SOC and LOC ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- REGISTRATION FORM Submission deadline: April 30, 2011 I plan to attend the conference Full Name (Last name, First name): Affiliation: E-mail: Phone/FAX Do you wish to present a contribution? (yes/no) (oral/poster) Please, provide a tentative title & abstract (max. 150 words): Number of accompanying persons. Room requested at the NCAC/SRC: single (yes/no) double (yes/no; shared with ...) Additional comments (e.g. request for the finantial support): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please, fill the form and send it by email to: ncac_symp@ncac.torun.pl CONTACT ADDRESS: Copernicus Astronomical Center Bartycka 18 00-716 Warsaw, Poland attn. J. Mikolajewska E-mail: mikolaj@camk.edu.pl / ncac_symp@ncac.torun.pl FAX: 48 22 8410046