Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 08:51:17 -0800 (PST) Subject: Additional Spitzer GO2 proposals selected 1. Additional Spitzer GO2 programs selected 2. COSPAR Scientific Assembly, 16-23 July 2006 1. Additional Spitzer GO2 programs selected Spitzer's observing efficiency has continued to increase during the past year. If the SSC took no action we would run out of observations to schedule in the April-June 2006 time frame prior to fully ingesting the Cycle-3 program. We anticipated the potential for this problem when Cycle-2 was selected and allocated 6000 hours of time even though only 5400 hours were formally solicited. We are currently scheduling close to 7000 hours of science a year and hence need additional programs to execute. Based on the unanimous recommendation of our Oversight Committee we have selected additional programs from the Cycle-2 Review ranked list of proposals. We reviewed all of the programs in the gray zone provided by the Cycle-2 Review. We initially selected proposals with at least 50% of the observations having target visibility in April-June 2006. These proposals were then reviewed for technical issues (e.g. observations of extremely bright targets or other issues that require special scheduling), duplications with existing programs, severe timing constraints. For proposals that lost AORs in this process, they were again reviewed to make sure that at least half the targets originally proposed remained and that the science could still be accomplished with the smaller program. Finally, no proposals were selected that were ranked in the 3rd or 4th quartile in their panel. These programs have been added to the SSC database and are viewable by Spot/Leopard. A revised ROC which includes these new programs has been created (v7.1) and can be found in our Proposal Kit area of our webpages: http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/propkit/ An updated list of Spitzer programs can be found here: http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/roc/spitzer_programs.txt 2. And a note from our friends at Chandra: ** Abstract Deadline: 17 February 2006 ** "Challenges in High Resolution Space Astronomy: Astrophysics, Technology and Data" 36th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Beijing, China, 16 - 23 July 2006. (See the main web site http://www.copernicus.org/COSPAR/ for details.) This announcement is to solicit contributions to this COSPAR workshop in all three areas. The program will consist of invited talks (chosen by the SOC) plus contributed talks and posters. A limited amount of financial support will be available, please indicate the need when you submit your abstract. Details of the session are given under "E1.5" on the COSPAR program page: http://www.cosis.net/members/meetings/programme/view.php?p_id=171 Abstracts should be submitted via the "Abstract Submission" link, and logging in to "COSIS". [Registration is simple.] Purpose of Workshop: =================== The next generation of space observatories over the observable spectrum will need high resolution in both spatial and spectral domains. This workshop will be a 3-session, 1-1/2 day event to: 1) Introduce the astrophysical challenges that require high resolution (deep universe, complex fields, BH physics, motions,..) 2) Present space initiatives that will address issues and related technologies 3) Discuss the ensuing data challenges, in analysis, archives, and interfaces with the Virtual Observatory. The workshop is co-sponsored by the Chandra X-ray Center (USA), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the National Virtual Observatory (USA), and AstroGrid (UK).