Synergies between the Square Kilometer Array telescope and the Athena X-ray observatory mission have been discussed early this week at SKA Organisation Headquarters in Jodrell Bank Observatory. Athena and SKA have some common science objectives and, on the two days workshop, some of those areas were reviewed, including galaxy clusters and large-scale structure, AGN and surveys, X-ray binaries, accretion physics and transient phenomena. During the lively discussions among members of both communities, it was concluded that both facilities will deeply transform the current knowledge of extragalactic and galactic astronomy, both by themselves and in mutual collaboration, in the latter case transcending their individual capabilities.

The identified synergies will be collected in a white paper (published in Fall 2017) written by the SKA-Athena Synergy Team (SAST). This team is composed by Rossella Cassano (INAF/IRA, Chair), Chiara Ferrari (OCA), Rob Fender (Oxford) and Andrea Merloni (MPE).

Support for this process has been provided by the SKA Organisation, the Max-Planck Institut für Extraterrestriche Physik, the European Space Agency and the Athena Community Office.