Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 Contents of mailing: 1. SIRTF Status 2. Infrared Compendium 3. SPOT versions and Mac OS 10.3 4. Workshops 5. Announcement of TPF-Darwin conference +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. SIRTF status The In Orbit Checkout Phase for SIRTF officially ended on Day 65 of the mission, October 28, 2003. We are now in the 30 day Science Verification (SV) phase where the observing modes are being tested and initial calibration observations are being obtained. SIRTF weathered the enhanced solar activity during the week of October 27th without incident, though SV activities were suspended during peak activity. SIRTF is currently in the middle of an approximately 70-hour IRS campaign. (!) We are still on track for the December 18 press conference that will highlight early release images and announce the new name for SIRTF. The CP update and major documentation update is still scheduled for Dec 19th. This page: http://sirtf.caltech.edu/SSC/iocsv/ pulls out the significant events from the status updates page here: http://sirtf.caltech.edu/newsarchive/iocstatusupdates.shtml 2. Infrared Compendium Introducing a new web resource - the Infrared Compendium. This resource is designed for professional astronomers new to the infrared, with specific application to SIRTF and planning SIRTF observations. Veteran infrared astronomers may get something out of it too! Please check it out and send us any comments or your own sample objects. http://sirtf.caltech.edu/SSC/documents/compendium/ 3. SPOT versions As we proceed through the end of the first 90 days of the mission and into nominal operations, we are updating many of the files associated with SPOT. Another major release of these files occurred on 11/11. Please ensure that you turn on auto-update under the options menu and let SPOT grab the new information. If the file permissions are set such that someone else (e.g. root) owns the installation, please have that person turn on auto-update and let SPOT grab the files to ensure that the latest files are obtained. The latest-and-greatest SPOT "splash screen" still says 8.1, but by selecting "About" from the "Help" menu, you will see a variety of version numbers, including 8.9 at the top of the screen. Additional crucial current version numbers are given in the SPOT bugs list: http://sirtf.caltech.edu/SSC/propkit/spot/spotbugs.txt During these first 90 days of the mission, the actual (as opposed to predicted) locations of the various apertures in the focal plane are being determined. Some dither strategies for IRAC and MIPS are being tweaked. This information is being updated in SPOT (via the auto-updates) as we complete analysis of engineering data. The AOR overlays may look a bit odd or distorted until the process is complete, but we expect all updates to be in place for v9.0 of SPOT, expected in late December, in time for you to start planning your SIRTF observations in earnest! SPECIAL NOTE: Mac users have reported problems attempting to run Spot using the new Mac OS 10.3. The main window refuses to come up. We recommend that Mac users do NOT upgrade to OS 10.3 if running Spot on your Mac is your only access to Spot. We will let you know when we get Spot and Mac OS 10.3 properly talking to each other. 4. Workshops There are still plenty of spots available in our workshops to be held: (a) right before the AAS, 4 Jan http://sirtf.caltech.edu/SSC/ost/workshop/2004jan/ (b) at University of Sydney, 6 Jan http://sirtf.caltech.edu/SSC/ost/workshop/2004jansouth/ (registration deadline 30 Nov!) Please register!! 5. Announcement of TPF-Darwin conference SIRTF is co-sponsoring this conference, so we thought we would pass along information on this conference to be held in July 2004. Second Terrestrial Planet Finder/Darwin International Conference "Dust Disks and the Formation, Evolution and Detection of Habitable Planets" Mission Bay, San Diego, California July 26-29, 2004 Hosted by: the TPF and Darwin Projects, the Michelson Science Center, and the SIRTF Science Center. Be sure to mark your calendars for July 2004! This is the second annual joint TPF/Darwin conference and follows the very successful Heidelberg meeting in April 2003. The main purpose of this series of conferences is to develop the field of extra-solar planet research, and to support the scientific objectives of the Darwin (ESA) and TPF (NASA) mission concepts. Progress toward these goals will take place on many fronts, but firm observational results are critical for this emerging research field. Therefore, this year's TPF/Darwin conference will feature results from SIRTF on exo-zodiacal disks as one of the first really big steps toward defining the capabilities that a planet-finder mission must achieve. We plan to cover three major topics during the meeting: 1. Recent results on exo-zodiacal (EZ) disks from SIRTF and other space and ground observations. We expect exciting new results from SIRTF, HST/ACS, Keck/LBTI Interferometers, and ground-based sub-millimeter telescopes on the evolution, structure, composition, and frequency of debris disks. Among the issues we will address are how to extrapolate from the outer zodiacal clouds (Kuiper belt) detectable with SIRTF to the inner zodiacal clouds that will be measurable with TPF? What do the SIRTF measurements of the outer zodiacal cloud tell us about the presence or absence of planets? 2. The link between the physical conditions in the early solar nebula and astrobiology, e.g. how might astronomical conditions in the Hadean/Archaen periods affect the formation and evolution of life? SIRTF will provide new information on the properties of zodiacal disks in the first 500 million years of a planetary system's existence. What does a high level of exo-zodiacal emission imply in terms of bombardment and infall? What other astronomical properties of a star and planetary system might be relevant to the formation of stable, habitable planets, e.g. dynamics of giant planets, UV/X-ray output of stars, chemistry of nebular material, etc.? 3. Discussion of TPF/Darwin designs, science requirements and technology advances. This will be a 3.5-day conference (ending at around noon on the fourth day) with a program to be defined by the Scientific Organizing Committee. The basic layout will include invited talks on each major topic, followed by a small number of contributed talks. The SOC will also select poster papers associated with each topic. We have selected an excellent location! San Diego is a wonderful resort destination, and its summer weather is normally very predictable: dry, sunny, and warm, but not too hot. The meeting hotel is the Hyatt Regency Islandia, Mission Bay, close to the ocean and the famous Sea World marine wildlife park. We have reserved a block of hotel rooms at a very reasonable rate. We have made a web site for the conference, and we will add info as it becomes available. On the web site you can also find information on the hotel and on the huge variety of activities that San Diego has to offer: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF_darwin/