Forging giants: massive stars and their disks.

May 4, 2026, 1:30 PM → May 6, 2026, 4:20 PM Europe/Rome

Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri

Maite Beltrán (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)), Francesco Fontani (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)), Daniele Galli (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)), Luca Moscadelli (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

This conference is dedicated to Riccardo Cesaroni, whose groundbreaking contributions have profoundly shaped our understanding of the formation and early evolution of massive stars. From his seminal work on masers and hot molecular cores to his leadership in high-resolution studies of protostellar disks, Riccardo has been at the forefront of unveiling the complex physical processes that give birth to the most massive stars in the universe.

 

We gather to celebrate not only his scientific achievements, but also his enduring impact on the community — as a mentor, collaborator, and friend.

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Mon, May 4

1:30 PM → 2:00 PM Opening of Villa Galileo

2:00 PM → 2:20 PM Welcome

Welcome.pptx

2:20 PM → 3:35 PM Session 1: The early stages years

2:20 PM Riccardo Cesaroni and star formation

Speaker: Marcello Felli

Felli_Cesa.pdf

2:35 PM Synchrotron Emission from Supernova Remnants

Speaker: Rino Bandiera (INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri)

3:05 PM Riccardo (“il Cesa”) and IRAM

Speaker: Roberto Neri (IRAM Grenoble)

neri.pdf

3:35 PM → 4:05 PM Coffee break

4:05 PM → 5:35 PM Session 2: Early stages of star formation

4:05 PM Per qualche riga in piu' (For a few lines more)

Speaker: Luca Olmi (INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri)

4:35 PM Before fragmentation: from uniform clouds to stellar clusters

Speaker: Andrea Giannetti (INAF - Istituto di Radioastronomia)

Giannetti.pdf

5:05 PM The earliest phases of massive star formation: pushing Riccardo towards astrochemistry

Speaker: Francesco Fontani (INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri)

Tue, May 5

9:30 AM → 3:00 PM Session 2: Early stages of star formation

9:30 AM The Early Stages of Star Formation

Speaker: Paola Caselli (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics)

PaolaCaselli.pdf

10:00 AM Video

Speaker: Ana Lopez-Sepulcre

lopez-sepulcre.mp4

10:05 AM Video

Speaker: Tomoya Hirota

hirota.mp4

10:10 AM Video

Speaker: Mario Tafalla

tafalla.mp4

10:15 AM Video

Speaker: Pablo De Vicente

devicente.webm

10:20 AM Video

Speaker: Maria Jose Rioja

rioja.mp4

10:25 AM Video

Speaker: Rodolfo Arnaiz

arnaiz.mov

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Coffee break

11:00 AM → 12:30 PM Session 3: Star forming regions

11:30 AM The Riccardo's effect

Speaker: Victor Rivilla (Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA))

Rivilla_for_Cesa.pdf

12:00 PM Riccardo and the monitoring of water masers at Medicina

Speaker: Jan Brand

Brand.pptx

12:30 PM → 2:00 PM Lunch break

2:00 PM → 2:30 PM Tour of Villa Galileo

2:30 PM → 4:00 PM Session 3: Star forming regions

2:30 PM The Unique Case of IRAS 18162-2048: A massive protostar driving the largest scale jet in our Galaxy

Speaker: Sarita Vig (IIST, Trivandrum)

3:00 PM Observing the heart of IRAS18162-2048. The driving source of HH80-81 revisited in the near-IR

Speaker: Rubén Fedriani (IAA, Granada)

3:30 PM High Spatial Resolution Observations of MYSOs in the NIR

Speaker: Fabrizio Massi (INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri)

4:00 PM → 4:30 PM Coffee break

4:30 PM → 6:00 PM Session 3: Star forming regions

4:30 PM G31 ... what else?

Speaker: Josep Miquel Girart (Institut de Ciències de l’Espai, CSIC)

Girart_G31_WhatElse.pdf

5:00 PM Disky business at Rick's

Speaker: Daniele Galli (INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri)

Galli.pptx

5:30 PM Unveiling Accretion in Massive Protostars through High-Resolution Studies of Jets and Outflows

Speaker: Ciriaco Goddi (Università di Cagliari)

7:30 PM → 9:30 PM Social dinner

Wed, May 6

9:30 AM → 10:30 AM Session 4: Massive disks

9:30 AM Searching for disks in high-mass star-forming regions

Speaker: Peter Schilke (University of Cologne)

10:00 AM IRAS 20126+4104 and massive star formation

Speaker: Nanda Kumar (Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto)

Nanda-cesaronifarewell.mp4.mov

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Coffee break

11:00 AM → 12:30 PM Session 4: Massive disks

11:00 AM The disk and the jet of the massive protostar W75N(B)-VLA3

Speaker: Álvaro Sánchez Monge (Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC))

SanchezMonge.pdf

SanchezMonge.pptx

11:30 AM The circumstellar environment of W75N(B)-VLA2: SiO toroid, wide-angle outflow, and gas obstruction

Speaker: José María Torrelles (ICE-CSIC/IEEC)

Torrelles.pptx

12:00 PM Hunting Accretion Disks around Massive Young Stars

Speaker: Qizhou Zhang (Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian)

12:30 PM → 2:00 PM Lunch break

2:00 PM → 3:30 PM Session 4: Massive disks

2:00 PM High-mass accretion disks - from Riccardo's beginnings to today

Speaker: Henrik Beuther (MPI fuer Astronomie)

cesa_beuther-1.pdf

2:30 PM Chasing disks with Riccardo

Speaker: Alberto Sanna (INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari)

3:00 PM 30 years of high-mass star formation by Cesa & Mosca

Speaker: Luca Moscadelli (INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri)

Moscadelli.pdf

3:30 PM → 3:50 PM Conclusion remarks