_                   
                                                         |_|                  
      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

An international symposium on VSOP results will be held at ISAS next January. The tentative dates are Tuesday 18th to Friday 21st January, though Thursday 27th to Saturday 29th January remain possible. Earlier in the planning process it had been thought that holding the meeting from 10-12 February, to coincide with HALCA's third birthday, would be an appropriate time to look back on the achievements of mission, however, as this clashes with university term time, the late January options are preferred. The dates will be finalised in the next few weeks, but feedback on the possible dates is welcomed from potential attendees by e-mail to vsog@vsop.isas.ac.jp. An official First Announcement and call for expressions of interest will be released in the near future.

VSOP PAPERS and IMAGES

The Image Gallery, and Literature page, on the VSOP website are updated with new results and papers as these become known to us. We would appreciate notification of any publication making use of VSOP data, upon publication, by e-mail to vsopwww@vsop.isas.ac.jp. (Editing of the proceedings of last year's COSPAR symposium on "VSOP Results and the Future of Space VLBI" is nearing completion, and authors of papers to be published in that volume of Advances in Space Research need not provide separate notification.) The curator of the VSOP Image Gallery is always wishing to add to the collection on display at the VSOP website. GIF or JPG images are the preferred format. Images are acknowledged, and so a list of names and affiliations (and references, if so desired) will be displayed if provided. Links will also be provided to researchers' own websites upon request.

VSOG REVIEW

As reported in the last VSOP news, the VSOP Science Operations Group undertook an internal review of all VSOP operations earlier this month. Only one contribution was received in response to last issue's request, which could be taken to mean complete satisfaction from the other 499 readers of the VSOP news!

AWARD

ISAS shared with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation the 1998 Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry Prize for the design, manufacture and deployment of HALCA's main reflector. The plaque and citation for the award have been placed on display with the 1/10 model of the satellite in the foyer of the main building at ISAS.

                Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi