_
|_|
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 *** <)
| Previous Issue | Number 94 | 5th February 1999 | Following Issue |
HALCA REPORT
HALCA started the new year operating as though nothing had ever been wrong. Fringes were quickly found from the first observations at the end of December and beginning of January, confirming that the long break from observing had not affected the radio-astronomical system. Nineteen observations were successfully carried out in January, a little lower than usual due mainly to observations not resuming until January 6th after the New Year's holidays.
HALCA started another long cycle of short eclipses on January 24th. During this approximately year-long cycle eclipses vary in length with an average of about 30 minutes per (6.3 hour) orbit. A little extra observing time is lost while HALCA's batteries are recharged after each eclipse.
SECOND ANNIVERSARY
A small ceremony marking the second anniversary of HALCA's launch will be held (six days late!) in Tokyo on February 18th. Several presentations will be given outlining the successes to date of the mission to Monbusho officials, members of the press, and other invitees, with a celebration party to be held in the evening.
VSOG STAFF
VSOG members bade farewell to Denise Gabuzda in January. Denise, who spent four months at the National Astronomical Observatory in Mitaka, had a productive stay in Japan, working on the reduction of her VSOP data and on VLBA data taken in collaboration with Nan Rendong (Beijing Observatory) and Makoto Inoue (NAO), and giving a number of talks on her work and its implications. Denise will be taking up a position as a Support Scientist at JIVE in the middle of February.
SUBARU FIRST LIGHT
First light images from the National Astronomical Observatory's Subaru telescope were released on Jan 28th. The 8.3 metre diameter mirror, located on Mauna Kea, is the largest single primary mirror to be built. The 20 cm thick mirror is controlled by an adaptive optics system utilizing 264 actuators. "Astronomical first light" began on January 4th, and an impressive gallery of images is available from http://www.subaru.nao.ac.jp/outreach/press_releases/990128/, including images of Saturn and Jupiter, the Orion KL region, the gravitational lens PG 1115+080, and the z=5.0 quasar SDSS J033829.31+002156.3. From one 8m telescope to another, we offer the Subaru team our congratulations!
Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi
HALCA UPDATE
HALCA continues to operate normally, with pointing tests using Tau A (better known outside the radio-astronomical community as the Crab nebula) planned for the next few days. After the commanding/telemetry-checking tracking pass on December 29th, operations will take a well-earned rest, resuming again on January 4th.
AO2 LETTERS
The Principal Investigator, or nominated contact person, for each AO2 proposal was sent an e-mail last week with results from the Scientific Review Committee's ranking of proposals. Any PI who has not received their letter should contact the VSOG at their soonest convenience.
URSI GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The URSI General Assembly will be held next year in Toronto, Canada from August 13th to 21st. Session J2 at the Assembly is entitled "Very High Resolution Imaging in VLBI", and will concentrate on recent results in both Space VLBI and mm-VLBI (43GHz and higher). Proposals for oral and poster presentations at this session are due by January 15th. Instructions for submitting proposals can be found at http://www.nrc.ca/confserv/ursi99/call_e.htm . Copies of submitted J2 abstracts should be sent to John Conway and "Hirax" Hirabayashi also. Details of the other Commission J (Radio Astronomy) sessions and the General Assembly are available from http://www.nrc.ca/confserv/ursi99 .
T_B or 0.67*T_B...
... that is the question! The "Corrections and Clarifications" section of the 11 December issue of Science (vol.282, p.1995) contains a note correcting an error in "VSOP first results" paper. The numerical factors given to convert a brightness temperature derived assuming a gaussian component to that for an optically thin or thick sphere were a factor of 1.56 smaller than they should have been. The correct factors are 0.67 and 0.57 respectively.
NOZOMI
The ISAS mission to Mars, Nozomi (formerly Planet-B) made its final swing-by of the moon and Earth last weekend and is now on its way to Mars. Nozomi, which was launched on July 3rd, is scheduled to arrive at Mars in October next year.
Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi