An international meeting of experts in X-ray astronomy - AXRO 2024 - will take place in Prague from 11 to 15 November 2024 with the participation of world leaders in the field. The aim of the meeting is, among other things, to discuss the latest technologies for future X-ray satellites.
Organizers of the AXRO working meeting (International Workshop on Astronomical X-Ray Optics) are the Institute of Astronomy of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague. The international meeting will take place in Prague's Villa Lanna. The conference will be attended by 47 experts from seven countries - Europe and the USA, and this year also with a strong representation of scientists from China, who will present preliminary results of the very successful Einstein Probe satellite mission launched this year. The scientists will give 37 oral presentations and present 7 posters.
A list of all participating experts can be found in the overview at https://axro.cz/index.php/conference/participants/. The conference is intended for representatives of research organisations as well as innovative companies. The link between science and industry is one of the themes of the conference.
European Space Agency (ESA) science missions will be consulted at the conference, in several cases with the participation of teams from the Czech Republic, including the Institute of Astronomy of the CAS - e.g. the upcoming ATHENA and THESEUS space missions. Detailed programme is available on the conference website https://axro.cz/. Abstracts of individual contributions are available at https://axro.cz/index.php/conference/list-of-abstracts/.
Extending the observational window to the universe to include the X-ray spectrum has in the past provided crucial insights into the processes in the Universe, especially those where matter is exposed to extreme conditions, such as in the vicinity of giant black holes. In particular, intense X-rays are produced by systems in which matter is streaming towards a neutron star, a black hole or a white dwarf. In the distant Universe (i.e. in other galaxies), these are often objects in which a so-called gamma-ray burst (i.e. a special kind of supernova or collision of two compact objects) is taking place. Another type of X-ray source is active galactic nuclei.
The development of X-ray cosmic optics has a long tradition in the Czech Republic and Czech scientists have achieved internationally recognised results in this field. The first Czech astronomical X-ray lens was produced in 1970 - it was a 50 mm diameter optic for imaging the Sun in X-rays from the Vertikal high-altitude rocket. The AXRO conference, always held in Prague at the end of the year, has a long tradition, this year's edition is already the fifteenth, it ranks among the globally respected events and meetings of top experts in the field and demonstrates the international recognition and renown of Czech scientists from the Astronomical Institute of the CAS in the field of high energy astrophysics.
(for)/ gnews - RoZ
