Celebrating the people and legacy of KASC and TASC

The book The Kepler and TESS Asteroseismic Consortia — A Historical Overview was edited by myself and Mikkel Lund and presented to the community during the TASC10/KASC17 Conference in Aarhus, Denmark. The book is the result of a partnership between the Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP), Portugal, and the Aarhus Space Centre, Denmark.

What is the book about? In short: it is about people. About an idea that grew into a consortium, that grew into a community, that grew into a way of doing asteroseismology in the space era. The Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (KASC) and later the TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium (TASC) are not just organizational structures to access data. They became collaborative ecosystems in which students, postdocs, and senior scientists learned to work together across continents, time zones, and occasionally differing opinions about filters. The book is therefore an attempt to capture some of that collective memory, while we still have access to the primary sources. It was also deliberately timed to celebrate the return of the KASC/TASC Conference Series to Aarhus in 2026, the place where the consortia’s original framework was conceived and set in motion.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who helped shape the consortia into the collaborative and welcoming environment they have become. The scientific achievements of KASC and TASC are well known, but the spirit of collegiality and openness that underpins them is perhaps their most enduring legacy. In particular, we thank those who directly contributed to this historical overview by sharing their time, memories, and perspectives. Finally, thank you to all members, past and present, who made (and continue to make) KASC and TASC not just productive scientific collaborations, but communities in the fullest sense of the word.

The book is available through Zenodo at DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20610468.