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Chandra      |             CC     XX XX    OO OO          | CXC
Electronic   |            CC       XXX    OO   OO         | Number 60
Bulletin     |             CC     XX XX    OO OO          | March
             |              CCC  XX   XX    OOO           | 2007
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Welcome to the Chandra X-ray Center's Electronic News Bulletin Number 60.

CXC Web site: 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.  X-ray Grating Spectroscopy Workshop

2.  Chandra Users' Committee

3.  40 Years of Pulsars:  Millisecond Pulsars, Magnetars and More

4.  Absolute Astrometry Offset of 0.5" since Dec-2006

5.  Endpoints and Interactions- A Workshop on Supernova Remnants

 
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Item 1.  X-ray Grating Spectroscopy Workshop
============================================


We are pleased to announce X-ray Grating Spectroscopy, a science workshop 
sponsored by the Chandra X-ray Center. The workshop will be held 

              July 11-13, 2007 
          in Cambridge, Massachusetts 
          at the Sheraton Commander Hotel

The Workshop webpage 
             http://cxc.harvard.edu/xgratings07
provides details, including invited speakers, accommodation information,
and a link for Registration/Abstract Submission.

For contributed talks and poster presentations the
	*****  DEADLINE is   Wednesday May 02, 2007 ******
for both registration and abstract submission.

A final registration/submission deadline (for poster presentations only)  is
          Wednesday May 30, 2007
Please note that this is during the AAS meeting.


                WORKSHOP GOALS
  * review progress afforded by X-ray grating spectroscopy of
   extragalactic and galactic sources 
  * compare/contrast physical conditions, estimates of location,
   geometry and kinematics of X-ray emitters/absorbers,
   encompassing collisionally- and photo-excited gas across
   different source types 
  * review and compare available atomic data and codes 
  * provide a forum for discussion of:
      -controversial or unexpected new results 
      -potential new strategies for Chandra/XMM grating observations 
 

                 SCOPE OF THE MEETING
   INCLUDE 
  * New high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy results from the latest
    observations of extragalactic and galactic sources  
  * Deep IGM studies
  * Related medium-resolution X-ray spectroscopy results from
    current satellites  
  * Theoretical interpretations and modeling issues
  * Spectroscopic studies in conjunction with other wavebands 
  * The future of X-ray spectroscopy 

  EXCLUDE 
  * Results and discussions based primarily on X-ray imaging or
    timing results  


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Item 2.  Chandra Users' Committee
=================================


The next meeting of the Chandra Users' Committee will be April 25-26, 2007
at the CfA.  

Members of the Users' Committee are listed here:

http://cxc.harvard.edu/cdo/cuc/

This is your opportunity to contact them with anything 
you want to bring to our attention.  The meetings are open and reports are 
posted on the web.

Belinda Wilkes

Assistant Director 
Chandra X-ray Center (CXC)



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Item 3.  40 Years of Pulsars:  Millisecond Pulsars, Magnetars and More
======================================================================


Aug 12-17, 2007
McGill University, Montreal Canada
www.ns2007.org

This conference is to celebrate the anniversary of the discovery of
radio pulsars in the summer of 1967. We will highlight the important
discoveries of the last 40 years and address the most interesting and
topical areas of neutron star astrophysics today.

Abstract submission             May 1st
Early registration deadline     June 15th
Accommodation deadlines     June 30th - July 12th



Prof. Victoria M. Kaspi
Prof. Andrew Cumming 
McGill University Physics Department


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Item 4.  Absolute Astrometry Offset of 0.5" since Dec-2006
==========================================================

A systematic aspect offset of approximately 0.5 arcsec in the spacecraft
Y direction is apparent in data taken after approximately Dec-2006. This
is believed to be the result of a changed thermal environment following
the procedure to cool the ACA CCD from -15C to -19C that took place
between late Nov-2006 and early Jan-2007. The offset can be seen in the
ACIS-S and ACIS-I time-history plots at:

 http://cxc.harvard.edu/cal/ASPECT/celmon/

New calibration files to correct this offset are in development and we
expect release within a month. Until the new calibration files are
available there is no automated way to remove the offset. In particular
the  fix offsets thread will not remove this offset. Please contact the
CXC Helpdesk for further information.


Tom Aldcroft 


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Item 5.   Endpoints and Interactions- A Workshop on Supernova Remnants 
======================================================================


Supernova remnant research reveals insight into many different processes
from shock physics, cosmic ray acceleration, the explosion of the
supernova and the nature of the ISM. However, in recent years although
incremental progress has been made no major breakthroughs have occurred.
It is time to start organizing what work has been done and what work needs
to be done to make more than incremental contributions in the SNR field.
In this spirit, we put together a 2-day workshop on SNR just prior to the
AAS 2007 Spring meeting in Hawaii, May 24 & 25, 2007.

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~kkorreck/snrconf.htm

Kelly Korreck



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