_                   
                                                         |_|                  
      V   V   SSSS   OOO   PPPP                 \__      |_|      __/         
      V   V  S      O   O  P   P                   --____/ \____--            
      V   V   SSS   O   O  PPPP                    _ _ _ --- _ _ _            
       V V       S  O   O  P                      |_|_|_|  @|_|_|_|           
        V    SSSS    OOO   P                             o-o                  
                                                          /                   
      ***  N    E    W    S  ***                        <)                    

VSOP INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM, JANUARY 19-21

A reminder that expressions of interest, including provisional titles for oral and poster presentations, for the VSOP Symposium next January need to be submitted by next Friday, July 30. The form and further details are available from /astro/halca/vsop/symposium.html.en. Thanks to all those who have already submitted their expression of interest!

MEETINGS at ISAS

A meeting was held at ISAS on July 8th and 9th to discuss the possibilities for "VSOP-2", a follow-up mission to HALCA. Representatives from the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe joined local scientists for discussions covering all aspects of the mission, which is being planned assuming a launch in the latter half of the next decade. It is currently planned to submit the formal proposal for the VSOP-2 mission next year.

Representatives of the VSOP Survey Working Group Data Reduction Team met on July 10th, 12th and 13th to discuss progress with the analysis of Survey Program data. Over 100 of the 289 sources in the VSOP Survey Program have been observed to date as Survey Program experiments, with a further 50 or so Survey observations extracted from General Observing Time observations by selecting a subset of the participating telescopes for a limited time range. A uniform approach to data reduction at the various participating institutions was decided upon and preparations made for releasing Survey Program results.

URSI

The program for session J2, "Very High Resolution Imaging in VLBI", of the URSI General Assembly, being held in Toronto next month, is available at http://www.nrc.ca/confserv/ursi99/program/com_j2.htm. The other Commission J (Radio Astronomy) sessions are J1: Future Large Scale Facilities, J3: Sub-mm Astronomy, J4: Large Radio Surveys, J5: Observatory Reports, and J6: Recent Scientific Developments. In addition, VSOP Project Scientist, "Hirax" Hirabayashi is giving one of the three general lectures at the Assembly, his talk being entitled "Space-to-Ground Interferometry for Radio Astronomy". For further details see http://www.nrc.ca/confserv/ursi99/welcome.html.

SUMO

There are six sumo tournaments each year, and the July tournament concluded last weekend in Nagoya. In an exciting last day, a deciding bout was required to determine the winner between Hawaiian-born Akebono (the first foreigner to reach sumo's highest rank of yokozuna) and young up-and-comer Dejima. Akebono was chasing his first tournament victory in over two years, but was caught off balance by Dejima and pushed out of the ring. Dejima gained his first tournament victory and, in the process, promotion to ozeki -- sumo's second highest rank. The January tournament will be held in Tokyo at the same time as the VSOP symposium, and it appears there will be sufficient interest amongst symposium delegates for a day tour to the sumo after the symposium!

                Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi