HEADNEWS: THE ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER OF THE
HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS DIVISION OF THE AAS
|
Newsletter No. 79, November 2001 |
- Notes from the Editor - Matthew Baring
- Arthur Davidsen (1944 - 2001) - Lynn Cominsky
- Fred Hoyle (1915 - 2001) - Donald Clayton
- HEAD in the News - Lynn Cominsky and Megan Watzke
- News from NASA Headquarters - Paul Hertz, Lou Kaluzienski and Don Kniffen
- NASA SEU Theme Solicits Community Input - Paul Hertz
- GLAST Mission News - Lynn Cominsky
- Swift Mission News - Lynn Cominsky
- RXTE News - Tod Strohmayer, et al.
- INTEGRAL Science Data Centre - Thierry Courvoisier
- Chandra X-ray Observatory Operations Report - Roger Brissenden
- Meeting Announcements:
from the Editor - Matthew Baring, HEAD Secretary-Treasurer,
headsec@aas.org, 713-348-2983
HEAD only delivers the table-of-contents for HEADNEWS into your mailbox. The newsletter itself can be found online at http://www.aas.org/head/headnews/headnews.nov01.html.
The next HEAD Division meeting is a joint meeting with the APS
Division of Astrophysics (DAP) April 20-23, 2002, in Albuquerque, NM.
The meeting will include invited and contributed talks, poster
sessions, and evening workshops like recent HEAD meetings, as well as
the opportunity to attend plenary and other sessions of the Spring APS
Meeting. The first announcement was emailed to HEAD members in
September 2001, with the second announcement to be mailed in December
2001. HEAD members should note that abstracts are due January 11,
2002. The APS will be taking care of registration, accommodation and
abstract submission. Please check the APS April Meeting website 2002 April HEAD Meeting
Information for further details.
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2. Arthur Davidsen (1944 - 2001)
An Obituary Prepared for the HEAD Newsletter
Compiled by Lynn Cominsky (Sonoma State University) from information
from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/22/obituaries/22DAVI.html
and other sources.
Arthur F. Davidsen, professor of physics and astronomy at the Johns
Hopkins University, and HEAD Executive Committee member (1998-1999)
died July 19, 2001 at age 57, from complications of a lung disorder.
Davidsen's research interests were primarily in the fields of
high-energy astrophysics and ultraviolet space astronomy. From 1985 to
1988, he served as the founding director of the Center for
Astrophysical Sciences in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at
Johns Hopkins. At the time of his death, Davidsen was chairman of the
advisory council for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Perhaps his crowning achievement was his role as principal
investigator for the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), which flew as
part of both the Astro-1 and Astro-2 Observatory missions on the Space
Shuttle. Davidsen designed HUT to search for ionized helium in the
intergalactic medium. His measurement of its opacity towards a high
redshift quasar during the Astro-2 mission has been a fundamental
reference point for recent simulations of the development of the
inhomogeneous structure of the IGM. In recognition of the importance
of this measurement, HUT is now enshrined at the National Air and Space
Museum, part of the new permanent exhibit "Explore the Universe." He
was also a member of the team that designed and developed the Faint
Object Spectrograph for the Hubble Space Telescope.
Professor Davidsen held an A.B. from Princeton University and the
M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, where he
"was in the top group of students...even as a graduate student Art had
a keen grasp of the big picture in Astronomy. He was offered an
Assistant Professorship at JHU immediately upon getting his PhD. And he
converted their rather sleepy sounding rocket program into a dynamite
program that eventually led to HUT and from there on to cosmology"
recalls UCB Professor Emeritus C. Stuart Bowyer. Davidsen won many
prizes for his research: among them were several achievement awards
from NASA and the 1979 AAS Warner Prize. The latter prize was awarded
for a rocket experiment in which he measured the first ultraviolet
spectrum of a quasar, showing that little cool hydrogen lurked unseen
in intergalactic space. Davidsen's academic honors included election
as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
and of the American Physical Society. Posthumously (9/28/01), Davidsen
was awarded the NASA Public Service Medal.
A true pioneer in the field of space-based ultraviolet astronomy,
Davidsen got his first exposure to rocket science when, prior to
attending graduate school during the Vietnam War, he worked with Dr.
Herbert Friedman at the Naval Research Laboratory.
At JHU, Davidsen's personal research stressed the characteristics of
the intergalactic medium. Perhaps Davidsen's most unusual
accomplishment was his successful campaign together with AURA to site
STScI at JHU, permanently changing the center of gravity of space
science by "turning Hopkins into an astrophysics powerhouse" according
to JHU Physics and Astronomy chair Paul Feldman.
Not just a rocket scientist, Davidsen was also fondly remembered for
singing doo-wop while accompanying himself on the guitar, and being a
jazz fan, fly fisherman and Harley enthusiast. He is survived by his
wife, two sons, two stepsons, and a sister, and many close colleagues
who miss him dearly.
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3. Fred Hoyle (1915 - 2001)
Donald Clayton (Obituary for BAAS, December 2001)
Sir Fred Hoyle, who died still working at age 86, applied field
theory to cosmology and began new astronomical disciplines. A national
hero, he was knighted by the Queen in 1972 for a large number of
distinguished contributions to astronomy and to the UK: he worked on
radar during WWII, created Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, and
chaired the Science Research Council's astronomy committee for creation
of the Anglo-Australian Telescope. By creating and challenging our
human view of the universe for more than half the century, Hoyle was a
creative genius. His name became well known to the public following his
BBC broadcasts "The Nature of the Universe (1950)." His 1955 book
"Frontiers of Astronomy" inspired a generation of astronomers and
public alike.
Nucleosynthesis in Stars:
After WWII it was already popular to envision the beginnings of
the universe as an expansion from a very dense state. But attempts to
create the elements in that setting, which was its initial goal, were
unsuccessful; so the picture languished. Hoyle changed the
nucleosynthesis paradigm in 1946 by showing that the interiors of
evolved massive stars should eventually reach very high temperature and
density, and that in that setting the natural dominance of iron in the
iron abundance peak could be understood as a consequence of statistical
equilibrium provided that the neutron/proton ratio was chosen. Hoyle
and collaborators called this "the e process", with "e" being for
equilibrium. If explosive disruption of the star followed, the
interstellar gas would be enriched in iron. This paper shifted
attention to nucleosynthesis in the stars and created the field of
galactic chemical evolution. In 1954 Hoyle published an ApJ paper
detailing not only the e process but the synthesis of all elements
between carbon and nickel as a series of successive thermonuclear
epochs in which the ashes of one stage became the fuel of the next.
This, Hoyle's most accepted theoretical innovation, would dominate the
next three decades of theoretical astrophysics. An irony is that
because the neutron/proton ratio does not reach the value that Hoyle
initially suggested, it is not properties of iron nuclei that account
for its high abundance, but rather those of radioactive nickel, which
was demonstrated in the late 1960s by others to be the radioactive
parent of iron, of the radioactive power for supernova light, and the
source of a realistic test of the theory through detection of the
gamma-ray lines.
Steady State Cosmology:
Hoyle is perhaps more widely known as creator during 1947-48
of the steady-state theory of the universe. Bondi and Gold also
published a discussion of this idea in 1948 from a more philosophical
point of view. Hoyle's approach, however, went straight to the need for
a field theory of gravitation that included a field for creating
matter. Hoyle invented and introduced a scalar field for that
purpose. A large number of publications during the next 15 years, many
with Jayant Narlikar, explored the mathematical implications of this
(and other) fields in cosmology. Their work and book on time-symmetric
quantum electrodynamics was a herculean effort of theoretical physics
which they saw as supporting the steady-state theory. They also
introduced a new theory of gravity itself. These established Hoyle as
founder and champion of the concept of creation in the universe, and
field equations that achieve this will forever be associated with his
name. In all of these the influence of Dirac and of Hoyle's training in
mathematical field theory shows through. Hoyle's field equation led to
the exponentially expanding but spatially flat metric that he
discovered, and that reappeared in similar form in the inflation epoch
of the Big Bang theory. Philosophical beauty was not his only guide,
however. The conviction from work by Ambartsumian and others in the
1960s that violent cosmic objects represented ejection of matter rather
than infall of matter strongly motivated Hoyle.
The steady-state theory makes strong predictions. Hoyle's
reaction to poorly documented attacks on the steady state theory was to
demolish the "disproofs". Almost against his will this reaction placed
Hoyle in the position of seeming a sore loser in a scientific debate, a
perception that persisted until his death. But in 1964 Hoyle pioneered
calculations of nucleosynthesis in a big-bang cosmology with Tayler by
arguing that a hot big bang was the source of a uniform cosmic density
of helium; and in 1967, with Wagoner and Fowler, Hoyle demonstrated a
source for both isotopes of H and both isotopes of He as well as of 7Li
in the Big Bang. The latter calculation set the standard for big-bang
nucleosynthesis. Nonetheless, Hoyle's common image is of his giving the
Big Bang its name in sarcasm. But following accurate spectral
measurements of the microwave background of the universe, Hoyle
acknowledged its possible knockout blow to the simple steady state
model. Still he showed with Wickramasinghe the capacity of a modified
steady-state picture for thermalizing starlight with carbon whiskers
formed in stellar outflows. This effort contributed to his monograph
("A Different Approach to Cosmology", with G. Burbidge and J.
Narlikar, (2000: Cambridge University Press)) presenting an alternative
to the Big Bang based on an oscillating but otherwise steady state.
Cosmology was led toward its modern empirical state by the galvanizing
role of the steady-state theory in arguments about of evolutionary
cosmology.
Red Giants and Supernovae:
Hoyle's great contributions to stellar evolution involved
both physical models of stars becoming red giants and of their
exploding as supernovae. The former occurred in 1953 during his visit
to Princeton University. The issue was physical interpretation of the
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of globular cluster stars, which Hoyle had
already addressed with Lyttleton in 1949. Hoyle and Schwarzschild
constructed numerical models of the evolution of stars from the main
sequence that not only explained the physical nature and cause of red
giant stars but also introduced many physical ideas that now seem as if
they must always have been known. This was done not with a Pentium
processor, mind you, but by hand integration of the dimensionless q, t,
p variables that Schwarzschild later used in his book on stellar
evolution. Innovations included an isothermal helium core, a thin
hydrogen burning shell (on the CN cycle), and a deepening surface
convection zone owing to the failure of the zero boundary conditions at
the surface. Practitioners of stellar evolution reread this ApJ paper
and marvel at the concepts that were argued into existence but that are
now taken to be evident. When Hoyle visited Kellogg Lab at Caltech for
the first time in 1953, he argued that the triple-alpha rate would be
inadequate for both red giants and nucleosynthesis unless 12C were to
have an excited state with zero spin and positive parity at 7.7 MeV
excitation. This pronouncement was incredible, because 12C has very
few excited states; but it was soon shown true. Hoyle's prediction of
the energy of this state was the most accurate that had ever been
achieved, and it had relied on astrophysics rather than nuclear
physics. Hoyle had anticipated the anthropic principle by arguing that
because we are here, this 12C excited state must exist.
In 1960 and 1964 Hoyle published with Fowler physical
interpretations of spectroscopically defined supernovae of Types I and
II. They argued that Type I were degenerate dwarfs that explode nuclear
fuel and that Type II were implosion-explosion sequences within massive
stars. These are today our paradigms, although they did not see the
role of neutrino transport in the Type II rebound, arguing instead that
centrifugal barriers to further collapse would allow thermonuclear
power to eject matter. The physical pictures that Hoyle constructed of
supernovae and of red giants remain mental images carried by all
astronomers.
Stardust and Panspermia:
Hoyle's foray into interstellar biology began innocently enough.
With Cambridge student Wickramasinghe he published in the 1960s papers
on the condensation of refractory dust in both winds from carbon stars
and within the interiors of supernovae as they expanded and cooled.
Within ten years a new astronomy could be envisioned after others
argued that such dust would be isotopically anomalous and could perhaps
be found within the meteorites. The first such stardust in meteorites
was isolated in 1987 and has enormously enriched astronomical
knowledge. Hoyle's adventure into interstellar biology grew from an
indication that the absorption spectra of bacteria resembled extinction
plus his conviction that some driving principle would be needed
to process interstellar matter into such forms with high efficiency.
For this they boldly suggested reproductive chemistry. Hoyle's
attitude was of this as a novel scientific argument to be
addressed by the usual scientific methods. After it was instead
attacked by biologists' public comments rather than published
scientific arguments, Hoyle's back stiffened. His subsequent foray
into publishing books directly to the public rather than to scientists
was unfortunate. Hoyle had written for the public brilliantly in his
1957 novel "The Black Cloud", in which imagined (then) cold molecular
clouds developed a nervous system and consciousness that controlled
their environements in an astrophysical "gaia". The physical notion
stayed with him. Writing to the public Hoyle and Wickramasinghe argued
in "Lifecloud (1958)", "Diseases from Space" (1979) and "Space
Travelers:The Origins of Life" (1980) that comets carried the basic
chemicals of DNA replication, and even of influenza epidemics. The
scorn of the biochemical world was total. But it must be added that
today the role of comets in delivering biochemically sensitive matter
is an open science topic, as is the question whether life emerged first
on Earth or on another planetary body (Mars, say).
Hoyle childhood and manhood:
"The child is father of the man" wrote Wordsworth, and Hoyle has
himself described the truth of that sentiment in his own case. In
his autobiography "Home is where the wind blows" Hoyle focused much
attention on his early war with education in Gilstead, a village near
Bingley in Yorkshire where Hoyle had been born in 1915. His family was
far from the privileged classes that gave England so many science
superstars. His mother was a big influence. She had worked in the
Bingley textile mill but later studied music at the Royal Academy and
became a professional singer before she married. Through age nine Hoyle
was at war with the educational system. Rebellious truant and foe of
ignorant authority, Hoyle quit school after being slapped by a
teacher. His mother strongly supported him in the confrontation with
local education authorities. After transferring schools, Hoyle
eventually won a scholarship to Bingley Grammar School, to and from
which he walked four miles daily. From there he managed to gather
financial support to enter Cambridge University's Pembroke College in
1933. There he won half share of the Mayhew prize in the mathematical
tripos. Later he became a research student of Dirac because, Hoyle
explains, Dirac could not resist the circular logic of a supervisor who
did not want a research student who didn't want a supervisor!
During the 1960s-70s Hoyle organized climbing trips of "the
Munros" of Scotland (peaks of more than 3000 ft) for those that
accepted his passion for talking day and night of the universe and its
problems. (See "With Fred on Slioch" from my memoir THE DARK NIGHT
SKY). Yielding to a separate summer madness, Hoyle would terminate work
and invite colleagues to his house to watch the cricket Test Matches
while he explained its intracacies to Americans. He once exclaimed, "Is
there not somewhere a cricket team that can beat the Australians!"
Three of Fred Hoyle's papers (above) were selected for the AAS
Centennial Volume featuring the most influential research of the
twentieth century published in AJ and ApJ. I would argue that his paper
on big-bang nucleosynthesis might also have been included. Most of his
publications were in MNRAS, however, including the field theoretic
steady state model. These earned the international Crafoord and Balzan
Prizes, and many felt that Hoyle might have shared Fowler's Nobel prize
but for Hoyle's embarrassed status over exobiology. Many relevant
photographs are available on a web site for the history of nuclear
astrophysics (http://photon.phys.clemson.edu/wwwpages/PhotoArchive).
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4. HEAD in the News (May 2001 - November 2001) -
Lynn Cominsky, HEAD Press Officer, and
Megan Watzke, Chandra Press Officer
HEAD news coverage was very good during the past six months. We had
coverage in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, Science
News and many spots on the internet, television and radio. Here are some of
the highlights.
News from the AAS Meeting in Pasadena (June 2001)
There were two press conferences at the Pasadena meeting that featured HEAD
members. The first, on Tuesday June 5, featured new results on black holes
from several different groups. Andrew Ptak and Ed Colbert, who were the
first to report the existence of medium-sized black holes (at the
Charleston HEAD meeting in April 1999), led a team from Carnegie-Mellon
University and PSU that used Chandra data to survey 37 galaxies. Their team
found that 25 percent of galaxies, which were chosen for their suspected
central supermassive black holes and areas of star formation, had very
luminous X-ray sources, consistent with being medium-sized black holes.
These X-ray sources are now known as either Intermediate-luminosity X-ray
Objects (IXO) or Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULX). Kimberly Weaver
(GSFC), reported results from Chandra studies of NGC 253, which shows four
IXOs within 3000 light years of the galaxy core. This starburst galaxy may
be in the process of transforming itself into a quasar, she claimed.
Finally, Pepi Fabbiano and Andreas Zezas (CfA) showed Chandra data from the
Antenna galaxy and from M82 that also showed evidence for IXOs.
The second press conference, on Wednesday, June 6 featured Farhad
Yusef-Zadeh (Northwestern), who showed a Chandra image of a cauldron of
60-million degree gas enveloping a cluster of young stars in the Arches
cluster. This phenomenon, occurring within 100 light years of our Galactic
Center, mimics the conditions found in starburst galaxies, and is the first
time that colliding stellar winds from young stars have been found to
generate a halo of X-rays. This press conference was highlighted in a
lengthy article by John Wilford that appeared in the New York Times.
Another HEAD item of interest at the Pasadena meeting was the announcement
by Drs. Padi Boyd and Alan Smale (GSFC) that they have discovered a
unifying concept in the pattern of emissions in certain X-ray binaries.
They analyzed the light curves of three X-ray binaries obtained over five
years with the RXTE All Sky Monitor, and discovered that the number of days
between low points of emission can, for each source, be described as a
series of integer multiples of a fundamental underlying clock. See
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/whatsnew/press_release2.html.
News at the Two Years of Science with Chandra Symposium (September 2001)
Much of the summer efforts of Chandra X-ray Center press office were
centered on the Two Years of Science with Chandra symposium. Over 200
scientists attended this conference held September 5-7 at the Washington
Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC. The biggest media story of the week came
from Fred Baganoff (MIT) who announced the discovery of an X-ray flare in
the direction of the Sgr A*. This result, which appeared on the cover of
September 6th issue of Nature, was the focal point of a press conference on
Wednesday, September 5th. In addition to the reporters in attendance,
media from across the country were able to watch the proceedings via NASA
TV. The press conference and release garnered widespread media attention,
including broadcasts on CNN, CBS Radio and articles in the Washington Post,
New York Times, LA Times (front page), and Baltimore Sun just to name a
few. See Nature, 413, Issue 6851, p. 45 for the cover story by Baganoff et
al., as well as commentary on p. 25 by Fulvio Melia (U Arizona), who also
acted as the independent expert at the press briefing.
While the Sgr A* story was the headliner for the week, it was certainly not
the only piece of news. On Thursday, September 6th, a press conference was
held highlighting Chandra's recent progress made in the study of dark
matter. Steve Allen (Institute of Astronomy, UK) demonstrated how Chandra
is helping to nail down the precise amount of dark matter in the
Universe. John Arabadjis (MIT) showed how his team's observations of the
galaxy cluster EMS 1358 are narrowing the field of candidate dark matter
particles. And Joel Bregman (U Michigan) did a wonderful job illuminating
some of the mysteries of dark matter, as our independent expert at the
press briefing. Again, this story was well received, including being the
focus of a long story in the New York Times' Science Times section that
following Tuesday.
Here are the other CXC releases at the meeting:
Bryan Gaensler (formerly of MIT and now at the CfA) et al. used Chandra to
uncover a powerful jet of high-energy particles and bright arcs generated
by the rapidly spinning neutron star B1509-58 pulsar, thus revealing the
high-voltage environment of one of the most energetic and strongly
magnetized pulsars known.
Astronomers examined the remnants of a stellar explosion with Chandra and
discovered one of the youngest known pulsars. Steve Murray (CfA) studied
3C58, the remains of a supernova observed on Earth in 1181 AD, thus making
it one of the few pulsars with a historical association.
Sumner Starrfield (ASU) and colleagues detected a giant X-ray outburst and
an unusual cyclical pulsation in their observations of Nova Aquilae the
first time either of these phenomena has been seen in X rays in such a system.
Also, several other press releases were issued from the news offices of the
PI's home institutions. These were:
A Chandra image of KS 1731-260, obtained by Rudy Winjands (MIT), reveals
that the neutron star is remarkably cool after 12 years of being bombarded
with hot gas from a companion star. See ApJL, 560, L159.
Nick White and Lorella Angelini (GSFC) used Chandra to discover that a
puzzling X-ray source in the globular star cluster M15 is really two
neutron star binary systems, not one. The two binary systems appear so
close together (2.7 arc sec) that they were indistinguishable with previous
X-ray telescopes. Read about it in ApJL, 561, L101.
In a spectacular X-ray image, Leisa Townsley (PSU) et al. found that the
most massive stars in the Rosette Nebula produce winds slam into each
other, creating violent shocks that infuse the region with 6-million-degree
gas.
Eric Feigelson (PSU) and his team used Chandra to survey the young stars in
the Orion Nebula. They found a much higher rate of flares than expected a
result that broad implications for the formation of our own Solar System.
This story was covered by the New York Times, and had broad national wire
distribution.
The Chandra X-ray Center Press Office thanks all of those who helped to
make the 'Two Years' symposium such a great success.
Other Chandra News:
Halo of hot gas around Milky Way cousin:
Using Chandra, a team led by Daniel Wang (UMass) found the first
unambiguous evidence for a giant halo of hot gas around NGC 4631, a nearby,
spiral galaxy much like our own Milky Way. This discovery may lead to a
better understanding of our own Galaxy, as well the structure and evolution
of galaxies in general. The paper appeared in ApJL, 555, L99
Diffuse hot gas confirmed in Milky Way:
Ken Ebisawa (GSFC) et al. used Chandra observations in the 'zone of
avoidance' to see through our galaxy to spot 36 active galaxies, but few
point sources in our own galaxy. This indicates that the galactic ridge
emission is actually diffuse gas, somehow trapped in the Milky Way, and is
not made of many weak, previously unresolved sources. For more information,
see Science, 293, 1030 for a commentary by Robert Irion, and the research
article in volume 293, p. 1633.
Oxygen-rich supernova G292.0+1.8 reveals evidence for pulsar:
John Hughes (Rutgers) et al. reported that Chandra observations of
G292.0+1.8 show that the 1600-year-old supernova remnant contains oxygen,
silicon, neon, magnesium, sulfur, and a pulsar. The widely believed
connection between heavy element and pulsar formation following the
explosion of a massive star, remained elusive, until the pulsar was
discovered in the Chandra data. For more information, see ApJ, 559, L153.
To see all the Chandra news releases, check
out http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/.
News from XMM
XMM Newton has begun to send out increasing numbers of press releases. Here
are two that caught the eye of your HEAD Press Officer.
Blandford-Znajek effect reported seen in MCG-6-30-15:
Unprecedented details of the iron line profile in the galaxy MCG-6-30-15
have provided evidence for an excess of energy being extracted from the
galaxy's central black hole. The excess energy is believed to be extracted
from the spinning black hole, as it is braked by magnetic fields. Joern
Wilms (Tuebingen) led the XMM-Newton team that performed the observations.
ASCA studies of the iron line from this galaxy, demonstrating the existence
of a spinning black hole, were previously recognized when Kirpal Nandra
(GSFC) was awarded the AAS' Pierce prize in 2000 and by the award of the
2001 Rossi prize to Andrew Fabian (Cambridge) and Yasuo Tanaka (ISAS.) A
partial listing of coverage of this story includes the New York, Times, NPR
(interview with Chris Reynolds), the Dallas Morning News, AP, Science News
and many newspapers in Europe.
Extreme activity from M81:
Striking ultraviolet images of M81 were obtained by Alice Breeveld et al.
using the Optical Monitor on XMM-Newton. When combined with x-ray images,
the data reveal regions of active stellar activity in stellar nurseries, as
well a bright point source near the galaxy's nucleus which can be
interpreted either as the accretion onto the galaxy's central black hole,
or as an intense starburst.
For more about XMM-Newton news, see
http://sci.esa.int/xmm/.
Gamma-Ray Burst News
Two interesting theories about gamma-ray bursts made the news during the
past six months.
Electromagnetic black holes? Remo Ruffini (Rome) et al. used data from
Chandra, RXTE and Beppo-SAX to compare their theory to observations of
gamma-ray bursts. They found that the timing and intensity of a gamma-ray
burst and its afterglow could be explained by the formation of an
electrically charged black hole. They also have shown that the expanding
fireball from one burst could induce a nearby star to go supernova, helping
to explain some anomalous iron observations and the association of some
GRBs with supernovae. See ApJ, 555, L113 and L117.
Neutrinos from GRBS? Meszaros (PSU) and Waxman (Weizman Institute) have
calculated that internal shocks in a collapsar will cause neutrinos to fly
out at least 10 seconds ahead of the photons seen from GRBs. They also
point out that some GRBs may only be detectable through their neutrino
emissions, as the photons may be 'choked off.' Read the complete theory in
PRL, 87, 171102.
Other News:
Hungry black hole speeds through the galaxy:
Felix Mirabel et al. have used VLBA data in combination with 43-year-old
Palomar Sky Survey data to show that the microquasar XTE J1118+840,
discovered with RXTE, is orbiting the galaxy. This is the first time that
a black hole's motion through space has been measured. XTE J1118+840
appears to have captured its binary companion before being ejected from the
globular cluster in which it was born. It has also devoured a considerable
quantity of its companion's mass, exposing its inner layers. For more, see
Nature, volume 413, Issue 6852, p. 139.
HEAD members Fred and Don Lamb were profiled in an article in Science
magazine by Mark Sincell. The article discussed their intertwined, stellar
careers as high-energy astrophysical theorists. Read more about the dynamic
duo in volume 293, p. 1040.
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5. News from NASA Headquarters -
Paul Hertz, Lou Kaluzienski and Don Kniffen, NASA Headquarters.
Reorganization in the Office of Space Science:
Introducing the Astronomy and Physics Division
On July 1, the NASA Office of Space Science (OSS) was
streamlined. The headquarters program scientists and program
executives are now working in science divisions rather than functional
divisions. All astrophysics programs, including high energy
astrophysics, particle astrophysics, and fundamental and gravitational
physics, are within the new Astronomy and Physics Division. The
Director of the A&P Division is Anne Kinney; prior to the
reorganization, Anne was Science Program Director for the Astronomical
Search for Origins science theme. The two astrophysics science
themes will be maintained within the A&P Division for the near
future. Following Alan Bunner's retirement, Paul Hertz is the lead
scientist for the Structure and Evolution of the Universe (SEU) science
theme, which includes high energy astrophysics, particle astrophysics,
and fundamental and gravitational physics. Lou Kaluzienski and Don
Kniffen continue to serve as discipline scientists for high energy
astrophysics, as does Vernon Jones for particle astrophysics.
The A&P Division welcomes two new discipline scientists.
Michael Salamon, formerly of the University of Utah, is the new
discipline scientist for fundamental and gravitational physics.
Eric Smith, formerly of Goddard Space Flight Center, is the new
discipline scientist for infrared, submillimeter, and radio
astrophysics. New organization charts and assignment lists may be
found on the OSS web site at
http://spacescience.nasa.gov/
(select "Administration" then "Divisions" then
"Astronomy & Physics"). For the detail oriented, we
are all now in Code SZ (the Astronomy and Physics Division) rather than
Code SR (the defunct Research Program Management Division).
There are several levels of community advisory groups advising the
A&P Division. The SEU Subcommittee (SEUS) and the Origins
Subcommittee (OS) are subcommittees of the Space Science Advisory
Committee. SEUS and OS advise Anne Kinney on the SEU and Origins
programs. Bruce Margon (STScI) is the chair of the SEUS until
February 2002; after that Rocky Kolb (Fermilab) will be the
chair. The A&P discipline scientists are advised by the
Astrophysics Working Group (AWG); Dick Miller (Georgia State) is the
current chair of the AWG. Mission projects have science working
groups during development and user groups during operations to advise
both NASA headquarters and the project on science policy and mission
operations. Membership lists for the SEUS and OS may be found on
the OSS web site (select "Committees"), a link to the AWG web
site may be found on the A&P page, and mission advisory groups may
be found on mission web sites (select "Missions" on
on the OSS web site for links).
Strategic Planning
The Office of Space Science updates its strategic plan every three
years, as required by the Government Performance and Reporting Act
(GPRA). During the next year, each of the science themes within
OSS will be revising their Roadmaps. The SEUS has appointed a
Roadmap Team to consider what changes need to be made to the current
SEU Roadmap in light of any progress that has been made in the past
three years. The Roadmap Team will use as input the recently
completed McKee/Taylor Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
the soon to be completed report of the Turner Committee on the Physics
of the Universe, the recommendations of the Connections Group for
NASA/NSF/DoE, and the NASA Cosmic Journeys initiative. The
Roadmap Team will have their first meeting in December and they expect
to solicit community input for the Roadmap. Sterl Phinney
(Caltech) is chair of the SEU Roadmap team. Soon there will be a
SEU Roadmap team web site at
http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Explorer Update
At Alan Bunner's retirement dinner in July 2001, NASA announced its
decision to participate in the Japanese Astro-E2 mission, a reflight of
the Astro-E mission which suffered a launch vehicle failure in February
2000. A SMEX Mission of Opportunity proposal from Richard Kelley
(GSFC) was selected to implement NASA's participation in
Astro-E2. Through Kelley's proposal, NASA will provide rebuilds
of the XRS microcalorimeter and foil optic mirrors for Astro-E2, as
well as fund a guest investigator program during the mission's 3 year
prime mission. Through a "Dear Colleague" letter, and
in consultation with ISAS, NASA selected Richard Griffiths (CMU) to
join the Astro-E2 science working group along with the continuing
members of the Astro-E SWG (Pat Henry (Hawaii), Jack Hughes (Rutgers),
Steve Kahn (Columbia), and John Nousek (PSU)).
Proposals for new MIDEX missions and Missions of Opportunity were
due on October 30. Forty-three proposals were received. The
proposals will be evaluated carefully by a science peer review and a
technical, cost, and management (TMC) peer review. Based on the
evaluations, NASA expects to select approximately four MIDEX proposals,
and possibly one or more Mission of Opportunity proposals, for concept
studies in April/May 2002. Following a five-month concept study,
NASA expects to downselect two MIDEX missions, and possibly one or more
Missions of Opportunity, for flight by January 2003.
Concept study reports for six SMEX missions and one Mission of
Opportunity are due on December 18. NASA will evaluate the seven
missions thoroughly including site visits. After the evaluations
are complete, NASA expects to downselect two SMEX missions, and
possibly one Mission of Opportunity, for flight no later than summer
2001.
The next Explorer Announcement of Opportunity, which will be for
SMEX missions and Missions of Opportunity, will not be released before
fall 2002. The exact calendar of the next solicitation has not
been determined at this time and depends (as always) on the future NASA
budget.
Upcoming Research Opportunities
The Chandra cycle 4 general observer announcement is expected to be
released on December 15, 2001. In addition to observational
proposals, archival analysis and theory proposals will be
solicited.
The 2002 Research Opportunities in Space Science (ROSS-02) will be
released in January 2002. It will contain several dozen program
elements with due dates spaced throughout 2002. Included in
ROSS-02 will be high energy astrophysics, particle astrophysics, space
astrophysics, fundamental and gravitational physics, astrophysics data,
long term space astrophysics, and astrophysics theory programs.
Due dates have not been determined as of the date of this newsletter,
but will generally be the same time of year as last year's
solicitations.
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6. NASA SEU Theme Solicits Community Input
- Paul Hertz, NASA Headquarters
NASA's Structure and Evolution of the Universe (SEU) Theme is updating its
Roadmap in support of the NASA Office of Space Science (OSS) strategic
planning process. The Roadmap and Strategic Plan will cover the years
2003-2028.
The SEU Roadmap Team solicits community input in the form of white
papers describing mission concepts (principally for the years 2011+
after GLAST, Planck/Herschel, LISA, Con-X) or strategic activities
(e.g. laboratory astrophysics, multi-mission technology development,
theoretical efforts) which support the SEU theme. Mission concepts
must be only those which could not be undertaken as part of NASA's
Explorer Program. Mission-concept white papers must answer a series of
prescribed questions, described in detail on the roadmap website
(http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/roadmap.html).
The preferred format for the white papers is pdf, though postscript is
also acceptable. Page limit is 4 pages text, 2 pages figures. All
documents submitted will be considered public, and posted on the
roadmap website, unless the authors specifically call out private
proprietary sections. The deadline for receipt is Jan 31, 2002.
Further instructions about the scope of the SEU roadmap, requirements
for the white papers, and submission instructions can be found at the
roadmap website
http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/roadmap.html
The roadmap team will be actively soliciting white papers on some
specific missions and activities. To avoid duplication of effort, you
are urged to discuss your ideas with like-minded colleagues and/or
members of the roadmap team before submitting a white paper.
The current members of the Roadmap team are: E. Sterl Phinney (chair),
Paul Hertz (ex-officio, NASA/HQ), Sean Carroll, Sarah Church, Craig Hogan,
Rocky Kolb (ex-officio), Daniel Lester, Steven Kahn, Michael Shull, Simon
Swordy, and Nicholas White.
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7. GLAST Mission News -
Lynn Cominsky, GLAST Press Officer
The next few months will see three major reviews of the GLAST
project, in preparation for detailed design of the flight hardware. The
joint NASA/DOE PDR/Baseline review for the Large Area Telescope (LAT) will
be held in early January, 2002, followed shortly thereafter by the NASA
Non-Advocate Review of the GLAST mission. The PDR for the GLAST Burst
Monitor (GBM) will be held in February. Accommodation studies with
potential spacecraft vendors have been ongoing. The studies with Lockheed
Martin and TRW have completed their final presentations and are drawing to
a close. The third study, with Spectrum Astro, has just completed a
mid-term presentation and will complete in January. The results of the
studies will be incorporated into the final spacecraft statement of work,
to be put out for bid with the final selection of the spacecraft vendor in
April next year. The GLAST launch is scheduled to occur in March, 2006.
The major event for the GLAST Large Area Telescope team was the
successful balloon flight of a prototype model of one GLAST "tower".
Sixteen towers will comprise the flight instrument. The tower was tested
on a 29 million-cubic-foot NASA scientific balloon that flew for three
hours from Palestine, Texas, on August 4 at 127,000 feet, above 99.5
percent of the atmosphere. The balloon flight team included researchers
from NASA GSFC, SLAC, Stanford University, UC Santa Cruz, NRL and Hiroshima
University in Japan.
"The detector worked essentially flawlessly throughout the
flight," said Dave Thompson, the Goddard scientist who led the project.
"The flight gave us an extra level of confidence in the instrument design,
and the data we collected will support the data analysis system now being
constructed for GLAST." Four high school teachers took part in the balloon
launch experience as well. Their experiences and many nice photos can be
found at: http://scipp.ucsc.edu/outreach/BALLOON/index.html.
The GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM) team at MSFC has selected Southwest
Research Institute to build the data processing unit, while the German
GBM contingent has signed Jena Optronik to build the detectors and
power supplies. The GBM team held a meeting in November, in
Huntsville.
A GLAST LAT science team meeting, organized by LAT PI Peter
Michelson and LAT Senior Science Advisory Committee Chair, Neil
Gehrels, was held at Stanford University in August. Over 100 LAT
collaboration members attended. At this meeting, working groups were
formed to refine the LAT requirements for scientific progress in the
following areas: diffuse radiation, galactic and unidentified sources,
gamma-ray bursts and solar flares, extra-galactic sources, and a search
for new physics. The next GLAST Science Working Group meeting is being
held in December in Santa Cruz, organized by Project Scientist Jonathan
Ormes. As part of this meeting, a special pulsar workshop is being
organized by GLAST IDS Stephen Thorsett (UCSC).
GLAST EPO Manager Phil Plait presented a teacher's workshop at the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific meeting in St. Paul in July. EPO Lead
Lynn Cominsky has given several public lectures about GLAST, including an
appearance at Andy Fraknoi's popular Silicon Valley Lecture Series in
November. A short promotional/educational video about GLAST is almost
finished. An exhibit booth featuring a combination of GLAST and Swift
materials was sent to the California Science Teachers' Association meeting
in October, and will next be seen at the National Science Teachers'
Association Southeast Regional meeting in Memphis, in December.
After an arduous selection process, the first five GLAST Ambassadors have
been chosen. They are: Tim Brennan, a teacher at Woodstock Union High
School in Woodstock, Vermont; Teena Della, a teacher at Terry Fox Secondary
School in Coquitlam, British Columbia (Canada); Michiel Ford, a teacher at
Holton High School in Holton, Kansas; Jason Smith, a curriculum developer
at the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in Alexandria,
Virginia; and Daryl Taylor, a teacher at Williamstown High School in New
Jersey.
Between them, these five motivated individuals have more than six decades
of teaching experience and have received several national awards for
teaching excellence. All are eminently qualified to teach high school age
students about the wonders of the high-energy universe. The first task for
the GLAST Ambassadors is to help develop, test and disseminate activities
and a poster about active galaxies for distribution at next spring's
national science and math teacher's meetings.
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8. Swift Mission News -
Lynn Cominsky, Swift Press Officer
Swift's CDR was held in July, and all systems are go for flight
fabrication. The ninth Swift science team meeting was held on July 23-24 at
the University of Leicester, hosted by Alan Wells and his colleagues. The
next science team meeting will be in early February, at NASA/GSFC. The
Swift instruments will be completed by September 2002 to begin integration
onto the spacecraft. Swift is on schedule for launch in September 2003 from
Cape Canaveral, Florida.
A major milestone was reached in October, when Swift contractor eV Products
(a division of II-VI Inc.) delivered 40,000 thumbtack-sized
Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride gamma-ray detectors to GSFC. These detectors are the
heart of Swift's Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) that will enable scientists to
detect and accurately position GRBs. "This delivery is quite a milestone
for both the Swift mission and the development of CZT detector technology,"
said Ann Parsons, BAT Detector Scientist. U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart (R, Penn.)
and state officials attended the ceremony that marked the completion of the
40,000 detectors; the event was hosted by the detectors' manufacturers, eV
Products Inc., and took place in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania.
Swift EPO Lead Laura Whitlock presented workshops for teachers at the
California Science Teachers' Association meeting in October, and is
scheduled to appear again in Memphis in December at the National Science
Teachers' Southeast Regional meeting. The first meeting of the Swift
Education Committee was held in August at Sonoma State University. The
Invisible Universe teachers' guide, being developed by the Lawrence Hall of
Science's GEMS group, is now in its second phase of field-testing, and
should be completed later this year.
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9. Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer News - Tod Strohmayer,
Alan Smale, Padi Boyd, Craig Markwardt, Jean Swank,
Keith Jahoda, and Evan Smith, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) has now almost completed it's 6th
observing cycle, and continues to perform well. Operations of all
instruments are stable. PCA observations are carried out with
selected numbers of detectors assigned based on the particular science
requirements. HEXTE has had no microprocessor rebooting in over 2 years and
its rocking modulators have now made over 6 million motions each. The ASM
continues to provide an unparalleled long-term catalog of X-ray source
variability. Exciting science results continue to be generated both from new
observations as well as from the extensive RXTE public archive (now holding
700 Gbytes of public data from ~90,000 individual observations). If all goes
well RXTE's 100,000th observation should be performed in cycle 7. Who will be
the lucky PI? RXTE continues to support multi-wavelength efforts, as well as
coordinated observing with the imaging and high spectral resolution
capabilities of Chandra and XMM/Newton. Through AO6 RXTE has carried out about
1 Msec of coordinated observing with these observatories. A few short
snapshots of recent RXTE science results follows.
One of RXTEs great strengths is its scheduling flexibility which makes frequent
monitoring campaigns and coordinated observing possible. Some recent science
results emphasize the return that comes from such capability. For example,
Peter Woods (NSSTC/USRA) and his colleagues have reported new results from
their RXTE pulse timing of two SGR pulsars; SGR 1900+14 and SGR 1806-20. They
find that the spin-down torques acting on these neutron stars can change by a
factor of ~4, and that such changes can persist for months. These objects show
torque noise power density spectra much steeper than is typical for accreting
pulsars. Moreover, the changes in spin-down rate do not seem to correlate with
burst activity. In a related study they found a power law afterglow following
the giant flare of August 27, 1998 from SGR 1900+14. This they argue, combined
with observed changes in the pulse profile which ocurred at the time of the
flare, suggest a global reconfiguration of the neutron star magnetic field may
have caused the giant flare. Details of their work can be found at
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0109361 and
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0101045.
Fotis Gavriil and Victoria Kaspi (both McGill University) have also recently
reported results of long-term RXTE monitoring campaigns. In this case of
phase-coherent timing of several anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs);
4U 0142+61, 1E 2259.1+586, and RXS J170849.0-400910. They find a range of
spin-down stability, and an indication that timing instability is correlated
with spin-down rate. A similar correlation is known for radio pulsars
as well as SGR pulsars, suggesting a possible connection between all these
populations. They find no large changes in pulsed flux from any of these
sources, with upper limits on variations of about 20-30%. For complete details
see their paper at
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0107422.
Jean in't Zand (Utrecht University and SRON) and his colleagues have recently
identified the optical and quiescent counterparts to the bright X-ray transient
in NGC 6440. The identification was made possible by the RXTE/ASM detection of
an outburst of the source and a subsequent Chandra follow-up observation.
Comparison of the Chandra outburst image with a previous quiescent Chandra
image led to a clear identification of the counterpart. This is the first time
that an optical counterpart to a transient in a globular cluster has been
securely identified. For all the details see their paper at
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0111213.
Using the ASM long-term X-ray lightcurves of several X-ray binaries Padi Boyd
(UMBC/GSFC) and Alan Smale (USRA/GSFC) have identified an interesting pattern
in the excursion times between X-ray minima. For example, in Cyg X-2 the
timespans can be characterized as a series of integer multiples of the 9.8 hour
binary orbital period. In two other sources, LMC X-3 and Cyg X-3, similar
relations also seem to hold, but the fundamental underlying clock does not
appear to be the orbital period. They presented their findings at the 198th
Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. For more details see the press
release at
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/news-release/releases/2001/h01-111.htm.
Flavio D'Amico (UCSD) and collaborators have used the HEXTE instrument to
detect hard X-ray tails out to 220 keV in the spectrum of the LMXB and Z
source Sco X-1 (D'Amico et al. 2001, ApJ, 547, L147). They found no
correlation between the presence of the hard tail and the position of the
source in the color-color diagram, however, the two hardest photon indices
were obtained when the source was on the flaring branch and the softest were
observed on the horizontal branch, suggesting a possible correlation between
the hardness of the spectrum and the mass accretion rate. They also found that
the derived nonthermal luminosities are 10% of those derived for the brightest
atoll sources.
Cycle 7 Review
Despite competition from newer, more visible missions, cataclysmic events that
kept many away from their home institutions at a critical time, and a brand
new electronic proposal submission process, the RXTE GOF received a net
increase in proposals for Cycle 7 (closed 19 September 2001). Clearly community
interest in RXTE data remains high. The cycle 7 proposal review was recently
held on November 12-13, 2001. A total of 169 observing proposals requesting 70
Msec of observing time were received. The request for time was oversubscribed
by nearly a factor of 3. These numbers are comparable to those for the last
several cycles, indicating that researchers still value the unique observing
capabilities of RXTE. A total of 124 proposals were approved.
Decision letters should be sent to proposers within the next few weeks.
Software and Calibration
Reconstruction of the satellite attitude for the week of 6-13, September 2000
during which RXTE was not pointing properly has now been completed. Corrected
attitude files can now be obtained from the RXTE archive. See the Latest News
link at the RXTE website for further details. Additional technical information
can also be found at
http://lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/users/craigm/xteatterr/.
Considerable new work on the PCA background model is almost complete.
For faint sources, a new set of modelling techniques has resulted in a
reduction in the systematic error in the background by almost a factor
of two compared to the currently published models. These new models to be
provided by the XTE GOF will be drop-in replacements and will not
require software changes.
Background model epochs are defined by the detector configurations.
The current epoch 5 began when a micrometeorite created a small hole
in the front window of one PCU (PCU0) and the propane in its front layer was
lost. A new background model and filtering technique have now been developed
for PCU0. Several other models for bright sources are in development which
will bring the systematic error down to levels comparable to the
faint source models, but will require software changes. With the new
faint source models guest observers can expect a systematic error in the
2-10 keV band of about 0.033 ct/s/PCU (1 sigma; top layer), which corresponds
to a flux of approximately 4 x 10^{-13} erg/s/cm^2, a small fraction
of the fluctuations in the diffuse X-ray background.
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10. INTEGRAL Science Data Centre -
Thierry Courvoisier, PI, INTEGRAL ISDC
The INTEGRAL mission is nearing launch that is now foreseen for October
2002. INTEGRAL will perform observations from few keV to about 10 MeV
with an unprecedented spectral resolution, angular resolution and
sensitivity with a suite of 3 high energy instruments and an optical
monitor.
The INTEGRAL Science Data Centre (ISDC) will receive all the data from
INTEGRAL, process them and prepare high level products before
distributing the data and products to the observers and archiving them
for future use. The ISDC foresees also to help observers with the
further reduction of their data by providing them with analysis
software and as far as possible with support.
In order to establish links with the community the ISDC is issuing a
newsletter, the ISDC Astrophysics Newsletter, that provides information
on its status and products and links to further sources of information
on INTEGRAL and its instruments. The ISDC newsletter is edited by M.
Tuerler of the ISDC and T. Montmerle of the CEA in Paris. The Newsletter
can be accessed electronically on the site of the ISDC:
http://isdc.unige.ch.
The Newsletter appears every 3-4 months at
present, an email is sent to subscribers whenever a new issue appears.
Potential readers may subscribe on the newsletter page.
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11. Chandra X-ray Observatory Operations Report -
Roger Brissenden, Manager, Chandra X-ray Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Chandra passed two years of operation on 23 July 2001 and both the
spacecraft and science instruments continue to operate exceptionally
well.
Operational highlights during the last six months have included the
uplink and checkout of two on-board computer flight software
patches. The first allowed a return to autonomous operation of the Low
Energy Transmission Grating. After August 2000, all LETG motions were
made using real-time commanding to work around an anomalous limit
switch reading. The patch allows the use of other indicators such as a
potentiometer reading to measure the grating position and has once
more allowed flexible scheduling of grating observations. The second
patch increased the range over which the spacecraft can buildup
momentum during its orbit. This will consequently reduce the number of
firings of the momentum unloading system and bring the rate in line
with the pre-launch projections.
Recently, Chandra passed through the 2001 Leonid meteor storm without
incident. The predicted rates were sufficiently high this year to
warrant orienting the spacecraft to the anti-radiant, however the plan
was complicated by a 3 hour earth occultation that would have resulted
in the loss of star lock by the on-board aspect camera. The mission
schedule was modified to place the spacecraft in a 'gyro-hold' during
the earth occultation, and real-time data indicated that the stars
were re-acquired as expected following emergence from the earth's
bright limb.
Following a quiet period of solar activity between April and August,
Chandra's science loads were halted six times between September and
November due to elevated levels. Particular care is taken to ensure
that ACIS is minimally exposed to the low-energy particle flux capable
of degrading the energy response of the CCDs. Trending of the Charge
Transfer Inefficiency indicates that the measured degradation is
within the expected budget.
The mission observing efficiency has continued to be close to the
expected 70% each month, however fell to a low of 56% in September due
mostly to the solar activity. The mission schedule was also
interrupted twice for fast turn around Targets of Opportunity: the
Dwarf Nova WZ Sge and the target FXRT011030.
The processing, archiving and distribution of data have continued
smoothly with the average time from target observation to data
distribution to user now about a week. The planned re-processing of
data from launch to August 2000 with the updated calibration was
completed and made available in the archive. Also, a new release of
the Chandra analysis package (CIAO) was made in October. CIAO 2.2
contains a significant a number of enhancements and new features
including support for extended and multiple source analysis, reading
numerical models from files and improved documentation.
As the year concludes, so do the observations from Cycle 2. During
November we have started the transition to Cycle 3 targets and are
preparing for the release of the Cycle 4 NRA planned for December.
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12. Meeting Announcements
Matter and Energy in Clusters of Galaxies (23-26 April, 2002 @ Taiwan)
An International Conference on 'Matter and Energy in Clusters of
Galaxies' will be held April 23-26, 2002 in Taiwan. The topics to be
covered will include: X-ray Observations, Radio Observations, Hard
X-ray and EUV Excesses in Clusters, Optical and Infrared Results,
Magnetic Fields in Clusters, Gamma Rays in Clusters, Cosmic Rays and
Acceleration Mechanisms, Lensing Results, and Cluster Formation.
A number of leading researchers in these fields have agreed to give
invited talks. Proposals for additional presentations are welcome.
Conference details and a preliminary Conference Schedule with confirmed
speakers can be accessed at the Conference website:
http://www.astro.ncu.edu.tw/clusters.
High Energy Processes and Phenomena in Astrophysics (IAU Symposium 214) (5-10 August, 2002 @ Suzhou, China)
An international conference entitled 'High Energy Processes and
Phenomena in Astrophysics' (IAU Symposium 214) will be held in Suzhou,
China (about 1 hour NW of Shanghai by train), 5-10 August 2002. The
scientific focus includes the processes that are shared by many
astrophysical sources (accretion, acceleration, collimation, radiation
mechanisms), the objects that exhibit them (quasars and pulsars,
supernovae and gamma ray bursters, black holes and X-ray binaries), and
the connections between recent observations and the underlying
mechanisms. Confirmed speakers include Roger Blandford, Felix
Mirabel, Steve Murray, Zhen-ru Wang, Dick McCray, Guenther Hasinger,
Virginia Trimble, A. Zdziarski, Roger Chevalier, Richard Manchester,
Juri Poutanen, and Ian George. All participants have space for poster
presentations (with a subset selected for oral presentation), and there
is some IAU travel money is available for (a) young astronomers and (b)
people coming from non-prosperous countries. For further information,
registration, submission of titles and abstracts, requests for travel
support, details of the locale, etc, please consult the Symposium Web
sites:
SOC: http://cosmos.colorado.edu/IAU214,
LOC: http://jets.pmo.ac.cn/iau214.html.
International School of Cosmic Ray Astrophysics (2-14 June, 2002 @ Erice, Italy)
'Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology' is the theme for
the 25th Anniversary Course of the International School of Cosmic
Ray Astrophysics held biennially at the Ettore Majorana Centre
in Erice, Italy. The coming course is scheduled for 2-14 June 2002
and is designed for advanced graduate students and post-doctoral
researchers in high energy astrophysics. Topics range from X-rays
and gamma rays to particles and neutrinos; from nucleosynthesis to
cosmology; and from low to the highest energies. Lectures will be
presented by leading researchers in the various fields. Interested
participants should contact the Director, M. M. Shapiro at
mmshapiro@mailaps.org
(fax: 775-640-8342) as soon as possible to apply for admission.
Further details at http://phacts.phys.Lsu.edu/ISCRA/.
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HEADNEWS, the electronic newsletter of the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society, is issued twice yearly by the HEAD Secretary-Treasurer. The HEAD Executive Committee Members are:
