ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER OF THE HIGH ENERGY
ASTROPHYSICS DIVISION OF THE AAS
Newsletter No. 72 May 1998
IN THIS ISSUE:
- AAS Meeting in San Diego
- 1999 HEAD Meeting: Preliminary Announcement
- News from NASA Headquarters
- NASA is looking for a Few Good Stories
- EUVE Archive
- RXTE Cycle 4 NRA
- Guest Observations on ROSAT
- Guest Observations on ASCA
- Opening for Discipline Scientist at NASA
- New Gamma-Ray Burst Web Site
- HEAD News at the January 1998 AAS Meeting
- Starchild astronomy web site wins Webby Award for
education
- AXAF Fellows
- XMM Guest Observer Facility at Goddard Space Flight
Center
- VERITAS Workshop on TeV Astrophysics of Extragalactic
Sources (23-24 Oct.)
- 19th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics and
Cosmology
Notes from the Editor
(Alan Marscher, HEAD Secretary-Treasurer, marscher@bu.edu;
phone: 617-353-5029)
a year of updating the membership information, it is now clear to me that there will
always be a fraction of the membership whose e-mail and/or postal addresses are out of
date. Two times per year, I will cross-check the address currently on file with that on
the AAS membership directory on the AAS web page for anyone whose e-mail has bounced or
whose regular post has been returned. If you receive a hard-copy of this newsletter, it
means that I do not have a working e-mail address for you. In this case, if you do in fact
have an e-mail address, please send me e-mail so that I can update your address. Thanks.
The HEAD Web site is at http://bu-ast.bu.edu/~head. It was last updated on May
27, 1998. There, you will find past issues of the Newsletter, information on meetings,
links to other sites of interest, and general information about HEAD.
We also have an e-mail exploder for announcements of general interest to HEAD
members. If you have an item that you would like to announce in this way or in the
semiannual newsletter, please send the announcement to me via e-mail and I will publish it
in the next newsletter or, if more urgent, send it out via e-mail to the HEAD e-mail list.
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AAS Meeting in San Diego: Main events of interest to HEAD members
Please note the following schedule of HEAD-related meetings/special sessions at the
June 1998 AAS meeting in San Diego:
Mon., June 8:
- 1:30-2:20 P.M.: Invited Talk on RXTE results by Jean Swank
- 6:30 P.M.: HEAD Executive Committee meeting, Devonshire Room
Tues., June 9:
- 8:30-12:30, 2:30-6:30: Invited Talks on NASA's Structure & Evolution of the
- Universe Theme
- 8:30-12:30: RXTE Diagnostics of Active Galactic Nuclei
- 8:30-12:30: Gamma-ray Burst Counterparts & Afterglows
Wed., June 10:
- 8:30-12:30, 2:00-5:30: The Frontiers of Far Ultraviolet Astrophysics
- 8:30-12:30: Pulsars in the UV and Visible
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1999 HEAD Meeting: Preliminary Announcement (Gordon Garmire,
Chair, and Eureka Scientific, host of meeting)
The next meeting of the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American
Astronomical Society will take place at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, South
Carolina.
April 12 - 15, 1999 (Monday - Thursday)
Please mark your calendar. If you have received this message directly you are
already on our emailing list. Anyone can add their name to the list automatically by
sending any email to head99@netcom.com
The above address should be used for any correspondence concerning this meeting.
Details of the meeting, registration and abstract submission will be distributed by email
as they become available. Or you may contact our website at http://www.eurekasci.com
We look forward to your participation at another successful meeting.
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News from NASA Headquarters (Alan Bunner, Paul Hertz, & Lou
Kaluzienski)
The AXAF peer review for Cycle 1 observations was held in early April near Boston.
Almost 800 proposals for AXAF observations were received. The peer review involved almost
100 science peer reviewers and dozens of staff members from the AXAF Science Center. 208
proposals were selected, in part or in whole, to make up the Guest Observer portion of the
first year's AXAF observing program. The list of selected AXAF GO programs may be found at
http://asc.harvard.edu/.
The AXAF launch is currently scheduled for 3 December 1998 from Kennedy Space
Center on the Space Shuttle Columbia. You can win a trip for two to see the launch by
submitting the winning entry in the "Name AXAF" contest. For details see
http://asc.harvard.edu/contest.html. The deadline for entering is 30 June 1998.
Although the deadline for submitting proposals to the UNEX program, the
Astrophysics Data Program, the Long Term Space Astrophysics program, the CGRO Guest
Observer program, and the FUSE Guest Observer program have recently passed, there are a
number of research opportunities coming up: Astrophysics Theory (July 13), Applied
Information Systems Research (July 14), RXTE Guest Observer (July 15), ROSAT Guest
Observer (July 31), MIDEX (August 21). Several of these are part of the Omnibus NRA called
"Research Opportunities in Space Science" or ROSS. The ROSS replaces 25 separate
NRA's and will be a regular NASA research announcement. All open NASA research
opportunities in space science may be found at
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/research.htm.
And speaking of NRA's, we won't be sending you those postcards every time an NRA
is issued. Instead we will send you e-mail. To sign up with the research opportunity
notification listserv, see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/announce/listserv.htm.
NASA has over a billion dollars in operating high energy astrophysics missions.
The Office of Space Science also has a declining budget for mission operations and data
analysis (MODA). Declining budgets means curtailed operations and reduced levels of
service for guest observers. This summer, a Senior Review for Astrophysics will be held.
The review panel will recommend how NASA should apportion the MODA money among the
missions being reviewed (which includes ASCA, CGRO, EUVE, ROSAT, RXTE, VSOP, and WIRE).
Whatever the results, MODA budgets will continue to decline.
Looking to the future, the Office of Space Science received an augmentation to
its expected budget. Part of the augmentation will be used to provide advance technology
development funds for GLAST. It is hoped that the GLAST work will lead to a FY02 new start
for GLAST. Another part of the augmentation will be used for X-ray technology development
in X-ray technology. This program should lead to a new start for the Constellation X-ray
Mission no earlier than FY05.
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NASA is looking for a Few Good Stories (Paul Hertz, NASA)
Perhaps you noticed the gamma ray burst story on the evening news on May 6, or on the
front page of your newspaper on May 7 ("Most Powerful Explosion Since the Big Bang
Challenges Gamma Ray Burst Theories"). Perhaps you caught the magnetar story on May
20 ("the most intense magnetic field yet observed in the Universe"). For some
recent press releases, see http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/press.html.
Exciting science stories come from you, the science community. A good NASA story
must include all of the following: (1) an important science result involving NASA data or
NASA supported research, (2) an interesting story to tell the general public, and (3)
advance planning before publication. The third item is very important -- timing is
everything if you want to have your story covered by the news media. If you have a science
result that you think would make a good NASA press release, or even a televised Space
Science Update, please contact me as early as possible: Paul Hertz, phertz@hq.nasa.gov,
202-358-0351
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EUVE Archive [from Michael Gunter et al.]
Since its launch in June, 1992, NASA's Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) spacecraft
has obtained sky survey and pointed spectroscopic observations at 70-760 Angstroms,
between traditional UV and X-ray bands. The EUVE science and data management effort has
been focussed at the Center for EUV Astrophysics of the University of California,
Berkeley, under the leadership of Dr. Roger Malina (http://www.cea.berkeley.edu/).
The first six months of the mission were dedicated to mapping the sky in a set of
four EUV bands using a set of telescopes mounted perpendicular to the spacecraft spin
axis. At the same time, it also carried out a deep survey of the ecliptic plane, using the
main telescope which views the sky along the spin axis. Once the survey was complete, the
mission entered a Guest Observer phase, carrying out pointed spectroscopy observations.
The EUVE team had been providing public access to EUVE data from facilities at
UCB/CEA via network and via the production of CD-WO disks; such access recently terminated
owing to resource constraints. As part of its preparation for its future cessation, the
UCB team has started providing two data products to NSSDC on DLT tape: the "science
archive" consisting of images and photon lists ("events") and the
"telemetry archive" containing all the raw telemetry.
In the framework of the emerging Space Science Data Services
(http://ssds.nasa.gov), with its emphasis on "active archiving" at sites of
major science discipline expertise, NSSDC has been interacting with the High Energy
Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at Goddard and with the Space
Telescope Science Institute on optimal roles for each in the management, dissemination,
and user support for these EUVE data. These organizations have primary active archive
responsibilities in the X-ray and UV bands that bound the EUVE wavelength range.
The science archive data will be supported by both the HEASARC (http://
heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/) and the STScI (http://archive.stsci.edu) through interfaces
familiar to those entities' traditional X-ray and optical/UV user communities,
respectively. The data is available for immediate network access via the HEASARC, with
links from both STScI and NSSDC. The primary mode of EUVE data dissemination support
provided by CEA was through the creation and mailing of CD-Recordable disks. Some EUVE
data users may have a continuing preference for this mode of data access, NSSDC will
respond to requests for observations from the science archive to be written to CD disks.
The HEASARC EUVE activities are described on the web pages at
http://euve.gsfc.nasa.gov. The HEASARC EUVE archive contains proprietary and
non-proprietary observations from the EUVE guest observer program through the end of 1997.
The data in the EUVE archive will be supplemented periodically with additional
observations from the Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astronomy (CEA) as they are
processed. The contents comprise a total of 26 GB of compressed data on 244 distinct
targets (including calibrations). Data are online for immediate download and may currently
be retrieved though anonymous FTP or the Web at ftp://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/euve/data/fits
or http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/FTP/euve/data/fits. These are the same data referenced by
different servers. Proprietary data is also stored on-line but is not readable by the
public (or most HEASARC personnel). The HEASARC is developing an EUVE observation log
which will be available through its W3Browse and other interfaces before the end of April
1998. Users will be able to select observation by name, time and position and retrieve
appropriate information.
Access to EUVE data at STScI (http://archive.stsci.edu/euve) is available through
the same WWW interfaces used for the Hubble Data Archive. Links are provided for users to
search the EUVE catalog and retrieve the data, obtain help, and get information about data
analysis. Once the search is done, the user is presented with a list of all datasets
matching the query parameters. These can be then retrieved via ftp from HEASARC by using
the two hyperlinks available in the "Data Files" column: EVT, which points to
the event file, and IMG, which points to the image file. Support of the IRAF-based EUVE
software will be from the STScI, after CEA completes the upgrade to IRAF V2.11.
NSSDC will provide a permanent archive of both the science archive data and the
telemetry data. At present, the latter data are not well supported as UCB/CEA software
needed to access and process observation-specific data from the telemetry tapes was highly
specific to the CEA ADP environment, and is no longer supported there or elsewhere. Most
of the science potential of the EUVE data are at the science-archive level, and only under
extreme circumstances would it be necessary to access the telemetry archive.
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RXTE Cycle 4 NRA: Guest Observer proposals due by 15 July 1998
The NASA Office of Space Science (OSS) is releasing an Announcement (AN 98-OSS-01) that
solicits observing proposals for participation in the NASA program to acquire and analyze
scientific data from RXTE. This Announcement is the fourth for RXTE Guest Observations,
and solicits proposals for observations to be carried out beginning on or around 1 January
1999. Cycle 4 is expected to last approximately 14 months.
The text of the Announcement, plus the relevant Appendices, may be obtained from
either the NASA OSS WWW site at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss (select the
"Research Opportunities" menu) or the RXTE Guest Observer Facility pages at:
http://rxte.gsfc.nasa.gov/ (select "Proposals and Planning Tools" ->
"NASA Research Announcements").
Printed copies of the appendices can be requested by sending papermail to
Dr. Alan Smale
RXTE Guest Observer Facility
Code 660.2
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
or by sending Email to xtehelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov. They may also be downloaded
from legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov in PostScript format.
No funding will be provided through this Announcement, which is for RXTE
observing time only. From Cycle 4 onward, funding for analysis and interpretation of new
as well as archival RXTE data will be through the NASA Astrophysics Data Program (ADP).
Observers with accepted RXTE Cycle 4 observations may submit a proposal for funding to the
ADP competition.
Also new for Cycle 4 proposals: Proposers who have previously been awarded RXTE
observing time are required to append a page to their proposal listing by Cycle, title,
and proposal number their previously accepted RXTE proposals and the status of the data
analysis or publications that have followed from them.
Potential proposers are reminded that RXTE has a wide variety of possible
observing modes each with its own telemetry cost, and that observing configurations must
be specified on the proposal forms -- they cannot be supplied later or chosen for you by
the RXTE SOC. We therefore strongly advise proposers to allow sufficient time to
familiarize themselves with RXTE and to perform the necessary feasibility calculations and
configuration selections.
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Guest Observations on ROSAT (Rob Petre, NASA/GSFC)
ROSAT's ninth solicitation for guest observations (AO9) was released on May 14. The AO9
observations will start in late December, 1998, or early January, 1999, and extend for
approximately one year. Only the HRI will be available for observations. Proposals
requesting long observing programs are encouraged. An emphasis will be placed on
observations complementing those of other missions, RXTE, ASCA, and AXAF. Proposal forms
and text must be submitted electronically. All information and tools necessary for
responding to this announcement can be obtained via the ROSAT Guest Observer Facility WWW
site (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/rosat/rosgof.html).
Also, as part of its response to the NASA Senior Review of astrophysics missions,
the US ROSAT Science Data Center would like to identify the most significant scientific
results obtained by ROSAT during the past two years. We would be grateful to receive a
summary of any recent ROSAT result, whether recently published, presented at a conference
or in preparation. A paragraph or a reference to a published paper is sufficient, but
preprints or drafts of papers are welcome. Additionally, if you have any nice images,
color or monochrome, please let us know, and we'll arrange an ftp transfer. We are
especially interested in results utilizing the HRI, as the justification of a mission
extension depends upon exclusive utilization of that instrument. Send your contributions
to Rob Petre, the US ROSAT Project Scientist (rob@hatrack.gsfc.nasa.gov). We will honor
requests that results be treated as confidential.
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Guest Observations on ASCA (Koji Mukai, NASA/GSFC)
We expect to release the ASCA AO-7 announcement on June 1st, with the proposal deadline
of September 1st. The AO-7 observations will be carried out during calendar 1999. Proposal
forms and text must be submitted electronically. All information and tools necessary for
responding to this announcement will be posted on the ASCA Guest Observer Facility WWW
site (http://asca.gsfc.nasa.gov/).
The US ASCA Guest Observer Facility has received its "invitation" to
submit a proposal to the 1998 Senior Review. A strong proposal is vital to the continued
funding of ASCA in the US. In turn, the key to a strong proposal is inclusion of the most
significant scientific results obtained by ASCA during the past two years. Please send a
brief summary of any recent ASCA result, whether recently published, presented at a
conference or still in the works. While a couple of paragraphs will do, feel free to send
preprints or drafts of papers. Additionally, if you have any nice images, color or
monochrome, please let us know, and we'll arrange an ftp transfer. Please send your
contributions to Keith Arnaud (kaa@genji.gsfc.nasa.gov). Let us know if you would like the
result treated as confidential, and we will honor your request.
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Opening for Discipline Scientist at NASA (Hashima Hasan, NASA
Headquarters)
I would like to call your attention to the opportunity to apply for the NASA
Headquarters position of Ultraviolet/Visible/Gravitational Astrophysics (UVGA) Discipline
Scientist, a key individual in this extremely active specialty within the Office of Space
Science. It is very important for the scientific community to encourage interested
colleagues to apply to these opportunities, as these individuals play a pivotal role in
funding astronomical research and influencing NASA policies and programs.
The successful candidate for this position will be responsible for the UVGA
research and analysis program at NASA HQ and is expected to be the Program Scientist for a
number of the high-priority scientific missions operating at UV/Visible/Gravitational
wavelengths and expected to be launched during the coming several years. The individual
will also play a leadership role in defining the UVGA program for the next millennium.
Candidates for this position are sought from universities and other non-profit
institutions via the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) program or from NASA Centers,
JPL, and other US Government agencies via detailees. Normal tenure in these positions is
from two to four years.
These temporary positions at NASA Headquarters are outstanding opportunities for
a leadership position within the scientific community, while contributing to NASA's
outstanding scientific missions. Candidates for these positions are normally active
researchers with at least 10 years of experience past the doctorate.
This letter is to encourage nominations and enquiries. A formal advertisement for
this position will appear in the June AAS Job Register.
The applicant must be a U.S. citizen.
Thank you for your consideration. (email: hashima.hasan@hq.nasa.gov)
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New Gamma-Ray Burst Web Site (Kevin Hurley)
K. Hurley, UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory, announces the opening of the 3rd
Interplanetary Network web site at http://ssl.berkeley.edu/ipn3/index.html. This site
presently has four parts: 1. A bibliography of over 3000 publications on gamma-ray bursts
2. IPN data on all bursts triangulated up to February 1998
3. A master list showing which spacecraft observed which bursts
4. Preliminary IPN data on the latest bursts observed
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HEAD News at the January 1998 AAS Meeting (Lynn Cominsky, HEAD
Press Officer)
Multi-wavelength studies of the ``Old Faithful'' black hole using data from NASA's
Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) made another big media splash at a press conference on
the first day (January 7, 1998) of the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society
in Washington, DC. The geyser-like nickname refers to the predilection of the micro-quasar
source GRS 1915+105 to quasi-periodically spew jets of matter into space at relativistic
velocities.
The jets are detected at lower energies with ground-based telescopes, and their
appearance is preceded by the sudden disappearance of the X-ray emitting accretion disk,
which is believed to feed the jets. This behavior repeats every 20-40 minutes. The data
show the first clear connection between the matter in the disk and the formation of jets
in a black hole candidate system.
Receiving media attention were scientists from the California Institute of
Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center. The press conference included Caltech's Dr. Stephen Eikenberry, Dr. Ronald
Remillard (MIT) and RXTE PI Dr. Jean Swank (NASA/GSFC). Eikenberry used the Mt. Palomar
200-inch telescope to observe infrared flares while at the same time, Remillard monitored
X-ray dips from the same black hole using RXTE. A month later, Swank's team again observed
the dips, this time with the accompanying flares observed in the radio and infrared by Dr.
Felix Mirabel (Center d'Etudes de Saclay, France).
Similar dipping behavior from GRS 1915+105 had been seen the previous year using
RXTE, and had been studied and modelled extensively by other researchers including Swank
and Dr. Tomaso Belloni in the Netherlands. However, the multi-wavelength data obtained in
the fall of 1997, clearly demonstrated the linkage between the disappearance of the inner
disk and the formation of the jets. Read more about the newest results showing ``Evidence
for a Disk-Jet Interaction in the Microquasar GRS1915+105'' in the Astrophysical Journal
(Letters), 494, L61 (Eikenberry et al. 1998).
Also popular with the media was Dr. Ed Morgan from MIT, who transformed the
wildly varying lightcurves from the RXTE observations of GRS 1915+105 into audio
``sounds'' of the black hole. These ``sounds'' can be heard at:
http://xte.mit.edu/~ehm/1915_frames.html.
GRS 1915+105 has been responsible for many breakthroughs in our understanding of
black hole candidates. In 1994, Mirabel and Dr. Luis Rodriguez observed radio emission
from jets in GRS1915+105, and they determined that the speed of the jets was greater than
90\% of speed of light. The appearance of jets in a galactic black hole candidate led to
the object being known as a "micro-quasar", and to the 1996 Rossi Prize for Drs.
Mirabel and Rodriguez. Since RXTE began observing the X-ray sky in early 1996, the
exceptionally chaotic behavior of GRS1915+105 in X-rays has been chronicled on many
occasions. Last year, at the HEAD meeting in Estes Park, the source was one of two black
hole candidates with QPO behavior that was interpreted as providing evidence for
``frame-dragging'', a prediction of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. (For more
information on this latter topic, see article 7 in HEAD Newsletter #71 about press
coverage of the Estes Park meeting.)
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Starchild astronomy web site wins Webby Award for education (L.
Cominsky)
Starchild, an astronomy-oriented website for children is the winner of the 1998 Webby
award for education. The Webby awards are presented yearly, and are sponsored by Web
magazine. This year's ceremonies were held on March 6 in San Francisco's Palace of Fine
Arts, and the awards were presented by Mayor Willie Brown. Starchild was nominated from
over 6000 web sites reviewed by the magazine, and was one of five semi-finalists in the
education category. Starchild was developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, by
scientists from the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics (LHEA), working in
collaboration with two middle-school teachers. It is designed to function as an
instructional tool which will both educate and excite elementary and middle school
students about a variety of astronomy topics. The site can be found at http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Starchild was originated by Goddard Space Flight Center scientist Dr. Laura
Whitlock, and grew out of her earlier work developing educationally-oriented web
information for the High Energy Astrophysics Space Archival Research Center. Whitlock's
original site, which is now called Imagine the Universe (http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov), is
geared for an audience somewhat older than is the Starchild site. In 1996, she enlisted
the aid of two middle school teachers, Joyce Dejoie and Libby Truelove, who volunteered to
create new text and activities for the Starchild site. For more news about Starchild, and
links to the Italian and newly released German versions, follow the links found under the
button for Important Events in the Life of Starchild, which appears on its home page.
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AXAF Fellows
The AXAF Science Center is pleased to announce the start of the AXAF Fellowship
program. This program provides up to three years of support for research in X-ray
astronomy. The competition is open to candidates from anywhere in the world, but the
Fellowships must be held at a US institution.
In January the first group of AXAF Fellows was selected:
Name Ph.D. Institution Host Institution
David Buote MIT UC Santa Cruz
Tiziana Di Matteo Cambridge, UK CfA
Ann Esin Harvard CalTech
Joseph Mohr Harvard Chicago
Edward Moran Columbia UC Berkeley
The second competition for 1999 Fellows will begin this fall, with proposals due Nov.
13, 1998. The announcment of opportunity (AO) giving the details of the program will be
updated in late summer. However, the previous AO is available at:
http://asc.harvard.edu/fellows/AXAF_fellow.html
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XMM Guest Observer Facility at Goddard Space Flight Center
(Steve Snowden, NASA/GSFC)
In order to support US participation in the European X-ray Multi-Mirror (XMM) project,
an XMM Guest Observer Facility has been organized at Goddard Space Flight Center
associated with the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC).
XMM, which is now scheduled for launch in 1999 August, has spectral coverage similar to
that of AXAF with significantly larger effective area but with coarser angular resolution.
After the calibration/verification phase of operations, open observations will be phased
in reaching 75% of the available time after 12 months. Guest observer targets will be
selected in a process open to US observers with the first AO released 1 August 1998 with
proposals due 31 January 1999. GSFC XMM GOF www pages can be found at
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xmm/xmmgof.html and include links to other sites
relating to the project. In addition, both the GSFC GOF and ESA will have XMM booths at
the San Diego AAS meeting.
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VERITAS Workshop on TeV Astrophysics of Extragalactic Sources,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 23-24 October 1998
The Workshop is sponsored by the VERITAS Collaboration which is dedicated to the
construction of an array of eight atmospheric Cherenkov imaging telescopes at the Whipple
Observatory in southern Arizona. The Workshop will be held at the Center for Astrophysics.
The attendance will be limited to about 80 participants.
The workshop will deal with the scientific issues raised by the recent
discoveries of TeV gamma-ray emission from Active Galactic Nuclei. Although the main
emphasis will be on emission from blazars the workshop will also cover emission from other
extragalactic sources, absorption in the intergalactic medium, the current observational
status of Very High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy and future plans for major new instruments
in space and on the ground.
Information on the Workshop can be obtained at the web site which is accessible
via http://www-veritas.physics.purdue.edu/workshop
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19th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology,
Paris, France, on Dec. 14-18, 1998 (Thierry Montmerle)
This meeting, which is a major gathering of astronomers and astrophysicists held every
two years, will comprise 13 invited talks, 10 highlight talks, and 15
"mini-symposia", each organized by a separate scientific committee. The topics
of the mini-symposia have been selected by the Scientific Organizing Committee of
Symposium. They are as follows: AGN, QSO, and jets; cosmic microwave background;
cosmological parameters; dark matter; early universe; galaxy formation and evolution;
gamma-ray bursts; gravitational waves and numerical relativity; high-energy cosmic rays;
large-scale structure and galaxy clusters; mapping the universe from weak lensing
analysis; nuclear astrophysics, pulsars and neutron stars; quantum gravity and general
relativity; X-ray binaries.
Also, three associated conferences are organized just before the Symposium:
LiBeB, Cosmic Rays, and Gamma Rays; Relativistic Jet Sources in the Galaxy; and
Cosmological Constraints from Clusters of Galaxies.
The First Circular, which includes forms for scientific registration and hotel
reservation, is available on the World Wide Web at the following address:
http://www.iap.fr/coll/texas The web circular offers the possibility to send titles and
abstracts of proposed contributions automatically to the organizers of mini-symposia at
the time of registration. The circular and the registration forms are also available from
our ftp server, using the following instructions:
> ftp ftp.iap.fr
login as "anonymous"
give e-mail as password
> cd pub/from_users/texas19
> get first-circular
> bye
In this case, the filled ftp scientific registration form should be sent to: texas19@iap.fr
The proceedings will include Rapporteur summaries of each mini-symposium. If you
have problems, please contact the Local Organizing Committee, preferably by e-mail at:
texas@discovery.saclay.cea.fr.
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HEADNEWS, the electronic newsletter of the High Energy Astrophysics Division of
the American Astronomical Society, is issued by the Secretary-Treasurer, at the Department
of Astronomy, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215. The HEAD
Executive Committee Members are:
