Newsletter 17-15

Issue 17-15, March 25, 2017

 

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  1. IN MEMORIAM: MICHEL COMBES (1939-2017)
  2. HST OBSERVATIONS TO DETECT PLUMES/OUTGASSING FROM EUROPA
  3. 2017 ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY’S DIVISION OF DYNAMICAL ASTRONOMY
  4. SSERVI AWARD NOMINATIONS DUE 31 MARCH
  5. NOAO 2017B OBSERVING PROPOSALS DUE 31 MARCH 2017
  6. ALMA CYCLE 5 CALL FOR PROPOSALS AND PROPOSAL WRITING WORKSHOPS
  7. STUDENT OPPORTUNITY: SUDBURY FIELD CAMP
  8. UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AND MEETINGS

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IN MEMORIAM: MICHEL COMBES (1939-2017)

 

A Tribute to Michel Combes

   

Michel Combes passed away on March 9, following a week of hospitalization. 

As a former Director of the Paris Observatory DESPA Laboratory (which later 

became LESIA) and a former President of Paris Observatory, Michel has played 

a major role in the life of the laboratory, the Observatory, and, beyond, in the 

development of planetology and of astronomical instrumentation in France and 

internationally.

 

As a former student of the Institut d’Optique in Paris, Michel entered the Observatory 

in the early 1960s. In 1969, Michel was a major actor in the establishment of a 

planetology group at the Observatory, first hosted within the Department of Solar 

Physics and later within the Space Research Department (DESPA).

 

Mainly interested in optics, Michel was convinced that new projects in astronomy 

require instrumental innovation.  In 1973, he led a campaign in South Africa to 

observe the occultation of the star Beta Scorpio by Jupiter. This successful 

experiment made possible the retrieval of the thermal structure in the stratosphere 

of Jupiter. In parallel, Michel worked on the development of a Fourier Transform 

spectrometer operating in the thermal infrared, devoted to the spectral analysis of 

Jupiter. This instrument was flown on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory in 1973, 

and has been mounted several times on large ground-based telescopes.

 

In the 1980s, with Tobias Owen in the US and Vassili Moroz in Moscow, and in 

partnership with other laboratories, Michel developed the concept of a new

instrument for analyzing the near-infrared emission of comets. This successful 

experiment, launched on the Soviet probes Vega 1 and Vega 2, has led to the first 

measurement of the temperature of a cometary nucleus, and the detection of

several parent molecules outgassed from the nucleus.

 

In the mid-1980s, Michel became the Director of DESPA, and drove the 

laboratory toward participation in the ISOCAM camera of the Infrared Space 

Observatory (ISO) of ESA. In parallel, the planetology group got involved in 

space projects of planetary infrared sounding. This was the beginning of a series 

of infrared imaging spectrometers, conceived and developed at DESPA in 

partnership with Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale in Orsay and several international 

laboratories. The first ones were devoted to the exploration of Mars, with 

ISM/PHOBOS and OMEGA/Mars-96 in partnership with Russia. These instruments 

inspired the imaging spectrometers of Cassini/Huygens, Rosetta and Venus Express.  

 

In 1991, Michel became the President of Paris Observatory. This duty allowed 

him to express all his human and international relationship qualities, based on 

his excellent knowledge of men and institutions.  As a President, Michel initiated 

a re-organization of the scientific departments of the Observatory.  This was the 

first step of a global restructuration of the scientific departments, which was 

completed later in the early 2000. In the meantime, Michel continued to follow 

the development of infrared space projects at DESPA, in particular in the domain 

of stellar photometry and planetology. After the failure of the Mars-96 spacecraft 

just after launch, both experiments were rebuilt and used in other contexts, the 

French CoRoT mission and, under IAS’ PIship, the OMEGA instrument aboard 

Mars Express. Later, in collaboration with other international partners, the 

VIRTIS-H instrument was flown on two other European missions, Rosetta and 

Venus Express. He was also strongly involved in the NASA-ESA Cassini/Huygens 

mission through participation as co-investigator in DISR/Huygens and team 

member on VIMS/Cassini until recently.

 

In 1999, after two mandates, Michel came back to DESPA, which later transformed 

into LESIA, and became involved in teaching activities regarding optics, and in the 

development of instrumental concepts. He also became more and more involved in 

outreach activities within the Service of Communication of the Observatory, as well 

as within the team working on History of Sciences.

 

Thanks to his strong personality, his acute sense of politics, his engagement toward 

society, his sense of organization and dialog, Michel Combes has played a major 

role in the field of planetology but also at the level of the Observatory and beyond. 

Michel was a leader with a strong sense of responsibility, respectful of his 

international collaborators. He had a very strong capability for bringing teams 

together – scientists, engineers, technicians, administrative employees – and to make 

them work together towards a common objective. He will be deeply missed by his 

friends and colleagues. 

 

Therese Encrenaz and Pierre Drossart

 

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HST OBSERVATIONS TO DETECT PLUMES/OUTGASSING FROM EUROPA

 

The STScI Director has commissioned a committee to provide advice on 

optimizing future strategies for using Hubble to investigate potential outgassing 

from Europa. The committee is currently developing recommendations that will 

include suggestions for pilot observations in the near future. The full report will 

not be available until after the Cycle 25 proposal deadline (April 7, 2017). 

Consequently, interested parties should not submit proposals at this time unless 

the observations must be executed before October 27 2017. Time will be set aside 

for observations at later dates, and proposals related to the Europan plumes will 

be solicited as part of the first Cycle 25 Call for Mid-Cycle proposals, deadline 

September 30 2017.   

 

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2017 ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY’S

DIVISION OF DYNAMICAL ASTRONOMY
 

The AAS Division of Dynamical Astronomy is pleased to announce that its annual

meeting will take place at Queen Mary University of London on June 11-15, 2017.

 

The annual AAS-DDA meeting brings together researchers in astronomy,

astrophysics, planetary science, and astrodynamics for discussions and talks on

all aspects of dynamics in the space sciences.  The DDA meeting features invited

talks on a range of topics, contributed talks (with no parallel sessions), and posters

that can be displayed throughout the entire conference. 

 

The 2017 meeting also features three special sessions:  

   * Impact of Gaia Astrometry on Dynamical Astronomy

      (Chair:  Norbert Zacharias, US Naval Observatory)  

* Post-Main Sequence Planetary System Science

      (Chair: Dimitri Veras, University of Warwick)  

* Cassini Ring-Grazing Orbits and Grand Finale (Chair: Matthew Tiscareno SETI) 

 

In addition, Prof. Rosemary F. G. Wyse will be honoured with the AAS-DDA

Brouwer Award. The 2017 DDA meeting is being co-sponsored by the Royal

Astronomical Society. 

 

Abstract Deadline April 10, 2017

 

For additional information see the meeting website 

https://dda.aas.org/meetings/2017

 

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SSERVI AWARD NOMINATIONS

NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is 

soliciting nominations for the following SSERVI Awards: Shoemaker Award 

(lifetime career achievement award in lunar and planetary sciences), the 

Wargo Award (scientist or engineer who has focused on integrating science 

and exploration throughout their career) and the Niebur Award (early career 

award for significant contributions to exploration science). Nominees from 

previous years will automatically be carried forward to the upcoming year. 

Further descriptions of each award and the nomination form may be found at:

http://lunarscience.arc.nasa.gov/awards/

Thank you in advance for your nominations and recognition of those who have 

contributed so substantially to our field! We do accept nominations year-round, 

but to be considered for the 2017 awards, please provide your nominations by 

March 31, 2017. 

 

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NOAO 2017B OBSERVING PROPOSALS DUE 31 MARCH 2017

 

Proposal forms and information for observing time requests for the 2017B

semester (August 2017 – January 2018) are available on the  NOAO web page:
http://ast.noao.edu/observing/proposal-info 

 

Time requests for 2017B may be made for Gemini North and South, Cerro

Tololo Inter-American Observatory (including SOAR and SMARTS), and

Kitt Peak National Observatory (including WIYN).  This semester will see

the commencement of public access to the Large Binocular  Telescope (LBT)

and a significant increase in the public time  available with the CHARA

interferometer.  Public access also continues for the Subaru and AAT telescopes

through time-exchange agreements.  

 

The Call for Proposals is available in HTML at

http://ast.noao.edu/observing/call-for-proposals-2017b 

and as a self-contained, downloadable PDF document at

http://ast.noao.edu/sites/default/files/cfp2017b.pdf  

 

Observing proposals for all facilities available through NOAO in 2017B are

due by Friday evening, 31 March 2017, 11:59pm MDT.

 

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ALMA CYCLE 5 CALL FOR PROPOSALS AND PROPOSAL WRITING WORKSHOPS

 

The ALMA Director, on behalf of the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) and the 

partner organizations in East Asia, Europe, and North America, is pleased to 

announce the ALMA Cycle 5 Call for Proposals (CfP) for scientific observations 

to be scheduled from October 2017 to September 2018. It is anticipated that 4000 

hours of the 12-m Array time and 3000 hours of the Atacama Compact Array 

(ACA) time, also known as the Morita Array, will be available for successful 

proposals from Principal Investigators (PIs) in Cycle 5.

  

The Cycle 5 proposal submission deadline is

15:00 UT on Thursday, 20 April 2017

https://almascience.nrao.edu/proposing/call-for-proposals

 

To prepare the North American community to fully participate in the ALMA 

Call for Proposals, the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) is 

organizing community outreach events in the months leading up to the Cycle 5 

proposal deadline.

 

For more information go to https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/alma/community1

 

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STUDENT OPPORTUNITY: SUDBURY FIELD CAMP

 

2017 Fall Session
September 23, 2017 – September 30, 2017

The Short Course and Field School at the Sudbury Impact Structure is a week 

long classroom and field training program based in Sudbury, Ontario. The goal 

of the program will be to introduce students to impact cratering processes and 

observe, in the field, the attributes of an immense basin-size impact structure. 

Sudbury is known for spectacular shatter cones, tremendously thick melt-bearing 

impact breccias (the Onaping Fm.), and a differentiated impact melt sheet (the 

Sudbury Igneous Complex). Skills developed during the program should better 

prepare students for their own thesis studies in impact cratered terrains, whether 

they be on Earth, the Moon, Mars, or some other solar system planetary surface. 

 

This field camp is being organized under the auspices of the 

NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, which is designed, 

in part, to train a new generation of explorers for the Moon and beyond. The 

activity is being led by an SSERVI international partner, the

Canadian Lunar Research Network and coordinated 

with the LPI-JSC Center for Lunar Science and Exploration.

 

Students are responsible for transportation to Sudbury, ON. They will also be 

responsible for lodging and other costs while in Sudbury. Course organizers will 

reserve lodging space, local transportation, and other logistical details. Class size 

is limited, so this will be a competitive process. Applicants who are accepted for 

the program will be asked to formally register and pay those fees in advance of 

the course. Students should plan to arrive on Saturday, September 23, 2017 and 

depart on Saturday, September 30, 2017. Additional logistical details will be 

provided to the selected participants.

 

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/exploration/sudbury/

 

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AND MEETINGS

 

A) JWST PROPOSAL PLANNING WORKSHOP

     May 15-18, 2017

     Baltimore, Maryland

 

In support of the first JWST call for proposals, Space Telescope Science 

Institute (STScI) is pleased to announce a workshop to educate the general 

astronomical community about the JWST Proposal Planning process. This 

workshop will take place at STScI in Baltimore, MD on May 15-18, 2017. 

The main goal of this workshop is to provide hands-on teaching for the JWST 

Exposure Time Calculator (ETC), the JWST Target Visibility Tools, and the 

JWST Astronomer’s Proposal Tool (APT).

Registration to the workshop is now open.

 

The Exposure Time Calculator (ETC) calculates the detailed performance of 

the observatory by modeling astronomical scenes consisting of single or multiple 

point and extended sources. It offers full support for all of the JWST observing 

modes. There are two Target Visibility Tools to help you assess target visibilities

before you enter information in APT: the General Target Visibility Tool (GTVT) 

predicts visibility windows and position angles for all instruments, and the 

Coronagraphic Visibility Tool (CVT) provides target visibility information for the 

NIRCam and MIRI coronagraphic modes. The Astronomer’s Proposal Tool (APT)

is used to write, validate and submit proposals.

 

The JWST Guaranteed Time Observers (GTOs) will submit Cycle 1 observing 

descriptions on April 1, 2017. We plan to illustrate the proposal planning process 

and the tools mentioned above using a subset of the NIRCam, NIRSpec, NIRISS, 

MIRI and Telescope Scientist GTO programs. During the workshop, GTOs will 

describe the science and technical motivation for half a dozen programs. STScI 

staff will step participants through ETC calculations and Target Visibility and 

APT planning for each program. The science programs to be discussed illustrate 

planning for (1) Multi Object Spectroscopy of bright and faint sources, (2) NIRCam 

and MIRI Coordinated Parallel Imaging, (3) NIRISS Wide Field Slitless Spectroscopy, 

(4) NIRSpec and MIRI Integral Field Spectroscopy of compact, extended sources, 

and (5) NIRcam and MIRI Coronagraphy of bright targets. In addition, STScI staff 

will be available to provide help with ERS and GO cycle 1 proposal planning 

during unstructured open periods.

 

More information on JWST capabilities and observing opportunities can be 

found in the user documentation (JDox) pages. 

 

For questions regarding the workshop you can contact us at: 

[email protected]

 

B) ASTROBIOLOGY 2017

     Coyhaique, Chile

     Nov. 26-Dec 1, 2017

 

We announce that registration is open for Astrobiology 2017.  This
conference will take place in beautiful Chilean Patagonia at Coyhaique
(November 26th-December 1st, 2017).

  http://www.astrobiology2017.org

The astrobiology community in the IAU has the tradition to hold a series
of scientific meetings every three years.  For a truly multidisciplinary
discussion, we welcome researchers at the frontier of science from the
fields of astronomy, planetary and space science, chemistry, biology,
geology, philosophy, sociology and ethical issues, among others.

KEY DATES

* Early Registration deadline: May 19th
* Oral contribution submission deadline: July 28th
* Regular registration deadline: Oct 13th
* Poster contribution deadline: Oct 13th
* Late registration deadline: Nov 17th
* Conference starts: Nov 26th

CONFERENCE TOPICS

* Star and planet formation
* Extrasolar planets / Habitable zones and habitable planets
* Planets in the solar system / Comets and meteorites
* Prebiotic molecules in the ISM and protoplanetary disks
* Early Earth environments and the emergence of life
* Life in extreme conditions and early life
* Search for life in the Universe
* Societal and ethical issues linked to astrobiology
* Education in Astrobiology

INVITED SPEAKERS

Over 20 superb invited speakers have already confirmed.  The updated
list can be found at:  http://astrobiology2017.org/speakers/

TRAINING SCHOOL

We are also preparing a two day training school with lectures on
basics of Astrobiology open to all participants.  This school will
precede the conference and take place on Santiago during Friday 24th and
Saturday 25th. There is no extra cost for participants of the conference
but space is limited.  Interested participants of the TS should reserve
a seat during registration.

STUDENT SUPPORT

We expect to be able to provide a reduced number of travel funds for
students. Instructions to apply for it will be provided on the webpage
during coming March.

With best regards,
Patricio Rojo (LOC’s chair)

 

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Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary ([email protected]

 

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