The Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón (CEFCA) holds the XI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA) in Teruel from September 8 to September 12, 2014.

The XI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA), which takes place every two years, will be held at the Centro de Estudios de la Física del Cosmos de Aragon from 8 to 12 September in Teruel, gathering about 300 Spanish professional astronomers and foreign guests.

Teruel will become a forum for scientific discussion on the latest challenges of the astronomy field for five days: from cosmology to physics of the solar system or the recent arrival of the ROSETTA probe to the comet. Additionally, this meeting will also provide a platform to discuss the present and future involvement of the Spanish community in the development of astronomical instrumentation. It also aims to promote new lines of collaboration and to present the latest initiatives in the popularization of the astronomy in Spain.

As highlights of this new edition, one of the 200 scheduled lectures will focus on the historical scientific cooperation between Spain and Mexico. This conference will be given, among others, by the Mexican researcher Silvia Torres Peimbert, who is the elected President of the International Astronomical Union. Another topic of interest will be the relationship between astronomy and industry, paying special attention to the participation of the Spanish companies in the major international projects, both on land and in space. The program also includes lectures on the results of the Planck project, ALMA project and the CanariCam spectograph of the Gran Telescopio de Canarias, among many others.

Moreover, the best PhD thesis in astrophysics in 2012 and 2013 will be awarded by the SEA as well as the most relevant projects developed in collaboration between France and Spain (SF2A-SEA awards). The meeting will be attended by the President of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Dra. Celine REYLE, who will show the important scientific connections between the two countries. Furthermore, the last foresight study of the Spanish Network for Astronomy will be presented, the current situation of the Spanish astronomy will be analyzed and the effect of the economic crisis will be examined.

It is also worth highlighting that Rashid Sunyaev will be one of the meeting attendees. Rashid Sunyaev is a director of the Max Planck Intitute for Astrophysics in Munich and author of relevant contributions in two disparate fields of astrophysics: cosmology and high energy astrophysics. The meeting will also be attended by Rita Schulz, who is the scientific head of the Rosetta project of the European Space Agency. Rita Schulz is in charge of analyzing the state of the mission given that the probe reached the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet on August 6. Additionally, Pheneas Nkundabakura, professor of the Kigali Institute of Education (Rwanda) and representative of the Astronomical Society of East Africa, gave a talk on how astrophysics can help in the development of the region.

In addition, the program includes public free activities like the competition 'Grandes Preguntas sobre el Universo', which will take place on September 11 in the Marin Theater. In this competition participants can respond to questions via their mobile phones. Then, their responses will be analyzed by professional astrophysicists.

A photo exhibition composed of 12 photographs will be on display in the plaza of San Juan during the month of September. Photographs are taken by some of the major scientific Spanish institutions or by centers that have important scientific and technical facilities. Specifically, the photographs are from the European Space Agency, the European Southern Observatory, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, the Gran Telescopio Canarias, the Observatorio de Calar Alto and the Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón.

In collaboration with the Agrupación Astronómica de Teruel, different telescopes will be freely available to the general public on September 9 at 23h in the Fernando Hue viaduct. This initiative is part of the XXX Feria del Jamón.

The coincidence of the Feria del Jamón and the Scientific Meeting of the SEA has caused the Tapas competition of this year be about astronomy: a total of 35 tapas from different restaurants will compete for the 'Most Astronomical Tapa' award. Tapas shall be accompanied by a brief explanatory review of the astronomical object in which they are inspired.

More info in http://www.sea-astronomia.es/drupal/SEA2014/