1     0000      0000      0000     
      V   V   SSSS   OOO   PPPP           11    0    0    0    0    0    0    
      V   V  S      O   O  P   P         1 1   0      0  0      0  0      0   
      V   V   SSS   O   O  PPPP            1   0      0  0      0  0      0   
       V V       S  O   O  P               1   0      0  0      0  0      0   
        V    SSSS    OOO   P               1   0      0  0      0  0      0   
                                           1    0    0    0    0    0    0    
      ***  N    E    W    S  ***         11111   0000      0000      0000     

HALCA's 62 MILLIONTH MILESTONE!

The HALCA satellite completed its 1000th orbit on Sunday 2nd November! As the satellite travels very close to 100,000 km each orbit (in the Earth's reference frame) the satellite has now travelled close to 100,000,000 km, or two-thirds of the way to the sun! With an orbital period of 6 hours and 20 minutes, the satellite is travelling at an average speed of 4.3 km/second. The actual speeds vary from 9.6 km/s at perigee, to 2.4 km/s at apogee.

22 GHz

As mentioned in VSOP news no. 70, it is likely that only the very strongest sources in the sky can be detected at 22 GHz, and that any successful 22 GHz observations will require considerable effort on the part of mission personnel. It is unlikely that any 22 GHz proposals will be observed as `normal' GOT observations, and most of the 22 GHz experiments submitted by the scientific community will not be able to be carried out. In October several 22 GHz pointing tests were done with the strong water maser W49N. As yet, no fringes have been found, with the most likely cause thought to be the pointing of HALCA at this frequency. A six arc-minute offset between the satellite axis and the telescope beam is known from 1.6 and 5 GHz observations, and efforts are continuing to refine this offset and determine whether the same offset applies at 22 GHz.

If the mission is able to open up observing at 22 GHz, the PIs of 22 GHz proposals will be contacted. In the meantime, these PIs might like to start planning for 5 and/or 1.6 GHz proposals in response to the second Announcement of Opportunity, which will be released in a little over three months time.

OPERATIONS

Representatives of all mission elements will meet from November 11th to 13th in Vancouver to discuss the current status of all aspects of the mission. A report from the meeting will be included in the next issue of the VSOP news.

CULTURE

Monday November the 3rd is a National holiday in Japan -- `Bunka no hi' or Culture Day. Originally the holiday was celebrated to commemorate the birthday of the Meiji Emperor, who reigned from 1867 to 1912, however post-World War II the reason for the holiday was changed to the current one. Car-maker Henry Ford once said `History is bunk' (or `nonsense') -- in this case, History is Bunka!

 
                Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi