[MODEST] MODEST 15

[Michael Fellhauer]

Dear all

Sorry if you get this e-mail again but I was asked to post it as well 
to the official MODEST mailing list. Maybe, if answering this e-mail 
again (or for the first time) you could let us know as well, what 
months would suit you best to have the conference. As a quick 
reminder: summer in Chile is December to March.

We, the theory group in Concepcion, Chile, would like to host the
MODEST 15 conference.  But before we announce this or take more
official steps in organising the meeting, we would like to have some
feedback from the MODEST community.  We would like to know if you
would be willing to travel to Chile for this conference. 

So please spend a minute of your time and reply to this e-mail if you
would consider to take part in the MODEST 15 conference if this
conference would take place in Chile.  This is not a fixed
registration, although we would put you in the e-mail list of possible 
announcement recipients. 

This was the important part to read, from now on it is advertisement
for Chile.

Chile is country best known in astronomy for its clear skies and many
of the largest telescopes in the world.  (Otherwise, it is known for
its wine, copper, fish, and wood industry.)  What is mainly unknown to
the rest of the world is that the government of Chile declared
astronomy as one of the key sciences of the country.  So a lot of
funding is channeled into astronomy and the astronomical community in 
Chile is constantly growing.  This is also true for theoretical
astronomy.  All mayor universities have now astronomy departments and
at least one or more senior scientist in theory.

We think that this makes Chile an ideal place to host the next MODEST
conference as, in recent years, the acronym changed inofficially from
"Modeling dense stellar systems" into "Modeling and observing dense
stellar systems".  A lot of observational groups in Chile are working
in the field of star clusters.

Concepcion is the second largest city in Chile and just an one hour
plane ride from Santiago (or 5-6 hours in a luxurious bus).  The
university of Concepcion (UdeC) is the third most important university
in Chile (after Universidad Chile and Catolica, both in Santiago) with
a growing astronomy department.  It is said that our university has
the nicest campus at least in Chile if not more.  The university is
located in the central part of the city and is in walking distance
from all hotels in the city centre.  Concepcion is located 10 km
inland from the Pacific and beaches are easily reached with public
transport. 

If you come to Chile, I would recommend to plan to stay for a couple
of weeks more.  Chile is an amazing country which spans 5,000 km from
the North, with the Atacama desert, to the South (Patagonia and
Antarctica).  From Santiago it is possible to organise trips to the
North and South and from Concepcion you can easily reach Patagonia via
plane or bus.  At the same time Chile is only about 200 km wide so
with a 2 hours bus ride you can travel from ski resorts in the Andes
to the beaches of the Pacific. 
Things to do (by far not complete):
- visit Geysers at over 4,000 m altitude (Atacama)
- walk the surface of Mars (Atacama)
- climb an active volcano (e.g. Pucon)
- relax in hot springs (all over Chile)
- cool your drink with ice scraped directly from glaciers (South)
- watch penguins (South) or Llamas (Andes)
- eat excellent meat (everywhere)
- eat sea food in all varieties (all along the coast)
- make wine tastings (e.g. Valle de Colchagua)
- have a good selection of micro-breweries (everywhere)
AND:
- enjoy the amazing night sky of the Southern Hemisphere !!!

Hope to see you all in 2015

Michael Fellhauer

-- 
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In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, 
men were REAL men, women were REAL women, and small furry 
creatures from Alpha Centauri were REAL small furry creatures 
from Alpha Centauri.
			- Zaphod Beeblebrox -
 
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 Dr. rer. nat. Michael Fellhauer
 profesor asociado / associate professor

 work:

 Departamento de Astronomia
 Universidad de Concepcion
 Casilla 160-C
 Concepcion
 Chile

 office: A-612

 phone : + 56 - (0) 41 - 220 3438
 fax   : + 56 - (0) 41 - 224 4520

 e-mail: mfellhauer at astro-udec.cl

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 private:

 Edificio Vista Verde
 Depto. 1907
 Chacabuco 1140
 Concepcion
 Chile

 phone : + 56 - (0) 41 - 31 76 775
 mobile: + 56 - (0) 9 - 828 401 28
 mobile: + 49 - (0) 172 - 613 5202 (German mobile)

 e-mail: m_fellhauer at gmx.de
 skype : mikefellhauer

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 `You know they've reintroduced the death penalty for insurance 
  company directors?' 
 `Really?' said Arthur. `No I didn't. For what offence?'
 Trillian frowned.
 `What do you mean, offence?'
 `I see.'

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