Compton Observatory Science Report #173, Friday December 23, 1994 Chris Shrader, Compton Observatory Science Support Center Questions or comments can be sent to the CGRO SSC. Phone: 301/286-8434 e-mail: NSI_DECnet: GROSSC::SHRADER Internet: shrader@grossc.gsfc.nasa.gov On behalf of the CGRO project: Have a great holiday season! Guest Investigator Program The schedule for CGRO Cycle-5 proposal submission has been finalized. The NRA (NRA 95-OSS-01) will officially released on January 11, 1995. Proposals will be due on April 7, 1995. The NRA will be distributed by NASA HQ, and the appendices will be distributed by the CGRO-SSC. The appendices will also be available electronically from the SSC - for information on how to retrieve them see GRONEWS (login as GRONEWS on grossc.gsfc.nasa.gov) or on the World Wide Web (URL: http://cossc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cossc/cossc.html). Not all of the figures will be included on the electronic copies. The sceond announcement for the forthcoming Third Compton Symposium has been issued by the host insitution, the Max Planck Insitute. A copy is appended to this report. It is also available on GRONEWS, etc. Instrument Reports EGRET EGRET operations were normal this biweekly period. Delivery of data to the GRO SSC remains on schedule. Interaction with guest investigators continues at a good level. Work is nearing completion on several summary papers that should be submitted to journals shortly. The deep survey of the Virgo region continues; the results of this survey should add significantly to our knowledge of AGN's, including their time histories and luminosity distribution. There will be several talks on EGRET results at the forthcoming American Astronomical Meeting. OSSE On day 94/350 (16 Dec), OSSE detector #1 failed to step in response to the automatic motor drive positioning process that, in normal operation, moves the detectors every 2 minutes. The positioning process detected the failure and brought the detector off line. Three hours later, we stepped the motor with ground commands and brought the detector back on line without any difficulty. It has operated normally since that time. This is the first time since launch that a detector has missed a step, and it is unrelated to the occasional periods of noise in the redundant positioning readout pots. We are still analyzing possible causes, one of which is a single bit upset in the control software. In viewing period 406 (13-20 Dec), the Z-axis target was NGC 5506 (Guest Investigator J. Piro), and the X-axis target was PSR J1706-44 (Guest Investigator J. Cordes). During the short period each orbit when neither target is visible, the additional targets are NGC 4151 and NGC 7582. In viewing period 407 (20 Dec - 3 Jan), the Z-axis target is NGC 5506 (Guest Investigator J. Piro), and the X-axis target is the galactic plane near (l,b) = (350,0) (PI team), including a limited amount of time on the X-ray nova GRO J1655-40 during apparently the tail end of its current outburst. Data from viewing periods 302.0, 302.3, and 303.0 were delivered to the Compton GRO Science Support Center archive this week. The targets during these viewing periods were N Cyg 1992, NGC 5548, GX 1+4, GRS 1009-45, and a portion of the Virgo Sky Survey. COMPTEL The COMPTEL instrument is performing well and continues routine observations. Data analysis and interpretation continues with alacrity, despite equally vigorous team preparation for the forth- coming holiday season! BATSE No transient sources are currently being detected by BATSE Earth occultation monitoring. The following sources were detected by the BATSE pulsed source monitor in the past two weeks: Her X-1, Cen X-3, 4U 1626-67, 2S 1417-624, GX 1+4, Vela X-1, and GX 301-2. The outburst of 2S 1417-624 which ended on December 19th, lasted 115 days. The x-ray binary GX 1+4 is still spinning up. As of December 19th, BATSE has detected 1186 cosmic gamma-ray bursts out of a total of 3209 on-board triggers in 1336 days of operation. There have been 741 triggers due to solar flares with emission above 60 keV. Since the BATSE burst trigger criteria were changed on September 19th, there have been 13 triggers due to terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. ********************************************************************* 3rd Compton Symposium on Gamma-Ray Astronomy and Astrophysics June 12 - 14, 1995 Munich, Germany Hosted by the Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik D-85740 Garching, Germany Second Circular Call for Papers December 1994 ANNOUNCEMENT The Third International Compton Symposium on Gamma-Ray Astronomy and Astrophysics will be held at the "GASTEIG" in Munich, from June 12 to 14, 1995, and is being organized by the Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik. The "GASTEIG" is located near the center of Munich. This second circular contains information on the scientific program, on conference logistics, and on deadlines concerning the submission of abstracts. If you have not registered until now, please don't hesitate to contact us via E-mail immediately. Volker Schoenfelder (Chairman) LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE R. Diehl G. Kanbach (Chair) G. Lichti H. Mayer-Hasselwander V. Schoenfelder F. Schrey A. Strong H. Haber (Secretariat) SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE: C. Fichtel J. Ryan G. Fishman R. Schlickeiser N. Gehrels V. Schoenfelder (Chair) J. Grindlay R. Staubert G. Kanbach J. Trümper J. Kurfess G. Vedrenne E. Lorenz J.H. Völk G. Morfill SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME The format established during the previous Compton Symposia will generally be followed in the programme of this conference. A mixture of invited reviews, contributed talks and poster presentations will cover the current state of observational and theoretical gamma-ray astro- nomy. Topics pertaining to solar emissions and gamma-ray bursts will only be summarized in invited reviews; attention is drawn to special conferences for these subjects.The pre- liminary programme includes the following topics: OVERVIEWS of the results from the 4 CGRO instruments. SUMMARIES on gamma-ray bursts and solar gamma-ray emissions. GALACTIC ASTRONOMY: Pulsars, X-ray binaries and other energetic stellar systems, novae, supernova remnants, molecular clouds, unidentified galactic gamma-ray sources, interstellar medium, cosmic rays and galactic structure, nucleosynthesis. EXTRAGALACTIC ASTRONOMY: Nearby normal galaxies, active galactic nuclei, Seyferts and blazars, high galactic latitude unidentified sources, cosmic gamma-ray background. FUTURE REQUIREMENTS and instrumentation for gamma-ray astronomy. PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME So far, 18 invited talks of 30 minutes duration and 36 contributed talks of 15 minutes each are scheduled. The number of POSTER presentations is unlimited. INVITED TALKS OSSE Overview J. Kurfess BATSE Overview W. Paciesas COMPTEL Overview V. Schoenfelder EGRET Overview C. Fichtel Solar Flares with Gamma-Ray Emission R. Murphy Gamma-Ray Burst Theory D. Hartman Pulsars J. Arons Stellar Black Hole Candidates Y. Tanaka The Galactic Center R. Genzel Nucleosynthesis and Gamma-Ray Line Astrophysics N. Prantzos* Gamma-Ray Lines from Interstellar Particle Interactions R. Ramaty Diffuse Galactic X- and Gamma-Ray Continuum A. Strong Galactic Structure and Unidentified Galactic Sources measured by EGRET S. Hunter Models of X / g-Ray Emission from Seyfert Galaxies R. Svensson* Models of High-Energy Emission from Quasars R. Schlickeiser VLBl and Multiwavelength Studies of Gamma-Ray AGN A. Wehrle The X- and g-Ray Background G. Hasinger The Early Days of Gamma-Ray Astronomy K. Pinkau * Speaker to be confirmed CALL FOR CONTRIBUTED PAPERS Abstracts should be submitted no later than March 31, 1995. They should contain author(s) and their affiliation, title and max. 200 words of text. Indicate your preference for oral or poster presentation. Submission by e-mail is encouraged in ASCII format. Hardcopies may be mailed to the conference secretariat using the attached form. Authors will be notified of acceptance and allocation of papers to sessions and poster/oral presentations by April 15, 1995 PROCEEDINGS & FEES The Conference Proceedings will be published in a special issue of Astronomy & Astro- physics. The Registration and Conference Fee, including a copy of the conference proceedings per participant, is DM 400.-, if paid before April 30, 1995. Late registration fee will be DM 450,-. Payment should be made by money transfer to : Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik Code CGRO95 Account No.: 29 400 36 Bankhaus Reuschel & Co., Munchen, Germany Bank Code : 700 303 00. Please indicate your payment, with date of money transfer, on the enclosed registration form. CANCELLATION POLICY Refund of registration fees is possible with a deduction of DM 35,-. Cancellation must be received in written form at the conference secretariat by May 20, 1995, by E-mail : CGRO95@mpe-Garching.mpg.de, or by FAX: +49/(0)89-3299- 3569. IMPORTANT DATES March 31, 1995: Deadline for abstracts of invited and contributed papers. April 15, 1995: Third Circular with preliminary programme. Notification of acceptance and allocation of contributions. April 30, 1995: Deadline for booking at PENTA Hotel at reduced rate. Deadline for reduced conference fee. Deadline for revised abstracts. June 12-14, 1995: Symposium GENERAL INFORMATION VENUE: The "Gasteig" is located close to the center of downtown Munich, near the "Deutsches Museum" and across the street from the Penta Hotel. It houses the Munich Symphony Hall and several large auditoria for cultural events. The Symposium will take place in the Carl-Orff- Auditorium, which seats about 400 persons. Secretariat, posters, lounges and refreshments will be located in the lobby outside the lecture hall. ACCOMMODATION: A block reservation at the nearby "Penta Hotel" has been made for participants of the Sym- posium. The prices will be 150 DM (for single room) or 175 DM (for double room), including breakfast buffet. Booking should be made directly with the hotel, not later than May 1, 1995 (a form sheet is enclosed). PENTA HOTEL 'Compton Symposium' c/o Ms. M. Metzner Hochstrasse 3, D-81669 Munchen, Germany Phone: +49 (0)89 4803 - 0 Fax : +49 (0)89 4 48 82 77 SOCIAL EVENTS There will be a no host WELCOMING RECEPTION in the evening before the meet- ing on June 11, 1995 at the Penta Hotel at 7:00 p.m. The registration office will be opened on June 11 at 4:00 p.m. in the lobby of the Penta Hotel. THE DINNER BANQUET is planned for June 13, 1995 in the Aircraft Exhibition Hall of the Deutsches Museum, Museumsinsel 1, within walking distance of the Penta Hotel and Gasteig. The dinner ticket per person will be 50,- DM. TRANSPORTATION is not required during the conference due to the short distance between the locations. To reach the hotel from the airport or main train station use the S-Bahn trains to sta- tion Rosenheimer Platz. The hotel is about 100 m from the station. The S8 line from the airport terminal runs every 20 minutes and the journey takes about 30 minutes. Tickets are available in the terminal from a machine. From the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) take any S-Bahn in the direction Ostbahnhof. You will receive a map with public transport and city information with the Third Circular. COMMUNICATION The secretariat for the 3rd Compton Symposium is located at the Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik Postfach 1603 D-85740 Garching Germany TELEPHONE: +49-(0)89-3299-3332, Ms. Haber, secretary -3544, Dr. G. Kanbach (LOC) -3578, Dr. V. Schoenfelder (SOC) FAX: -3569 (attn. Ms. H. Haber) E-MAIL: cgro95@mpe-garching. mpg.de We use E-mail communication as much as possible and have set up an anonymous ftp where you can obtain copies of circulars, forms and other material and a WWW page for information. Please use the following procedure to reach these facilities: FTP: >ftp cgro95.mpe-garching mpg.de Name: anonymous Password: your E-mail address >follow instructions World Wide Web home page: URL = http://cgro95.mpe-garching.mpg.de/cgro95.html End of returned message