Newsletter 11-16

Issue 11-16, September 29, 2011

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1) IN MEMORIAM: MICHAEL J. DRAKE (1946-2011)
2) EPSC-DPS 2011 DEADLINES AND EVENTS
3) CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR THE NASA INFRARED TELESCOPE FACILITY (IRTF)
4) 2012 ONLINE MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS HAVE BEGAN
5) UPCOMING MEETINGS
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IN MEMORIAM: MICHAEL J. DRAKE (1946 – 2011)

The Division for Planetary Sciences sadly announces that Michael J. Drake, Regents’ Professor, director of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and head of the department of planetary sciences, died September 21st at The University of Arizona Medical Center-University Campus in Tucson, Ariz. He was 65.

Drake, who joined the UA planetary sciences faculty in 1973 and headed LPL and the planetary sciences department since 1994, played a key role in a succession of very high-profile space projects that garnered international attention for LPL and the University such as the Cassini mission to explore Saturn, the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer onboard NASA’s Mars Odyssey Orbiter, the HiRISE camera onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Phoenix Mars Lander. Drake was currently the principal investigator of the most ambitious UA project to date, OSIRIS-REx, a mission designed to retrieve a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth.

Drake also was a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geochemical Society and the Meteoritical Society, and he was president of the latter two. He led a major undergraduate teaching effort in planetary sciences, even though the department was created as a graduate program.

He will be missed as a world-class scientist, a valued colleague and professor and a great contributor to Planetary Sciences.

The full story and photos are online at: http://www.uanews.org/node/42011 .

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EPSC-DPS 2011 DEADLINES AND EVENTS

Please join us for the annual DPS Members (Business) Meeting which will be on Thursday at lunch time (12:00 – 13:30) in the Uranus Room. Due to the closeness of sessions before and after this meeting, a light lunch will be provided to the attending members on a first-come first served basis.

The Agency night (SE5) will be the same day (19:00-20:00) in the Jupiter Auditorium. The EUROPLANET General Assembly will take place on Tuesday 4 October from 17:30-19:00 in the Mars room.

Please also note the two plenary sessions, on Monday 3 October and on Wednesday 5 October, 10:30-12:00, during which we will award the Prizes and hear the Prize lectures.

The full science program of the meeting can be found at:
http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/epsc-dps2011/meetingprogramme

For other events, deadlines and milestones at the EPSC-DPS 2011 see:
http://meetings.copernicus.org/epsc-dps2011/information/deadlines_and_mi…

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CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR THE NASA INFRARED TELESCOPE FACILITY (IRTF)
DEADLINE: 03 October 2011

***Use the ONLINE application form ***

NASA Infrared Telescope Facility Observing Proposals, Due date for the 2012A semester (February 1, 2012 to July 31, 2012) is Monday, October 3, 2011. See our online submission form. Available instruments include: (1) SpeX, a 1-5 micron cross-dispersed medium-resolution spectrograph (up to R=2,500) and imager; (2) CSHELL, a 1-5 micron high-resolution spectrograph (up to R=40,000); (3) MIRSI, a 8 to 25 micron camera and low-resolution spectrometer (R=100 to 200), (4) NSFCAM2, a 2048×2048 pixel, 1-5 micron camera with a 0.04″/pixel scale (82″x82″ field-of-view) and a circular variable filter; (5) MORIS, a 512×512 pixel Andor CCD camera mounted at the side-facing, dichroic-fed window of the SpeX cryostat (60″x60″ field-of-view); MORIS can be used simultaneously with SpeX, and (6) PI-instruments including a low-resolution 3-14 micron spectrograph and high-resolution spectrographs for 8-25 microns. Information on available instruments can be found at: http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/Facility/.

Important notice: Due to delays in the array controller development, we are planning to take NSFCAM2 off line on Feb. 1, 2012, to install a new infrared array. We expect it to be available starting in semester 2012B (Aug. 1, 2012 – Jan. 31, 2013). Due to the schedule uncertainties, proposals to use NSFCAM2 will be accepted provided the program can be also accomplished with the SpeX slit viewer which has 0.12″/pixel and a 60″x60″ field-of-view.

Important notice: We anticipate that SpeX will be taken off line on Feb. 1, 2013, and will be unavailable for then entire 2013A semester (Feb. 1, 2013 – July 31, 2013). This is necessary to upgrade SpeX with new arrays and array controllers. The delay of one semester in SpeX downtime has become necessary to build and test the new array controller. We strongly recommend observers to plan their observing accordingly. We also expect to accommodate key projects requiring large amounts of observing time using CSHELL, NSFCAM2, MIRSI, and visitor instruments during semester 2013A.

Visitor instruments (available on a collaborative basis with the instrument team) include: TEXES (5-20 micron high-resolution spectrograph; contact Matt Richter at [email protected] for more information), BASS (3-14 micron spectrometer; contact Ray Russell at [email protected]), CELESTE (5-25 micron echelle spectrometer; contact Don Jennings at [email protected]).

Remote observing is available with SpeX, NSFCAM2, CSHELL, MORIS and MIRSI.

Important Notice: Remote observing requests must be made in the proposal application – later requests will be considered if requested at least ONE MONTH ahead of time. If you wish to observe from your home institution, you MUST comply with the requirements for video conferencing and instrument operation provided on the Remote Observers Information page. First-time users should plan to work in Manoa, Hilo or at the summit for their first run with their support astronomer and become familiar with the instrument operation. Observers already familiar with the instrument and who want to observe remotely from their home institution are strongly encouraged to contact Miranda Hawarden-Ogata ([email protected]) to set up a test of the video link and user interface at least one month prior to their observing run. We cannot guarantee a successful remote observing connection on short notice since we have no control of hardware and software compatibility on the user’s side. It is the responsibility of the PI to provide up to date observing contact information.

To keep our bibliography up to date, and to ensure future funding of the IRTF instruments, we ask that you send us your latest publications or update your publications list using our website bibliography page for refereed and unrefereed papers:

http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/research/biblio/Refereed.html

http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/research/biblio/Non_Refereed.html

Please send to William Walters any missing references, and please include in your paper the acknowledgement to the IRTF and the name of the instrument used.

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REMINDER : 2012 ONLINE MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

Pay your 2012 membership dues online at https://members.aas.org/ through 31 December 2011. Renew today by logging in to your membership record, and consider making a donation to the Power of Giving Campaign. These programs support our discipline as well as recognize the research of your fellow astronomers. By renewing online and not receiving a paper renewal, you will help your Society save enormous costs.

If you will renew your dues electronically before 31 December 2011 log in to your membership record today and opt out of a paper renewal to avoid receiving an invoice in the US mail. Also, please take a moment to update your personal DPS member file.

Thank you for your support.

Send general replies to [email protected].

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UPCOMING MEETINGS

See the planetary meeting calendar posted at http://planetarynews.org/meetings.html

a) The Uranus Working Group of OPAG (Outer Planets Assessment Group)
will be meeting October 17 and 18 in Pasadena, just prior to the full OPAG meeting. Please see http://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/ for hotel and location information. Note that hotel reservations should be made as soon as possible to obtain the group rate.

Our charter is to assess and coordinate Earth-based observing campaigns to best address Uranus science questions. Note that “Uranus science” includes all aspects of the uranian system, including the planet, rings, satellites, and magnetosphere. Purely theoretical efforts are relevant, as they guide or allow interpretation of observations.

To receive e-mail announcements about the Uranus Working Group, or if you have any questions, please contact [email protected]<