Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics

(Preparatory Office)

The East-Asian Core Observatory Association (EACOA) was formed in 2005 following the 6th East-Asian Meeting on Astronomy (EAMA) in 2004. The purpose of EAMA is to promote collaborations between astronomers in East Asia, specifically Japan, Mainland China, South Korea, and Taiwan.  The goal of EACOA is to help foster and coordinate such collaborations under the umbrella of the major astronomical observatories in the four regions, namely the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC), and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics (ASIAA) in Taiwan.

The first Meeting of EACOA was held in 2006 in Tokyo, Japan, and the second in 2007 in Beijing, China.  The 3rd meeting was held at the ASIAA on 16-18 March 2009, during which the EACOA Directors report on progress in astronomical projects and research in the different regions. This was followed by more in-depth reports on individual telescope projects and research programs, especially those involving or presenting opportunities for collaborations between the different regions: e.g., the ATACAMA Millimeter and Submillimeter Array (ALMA) involving Japan and Taiwan, HyperSuprimeCam on the Subaru telescope involving Japan and Taiwan, Very Long Baseline Interferometry between Japan and South Korea, a coordinated search for planets outside our solar system involving China, S. Korea, and Japan, etc. 

The meeting concludes with an executive session during which the EACOA Directors, their Secretariats, and representatives of the different regions discussed ways in which to increase research collaborations and promote astronomy in the East-Asian region.  An agreement was reached to pursue a number of initiatives, including the creation of an EACOA Fellowship that allows young researchers to be based in multiple regions and freely access astronomical facilities in all four regions, coordinate efforts to compile the historical astronomical record in the four regions, and jointly promote events to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy as proclaimed by the United Nations for 2009.  In particular, EACOA plans to coordinate the public broadcast of a total solar eclipse in China and Japan on 22 July 2009.