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The next-generation Very Large Array: Project Summary and Update

Sede A. Riccò Via Santa Sofia 78, Catania

Inspired by dramatic discoveries from the Jansky VLA, VLBA, and ALMA, a large collecting area radio interferometer that will open new discovery space from proto-planetary disks to distant galaxies is being designed by the U.S. National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the broad scientific and technical communities. The next-generation VLA (ngVLA), which was strongly endorsed by the Astro2020 Decadal Survey as an essential research facility whose construction should begin this decade, is envisaged as an interferometric array with ten times greater sensitivity and spatial resolution than the current VLA and ALMA, operating in the frequency range of 1.2 - 116 GHz. Replacing both the VLA and VLBA, the ngVLA will be optimized for observations in the spectral region between the superb performance of ALMA at mm and sub-mm wavelengths, and the future Phase I Square Kilometer Array (SKA-1) at decimeter-scale and longer wavelengths. As such, the ngVLA will uniquely tackle a broad range of outstanding scientific questions in modern astronomy by simultaneously delivering the capability to: unveil the formation of Solar System analogues on terrestrial scales; probe the initial conditions for planetary systems and life with astrochemistry; characterize the assembly, structure, and evolution of galaxies from the first billion years to the present; use pulsars in the Galactic center as fundamental tests of gravity; and understand the formation and evolution of stellar and supermassive blackholes in the era of multi-messenger astronomy. In this presentation, I will provide a project update and discuss the overall science case that led to the current technical design of the ngVLA.

Stregati dalla Luna

Cortile Platamone via Vittorio Emanuele II, 121, Catania, Italy

In occasione della Notte della Luna 2025, vi invitiamo a partecipare all'iniziativa "Stregati dalla Luna", che si svolgerà sabato 4 ottobre presso il Museo Diocesano di Catania.
L'organizzazione è curata dall'Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), dal Comitato Italiano per il Controllo delle Affermazioni sulle Pseudoscienze (CICAP) e dal Gruppo Astrofili Catanesi (GAC).

Asteroseismic and spectroscopic study of NGC1647

Sede A. Riccò Via Santa Sofia 78, Catania

NGC1647 is a poorly studied open cluster, with considerable discrepancies in age reported in previous works. To improve the precision of its characterization, we applied HDBSCAN clustering in astrometric space, complemented by radial-velocity filtering, and identified 271 high-confidence cluster members. I will show as isochrone fitting to extinction-corrected photometry can provide a preliminary cluster age range. From TESS and K2 time-series photometry, we identified 95 periodic variables, including nine p-mode pulsators. By fitting stellar evolutionary models to these p-mode pulsators, we derived "asteroseismic" cluster parameters, Age and Metallicity. The seismic metallicity is consistent with spectroscopic estimates, while the derived age exhibits significantly higher precision than traditional isochrone-based results. Moreover, we analyzed LAMOST spectra using the ROTFIT tool and performed SED fitting to determine cluster extinction and conduct gyrochronology studies. This combined approach provides a refined benchmark for the fundamental parameters of NGC1647.