In 1613 Galileo Galilei reported in the "l'Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari e loro accidenti" the evidence of solar spots and the interpretation of their motion as due to solar rotation. After 400 years we are able to quantify, thanks to extremely fine experiments like SOHO, details of the internal and surface rotation of the Sun, and to measure, thanks to precise photometry obtained with the Kepler and COROT satellites, rotation periods for thousands of stars. In addition, projected rotational velocities (Vsini) are now available for thousands of them, thanks to ground-based high resolution spectroscopy. These data offer a unique possibility to study in detail the behaviour of the rotation of the Sun in time, as well as the evolutionary behaviour of stellar rotation all along the HR Diagram.

In the meantime it is clear that stellar rotation is not only a key ingredient to properly understand solar and stellar angular momentum evolution. This fundamental parameter can also provide important constraints for models of stellar evolution, as well as important information on the presence of external rotational brakes, tidal interactions in binary systems and on the mechanisms controlling stellar activity. Rotation plays also a primary role in stellar chemical evolution and it reflects the complex interaction between stars and circumstellar/proto-planetary disk in the PMS phase.

To celebrate the 400 years of the public announcement of Sun's Rotation by Galileo Galilei, the workshop "400 Years of Stellar Rotation", co-sponsored by the European Southern Observatory and the International Institute of Physics of Natal, will be held in Natal, Brazil, at the Ocean Palace Beach Resort and Bungalows. In addition, this relatively large conference will be a unique meeting to present the state of the art of stellar rotation coming from the space missions CoRoT, Kepler and Spitzer. The "400 Years of Stellar Rotation" workshop will start with an Opening Welcome reception on  the evening of Thursday, November 21, 2013. Science sessions will run from Friday, November 22 through Tuesday, November 26, 2013. The "400 Years of Stellar Rotation" workshop will consist of invited talks on the topics of general interest, as well as a number of contributed talks, and poster contributions, which will be in exhibition for the entire duration of the meeting. Two special sessions will be devoted to discuss the results presented in poster contributions.

More info:

400 Years of Stellar Rotation website (http://dfte.ufrn.br/400rotation)

rotation400@dfte.ufrn.br