Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2004 17:27:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Spitzer Science Center HelpDesk Subject: Spitzer Helpdesk reminder, new Spitzer software and tools, announcement of Oct Maryland Conference You are subscribed to sirtf-astro. To unsubscribe please send an email to majordomo@ipac.caltech.edu with "unsubscribe sirtf-astro " where your_email@address is the email address at which you receive this mailing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents of mailing: 1) Spitzer Helpdesk reminder 2) SPICE now available 3) Announcement for 15th Annual Maryland Astrophysics Conference 4) New tool named ISPY for observers looking for asteroids in Spitzer data -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Spitzer Helpdesk reminder Just a quick reminder - We've had *several* reports lately of people stating that they never got a reply from our helpdesk. This is just a quick reminder of the following: (a) Our software does NOT autoreply - we're just good. :) If you get a response right away, it's a real answer. (b) The answer is NOT at the top of the message. It's at the bottom of the message, appended after your original message to us. Please be sure you read the whole message before assuming that we did not answer. (c) Our helpdesk software is indeed fallible. If you really don't hear from us within our 2-3 business day stated goal, *especially* if you haven't asked a complicated question, feel free to send another email. We do occasionally get drowned in tickets -- like right now we're taking ~5 days on some tickets. If you've asked a complicated question (or series of questions), sometimes it takes us a while even during relatively quiet periods to track down the answer. But, if you're feeling ignored, by all means send us another email. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) SPICE now available SPICE now joins IRSFRINGE as part of the post-BCD suite of software for IRS. http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/postbcd/spice.html We've also slightly reorganized the Post-BCD software area. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Announcement for 15th Annual Maryland Astrophysics Conference ******* EARLY REGISTRATION DEADLINE SEPT 15 ******* NEW WINDOWS ON STAR FORMATION IN THE COSMOS *************************************************** 15th Annual Maryland Astrophysics Conference October 11-13, 2004 College Park , Maryland This year's "October Conference" will be devoted to results from new space-based and ground-based surveys of star formation in the Milky Way and beyond. The deadline for EARLY REGISTRATION (which includes a reduced registration rate and guaranteed poster space) is *** September 15 *** Registration information, details associated with the conference organization, and the program of invited speakers, can all be found at: http://www.astro.umd.edu/october Scientific Organizing Committee: Luciana Bianchi Francoise Combes Mark Dickinson Paul Ho Steve Holt Harvey Moseley Lee Mundy Anneila Sargent Michael Werner -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) New tool named ISPY for observers looking for asteroids in Spitzer data ISPY: Identifying Known Asteroids in Spitzer Fields JPL's Horizons can now be used to determine the positions for known Solar System small bodies in a given field as seen by Spitzer. This new tool, ISPY, was developed by Jon Giorgini (JPL) and is run in e-mail batch mode. ISPY requires the user to input the Spitzer time of observation, and the observed field geometry in one of three different formats (polygon, circle or rectangle). ISPY will return the names of any asteroids or comets present in the Spitzer field at the time specified by the user, their astrometric RA and Dec coordinates at that ime, and information on apparent magnitude, apparent rates, and characteristics of the data used to determine the ephemeris, including positional error information, if available. Note that ISPY can return results from a total area of 10 square degrees, but greater accuracy can be obtained by querying smaller areas with supplied times of observation that are more accurate for that piece of the field. Full instructions on how to use ISPY, including its input requirements and output format can be found in Appendix 3 of Horizons Tips for Solar System Observers. (http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/documents/horizons.pdf) --------------------------------------------------------------------------