www.aas.org/publications/elaarchive/Exploder_185_2008_05_June.html
Subject: AAS Electronic Announcement #185
Body:
AAS Electronic Announcement #185 -- June 2008
[Mailed from aas.org 10 June 2008]
View Online:
http://www.aas.org/publications/elaarchive/Exploder_185_2008_06_June.html
CONTENTS:
1. DPS ANNUAL MEETING, 10-15 OCTOBER 2008, ITHACA, NY
2. DPS ITHACA MEETING CALL FOR PAPERS
3. SPACE STUDIES BOARD "50 YEARS AND COUNTING" COLLOQUIUM WRAPPING UP
4. NRC DECADAL SURVEY IS BEGINNING--NOMINATIONS FOR CHAIR NEEDED
5. UPDATE: LOWELL OBSERVATORY'S DISCOVERY CHANNEL TELESCOPE
6. EVALUATION OF PHYSICS/ASTRONOMY PROGRAM AT MINNESOTA STATE UNIV, MANKATO
7. WHAT'S NEW AT THE INFRARED SCIENCE ARCHIVE (IRSA)?
8. OPTING OUT OF AAS PUBLICATIONS
------------------------------------------------
1. DPS ANNUAL MEETING, 10-15 OCTOBER 2008, ITHACA, NY
40th Meeting of the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences
10-15 October 2008
Ithaca, NY
Important deadlines:
Abstract Deadline: 1 August 2008, 10pm EDT
Final Program On-line: Late August
Early Registration Deadline: 10 September 2008, 10pm EDT
Hotel Rates Expire: 19 September 2008
Late Abstract Deadline: 10 September 2008, 10pm EDT
On-line Registration Deadline: 29 September 2008, 10pm EDT (after this
date register on-site)
For details on travel, hotel and attractions visit the web site at
http://dps08.astro.cornell.edu/.
If you have any questions, contact the Local Organizing Committee at
jfb8@cornell.edu, or bclark@Ithaca.edu.
------------------------------------------------
2. DPS ITHACA MEETING CALL FOR PAPERS
300-word abstracts of presentations for the Fall DPS Meeting are being
accepted through 1 August 2008.
Abstract Deadline: 10pm EDT, Friday, 1 August 2008
DPS Meeting website: http://dps08.astro.cornell.edu/
The normal DPS presentation rules apply:
One contributed planetary presentation per person. History, Education
and Invited papers do not count as the one contribution.
Nonmembers may only present one time at a DPS Meeting.
To implement these rules, abstracts must be submitted through the
presenting author's AAS account.
------------------------------------------------
3. SPACE STUDIES BOARD "50 YEARS AND COUNTING" COLLOQUIUM WRAPPING UP
The Space Studies Board will be capping its year-long celebration of
the 50th anniversaries of the space age, the International Geophysical
Year, and the SSB with an all-day colloquium at the National Academy
of Sciences Building in Washington, DC on 26 June 2008.
The colloquium will run from 8:30am until 5:30pm and will feature
retrospective and prospective policy-oriented discussions in the
morning and forward-looking assessments of successes, short-falls,
opportunities, and challenges in the sciences in the afternoon. The
former will include perspectives from a senior congressional leader,
past leaders of the SSB, and the Board's incoming chair. The afternoon
session will revolve around a series of town-hall-format interactions
between the audience and panelists about applying lessons from the
first 50 years of space exploration to hopes and aspirations for the
next 50 years in four areas of space research: astrophysics and space
physics, microgravity life and physical sciences, planetary
exploration and astrobiology, and Earth sciences. The day will
conclude with a special lecture about exploring space with humans and
robots.
An updated agenda will be available on the Space Studies Board web
page: nationalacademies.org/ssb/IGY_DC_event.html.
------------------------------------------------
4. NRC DECADAL SURVEY IS BEGINNING--NOMINATIONS FOR CHAIR NEEDED
Final negotiations with the agencies for funding of the NRC's next
decadal survey of astronomy and astrophysics are in progress and
should be complete very soon. The Board on Physics and Astronomy and
the Space Studies Board, as the NRC sponsors of the study, are now
renewing their call for nominations of candidates for chair (as well
as for survey committee and panel members) from the community.
The BPA and SSB have formed a search committee that will consider the
nominations and develop a short list of candidates to chair the
survey. The committee, chaired by John Huchra, chair of the NAS
Astronomy Section, will meet on 14 July. Appointment of the survey
committee will follow after a chair is in place. The survey committee
will work out the panel structure at its first meeting. Panel chairs
as well as committee and panel members will be drawn from the pool of
nominations.
To make your contribution to the pool of nominations, please use the
web form found on the following website:
nationalacademies.org/bpa/Astro2010.html. You may also submit
nominations via e-mail to astro2010@nas.edu. If you use email, please
include a few sentences about the nominee's background and what the
person would bring to the survey. Please submit your nominations for
chair before 14 July.
------------------------------------------------
5. UPDATE: LOWELL OBSERVATORY'S DISCOVERY CHANNEL TELESCOPE
Lowell Observatory announced signing a contract the week of 12 May
with General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies of Richardson, Texas for the
detailed design and construction of the telescope mount for the
Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT). The Observatory also recently
contracted with DynaVac of Hingham, Massachusetts for construction and
delivery of the mirror coating chamber for the 4.2-meter DCT primary
mirror. Meanwhile, M3 Engineering of Tucson, Arizona is putting the
finishing touches on the dome design, with construction expected to
commence later this year. With the mount contract now underway, all
components of the Discovery Channel Telescope are either completed,
under construction, or in detailed design. The Discovery Channel
Telescope is on track for first light in 2010. The new telescope is
being built by Lowell Observatory, at an exceptional new site in
northern Arizona, in partnership with Discovery Communications. For
more information, visit: lowell.edu/dct/
------------------------------------------------
6. EVALUATION OF PHYSICS/ASTRONOMY PROGRAM AT MINNESOTA STATE UNIV, MANKATO
The Department of Physics and Astronomy, Minnesota State University,
Mankato is seeking the names of astronomers who would be willing to
participate in an evaluation of our physics and astronomy programs.
One astronomer along with a physicist would spend two days on the
campus sometime during spring semester 2009. If you are interested
send your name to steven.kipp@mnsu.edu.
------------------------------------------------
7. WHAT'S NEW AT THE INFRARED SCIENCE ARCHIVE (IRSA)?
Since our last update, the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA)
has announced the following new data sets accessible through our query
engines and inventory services:
- Final data release from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS)
Extended Mission.
These data cover the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and include
* Long Exposure (6x) catalogs
* Long Exposure (6x) images
* Scan/calibration databases
- Catalogs from
* Deep Near Infrared Survey of the Southern Sky (DENIS) 3rd Release
* "Point Sources in a Spitzer/IRAC Survey of the Galactic Center" (
Ramirez et al. 2008)
* Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) 1.2-Jy Redshift Survey
* IRAS Comet Survey
* IRAS Asteroid Survey
* IRAS Large Galaxies Catalog
- In concert with the Spitzer Science Center, new Spitzer Legacy data
sets including
* Final data delivery from "From Molecular Cores to Planet-Forming
Disks" (C2D)
* Final deliveries from "Galactic Legacy Infrared Midplane Survey
Extraordinaire" (GLIMPSE-I)
* First deliveries from GLIMPSE-II.
* Images from "A 24 and 70 Micron Survey of the Inner Galactic Disk
with MIPS"
(MIPSGAL)
* 5th data delivery from "The Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies
Survey" (SINGS)
These data and their associated documentation are available through
our website, irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/.
------------------------------------------------
8. OPTING OUT OF AAS PUBLICATIONS
If you would no longer like to receive paper copies of the AAS Newsletter, the AAS Membership Directory, or the AAS Calendar, please send an email to address@aas.org.
To unsubscribe from AAS emails, contact address@aas.org
------------------------------------------------
An American Astronomical Society (AAS) Electronic Announcement is
mailed to all members around the 10th of each month. Included are
important items that do not fit into the schedule of the AAS
Newsletter. Because of volume, Meeting Announcements are generally not
included.
Items for possible inclusion in this Announcement series should be
sent to crystal@aas.org. Keep announcements short and refer readers to
sources of additional information.
To unsubscribe or change address contact mailto:address@aas.org