Over his career, John Bally has made lasting contributions to many aspects of stellar feedback and the ecology of galaxies. On the event of his retirement, we come together to review the field and chart the future through a wide-ranging conference on the topic of star formation, stellar feedback, and galactic ecology.

The focus of this conference will be understanding the role of star formation and stellar feedback in driving galactic evolution; The conference aims at identifying a number of key steps in the feedback ladder and using studies of nearby galactic sources dominated by feedback to quantitatively understand the role of feedback in shaping the local universe around us.

The meeting will focus on:

• Stellar feedback on molecular cloud scales
• Stellar feedback and galactic ecology
• Stellar feedback in extreme environments
• Feedback on extragalactic scales

By developing a "feedback ladder" from the scale of individual O stars, to small clusters, to super star clusters, to galactic outflows, we expect to quantitatively address the role of stellar feedback in the ecology of galaxies and how feedback by massive stars depend on the properties of the environment.

People

Science Organizing Committee

Local Organizing Committee

The work of the LOC is supported by the Eötvös Loránd University Budapest (ELTE) and by the Astronomy Department at the University of Maryland

Registration is now closed. Your registration fee includes lunches Monday-Friday and the conference banquet on Thursday.

Payment of the registration fee is kindly being handled by Hotel Visegrad. After you register, the LOC will inform the Hotel and you will receive an email from Hotel Visegrad with a link to pay the registration fee. (This is separate from the email to pay for your room). You will receive the confirmation of payment through e-mail sent by Hotel Visegrad within 24 hours.

Abstract submission is now closed. You can still edit your abstract on our pretalx site.

We have secured special room blocks both for the conference itself and for an extra night before the conference in Budapest. The conference hotel is Wellness Hotel Visegrad and the extra night lodging is at Mercure Budapest City Center Hotel. See below for instructions for each.

Conference Hotel: Wellness Hotel Visegrad

There are 95 air-conditioned rooms; the hotel has both elevators and stairs. Early bookers may have a room according to their preferences on the floor and the side of the building; they may also request neighboring rooms. All the requests must be communicated in the booking email.

Rooms face either the river (West-Northwest) or the castle hill (East-Southeast). There are two connecting wings, one is completely newly built (2024). Those who may prefer to see the open-air pool and garden from their room windows should select the river side; people who do not like afternoon sunshine may prefer facing the hill side.

1. Booking is made by sending an e-mail to the Hotel with the requested nights, number of rooms and persons. The e-mail must must use the Subject: ASTRO2025
2. The hotel will confirm your reservation, and send you a link through email
3. Click on the link, and you will be forwarded to our credit card payment website. You can fill out the form with your credit card data and proceed with the payment.
4. You will receive the confirmation of payment through e-mail sent by the hotel within 24 hours.

Budapest Hotel: Mercure Budapest City Center Hotel

This is a 4-star hotel in Budapest City Centre. When booking your room at Hotel Visegrad, please indicate your intention to stay at Hotel Mercure in Budapest. They will instruct you how to get a discount for Hotel Mercure.

Location

Visegrád is a small historical town located on the right bank fo the Danube River, about 40 km north of Budapest. With a rich history dating back to 1009, Visegrád has been a significant royal center, strategic location, and popular day trip destination. The town is in the Danube Bend touristic area surrounded by scenic hills with the Pilis Park Forest. The medieval citadel, a stunning example of Gothic architecture, offers breathtaking views of the Danube River and surrounding landscape.

Scenic view of the Danube Bend

Castle Visegrad

A medieval festival

A fountain in historic Visegrad

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Travel

Shuttles to and from the Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport and from major railway stations in Budapest will be offered, but there is also a good public transportation available. Here are 4 possible options to get to the Hotel from the airport:

1. Hotel Visegrad will be organizing shuttles (for a given fee) to and from the airport for the conference, as well as assistance at the airport for people who request a shuttle. In order to do so, they need your arrival and departure information, airline and flight code as soon as possible. If you are in need of a shuttle or have previously requested one, please send the following to info@hotelvisegrad.hu with the subject line "ASTRO2025 Shuttle":
   
   Your name, exact arrival and departure times, airline and flight code.
   
   Please do so before 5 May as the Hotel needs sufficient time to arrange the transportation. Note that you will need to pay for the shuttle.
2. There will also be a shuttle possibility from Budapest city centre to Hotel Visegrád upon request.
3. Taxi from the airport to Hotel Visegrád may cost about EUR80-95 — book it at the airport terminal arrival hall
4. Public transportation from BUD (about 2.5 hours):

1. Take bus 100E to Deák tér (end station) HUF2200 (You can pay with your card on the bus)

2. Take subway M3 (blue line) to Budapest, Újpest-Városkapu XIII. kerület station. You need to buy a one way ticket for HUF450; you may use a smartphone application.
3. Take bus 880 from Újpest-Városkapu XIII. kerület bus terminal to Visegrad Nagymarosi rév bus stop. You need to buy a one way ticket for HUF750m; online ticket here. (click the Means of transport icon and select Bus!)
4. Walk 160m to the hotel entrance

Excursions

We have several optional excursions you may select when you register.

1. Guided Sightseeing in Budapest. May 25 (Sunday)
   
   • 10:00am starting from the City
   • 10-13 sightseeing with bus and guide
   • 13-15 lunch
   • 15-17 sightseeing 2nd part with bus and guide
   • 17-18 ride to Visegrad
2. May 28 (Wednesday): Cold buffet dinner at Renaissance Restaurant
3. May 28 (Wednesday): Medieval team building competition
4. May 28 (Wednesday): Sunset boat trip w/sparkling drinks
5. May 29 (Thursday): Conference dinner at Renaissance Restaurant
6. Guided Sightseeing in Budapest. May 31 (Saturday)
   
   • 9:00am starting from the Hotel Visegrad
   • 10-13 sightseeing with bus and guide
   • 13-15 lunch
   • 15-17 sight-seeing 2nd part with bus and guide
   • 17-18 optional ride back to Visegrad

Childcare

Daily childcare (English, German or Hungarian) may be requested from the Hotel Visegrad.

There is a limited amount of travel support earmarked for graduate students and young postdocs. Participants who want to apply for this should send a one paragraph statement on why they would want to participate in the conference, what they hope to gain and what they can contribute. The should also arrange for a letter of support from their supervisor. These should be send to SFtravelsupport@googlegroups.com by December 30. It is expected that these participants present a poster or contributed talk on their research and hence submit an abstract by the due date.

We invite to to share and view photos of John, of this conference, from your collaborative science with him, anything John-related in this Shared Google Photo Album.