The international community of researchers who study pulsating stars will gather at Los Alamos National Laboratory from June 16 to 20. The conference, with participants from about 25 countries, will include discussions over evidence of stars with orbiting planets and presentations on new astronomical techniques leading to the discovery of thousands of pulsating stars. The conference is not open to the public.
Stars can pulsate in brightness, temperature, size and other ways.
Studying them helps researchers understand more about their life cycle and their place in the evolution of the cosmos. The sun's pulsations have revealed new details of its interior structure. Robert Stobie of South Africa, the scientific chairman for the event, will provide an overview of conference highlights. Doug Welch of McMaster University, Canada, will discuss new observational techniques for identifying pulsating stars. Joyce Guzik, conference organizer and specialist in helio- and asteroseismology and Arthur Cox, conference founder, also will be available to answer questions from the press.