Dr Zhou Fan, from the National Astronomical Observatory, CAS (NAOC), recently visited The Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, where he was granted the ACAMAR Visiting Fellowship. During his stay, he had the opportunity to engage in fruitful exchanges and discussions with several partners, including Prof Mike Bessell, Christopher Onken, Chris Lidman, Yuan-Sen Ting, Bo-quan Chen, establishing intentions for collaboration on various scientific projects of SAGES, Sitian, the Einstein Probe and EAST.
SkyMapper Collaboration: Dr. Zhou Fan had productive discussions with Prof. Mike Bessell and Prof. Christopher Onken regarding the collaboration of SkyMapper and SAGES (Stellar Abundance and Galaxy Evolution Survey). So far, both the surveys of SAGES (Northern) and SkyMappper (Southern) have released their catalogs, with a stellar parameter catalog of over 50 millions of stars published – one of the largest database of stellar parameters in the world.
A Talk Given by Dr. Zhou Fan: The talk included information on Sitian, which is a large time-domain survey composed of more than 54 telescopes in the west of China, as well as in a few in other places around the world. Zhou also discussed the Einstein Probe, which is a mission of opportunity with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE). The Einstein Probe will monitor the X-ray sky to discover & characterise high-energy transients and variability in X-ray band. EAST was also discussed during his talk, which is a 6-8 meter optical telescope to be built in the west of China (Lenghu Observatory of Qinghai province). EAST is proposed by Peking University and many other universities and institutes will join in.
Collaboration with Yuan-Sen Ting and Bo-Quan Chen: Dr. Zhou Fan discussed with Dr. Bo-Quan Chen for applications of GPT in astronomy. Not only in relation to computing, but in regard to reading and writing of papers. Dr. Zhou Fan also discussed Galaxy archaeology using deep learning and other computing methods with Prof. Yuan-Sen Ting. These discussions led to invitations to visit the participants home institutes in the future.
Collaboration with SSO: Dr. Zhou Fan is in charge of follow-up Einstein Probe observations, and productive conversations were had with Prof. Chris Lidman regarding the potential for collaboration on the Einstein Probe follow-up project. So far, SSO and NAOC have reached an agreement to facilitate the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen the partnership.
Discussion with Aldo Mura Guzmán: Dr. Zhou Fan had discussions with Dr. Aldo Mura Guzmán, inviting him to give an online talk to NAOC colleagues and students on the “Fluorine abundances in CEMP stars at the lowest metallicity: Constraining the nature of the first stars”.
Acknowledgement: Prof. Zhou Fan would like to thank all staff and students for the help provided to him during his stay at ANU.
ACAMAR would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR), ICRAR and CSIRO.
