July 2019, hosted at Jodrell Bank Observatory, Manchester, UK

 

To commemorate the centenary of the discovery of astrophysical jets, by Heber D. Curtis (Curtis 1918; Descriptions of 762 nebulae and clusters, Pub. Lick Observatory 13, 9), DARA UK Advanced Student – Emmanuel Bempong-Manful have led the organisation of the international conference A Centenary of Astrophysical Jets: Observations, Theory & Future Prospects. The conference which brought together observers and theorists from around the globe sort to review progress over the past century and discussed the prospects for future research on jets at a time when major new astronomical facilities, such as SKA and JWST, are on the horizon. The conference was held in the Council Chamber of the newly-inaugurated Square Kilometre Array Organisation global headquarters at Jodrell Bank Observatory and attracted over 120 astronomers from more than 45 institutions across the globe. Key topics addressed included Jet generation & Launching, Propagation, Dissipation, and Feedback. The abstracts, presentations, and posters will soon be published to make the proceedings widely available to the scientific community.

​

Here in the UK, Emmanuel Bempong-Manful’s ongoing PhD work, supervised by Mark Birkinshaw (Bristol) and Martin Hardcastle (Hertfordshire), aims to resolve the underlying physics driving the observed jet structure in extragalactic radio sources – and forms part of an ongoing global collaboration (e-MERLIN Jets Legacy project: https://jets.extragalactic.info/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) to Resolve Key Questions in Extragalactic Jet Physics.

​

Emmanuel, and the entire scientific and local organising committees are much grateful to the meeting sponsors; RadioNet, the SKA Organisation, the DARA project, the University of Bristol, and the University of Manchester for their generous contributions. Without all the support, this conference would not have been possible.

​

Here’s to another 100 years of astrophysical jets research!

​

Conference page: (https://indico.skatelescope.org/e/astrojets100)

​