" F R I N G E S " S P A C E I N T E R F E R O M E T R Y M I S S I O N N E W S L E T T E R Number 39, January 4, 2007 CONTENTS 1. Visit SIM at the AAS Meeting in Seattle 2. "Astrophysics, Cosmology, and Extrasolar Planets" - at AAS in Seattle 3. Reminder - SIM Newsletter distribution list 1. Visit SIM at the AAS Meeting in Seattle The American Astronomical Society will hold its annual winter meeting in Seattle, WA, Jan 6-10, 2007. SIM PlanetQuest will once again be represented there, as one of the Navigator Program missions. If you're at the meeting, be sure to look for SIM in the exhibit hall. The exhibit will be open at all times that the hall is open. Stop by and chat with the staff. We have a desk labeled "The Astrometrist Is In", for free consulting on your questions about science with precision astrometry! 2. "Astrophysics, Cosmology, and Extrasolar Planets" - at AAS in Seattle On the first full day of the AAS Meeting (Sunday, January 7) the Navigator Program will host a special pre-dinner session entitled: "Astrophysics, Cosmology, and Extrasolar Planets: NASA's Navigator Missions" Room 6E Appetizers (courtesy of Northrop Grumman) at 630pm Program 645-745pm This session will be in the form of a panel discussion. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium in NYC, will begin the session, and he has kindly agreed to moderate the discussion for us. Panelists will discuss the science of the Navigator Missions. As the title suggests, this will be broad ranging, and includes much more than the planet-searches which form one of the major thrusts for SIM. Here is the lineup of panelists: Neil deGrasse Tyson Director, Hayden Planetarium Chas Beichman Director, Michelson Science Center G. Fritz Benedict McDonald Observatory, U Texas Austin James Bullock University of California, Irvine Shri Kulkarni California Institute of Technology Wes Traub Chief Scientist, Navigator Program We hope you will be able to join us for this lively pre-dinner discussion session. We'll finish promptly by 745pm. 3. Reminder - SIM Newsletter distribution list As a subscriber, you are likely already aware that in October 2006 we asked our readers to re-subscribe to the Newsletter. Obviously, as a reader of this issue (#39) you are currently a subscriber, so you need take no action. But it would be very helpful is you could ask your colleagues interested in SIM if they have re-subscribed, and if not, to follow the instructions for re-subscribing. Below is a copy of the announcement that went out to the (old) distribution list explaining the need for this change. Thanks very much for your help. ============================== Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 Subject: Important Announcement: S I M N e w s l e t t e r This note concerns the e-mail distribution list for the SIM Newsletter. We need to make some changes in the administration of the list. This will require every user to renew their subscription. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we need to do this for reasons of increased security, and to reduce spam activity associated with our list. We have used the same list for the SIM Newsletter since its inception back in November 1998, and the list has accumulated a large number of now-obsolete entries, as people change e-mail address. Re-subscribing is an opportunity to have a fully up-to-date list. We are sure that you will all wish to renew, to continue receiving the Newsletter! We normally publish the Newsletter every 1-3 months, depending on the news we have to share. As stated on our website, the 'sim-announce' list is used for the SIM Newsletter and for no other purpose. When you do so, please take this opportunity to set the delivery address to the exact address at which you normally read your e-mail. Please avoid using address that include local computer names in them. Most large institutions have e-mail systems that allow e-mail delivery without requiring individual computers to be up. There are two ways to renew your subscription: (1) at the PlanetQuest website, simply type in your e-mail address http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/Navigator/library/sim_newsletter.cfm (2) send an email to In the body of the message, on a line of its own, insert (supposing your address is jqpublic@my-isp.com): subscribe sim-announce jqpublic@my-isp.com In both cases, you will receive receive notification that an authorization key is required for subscription. Another message will be sent to the address to be subscribed (which may or may not be the same as yours) containing the key, and directing the user to send a command found in that message back to Majordomo@s383.jpl.nasa.gov. (This can be a bit of extra hassle, but it helps keep you from being swamped in extra email by someone who forged requests from your address.) Thanks very much for your interest and support for SIM. We look forward to continuing to serve you. And if you have comments or suggestions for the Newsletter, we are very happy to receive them. Steve Unwin Editor, S I M N e w s l e t t e r SIM Deputy Project Scientist ============================== --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Unwin, Editor stephen.unwin'at'jpl.nasa.gov You are subscribed to the list 'sim-announce'. To unsubscribe from this list, please go to the 'SIM Newsletter' link on the SIM web page, where you can also find back issues of the Newsletter: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/Navigator/library/sim_newsletter.html