XMM-Newton-NEWS


Final Announcement,    12-May-2008

The X-ray Universe 2008

Granada, Spain
27-30 May 2008

Organised by the
European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
of the
European Space Agency (ESA)



Conference update

This XMM-News contains important practical information for participants of the conference "The X-ray Universe 2008".

The conference web site has been updated so please check:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/2008-symposium/



Contents


Last-Minute Presentations

The Scientific Organising Committee will welcome submissions of abstracts for presentations of important results on the topics of this conference that have emerged or culminated during the last few months and that therefore could not be submitted in the general call for abstracts that closed early March. For this purpose a few slots have been reserved in the current science programme of the conference. Participants willing to apply for one of these last-minute presentations, should send the corresponding information (title, author, affiliation & abstract) to the Local Organizers at   xru2008@sciops.esa.int   *before May 19th*.

Practical Information

Info on how to reach Granada is available at the conference web site under section: Practical Information. A map of Granada with the hotels and the Conference Centre is available at http://www.congrex.nl/08a13.

At the Conference Centre, participants with their own wireless PC cards can connect to the Internet in all meeting rooms. In addition, we will set up a number of workstations to allow every participant access to the WWW.

Participants with a need for a separate meeting room are welcome to contact us and suggest an informal or ad hoc meeting ('by invitation only' or 'open to all').

Please note that the Conference Centre does not prepare any dinner. There are many nice restaurants within easy walking distance (most of them will only open after 21:00 for dinner).

Programme

The provisional scientific programme including a list of posters is available at the conference web site under section: Programme. Authors are invited to notify us of any errors, omissions or other problems. Updates to the programme will be published on the web.

The abstract booklet is available as a pdf file from the same page. Your conference bag will contain a printed hard-copy version of this booklet. Note that the booklet reflects the status of abstracts received as of April 21. Late submissions and modifications will be distributed as an addendum.

There will not be proceedings of this conference. We invite all participants to provide us with their oral or poster contributions in electronic format (pdf preferred) during the conference. The contributions will be made available online at the conference web site.

Registration and welcome reception

On Monday afternoon participants can register at the Conference Centre between 18:00 and 20:00. From 18:30 onwards a Welcome Reception, with snacks and drinks, will take place there as well. On Tuesday morning you can register from 8:30 onwards. The conference will start at 10:00.

Info for oral presenters

Video projectors for computer-aided presentations (such as PowerPoint or a web browser) will be available. You should bring your presentation on USB drive or CD-ROM. Windows and Mac computers will be provided in each conference room, but we cannot guarantee that all presentation formats will work. The computers will have installed Windows XP + Microsoft Office 2000/XP or Leopard + iWork.

Fewer problems can be expected using Powerpoint, Keynote and pdf. Though formatting problems may occur if font incompatibilities arise. Note that there could be significant problems with your presentation if it has been prepared in OpenOffice under unix, due to incompatibility with Windows etc. For all presentations with embedded animations and videos, if these are being picked up from local disk, they will of course have to have been copied over. We hope to catch most details if talks are delivered in advance and checked before the presentation. We need to have your presentation latest at the start of the break immediately before the session when you give your talk.

So when you arrive at the conference, please contact a member of the Local Organising Committee *well in advance* of your session in order to go over the details of your presentation.

If you plan to show transparencies during your presentation, please advise the Local Organising Committee some days in advance.

Standard contributed talks will have a duration of 12 minutes plus 5 minutes for discussions. In addition, there will be a few long contributed talks of 25 minutes plus 10 minutes for discussions. Time available for invited talks will be of 25 minutes plus 10 minutes for discussions.

Info for poster presenters

The poster panels can accommodate 90 x 190 cm (portrait orientation) or smaller posters. A list of accepted posters together with a number to identify their location in the poster presentation room will be available when registering. Posters can be mounted Tuesday morning. During the breaks there will be ample time for poster viewing.

Social events

In addition to the welcome cocktail mentioned above (see Registration), there will be a conference dinner and a visit to the Alhambra.

The Conference dinner will be held on the 28th of May at the "Carmen de los Martires" Palace. Bus transport will be provided from the city centre to the Palace and back after the dinner.

There will be two guided visits to the Alhambra of Granada, the first on the 27th of May and the second on the 29th of May. Bus transport will be provided from the city centre to the Alhambra and back after the visit. Tickets for the visit of the 29th of May are now sold out but a small number of tickets is still available for the 27th of May.




We very much look forward to seeing you all in Granada!


On behalf of the SOC and LOC

Contact

ESA Conference Bureau
P.O. Box 299
2200 AG Noordwijk
The Netherlands

Phone   +31 71 565 5005
Fax       +31 71 565 5658
E-mail    esa.conference.bureau@esa.int

Conference web page:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/2008-symposium/

E-mail:

xru2008@sciops.esa.int for questions related to the scientific organisation and abstract submission

esa.conference.bureau@esa.int for all other questions