The Massive Star Newsletter


Frequently asked questions

Goals

The field of Massive Star research is developing very fast, with new and exciting papers published every month. Just on Wolf-Rayet stars, hundreds of papers are published yearly. Our aim is to help authors make their research known to a targeted audience, and to help readers keep abreast of the most recent research and other information which might otherwise be missed in a flood of papers and information.

A second, not less important, goal is to consolidate the community of researchers working in the field of massive stars by providing an efficient means of communication. Indeed, the creation of a Working Group was a consequence of the launch of the newsletter.

History

This newsletter appeared first under the name of Hot Star Newsletter. It was created in 1994 by Philippe Eenens who is still the editor. He also launched the web pages in 1995. In the same year, he founded the Working Group, which was recognized by the IAU during the following General Assembly (in 1997). With issue 80 (2003 December), the newsletter name was changed to "Massive Star newsletter" to better reflect its scope and to emphasize the overall importance of massive stars.

Are there other astronomy newsletters?

Other newsletters seem to have disappeared. Why?

Several astronomy newsletters died after a few issues:

What is published in the Massive Star newsletter?

The Massive Star Newsletter publishes abstracts and other information relevant to massive star research. More specifically, we welcome: (1) abstracts of refereed articles that were accepted by astronomical journals; (2) abstracts of refereed articles that are submitted to astronomical journals; (3) abstracts of non-refereed papers that will be published in conference proceedings; (4) thesis abstracts. Students and recent graduates are encouraged to make their PhD or master thesis work known to a larger community by submitting their abstracts.

We also accept announcements relevant to massive star research, e. g. observing campaigns, conferences, new jobs or the public availability of databases.

By "relevant" to massive star research, we mean anything related to the study of massive stars, both individually and in resolved and unresolved populations. These objects populate the upper part of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. While on the main-sequence, these stars are spectroscopically identified as types O and early B, while later evolutionary stages encompass supergiants and Wolf-Rayet stars. We are also interested in studies of some stars of lower mass, which may show many features similar or related to those present in massive stars, and thus may improve our understanding of the physical processes occurring in massive stars.

How and when to submit an abstract or other information

Abstracts and other information can be submitted at any time. A "call for abstracts" is sent out before the next issue of the newsletter is finalized. However we suggest to submit abstracts without waiting for our reminder. Submission is made by e-mail to the editor Philippe Eenens: eenens@astro.ulg.ac.be. Where appropriate abstracts may be submitted to several newsletters.

If the text and/or figures of the whole paper is available on your web site or on a preprint server, you are encouraged to give the URL so our readers can easily have access to it.

All abstracts and announcements should be written in LaTeX. If possible, the template should be used, and adapted if needed. If you use non-standard LaTeX definitions please provide their definitions.

We may edit submissions. We usually ensure that all abstracts and other contributions conform to the newsletter style. We correct LaTeX mistakes if they prevent the text from compiling correctly. All text is run through a spellchecker, and we will correct what we deem spelling mistakes. Apart from that we do not alter the content of abstracts. We may edit announcements such that we highlight certain information, format them differently, or shorten them if needed.

Distribution

The newsletter is sent out via e-mail in LaTeX format to our list of subscribers. We do not send hardcopies. Subscribers also receive the call for abstracts shortly before the publication of the next issue.

In addition, the newsletter is freely available via web download. All issues are available as LaTeX and pdf files.

We rely upon our subscribers to provide us with correct e-mail addresses and to notify us when addresses change. While we attempt to follow up on bounced messages we do not have the resources to research changed e-mail addresses. Addresses that bounce repeatedly will be removed from the mailing list. If you notice that you no longerreceive the newsletter but would like to subscribe again please send a short note.

Our mailing list is not being made public.

Subscription to the newsletter

Subscription to the Massive Star Newsletter is free, and we welcome new subscribers. In order to subscribe simply send a message to eenens@astro.ulg.ac.be with your e-mail address, name, affiliation, city and country.

Similarly, to be removed from the mailing list, send us an e-mail.

Anyone can subscribe to the newsletter. Subscribers do not need to be affiliated with an astronomy department, research institute, or observatory. We request the affiliation and country to maintain our statistics page (country distribution etc.). Interested amateurs are welcome as subscribers as well though the newsletter is directed at professionals working specifically on the massive stars. The newsletter may not contain much of interest for amateurs, and the LaTeX files may be difficult to read for people outside of academic institutions. It is suggested that readers who cannot read LaTeX files download the newsletter in pdf format from the newsletter web pages.


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webweaver: Philippe Eenens