Khagol 121

International Conference on Infrared Astronomy and Astrophysical Dust (IRAAD - 2019) The IRAAD - 2019 was held at IUCAA during October 22-25, 2019, and was attended by about 15 foreign participants from Japan, France, Russia, USA, and Canada. There were about 70 participants from India, and were mainly PhD Students, Post-doctoral Fellows, and Faculty from Indian Institutes (IUCAA, IIA, TIFR, ARIES, SNBSC, ICSP,PRL, IIIST, etc.), and several Indian Universities (Gorakhpur, Assam, Tezpur, Mahatma Gandhi, Baroda, etc). The broad topics covered were: ISMOverview - Phases and Constituents, Infrared Astronomy - Techniques and Diagnostics, Dust in ISM - Compos ition, Starlight Extinction - Observations and Models, ISM Molecules and Spectroscopy, Star Formation - The Role of the ISM, Dust and Molecules in External Galaxies, and Laboratory Astrophysics, Astrochemistry and Quantum Chemistry. There were 14 review talks, 27 contributory talks, and 28 posters. The posters summary was reported by Jan Cami and Els Peeters, and the overall conference summary was made by Eric Herbst. Ranjan Gupta (IUCAA), and Shantanu Rastogi (Gorakhpur University) were the coordinators of this conference. Second Indo-Chile Astronomy Dialogue The 2nd Indo-Chile Astronomy Dialogue was organized at IUCAA, duringDecember 3 – 5, 2019. There were 30 participants, attended in person, and through Skype. The speakers were: H. E. Juan Angulo (Chilean Ambassador, New Delhi), G.C. Anupama (IIA, Bengaluru), Joydeep Bagchi (IUCAA), Himadri S. Das (Assam University, Silchar), Abhirup Datta (IIT, Indore),Cristian Davies (Political and EconomicAffairs, Chilean Embassy, New Delhi), Marcos Diaz (Space and Planetary Exploration Laboratory, Universidad de Chile, Santiago),Yashwant Gupta (NCRA, Pune), Priya Hasan (Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad), NissimKanekar (NCRA, Pune), Jayant Murthy (IIA, Bengaluru), Cesar Ocampo (Atacama Astronomical Park, Santiago), D .K. Ojha (TIFR, Mumbai), Amitesh Omar (ARIES, Nainital), and Eduardo Unda Sanzana (Centro de Astronomia, Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile). The participants including the ones on Skype presented talks on wide areas on the status of Radioand Optical Astronomy in both the countries. During the last day of the dialogue, the following points have been agreed by both the sides: 1. Possibility of installing a small radio and optical telescope at a suitable site in Chile, which can be remotely operated by Indian astronomers. 2. Bo t h coun t r i es , be i ng on a lmos t 12 hour s No. 121 - January 2020 5