Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 14:31:17 -0600
Subject: DPS Mailing #04-02:DPS Prize Deadline, Special AAS Session....
 
+------------------------- CONTENTS: ------------------------------+
1) DPS PRIZE DEADLINE
2) SPECIAL AAS SESSSION
3) IRTF PROPOSALS DUE
4)  NUCLEAR ELECTRIC PROPULSION WORKSHOP
5) WIDE-FIELD IMAGING FROM SPACE WORKSHOP
6) NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON TEACHING ASTRONOMY FOR NON-SCIENCE MAJORS
7) SUMMER SCIENCE PROGRAM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
8) NEW DEFINITIONS FOR ASTEROID/COMET ROTATIONAL ELEMENTS AND 
 CARTOGRAPHIC COORDINATES
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
 
1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1
 
DPS PRIZE DEADLINE
 
As a reminder, the deadline for all nomination packages for the 
2004 DPS prizes are due 3 March 2004. 
 
See http://www.aas.org/~dps/prizes_contact.html for more details.
 
2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2
 
SPECIAL AAS SESSSION
 
A DPS-sponsored Special Session at Denver AAS meeting will be held 
on Wednesday June 2 in the afternoon. The title will be "Mars Down 
to Earth."
 
The session will feature Steve Squyres and/or other members of 
the Spirit/Opportunity teams, plus overview talks by Brian Toon,
Tom McCollom, and Bruce Jakosky. For more details see: 
http://www.aas.org/meetings/aas204/prelim/mars.html
 
3---------3---------3---------3---------3--------3---------3---------3
 
 IRTF PROPOSALS DUE
 
NASA Infrared Telescope Facility Observing ProposalsDue date for 
the August 1, 2004 to February 28, 2005 semester is April 1, 2004. 
See http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/userSupport/indexota.html. 
Available instruments include: (1) A 1-5 micron camera with a 
0.04 arcsec/pixel scale and a circular variable filter (estimated 
to be available in Oct.); (2) A 1-5 micron cross-dispersed 
medium-resolution spectrograph (up to R=2,500); (3) A 1-5 micron
high-resolution spectrograph (up to R=30,000); and (4) A 5-25 micron
camera, a low-resolution wide spectral range spectrograph, and 
high-resolution spectrographs for 8-25 microns. The Adaptive Optics
system will be available from Nov. 2004 through Jan. 2005 on a 
shared-risk basis.
 
 
4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4
 
SCIENCE MISSIONS ENABLED BY NUCLEAR ELECTRIC PROPULSION
 
Session IAA.3.6.4. of the 55th International Astronautical Congress
 meeting 4-8 October 2004 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
 
Nuclear electric propulsion has long been recognized as a major 
enabling technology for exploration of the solar system and it may 
form the basis for a cost-effective space transportation system. 
This session will explore the kinds of planetary, interplanetary, 
sample return, and human exploration missions that can be enabled by 
a robust, mature NEP program. Papers are solicited in these and 
related areas. Papers highlighting the science that can be accomplished 
with NASA's JIMO mission as well as other missions that can be 
accomplished with Project Prometheus spacecraft are encouraged.
 
The Call for Papers (originally due 20 February; the deadline has been
 extended to 5 March) and further meeting details can be found at 
http://www.iac2004.ca/intro_no.html
 
Contact Information:
Robert L. Sakheim, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 256-544-1938
E-mail: [email protected]
 
Ralph L. McNutt, 
The John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,
240-228-54 35
E-mail: [email protected]
 
5---------5---------5---------5---------5---------5---------5---------5
 
We are pleased to invite you to participate in a conference on
 
  WIDE-FIELD IMAGING FROM SPACE
  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  Berkeley, California
  May 16-18 2004.
  http://widefield.lbl.gov/
 
Conference Motivation:
 
Optical and near-infrared imaging from space would take a major step 
forward with the launch of wide-field instruments possessing 
sensitivities comparable to ACS or NICMOS on HST but covering hundreds 
of times the area. Such instruments would likely be carried on proposed 
missions to study the dark energy of the Universe. While the prime goal 
of such a mission would be the investigation of the equation of state of 
the universe, a significant fraction of the mission could be devoted to 
wide-field surveys proposed by community members, and could therefore 
open up entirely new classes of astronomical surveys. It is hoped that 
this conference may provide feedback that will help insure that proposed 
instruments will perform well both on the prime mission and on more 
general wide-field surveys. Talks will therefore span a large range of 
scientific issues. Complementary surveys from ground and space will 
also be discussed.
 
Conference Participation:
 
There will be about two dozen invited talks covering a wide range of 
astrophysics. However, contributions on scientific and technical issues 
relating to wide-field imaging from space are sought. The SOC expects 
there will be room for more than a dozen contributed talks. Substantial 
space and time will also be given over to poster contributions. 
Additionally, posters that are submitted in electronic as well as 
physical form will be available throughout the conference via a local 
wireless network.
 
Participants wishing to give an oral presentation should submit their 
abstract by March 31.
 
Important Dates:
 
March 31: Abstracts for oral presentations due
April 12: Selection of contributed talks
April 16: End early registration
May 16-18: Conference
 
 
6---------6---------6---------6---------6---------6---------6---------6
 
NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON TEACHING ASTRONOMY FOR NON-SCIENCE MAJORS
 
July 16-18, 2004
At Tufts University
 
A 3-day hands-on symposium on teaching beginning astronomy at the 
college (and upper high-school) level will be held near Boston in the 
summer of 2004. The meeting is sponsored by the Astronomical Society of 
the Pacific and NASA's New England Space Science Initiative in Education 
(with co-sponsorship from the American Astronomical Society and NASA's 
Navigator Program.)
 
Designed for everyone who teaches or will be teaching such courses, the 
program includes components for veteran instructors seeking to 
reinvigorate their teaching as well as for new instructors nervously 
approaching their first classes. Much of the conference will involve 
workshops and panels with mentor instructors from around the country. 
Participants will also share information and resources via poster papers 
and hand-outs.
 
To be on the mailing list for future announcements about the symposium, 
or to make suggestions for the program, please e-mail the Chair of the 
Program Committee, Andrew Fraknoi, at: [email protected] (Be sure 
to include the name of the institution at which you teach.)
 
Updates on the meeting are on the web site: 
http://www.astrosociety.org/events/cosmos.html
 
7---------7---------7---------7---------7---------7---------7---------7
 
SUMMER SCIENCE PROGRAM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
 
Applications are now open for the Summer Science Program (SSP) is an 
exhilarating 6-week experience in which high school students, working in 
small teams, learn to apply physics, calculus, and programming to 
determine the orbit of an asteroid from their own observations. One of 
the oldest and most prestigious pre-college research programs, SSP is 
held on campuses in California and New Mexico.
 
Bright teenagers from around the world come to SSP to spend their days 
in college-level lectures, and their nights doing hands-on astronomical 
research (archived afterward at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for 
Astrophysics). Students also enjoy the opportunity to meet prominent 
scientists and other professionals (many of whom are themselves alumni), 
who deliver guest lectures on a wide range of subjects. Field trips to 
places like the "Very Large Array" of radio telescopes and Mt. Wilson 
Observatory round out the program.
 
Students describe SSP as an intense, exhilarating intellectual and 
social environment, "the educational experience of a lifetime." Emphasis 
is on teamwork and cooperation; neither grades nor formal credit are 
given. Enrollment is limited to 36 per campus, and seven faculty members 
live on-site with the students.
 
Students, parents, and teachers are encouraged to visit 
www.summerscience.org for more information and an online application. 
SSP is managed and largely funded by its own alumni, and established in 
cooperation with California Institute of Technology, NASA's Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory, Harvey Mudd College, New Mexico Tech, Pomona 
College, Stanford University, and UCLA. Additional support is provided 
by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
 
8---------8---------8---------8---------8---------8---------8---------8
 
NEW DEFINITIONS FOR ASTEROID/COMET ROTATIONAL ELEMENTS AND COORDINATES
 
The IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational 
Elements is recommending a new definition for rotational elements and 
cartographic coordinate systems for asteroids and comets. This will be 
different than the system for planets and satellites. It is strictly a 
righthanded system. Specifically:
 
For each asteroid and comet the positive pole of rotation is selected as 
the maximum or minimum moment of inertia according to whether there is a 
short or long axis rotational state and according to the right-hand 
rule. So for asteroids and comets the positive pole is specified by the 
value of its right ascension and declination, whereas the location of 
the prime meridian is specified by the angle that is measured along the 
body's equator in a right-hand system with respect to the body's 
positive pole from the node of the body's equator on the standard 
equator to the point where the prime meridian crosses the body's 
equator. Because the prime meridian is assumed to rotate uniformly with 
the body, W accordingly varies linearly with time according to the 
right-hand rule.
 
Thus, the recommendation is that longitudes should be measured from 0 to 
360 degrees in a right-hand system from a designated prime meridian. The 
origin is the center of mass, to the extent known.
 
Latitude is measured positive and negative from the equator; latitudes 
toward the positive pole are designated as positive. For regular shaped 
bodies the cartographic latitude of a point on the reference surface is 
the angle between the equatorial plane and the normal to the reference 
surface at the point. In the cartographic system, the position of a 
point (P) not on the reference surface is specified by the cartographic 
latitude of the point (P') on the reference surface at which the normal 
passes through P and by the height (h) of P above P'.
 
For irregular bodies orthographic digital projections often are adopted 
for cartographic portrayal as these preserve the irregular appearance of 
the body without artificial distortion. These projections should follow 
the right-hand rule.
 
A uniform system is recommended for asteroids and comets. This requires 
some changes in previous values given and in values specified for 
nomenclature. The changes are: a) changing the sign of the latitude for 
the 25 named features on Ida, b) changing the longitudes from west to 
east for the named features on Eros, Ida, Gaspra, Dactyl, and Mathilde, 
c) adding explanatory text describing the "old" and "new" coordinate 
systems.
 
Comments concerning this proposed system of rotational elements and 
cartographic coordinate systems for asteroids and comets should be sent 
to the chairman of the Working Group, Ken Seidelmann, at 
[email protected]
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Linda French Emmons, DPS Secretary Illinois Wesleyan University 
[email protected]