The Sixth International Conference On The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena

5 May 2009

The Sixth International Conference On The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena

celebrating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first astronomical uses of the telescope

Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti

Dipartimento di Astronomia, Universita` di Padova

INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova

Specola Vaticana

sponsored by

Universita` di Padova

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica

Agenzia Spaziale Italiana

Comitato nazionale per le celebrazioni galileiane 2009-2010

Societa` Astronomica Italiana

Venezia (Italy), October 18-23, 2009

http://www.astro.unipd.it/insap6/

The Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, the Astronomy Department of Padua University, the INAF-Padua Astronomical Observatory, and the Vatican Observatory are jointly organizing the sixth international conference on "The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena" (INSAP) to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first astronomical uses of the telescope.

The Conference will be held on October 18-23, 2009 at Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, Italy. The Conference venue is one of the premises of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. It faces onto the Grand Canal and it is surrounded by a garden.

The Conference will explore humanity's fascination with the sky, which has been a strong and often dominant element in the human life and culture. It provides a meeting place for scholars from a variety of disciplines and artists to present and discuss their studies on the cultural impact and inspirations of astronomical phenomena. The list of topics discussed in the previous INSAP conferences is available at the INSAP web site http://www.insap.org/insap/

The first day of the Venice Conference will be devoted to Galilean contributions.

ATTENDANCE: The attendance will necessarily be limited to 170 participants. We suggest that interested individuals register as soon as possible. The form for the registration and submission of the abstracts for the oral and poster contributions is available at http://www.astro.unipd.it/insap6/registration.html

REGISTRATION FEE: The registration fee 350 EUR if the payment is made from 15 February 2009 to 15 June 2009 and 400 EUR if the payment is made from 16 June 2009 to 15 September 2009. It includes the welcome party, four lunches, nine coffee breaks, abstract booklet, conference proceedings, and a bronze medal especially produced by the Padua University to celebrate Galileo and the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

We are considering a reduced fee for the participants not attending the full Conference. Please contact insap6.astro@unipd.it for details.

Payment of the registration fee can be done online via the "Payment Services" page of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. This page is linked from the page http://astro.unipd.it/insap6/registration.html of the Conference website where all the details about payment are given.

INVITATION LETTER: To receive an invitation letter please send an e-mail to the Conference address: insap6.astro@unipd.it

PROCEEDINGS: We are negotiating with the Memorie della Societa`Astronomica Italiana to publish the Conference proceedings in their main Journal.

INFORMATION: Full information on the participants, scientific programme, venue, and transport will be available on the Conference web site http://www.astro.unipd.it/insap6/

ACCOMMODATION: Venice is one of most beautiful and attractive cities in the world. We recommend you to make directly your own hotel reservation, taking into account that for not expensive accommodations well-advanced booking is suggested. A list of some hotels close to the Conference venue and general web sites for hotels in Venice is available at http://www.astro.unipd.it/insap6/accommodation.html

Accommodations can be also booked through the following travel agent:

Destination Venice

by Venice Receptive Service Srl

Campo San Luca, San Marco 4590

30124 Venezia (Italy)

Tel: +39-041-5283547

Fax: +39-041-5203236

E-mail: roberto.boem@destination-venice.com

Web site: www.destination-venice.com

Art exhibitions in Venice can be arranged by contacting directly the travel agent. Please mention that you are going to attend the conference to be held in October at the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.

The previous INSAP conferences took place in 1994 in a retreat at Rocca di Papa in Italy, near the Vatican Observatory, in 1999 at the International Office of the University of Malta, in 2001 at the Palermo Observatory in Italy, in 2003 at the Oxford University, and in 2005 at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago.

Details about these conferences are available at http://www.insap.org/insap/

We are looking forward to meeting you in Venice.

Francesco Bertola and Enrico Maria Corsini

SOC Co-Chairs

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INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

F. Bertola (IVSLA, Venezia, Italy),

M. Bolt (Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, USA),

N. Campion (University of Wales, Lampeter, UK),

G. V. Coyne, S. J. (Specola Vaticana, Vatican City),

C. Impey (University of Arizona, Tucson, USA),

R. P. Olowin (St. Mary's College, Moraga, USA),