************************************************************************ IERS Message No. 86 March 09, 2006 ************************************************************************ ANNOUNCEMENT OF IAU JOINT DISCUSSION 16 AT THE XXVIth IAU General Assembly Joint Discussion 16 "Nomenclature, Precession and new models in Fundamental Astronomy. Applications and scientific contribution to astronomy" will be held during the IAU 2006 General Assembly on Tuesday 22 (full day) & Wednesday 23 (a.m.) August 2006, in Room Club H see the IAU GA scientific program at: http://www.astronomy2006.com/scientific-program.php and the JD16 web page at http://syrte.obspm.fr/iauJD16/ ---------------- Scientific Organizing Committee: N. Capitaine (France), J. Vondrak (Czech Rep.) & J. Hilton (USA): co-Chairs A. Brzezinski (Poland): Commission 19 Representative M. Calabretta (Australia): Commission 5 Representative V. Dehant (Belgium): IAG Representative T. Fukushima (Japan): Division I President K. Johnston (USA): Division X / Commission 40 Representative I. Kumkova (Russia): Commission 8 Representative A. Milani (Italy): Commission 7 Representative R. Nelson (USA): Commission 31 Representative K. Seidelmann (USA): Commission 4 Representative M. Soffel (Germany): RCMAM WG Representative ---------------- Scientific aims: The series of resolutions passed by the International Astronomical Union at its General Assemblies in 1997 and 2000 are the most significant set of international agreements in fundamental astronomy in several decades. These resolutions concern the definition of the astronomical reference systems and transformations between them, which are required when dealing with the Earth's rotation or when computing directions of celestial objects in various systems. Continuing efforts have been made since 2000 to implement these resolutions, and to prepare a well defined terminology and high accuracy models associated with this implementation. The adopted reference systems and the high-accuracy models which have been recently developed make possible various scientific applications in a number of fields of astronomy. Joint Discussion 16 entitled "Nomenclature, Precession and new models in Fundamental Astronomy. Applications and scientific contribution to astronomy" has two objectives. One objective is to introduce the general astronomical community to the state of the art in the implementation of the IAU resolutions, the nomenclature in fundamental astronomy and the high-accuracy models for precession, the ecliptic and other astrometric models for reducing high-accuracy observations. Another objective is the presentation of scientific applications of high accuracy astrometric observations, models and accurate realizations of reference systems for ephemerides, celestial mechanics, astrometry, Earth rotation, time and radio-astronomy. ---------------- List of Sessions: JD 16 will be composed of six sessions, each of them consisting of a few invited talks, and oral and poster contributions. The sessions will be the following: 1: State of the art of the implementation of the IAU Resolutions 2: Precession and the Ecliptic 3: The high accuracy models for reducing astronomical observations 4: New terminology in fundamental astronomy 5: Scientific applications of high accuracy astronomy 6: General Discussion and educational efforts ---------------- Scientific programme: ORAL PRESENTATIONS There will be 3 to 4 oral presentations per session in Sessions 1-5 (see at "Call for presentations" and "Submission of abstracts"). POSTERS Posters be displayed through the whole Joint Discussion. LIST OF INVITED PAPERS Session 1. State of the art of the implementation of the IAU Resolutions - Present status of the celestial reference system and frame (C. Ma) - Tools for implementing the recent IAU resolutions: USNO Circular 179 and the NOVAS software package (G. Kaplan & J. Bangert) Session 2. Precession and the Ecliptic - Review on the work of the "Precession and ecliptic" Working Group (J. Hilton) - Long-term solution for the insolation quantities of the Earth (J. Laskar) Session 3. The high accuracy models for reducing astronomical observations - Models for high precision spacecraft and planetary ephemerides (M. Standish) - Relativistic aspects of the Earth's rotation, (Earth kinematics and reference systems) (S. Klioner & M. Soffel) Session 4. New terminology in fundamental astronomy - Proposed terminology in fundamental astronomy based on IAU 2000 Resolutions: report of the NFA WG (N. Capitaine & NFA WG membership) - The new nomenclature and the Astronomical Almanac (C. Hohenkerk) Session 5. Scientific applications of high accuracy astronomy - Accurate Optical Reference Catalogs (N. Zacharias) - Scientific potential of the future space astrometric missions (F. Mignard): to be confirmed Session 6. General Discussion and educational efforts - Educational efforts in astrometry (W. van Altena) - The 3D representation of the new transformation from the terrestrial to the celestial system (V. Dehant) ---------------- Planed schedule: Tuesday 22 August 2006 (9:00 - 12:30) - Introduction to the Joint Discussion - Sessions 1 and 2 Tuesday 22 August 2006 (14:00 - 17:30) - Sessions 3 and 4 Wednesday 23 August 2006 (9:00 - 12:30) - Sessions 5 and 6 - Conclusion ---------------- Call for presentations: Oral and poster presentations are encouraged on the following topics: - Implementation of the IAU 2000 Resolutions and terminology issues - Precession and nutation models and discussion on the ecliptic - Time ephemerides - Relativity for celestial mechanics, astrometry and metrology - High precision astrometric models - Scientific potential of VLBI for astrometry and geodesy - Science with high accuracy astrometry - Educational efforts in astrometry ---------------- Submission of abstracts: Abstracts of presentation proposals should be submitted at: http://www.astronomy2006.com and then clicking on "Abstract submission". Submissions and corrections are permissible until the deadline of 26 June 2006, after which the server will be closed. A preliminary version of the JD16 programme will be prepared by the JD SOC with a first selection of the abstracts that will be available on 31 May 2006 on the IAU GA submission abstracts server. This provisional programme will be posted on the JD16 web page. Only those abstracts received after 31 May 2006 that make a significant contribution will be considered as possible additional oral presentations. The JD organizers will select and mark all accepted abstracts by July 4, 2006. Each accepted abstract will be assigned an internal number in the session which will be the order in which the abstracts will appear in the IAU XXVIth GA Abstract Book. ---------------- Important Dates related to the XXVIth IAU GA: - Travel Grant Application: April 9, 2006 - Early Registration: May 15, 2006 - XXVIth GA IAU: August 14 - 25, 2006 --------------- Contact person: Nicole Capitaine Observatoire de Paris, Syrte 61 avenue de l'Observatoire 75014, Paris, France nicole.capitaine@obspm.fr ************************************************************************ IERS Messages are edited and distributed by the IERS Central Bureau. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please write to . Archives: http://www.iers.org/iers/publications/messages/ ************************************************************************