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AAS Division on Dynamical AstronomyNewsletter 80, September 1995 |
The new committee members are Jay Lieske, Hal Levison and Judit Ries. Jay is at JPL, specializing in orbits of natural satellites and planetary ephemerides. He was an original members of the Division and he has served a term on the Committee, was Vice Chair and Chair, served three times on the nominating committee, chaired one local organizing committee, and served four years on the Brouwer Award Selection Committee. Hal and Judit are relatively new members of the Division who have been very active the past few years. Hal was chair of the first committee on student stipends, and Judit has joined it for the coming year. Hal is at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, working on n-body integrations, the Oort Cloud, and studies in chaos. Judit is at the University of Texas, working on analysis of lunar data, asteroid dynamics, and astronomy education.
The members attending were unanimous in their enjoyment of the setting of the
meeting and approval of holding it there. There were many comments of
encouragement for a repeat engagement, with suggestions for changing the
schedule to allow even more time out of doors. Roy Laubscher, the local host,
promised to do it again for the turn of the millennium. All in all, it was the
most successful meeting in recent times in terms of attendance, proving that
holding meetings in "exotic" locales does draw participation.
1995 Brouwer Award
Brian Marsden, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, was
announced as the winner of the 1995 Brouwer Award at the DDA's Yosemite
meeting. Notable are his research accomplishments and his service to the
astronomical community through his stewardship of the IAU Circulars and Minor
Planet Circulars. 1995 was especially appropriate, following the year when
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 struck Jupiter. That astounding series of events began
with Marsden's determination, soon after the initial discovery, that the comet
would impact Jupiter. Marsden is held in warm regard by the scientific
community.
Marsden has investigated the effect of non-gravitational forces (gas jets) on the orbits of comets, and he has also worked on the orbits of sun-grazing comets and comets from the Oort cloud. He has computed an incredible number of comet and asteroid orbits. Other scientists frequently base their research on Marsden's orbits. His successful prediction of the return of Comet Swift- Tuttle is one obvious example of the quality and importance of his orbit determinations. 1877 Marsden is a Hilda-type asteroid named in his honor.
Marsden has produced and distributed to astronomers world-wide enormous
quantities of information. The IAU Circulars have informed us of comets,
novae, supernovae, new satellites, planetary rings, X- and gamma-ray events,
occultations, glitching pulsars, flaring quasars, near-earth asteroids, a Mars
Trojan, co-orbiting and Trojan satellites, fragmenting and sun grazing comets,
and Kuiper belt objects. His role in producing the IAU circulars has been a
critical and influential one, and goes well beyond maintaining a large
database. Marsden often serves as a spokesman for the astronomical community.
Group Photo
Everyone who attended the meeting in Yosemite is being sent a color print of
the group photo taken during one of the session breaks. This photograph, along
with two others, appeared in the June 1995 AAS Newsletter. Information about
ordering more copies or enlargements is included with the photo. Members of
the Division who did not attend the meeting and are interested in obtaining a
copy of the photo should contact Alan Fiala directly, preferably by email to
adf@newcomb.usno.navy.mil. For those who have received the photo and an ID
key, please change #20 to unidentified; #21 to Kevin Glazier; and add Marty
Slade to the "not pictured" list.
The Naval Observatory is a little oasis in the midst of the city. We tentatively plan to start off with a welcome reception in the Library on Sunday evening. Will the Vice President (who lives on the USNO grounds) show up? We can only ask. Brian Marsden will present the Brouwer Lecture at this meeting. Alan Boss will give an invited talk and organize a special session on binary star formation. Steve Lubow and Joel Tohline will also give invited talks as part of this session. Steve will talk about orbital interactions between newly formed stars and their protostellar disks and consequent orbital evolution, Joel about the mysteries of rotational instabilities possibly leading to binary fission or companion formation, and Alan about formation by fragmentation during the collapse phase. Ken Johnston will organize another special session on optical interferometry astrometry and give an invited talk on this subject.
The headquarters hotel will be the Savoy Suites Georgetown, just outside the Observatory's gates on Wisconsin Avenue, and just north of Georgetown. The address is Saovy Suites Georgetown, 2505 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20007. There is a toll free number, 800-944-5377, or you can call them at 202-337-9700. It is a small hotel. The rooms are very large and spacious, some with good views of the city. Suites include twin with queen-size beds, or Jacuzzi with king-size bed, at no extra cost. Pets are welcome. Transportation to airports and metro is available. There is a good restaurant in the hotel, plus entertainment some evenings. There are many other fine restaurants within a brief walk, as well as the night life of Georgetown. The rate is $94 single, $104 for two, plus tax and fees. Be sure to mention the DDA when you make your reservation. Reservations are open now, and should be made early for the best choice of rooms. The cutoff date for the reservation block will be one month before the meeting begins. We were able to get a room rate even lower than the government rate. It will be peak tourist season, so once the block is released, it may be difficult to find rooms in the neighborhood and at this rate.
Washington abounds with things to do and to see. Come early, get the Saturday night stayover, and explore your nation's capital. Or attend the Division Committee meeting on Sunday afternoon. PLUS, it will be in the midst of the Presidential election year, so you may spot candidates of all sorts roaming the streets!
Submissions must be either postmarked or emailed by January 27, 1996. The
recipients will be notified by the end of February. The stipends will be
awarded at the DDA meeting in Washington, DC April 15-17, 1996.
Future Meetings
The 1997 meeting will be held at Lowell Observatory, in Flagstaff, Arizona.
The 1998 meeting will be held at University of Virginia, in Charlottesville,
Virginia.
World Wide Web Site
The DDA is now on the web, thanks to the efforts of our new Chair, Phil Ianna.
You can find the homepage at
http://proxima.astro.virginia.edu/~dda
Please take a look and send Phil (
pai@fermi.clas.virginia.edu)
your suggestions, keeping in mind that this site is still new and that many
additions and improvements are planned.
Meeting Intent Form
1996 AAS/DDA Meeting, Washington, DC, April 15-17, 1996 Name: Address: ___ I plan to attend the meeting ___ I may attend the meeting ___ I do not plan to attend the meeting I would like to give a the following paper(s) on: ___ Oral ___ Poster Title: ___ Poster Title: Please return to: Art Whipple at alw@astro.as.utexas.edu or McDonald Observatory, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-1083