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             |              CCC  XX   XX    OOO           |
Chandra      |             CC     XX XX    OO OO          | CXC
Electronic   |            CC       XXX    OO   OO         | Number 46
Bulletin     |             CC     XX XX    OO OO          | January
             |              CCC  XX   XX    OOO           | 2006
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Welcome to the Chandra X-ray Center's Electronic News Bulletin Number 46.

CXC Web site: http://cxc.harvard.edu

If you would like to unsubscribe from this alias, simply reply to this message
to let us know.  

Please use this website to update your address or email: 
          http://cxc.harvard.edu/cdo/udb/userdat.html

Contents:

1.  CIAO 3.3 Patch

2.  Safari Users and Chandra Data Archive Retrievals

3.  COSPAR Session, Beijing, China: Shedding New Light on Dark Matter 
      and Energy

 
4.  COSPAR Session, Beijing, China: Different Manifestations of Neutron Stars 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Item 1. CIAO 3.3 Patch  
      ================


Dear Chandra users near and far,

CIAO 3.3 was patched to CIAO 3.3.0.1 Jan. 12, 2006.
This is a very small patch which contains a PIMMS effective area file
upgrade required for Cycle 8 proposal planning.
The patch is required *ONLY* if you plan to run PIMMS in interactive CLI
mode (i.e. on the command line) via the tool "prop_pimms".
It is NOT required if you only run PIMMS through the web interface.

The patch is already installed on the HEAD-LAN or can be downloaded from
http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciao/download/
and soon
http://ledas-cxc.star.le.ac.uk/ciao/download/

              -----------------------------------

As always please send questions and requests for enhancements to the CXC
HELPDESK (http://cxc.harvard.edu/helpdesk/)

CIAO is a collaborative effort between the SAO/CXC Science Data
Systems, the SAO/CXC Data Systems, and MIT/CXC personnel.

Antonella Fruscione (for the CIAO development team)

 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Item 2. Safari Users and Chandra Data Archive Retrievals 
      ==================================================

If you do not use Safari (or do not know what it is), you don't have
to read this. Please note that the problem that we describe here is not a 
problem with the Chandra Data Archive, but with Safari and that it therefore
affects other sites as well.  Specifically, it is known to affect
access to the ChaRT FTP site.

We have had a number of interactions with users who tried to retrieve
Chandra data through WebChaser using the Safari browser.
Unfortunately, this will not work.
Safari has a feature where it will attempt to display a directory tree
when given a URL that represents a directory at an ftp site.  That is
a nice and useful feature, but it conflicts with the read protections
that we put on the directories in our ftp staging area.  These
protections are needed in order to protect proprietary data, which are
distributed through the same interface.  The problem would not occur
if we could provide the URL of a specific file; however, that is not
feasible since we do not a priori know how many tarfiles will be
created.

The best solution would be if Safari allowed this feature to be
optional or would ignore the error when trying to read a protected
directory.  Regrettably, these solutions are not in the realm of
possibilities at this time and, clearly, beyond our control.
Therefore, all we can advise is to use a web browser other than
Safari when retrieving data from the Chandra archive.




  - Arnold Rots
    Chandra Data Archive Operations


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Item 3. COSPAR SESSION E1.8 - BEIJING, CHINA    
        SHEDDING NEW LIGHT ON DARK MATTER AND DARK ENERGY  
       ==================================================

                      July 2006


Dear Colleagues,

The two-day meeting "Shedding New Light on Dark Matter and Dark
Energy", session E1.8, will be held during the 36th COSPAR Scientific
Assembly, in Beijing, China 16-23 July 2006 at the Beijing Institute of
Technology (BIT) and Beijing Friendship Hotel.

Space observations from WMAP, Chandra, XMM-Newton, and HST as well as
ground-based surveys are providing fundamental insights about dark
matter and dark energy. HST and ground-based observations of lensing,
large scale structure, and SN Ia determine dark matter distributions
and provide constraints on dark energy.  WMAP observations of the CMB
provide extremely precise measurements of cosmological parameters.
Space-based X-ray observations map dark matter in clusters, groups,
and early type galaxies, while X-ray observations of distant cluster
samples yield constraints on dark energy, particularly the equation of
state, which are complementary to measurements from the CMB and SN Ia.
Looking to the future, planned and proposed missions including Planck,
ZEUS, JDEM, DUO, and Con-X will further revolutionize the study of
dark matter and dark energy.

The dark matter/dark energy meeting will take place over two
consecutive days during the week of the COSPAR assembly.  Sessions
will focus on:

	* Dark Matter Distributions 
		Lensing
		X-ray Observations

	* Constraints on Dark Energy
		Supernovae
		CMB
		Large Scale Structure and Clusters of Galaxies

In addition, the meeting will discuss future programs, both
space and ground-based.

Each topic will be introduced by one or two reviews. We invite you to
participate in the meeting and to submit abstracts for talks or
posters via the COSPAR WWW site (see below).

Please pass this announcement along to others who may be interested.

	We look forward to seeing you in Beijing!

	Christine Jones and Bill Forman for the SOC

SOC Members: Bob Kirshner, Dave Spergel, Rashid Sunyaev, Margaret Geller,
Daniel Wang, Monique Arnaud, William Forman, Christine Jones
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Practical Information *

COSPAR 2006 WWW site
--------------------
http://meetings.copernicus.org/cospar2006/

IMPORTANT DEADLINES:
--------------------
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION                : 17 FEBRUARY 2006

Early Registration                 : 14 May 2006
Standard Registration              :  9 July 2006
Hotel Accommodation		   : 30 June 2006
Student Accommodation		   : 31 March 2006

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION PROCESS:
----------------------------
>From the main web page, select "Details of the Scientific Program" and
then select "Scientific Commission E". Scroll down the page to find
the section for E1.8 "Shedding New Light on Dark Matter and Dark
Energy".  In this section, in the line labeled "Public Links:" you can
select "Abstract Submission". This will take you to the abstract
submission page. If you are new to COSPAR, you will have to first
select "Quick Registration" at the lower left before starting the
submission process.

Registration and Accommodation
------------
On line registration information
http://www.cospar2006.org/pages/registration&accommodation.htm

On line accommodation information
http://www.cospar2006.org/pages/registration&accommodation2.htm

Information about Financial Support:
--------------------
http://meetings.copernicus.org/cospar2006/financ_support.html


Abstract Submission:
--------------------

All submission is done on-line through the COSPAR COSIS system. Detailed
instructions and links are available at:

http://meetings.copernicus.org/cospar2006/how_to_submit_an_abstract.html

-- 
-- 
For additional information please contact:

Christine Jones
cjones@cfa.harvard.edu
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St.
Cambridge
MA 02138

William Forman
wforman@cfa.harvard.edu
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St.
Cambridge
MA 02138



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Item 4.  COSPAR Meeting, Beijing, China:
         Different Manifestations of Neutron Stars
      ============================================

Meeting "Different Manifestations of Neutron Stars"

          to be held as part of the 36th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
          Beijing, China, 16-23 July, 2006.

          Abstract Deadline: Feb.17, 2006
          Registration/abstract submission/logistics:
          http://meetings.copernicus.org/cospar2006/
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Colleagues,

We'd like draw your attention to the meeting "Different Manifestations
of Neutron Stars", which will be session E1.3 of the 36th COSPAR
Scientific Assembly, to be held in Beijing, China, over the period
16-23 July, 2006. We invite you to participate in this meeting and in
the COSPAR assembly.

"Different Manifestations of Neutron Stars" will address recent
observational and theoretical developments in the study of neutron
stars, both in isolation and in binary systems. Topics will include
neutron star birth, magnetic and spin evolution, radio pulsars,
thermally emitting neutron stars, magnetars, X-ray binaries, accretion
and nuclear powered pulsars, binary radio pulsars, fundamental physics
with neutron stars, and future observational prospects. The session 
will take place over 2-3 days (to be determined; it depends on the 
number of abstracts submitted) during the week of the COSPAR assembly. 
A half-day joint session with E1.4 "New High-Energy Results on Supernova 
Remnants and Pulsar Wind Nebulae" will also be held. More information can
be found in http://astro.cornell.edu/~dong/cospar.html

Abstract submission and conference registration are now open. 
The deadline is Feb.17, 2006. We invite you to submit abstracts 
for talks and posters via the COSPAR WWW site 
(http://meetings.copernicus.org/cospar2006/)
There will be room within the program to upgrade some contributed 
talks to longer (solicited) talks if such talks are considered of 
special interest to participants. We also plan to leave room for 
latest, last-minute new results.

We look forward to seeing you in Beijing!

Sincerely,
Dong Lai (for the SOC)

SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Dong Lai (USA, Main Scientific Organiser), Tod Strohmayer (USA,
Deputy Organiser), Didier Barret (France), Werner Becker (Germany),
Lars Bildsten (USA), K.S. Cheng (HK, China), T. Dotani (Japan), Vicky
Kaspi (Canada), Dick Manchester (Australia), Renxin Xu (China),
Roberto Turolla (Italy), M. van der Klis (Holland), D. Yakovlev
(Russia)


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



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