Observing the Universe in Motion: 5 Years of GRAVITY
Sunday, October 23, to Saturday, October 29, 2022
Schloss Ringberg, Bavaria, Germany
Please find here when available:
Please remember to bring sufficient Euros to cover the registration fee of 300 EUR and potential excursion fees. The registration fee is only payable in cash and there is no ATM at the Castle.
Registration form
Please fill in the registration form and return before September 15, 2022 by mail to gravityringberg@mpe.mpg.de.
This form is to confirm definitively your attendance and presentation title, and provide us with the information necessary to finalize the logistics and scientific program. Once we have your form, we will make hotel or castle room reservations. Please be aware that it will not be possible to lodge all participants at Ringberg Castle. Please also use the "Comments" field on the registration form to make us aware of any special constraints.
Quick links to:
- Workshop Fee
- Workshop Location and Time
- Travel to Munich Area and Ringberg
- Agenda and Social Events
- Celebration Lunch on Wallberg
- Posters
- Meals and Lodging
- COVID-related Information
Aim of the Workshop
The purpose of this one-week conference is to bring together researchers from the interferometric community for an in-depth discussion on both the scientific and technical breakthroughs GRAVITY has enabled. This conference will emphasise GRAVITY's ground-breaking observations along with the new, advanced analysis and modelling techniques that have been developed to extract the best science from the observations. With this emphasis, we aim for a fresh and efficient exchange of knowledge and ideas between scientific fields that are united through the use of near infrared interferometry in general and GRAVITY in particular. In addition to focusing on GRAVITY past and present, we will further dedicate time to the new science and capabilities that will become available after GRAVITY is upgraded to GRAVITY+, which passed Phase A study in summer 2021 and was approved in late 2021. In addition to GRAVITY, all of the scientific fields have also benefitted from other new interferometric instruments that provide high spatial resolution including MATISSE, ALMA, NOEMA, and the EHT as well as new, detailed theories and numerical simulations. We are inviting prominent researchers from both the observational and theoretical side to highlight and discuss the synergy between the various instruments, theory, and simulations.
Given the limited attendance, the workshop is *by invitation only*.
| International Committee | -------- | Local Committee |
| Paola Caselli | Taro Shimizu (co-chair) | |
| Vitor Cardoso | Frank Eisenhauer (co-chair) | |
| Sebastian Hönig | Dieter Lutz (co-chair) | |
| Laura Kreidberg | Reinhard Genzel | |
| Anne-Marie Lagrange | Stefan Gillessen | |
| John Monnier | Guillaume Boudarot | |
| Guy Perrin | Felix Widmann | |
| Karine Perraut | Antonia Drescher | |
| Julien Woillez | ||
Workshop Fee
The conference fee of 300 EUR will be payable in cash at on-site registration on Sunday evening, October 23. This will supplement lodging and meal costs, bus transportation to/from the airport to Ringberg, hotel shuttling during the meeting, and conference materials. Please note that we cannot take payment by credit card and there is no ATM at the castle, so please come to Ringberg with sufficient Euros to cover this fee.
Workshop Location and Time
The venue is Schloss Ringberg (Ringberg Castle), a turn of the century castle located in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps and overlooking the Tegernsee. Located about 70 km south of Munich, the Tegernsee is a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains and small resort villages. The peaceful location, meeting schedule, and attendance limit of 65 set by the size of the castle are all conducive to an informal workshop atmosphere offering many opportunities for stimulating discussion.
The scientific program will begin on Monday morning, October 24, at 09h00, and will end on Friday evening, October 28, around 17h30.
Arrival of participants at Ringberg Castle is planned on Sunday, October 23, late afternoon; check-in at the castle and hotels nearby is possible from 16h00 on.
Departure from Ringberg will be on Saturday, October 29, after breakfast around 09h30.
We can assist with hotel accomodation in Garching on Saturday night, October 22. If you need help with this overnight stay in Garching, please contact us no later than ** September 15 **.
Travel to Munich Area and Ringberg
Detailed travel instructions are given here.
By Air: The Munich Franz-Josef Strauss Airport (MUC) lies approximately 30 km and 100 km north of Munich and Ringberg, respectively. Most major carriers offer service to Munich, but the frequency of flights has decreased during the pandemic.
Conference Bus: We will hire a bus to take participants from Munich airport (MUC) to Ringberg Castle on Sunday, October 23, leaving the airport in mid-afternoon. The bus will return participants to the airport on Saturday, October 29, leaving Ringberg around 09h30. People wishing to use this bus should indicate so on the registration form. Please provide your flight times and numbers even if incommensurate with the planned bus to/from Ringberg, as this will help us checking for alternative transfer options. The exact bus schedule will be adapted to accomodate as many participants as possible, and will be given in the final announcement.
By Train: Munich Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) can be reached from anywhere within Europe. From the station, there are good public transportation connections to all of Munich, as well as to the area around Schloss Ringberg.
By Car: Schloss Ringberg is located about 70 km south-east of Munich. All major car rental companies have branches at the Munich Airport. There is ample parking space at the castle, and at the nearby hotels.
Workshop Agenda and Social Events
The full schedule can be found at the top of this webpage or here.
There will be a welcome dinner buffet at Ringberg Castle on the evening of Sunday, October 23, for all participants and accompanying persons. On-site registration and fee payment will take place at the castle prior to the buffet.
We are planning a castle tour and the famous Bavarian Buffet on Thursday evening, with an amazing variety of local specialties, suited to all dietary requirements.
For lunch on Wednesday (Oct. 26), we have planned an outing to the top of Wallberg (nearby mountain in Tegernsee). We will drive you to the bottom of the mountain from which we’ll take a cable car up to the peak where we have made reservations for lunch at the restaurant as a celebration of GRAVITY. There will also be time to walk around to take in the beautiful views. We’ll then take the cable car back down and be back at Ringberg in time for some free time before dinner. There is no extra cost to participants to participate. Please let us know as soon as possible if you do NOT want to go to Wallberg for lunch.
Posters
Poster boards of size 125cm*125cm will be available at Ringberg near the coffee break area. In addition to those of you scheduled to present posters, we encourage all participants to bring along a poster or hand-out with newest or additional results. Please inform us in advance if you plan to bring a poster display, to assist us in planning. Posters will be on display for the entire workshop duration.
Meals and Lodging
The LOC will cover the majority of the costs for lodging and meals of participants for the duration of the workshop.
We will arrange that everyone stays either at Ringberg Castle (which has rooms for 35-40 people) or at one of the hotels in nearby villages. Due to limited recreational facilities up at Schloss Ringberg, participants traveling with accompanying persons and/or families are strongly recommended to stay in a hotel. For those staying in hotels, daily transportation to/from the castle (about a 10-minute drive) will be provided by the LOC in the morning and evening. Please indicate on the registration form whether you prefer to stay at the castle or at one of the pre-booked hotels. We will try as much as possible to adhere to people's wishes for lodging, but it may not be possible for everyone to have their first choice. To those affected, we apologize, but we are sure that you will find both accommodations to be very pleasant.
Lunch and dinner are provided for all participants at Ringberg Castle; breakfast is provided at the castle or nearby hotels depending on where participants stay. Vegetarian meals and other special dietary requests are happily accomodated provided advance notice is given. Please indicate your dietary requirements when filling in the registration form.
Unfortunately, we cannot pay for meals and lodging for accompanying guests, but they are of course very welcome to join the meals at Ringberg. Please send us an email asking about rates in this case.
COVID-related Information
With full vaccination against Covid19 now widespread, and all related measures for travel and at Ringberg well in place since last year, we are confident that the meeting can be organized safely. In that respect, and for the safety of all participants, the meeting is planned according to the "2G" rules, which imply that all participants must show proof of being fully vaccinated, or recently recovered. This is dictated by the capacity of the lecture room and dining area.
Entering Germany currently requires proof of vaccination, recent recovery, or negative test result.
For everyone's health and well-being, we will also provide Covid antigen self-tests on site, and we ask that everyone take a test at the start of the meeting. In case you need a certified COVID Antigen or PCR test before you return home, there are several possibilities to take a test both in Garching and at the airport. Information on Covid testing at Munich airport can be found here. The LOC will of course be happy to assist you if you need transportation to the test centers and help with making an appointment.
We will keep you informed via email and through this website concerning details and updates.