As most of you know already, the next decade's Academy report on astronomy and astrophysics is getting under way. The Academy committee charged with producing this report is officially titled the "Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee" (AASC, or, the Bahcall Committee), and it has formed a set of panels whose job it will be to produce advisory reports to the Committee on the various topics which fall under their purview; note that therefore our Panel report will not be binding on the Survey Committee. (The specific charge for the Solar Panel is spelled out below.) In this first report, we outline the structure of the Bahcall Committee, note some of the milestones we will have to pass, provide a brief guide to the kinds of questions we are seeking your advice on, and finally, detail the Charge to the Solar Panel. The main point we would like to make is that we need and seek your inputs. Indeed, we hope to use the SPD newsletter as a vehicle for keeping you informed about our progress; and are furthermore exploring other means by which the community can gather to formulate its plans for the next decade.
The panels formed to date include:
Radio Infra-red Demography, Education, History UV/Optical From Space High Energy From Space Computing And Data Processing Interferometry Particle Detection Policy Opportunities Science Opportunities Solar Theory And Laboratory Astrophysics Optical Planetary
Each of these panels will be responsible for writing an advisory report to the Committee. Note that only two scientific fields -- solar physics and planetary physics -- have their own panels. The Survey Committee expects each Panel to formulate its report in close consultation with its corresponding scientific community. In addition, certain members of the Solar Panel will be designated liason members of other Panels in order deal with cases of overlapping science and technology.
As of July 27, the following have accepted membership in the Solar Panel:
R. Canfield [U. Hawaii] E. Chupp [UNH] G. Dulk [U. Colorado] J. Harvey [NOAO/NSO] E. Hildner [NOAA] H. Hudson [UCSD] B. LaBonte [U. Hawaii] J. Leibacher [NOAO/NSO] K. Libbrecht [Cal Tech] R. Lin [UC Berkeley] B. Lites [NCAR] R. Moore [MSFC] R. Noyes, Vice-chair [CfA] E. Parker [U. Chicago] R. Ramaty [Goddard SFC] R. Rosner, Chair [U. Chicago] P. Sturrock [Stanford] E. Zweibel [U. Colorado]
In addition, there are still some 15 additional invitations out from John Bahcall; and the entire Panel should be in place shortly.
The Solar Panel is charged with eliciting the viewpoints of the solar physics community on its own future, and in order for us to carry this mandate out, we need your help. In particular, we strongly urge you to communicate to us your feelings about the future directions of our field as soon as possible. By ``us'', we mean the panel members. One of the main responsibilities of the panel members will be to reach out to the community, and to solicit your inputs. The Panel will be working throughout the Fall of this year, and therefore we need your input as soon as possible, preferably by September.
In order to provide some guidance as to the kinds of things we would like to hear your opinions about, we have devised the set of following questions, but we also strongly encourage you to raise issues that we may have missed (or which are not mentioned in the following).
In each case, please comment on the relationship (if any) between these initiatives and ongoing (or presently defined) programs and initiatives.
Please send your comments on these and/or other issues you wish to discuss to the Panel chairman or vice chairman at your earliest convenience. E-mail is a quick and good medium; our email addresses are given below. Also, we are eager to have you discuss issues with other Panel members, so that there will be personal contact. In short, please get involved!
SOLAR PANEL CHARGE
The Panel will assist the Astronomy and Astrophysics Committee by addressing both short and long-range opportunities and plans for research into the physics of the Sun. It will:
In carrying out the above tasks the solar panel will seek input from the broad solar community. Some of its members will act as liason representatives to other AASC panels where appropriate. A "core group" of panel members will meet for detailed discussion and writing. The panel will provide a concise written report of its findings and conclusions, and an oral briefing, to the AASC by July 1, 1990.
The work of this committee, and of its advisory panels, is going to be very strongly focussed toward completion of the panel reports by next summer. The specific times the Panel will be interacting with the community are:
January 11, 1990: Washington AAS Meeting. There will be a room reserved for interested members of the AAS/SPD to make presentations or statements to the Solar panel.
June 15, 1990: Albuquerque AAS and SPD Meetings. There will be a status report and discussions with interested members of the AAS and SPD on the activities of the Solar panel.
July 1, 1990: The final report of the Solar panel to the Survey committee will be due.
-- R. Rosner (chair), e-mail: RRosner@SOLAR
-- R.W. Noyes (vice-chair), email: RNoyes@SOLAR
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The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo are organizing a course on Solar Physics to be held at the IAC headquarters in La Laguna from October 23rd to November 3rd. It is intended mainly for young solar physicists currently carrying out work on their Ph.Ds. There will be a limited number of grants available to help participants with their travel and/or accommodation expenses.
The program for the course is as follows:
Monday 23rd - Friday 27th
Monday 30th - Friday 3rd
Applications should be sent before September 1st to: Manuel Collados, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, SPAIN, E-mail: IAC::MCV (SPAN), MCollados (SOLAR MAIL), Telex: 052 92640 IACE, Fax: 00 34 22 263005.
Applications should include name, address (including e-mail address if possible), an indication of need for accomadation and/or travel funds, and whether or not the applicant can attend without such funds. A brief summary of the applicant's work, currently in progress, should also be included, together with a letter of recommendation from his/her supervisor.
-- Manuel Collados
SolarNews is published monthly and distrubuted via SolarMail to
interested parties. Contributions should be sent to David Hathaway
(DHathaway on SolarMail). To be included on the distribution list
contact Rick Bogart (RBogart on SolarMail).
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