The Opening of JENAM 2009

So, I am again at another conference. This time however, it is one of a slightly different slant away from my main-stream space, solar, and heliospheric science relations to that of overall astronomy. Although, this conference does hold its fair share of such fields through a set of joint conference groups rolled into one. Yes, it’s none other than the Joint European National Astronomy Meeting (JENAM) here at the University of Hertfordshire, in England, GB. It’s actually on the de Havilland campus in Hatfield where everything is taking place. This also includes the British Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) National Astronomy Meeting (NAM), the United Kingdom Solar Physics (UKSP) meeting, and the Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial (MIST) meeting in which I am co-organiser of a joint session on heliospheres and astrospheres; and overall is part of the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) and the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009…

The pre-conference activities started a few hours ago with registration and a buffet meal which included plenty of wine and beer. This was closely followed by some music, yes live music at an astronomy conference, and better yet, comedy entertainment tied into astronomy! Now, how could that have happened? With some stories of early astronomy and special character voices provided by Jon Culshaw (from Dead Ringers) which included those voices of the previous GB Prime Minister Tony Blair and previous US President George W. Bush (all of which were very comical), and narration by Dr. Robert Priddey and Alice Williamson; we had a musical performance by the Aylwyn String Quartet, Philip Meade on Piano, and Alice Williamson on Clarinet of various pieces of astronomy and mathematically tied music by Joseph Haydn, William Herschel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and some others. All taking part on the basis of “What has music to do with astronomy? A talk plus recital recounting their curious relationship, from the euphonious universe of the Pythagoreans to Haydn’s chaos of cosmic creation.”

With such an opening and over 1000 mixed-astronomy related scientists, it bodes well for a very interesting week here in Hatfield…

As an addition, this confernence is also being covered by Mike Peel.