Illuminating the Cosmos: Chemical Elements in Stars, Planets, Nebulae, and Transient Extra-galactic Events

Goal

The workshop will take place at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg on November 9 - 13, 2026. This will be the second meeting in the series, following the “NBIA Radiative Transfer in Astrophysics” workshop held at the Niels Bohr International Academy in June 2022.

As with its predecessor, the meeting is designed to be highly interdisciplinary, with a focus on  non-LTE and non-equilibrium radiative transfer, as well as 3D radiation hydrodynamics. We will address a wide range of astrophysical environments, including atmospheres of low-mass and massive stars, exoplanetary atmospheres, black hole accretion disks, tidal disruption events, kilonovae, and supernovae.

This year, in light of the rapidly increasing quality and quantity of observational data (e.g., Galactic spectroscopic surveys, Gaia, LSST, JWST, among others), we would like to place particular emphasis on the application of these methods to pressing astrophysical problems. We aim to explore how 3D NLTE models can provide a fresh and innovative perspective on astrophysical diagnostics and chemical composition of these objects, paving the way to the exploitation of ground-based extremely large telescopes and next-generation space facilities, like Nancy Grace Roman, Habitable Worlds Observatory, and ULTRASAT.

Workshop Topics

• Stellar Atmospheres
• Exoplanetary Atmospheres
• Accretion Discs
• Tidal Disruption Events
• Supernovae
• Kilonovae

Registration and Abstract Submission

Registration and abstract submission are now open; both will close in June 2026.  

Venue and Organizational Aspects

The workshop will take place at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. The lectures will take place in the House of Astronomy (https://www.haus-der-astronomie.de/en) next to MPIA.  MPIA will provide infrastructure in the form of discussion rooms to facilitate collaborations and discussions in smaller groups. A social dinner for all participants will be organized during the workshop.  

We will charge a registration fee of 200 Euro. Limited support, in the form of fee waivers, may be provided to junior students in exceptional circumstances. Those who wish to apply for a fee waiver will need to submit a justification and a support letter. Those who wish to apply for a fee waiver will need to submit a justification and a support letter. For students and postdocs this letter needs to be sent by their advisor. Request for financial support should be sent by email to Maria Bergemann with email subject: "Illuminating the Cosmos 2026 - Request for support”.

SOC

• Maria Bergemann (MPIA, NBIA), Chair
• Melina Bersten (La Plata University)
• Shane Davis (University of Virginia)
• Luca Fossati (Space Research Institute Graz) 
• Anders Jerkstrand (Stockholm University), Co-Chair
• Martin Pessah (NBIA), Co-Chair
• Jon Sundqvist (KU Leuven)

LOC

• Susanne Koltes 
• Maria Bergemann 

Invited Speakers

• TBC

This program is supported by

Figure credits (left to right):
 Austrian Academy of Sciences; Chris White; Lara Delbroek; NASA/CXC/M.Weiss; Philipp Eitner/Maria Bergemann