Dear colleagues,

This is the reminder about the upcoming Abstracts Submission and Registration deadline for the IUCAA International Conference “Stellar Variability: Taking the Pulse of the Universe”, to be held at IUCAA, Pune, Maharashtra, India, between November 24-28, 2025.

Register and submit the abstract now:  https://web.iucaa.in/ws/~SVTPU2025/registration.html

Deadline: June 30, 2025 

Maximum number of participants: 100. 

Conference website: https://web.iucaa.in/ws/~SVTPU2025/index.html

Conference email: stars@iucaa.in

Please forward this announcement to your colleagues who may be interested in this conference.

We look forward to seeing you in Pune. 

Best regards,

Marina Rejkuba, Anupam Bhardwaj and Devendra Ojha

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Announcement

IUCAA International Conference

"Stellar Variability: Taking the Pulse of the Universe"

November 24-28, 2025

Venue: Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA) Pune, Maharashtra, India

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Stellar variability, both intrinsic as in pulsating stars and extrinsic as caused by binary motions, plays a crucial role in a wide range of topics in modern astrophysics and near-field cosmology. This conference will explore the astrophysics of stellar variability and the use of variable stars as stellar population tracers and distance indicators. It will provide a broad overview of the field as well as bring networking opportunities for Indian astronomers with the international community to fully exploit the large astronomical datasets from the recent and upcoming wide-field variability surveys. 

Important Dates:

Abstract submission and Registration Form deadline: June 30, 2025

Program announcement: July 31, 2025

Registration fee and accommodation booking deadline: August 15, 2025

Conference starts: November 24, 2025

Conference email: stars@iucaa.in

Conference website: https://web.iucaa.in/ws/~SVTPU2025/index.html

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

Earl P. Bellinger (Yale, USA)

Aru Beri (IISER, India)

Giuseppe Bono (Rome University, Italy) 

Santi Cassisi (INAF Teramo, Italy)

Gisella Clementini (Bologna, Italy)

Laurent Eyer (Geneva, Switzerland)

Caroline Huang (CfA Harvard, USA)

Željko Ivezić (University of Washington, USA) 

Barry Madore (Carnegie, USA)

Amanda Karakas (Monash Uni., Australia)

Marcella Marconi (INAF-OACN, Italy)

Clara E. Martínez-Vázquez (NOIRLab, USA)

László Molnár (Konkoly Obs., Hungary)

Joe P. Ninan (TIFR, India)

Grzegorz Pietrzyński (CAMK, Poland)

Zdeněk Prudil (ESO, Germany)

Saurabh Sharma (ARIES, India)

Dorota Skowron (Warsow Uni, Poland)

SOC:

Marina Rejkuba (ESO, Germany; Co-Chair)

Devendra K. Ojha (TIFR, India; Co-Chair)

Anupam Bhardwaj (IUCAA, India; Co-Chair)

Richard de Grijs (Macquarie Uni., Australia)

Jessy Jose (IISER, India)

Shashi Kanbur (SUNY Oswego, USA)

Noriyuki Matsunaga (Tokyo Uni., Japan)

Matteo Moneli (INAF-OAR, Italy)

Jeewan C. Pandey (ARIES, India)

Vincenzo Ripepi (INAF-OACN, Italy) 

T. Sivarani (IIA, India)

Annapurni Subramaniam (IIA, India) 

Robert Szabo (Konkoly Observatory, Hungary)

LOC:

Anupam Bhardwaj, Susmita Das, Prashant Nishad, IUCAA Standing LOC

Scientific Rationale:

Massive time-domain astronomical surveys in the last decade have revolutionised our knowledge of the properties, physical nature, and the very existence of several different

classes of variable stars known to date. Stellar variability, both intrinsic as in pulsating stars and extrinsic as caused by binary motions, plays a crucial role in a wide range of

topics in modern astrophysics and near-field cosmology. Variable stars have been extensively used to explore various aspects of star-planet formation and evolution, applied to Galactic and extragalactic archaeology studies and have played the key role in establishing the cosmic distance scale. Thanks to wide-field variability surveys (e.g. Gaia, TESS, OGLE, ASAS-SN, CRTS, ZTF, VVV , VMC), the numbers of variable stars have increased exponentially, providing both opportunities for new discoveries as well as challenges associated with dealing with a plethora of data. The latest Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) has published light curves of more than 10 million variable sources and DR4, expected in late 2026, will increase the number statistics by at least a factor of two.  At the same time, Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will have started operations further expanding the parameter space for multi-wavelength variable stars studies to fainter magnitudes and larger distances. Stellar variability studies will undoubtedly be at their zenith in the next few years making this conference very timely.

The conference will explore the astrophysics of stellar variability and the use of variable stars as stellar population tracers and distance indicators. It will provide the opportunity for young researchers to get a broad overview of this exciting field, and connect Indian astronomers with the international community providing new networking opportunities to fully exploit these unprecedentedly large astronomical datasets on the horizon.

Topics to be covered:

• Stellar variability across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
• Stellar evolution and Pulsation physics - structure and atmospheric dynamics
• Stellar models and numerical simulations
• Stellar multiplicity – binary stars and physical parameter determinations
• Galactic archaeology and near-field cosmology with variable stars
• Extragalactic distance scale with variable distance indicators
• Upcoming large surveys and observational facilities for variable star research