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Ventspils University of Applied Sciences and DPP Institute of Horticulture co-planned Latvian Council of Science Grant tender application Smart complex of information systems of specialized biology lexis for the research and preservation of linguistic diversity (IMDS) has been highly evaluated and approved. During the project , partners in cooperation will develop an open-access interactive and multifunctional data management information system with data storage, arranging and searching functions, thus obtaining statistics for linguistic and terminological diversity research. Following tasks will be carried out during the project: 1.Data collection and processing in the developed system; 2.P rocessing and analysis of data collected and obtained in the developed system in scientific research; 3.Improvement of additional functionality of the developed system (possibility to include additional databases and data retrieval); 4.Dissemination of research results - preparation and publication of scientific articles, participation in conferences. Project Realisation Period : 0 1.01.2021. – 31.12.2023 Project Total Funding is EUR 300 000,00 of which EUR 183 025,00 are planned to be directed to the implementation of VUAS project tasks. 12 employees will be involved in the project, 8 of whom are VUAS representa tives - linguists, termi nologists, lexicographers, translators and programmers. Project manager is VUAS researcher Dr. philol. Silga Sviķe but the planned scientific tasks of the Institute of Horticulture will be coordinated by the researcher Dr. agr. Arturs Stalažs.

An article “Evaporative cooling of icy interstellar grains. II. Key parameters” by VIRAC researchers J. Kalvāns and J. R. Kalnin has been published in the renowned scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics in September 2020.

High Perfomance Computing Department astronomy technician Jānis Šteinbergs and Astronomy and Astrophysics Department researcher Artis Aberfelds will participate in CASA-VLBI seminar online which will take place from 2-6 November.

Researcher at the Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre Karina Šķirmante will take part in the Europlanet Science Congress 2020 with an oral report “Observations of OH masers of comets in 1.6GHz frequency band using the Irbene RT32 radio telescope” on September 22 from the funds of the project “Comprehensive Studies of Small Bodies of the Solar System” (SZA Reg. No. lzp-2018 /1-0401). Report co-authors: Mārcis Bleiders, Normunds Jēkabsons, Vladislavs Bezrukovs, Gints Jasmonts Report is available here! Detailed information about the conference and the conference program is available here! 

The half time of the Latvian Council of Science grant project "Complex Investigations of the small bodies in the Solar system" has ended

In the period from 24 January to 2 February, 2020 several radio astronomical observation sessions were conducted in order to test the capabilities of of the Irbene RT32 radio telescope by observing non-bright* OH masers in 1.665MHz and 1.667MHz frequencies. The observation was organised within the framework of the project "Complex Investigations of the small bodies in the Solar system" (No.Izp-2018/1-0401) in which one of the activities is Investigations of Solar System small bodies, including OH maser line detection (flux density 40 mJy or 0.04 Jy) in 1.665MHz and 1.667MHz frequencies. Improvements to the 1.6 GHz frequency band receiver and noise abatement activities of surrounding systems have, for the first time in the history of the VIRAC, resulted in average noise levels below 0.25 Jy at 1.665MHz and 1.667MHz by processing several-day observational data. Work on observations and data processing is ongoing, as the desired result is to reduce the resulting noise level to 0.02 Jy in order to successfully detect solar system comets in the 1.6GHz frequency band.

6-12 May achievement of the week: author astronomy technician Jānis Šteinbergs

A VIRAC employee participates in a work seminar in the Netherlands

One of the achievement of the 22-26 October week. Author: astronomy technician Jānis Šteinbergs. During the period from 20 August to 3 September, 2020 VUAS ERI VIRAC astronomy technician J. Šteinbergs with ERAF project No.1.1.1.1/16/A/213 "Studies of Physical-Chemical Processes of the Interstellar Environment" (ASTRA) financial support consulted with the The Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (JIVE, the Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC) specialists to take over their experience and the software used to interpret radio interferometric observation data. The work tasks included: *improving existing observation data processing and interpretation software to be able to create "FITS" files which are then used to interpret results of observations, which are performed using the software packages CASA and AIPS. research the possibility of supplementing the data processing and interpretation software with functionality that would allow to perform interferometric observation calibration and assess the impact of weather conditions on the observation results. learn how to use the SFXC correlator in real time. to study the possibilities of preparation of observation data for SFXC correlator at different correlation parameters.