The 78th edition of the Netherlands Astronomers' Conference organized by ASTRON under the auspices of the royal Netherlands Astronomical Society, took place 15-17 May 2023 in the Westcord WTC hotel in Leeuwarden.
The conference aims to bring together the Dutch and Flemish astronomical community, and to provide, especially for early-career researchers the opportunity to present their work.
In total, 215 people participated, with over 30 plenary presentations and an additional 35 presentations in parallel sessions. There were over 60 poster presentations as well.
Highlights of the NAC were the participation of Prof Phil Diamond, director-general of the Square Kilometre Array, who gave a presentation and participated in a panel discussion on the opportunities for astronomers in the Netherlands to participate in this international project. A second special session was dedicated to the presentation of first-light images of BlackGEM, an array of optical telescopes to detect gravitational wave events, in which the Netherlands is a leading partner.
Other plenary talks covered science over all wavelengths, as well as computational and theoretical work. The full conference programme can be found at this website.
