Commission 41 Activities in Manchester

Steven J. Dick, President, Commission 41

Commission 41 will sponsor and participate in a variety of activities at the upcoming XXIV General Assembly in Manchester, 7-18 August, 2000. The Commission is sponsoring Joint Discussion 6 on "Applied Historical Astronomy". It will take place Friday, August 11 from 0900-1730; the detailed program is given below. Participating Commissions include Commissions 4 (Ephemerides), 19 (Rotation of the Earth), and 20 (Positions and Motions of Minor Planets, Comets and Satellites), while Divisions I (Fundamental Astronomy), II (The Sun and Heliosphere) and III (Planetary System Sciences) are supporting Divisions.

The C 41 business meeting is scheduled for the morning of August 15, and a special session on the inventory and preservation of archives and artifacts will take place on August 16. This has been a long-standing concern of our Commission.

This is the only call for your participation at all these events. The oral papers for JD6 are already set by invitation, but there is still room for poster papers. Requests for poster papers should be sent to the JD6 SOC Chair, F. Richard Stephenson, at f.r.stephenson@durham.ac.uk. Oral papers are invited for the special session on archives on August 16. Please send me a brief abstract. We would like participation from your country. Any items for the Business session should also be sent to me by July 15, 2000. These items should preferably be sent via e-mail to dick.steve@usno.navy.mil.

It is my hope that we will have good participation from both inside and outside the Commission for these events. Details on registration and accommodations are available in IB 85, and at the IAU web site http://www.iau.org. See you there!

C 41 Elections -- Call for Nominations - Call for Resolutions

Election of new members and officers of C41 will be held during the business meeting on the morning of August 15. Please send me any nominations for the office of Vice President or Organizing Committee. Our current Vice President, F. Richard Stephenson, will rise to President at this meeting. Any resolutions C41 members would like to bring before the business meeting should be sent to me by July 15, 2000.

Joint Discussion 6 Program - August 11, 2000

MANCHESTER-2000 PROGRAM Joint Discussion "Applied Historical Astronomy"

Proposing Commission: C 41 (History of Astronomy)
Participating Commissions: 4 (Ephemerides), 19 (Rotation of the Earth), 20 (Positions and Motions of Minor Planets, Comets and Satellites)
Supporting Divisions: Division I (Fundamental Astronomy), Division II (The Sun and Heliosphere), Division III (Planetary System Sciences)
Scientific Organizing Committee: Richard Stephenson (UK, Chair), S. Ansari (India), S. Dick (USA), O. Gingerich (USA), Nha Il-Seong (South Korea), W. Orchiston (New Zealand), M. Standish (USA), W. T. Sullivan III (USA), D. Yeomans (USA)

a.m. Chair: Steven J. Dick

IAU Colloquium 178 in Italy A Success

Commission 41 sponsored a very successful meeting, IAU Colloquium 178 on "Polar Motion: Historical and Scientific Problems," held in Sardinia, Italy September 27-30, 1999. The meeting was also supported by IAU Commissions 19 (Earth Rotation) and 31 (Time), by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS), and the International GPS Service.

The year 1999 marked the centennial of the first observations of the International Latitude Service (ILS), forerunner of both the IAG and the IERS. The meeting featured and excellent mix of historical and scientific papers, a trip to the Carloforte Latitude Station (one of the original ILS stations), and excellent local arrangements on the part of our Italian hosts. The Proceedings will be published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific series.

The following resolutions were adopted at the meeting. Commission 41 will take up Resolution 1 in Manchester. Resolutions 2-6 will be debated at length at Colloquium 180, at JD 2 in Manchester, and forwarded to the General Assembly for action.

Resolution #1.

• Considering the importance of the contribution of the International Latitude Service to the Study of polar motion,

Recommends that concerted efforts be made to preserve the buildings and instruments associated with the observatories of the International Latitude Service and predecessor observatories especially the associated geodetic monuments or pillars.

Resolution # 2.

• Recognizing the need for high-frequency polar motion for accurate artificial Earth satellite orbit determination and the study of the physics of the Earth at daily and subdaily frequencies,

Recommends that the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) coordinate the establishment of a series of high-frequency polar motion estimates consistent with the current IERS reference systems in cooperation with the International GPS Service, International Laser Ranging Service, and the International VLBI Service.

Resolution # 3.

• Recognizing 1) that Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the basis for modern world-wide time keeping and navigation systems, and 2) that the astronomical contribution to UTC is in the form of leap seconds,

Recommends that

1. the International Astronomical Union form a working group to consider the possible redefinition of UTC, particularly the requirement for leap seconds, and

2. that this study be under taken in cooperation with the appropriate groups of International Union of Radio Science (URSI), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM).

Resolution # 4

• Recognizing the requirement for accurate polar motion to
  1. provide accurate transformation between celestial and terrestrial reference frames
  2. investigate the physics of the Earth,

Encourages both

Resolution # 5.

• Considering the need for clear, concise definition of the transformation between the terrestrial and celestial reference frames,

Recommends
1. that the appropriate working group of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) study the definition of the most appropriate parameters to accomplish this transformation, the definition of the Celestial Ephemeris Pole, and the definition of the rotational time scale UTI; and
2. that this working group prepare its recommendations regarding these definitions for the IAU General Assembly in 2000, and
3. that this work be carried out in consultation with the IAG.

Resolution # 6

• Considering the value of the recent re-reduction of past observations of the Earth's orientation in the Hipparcos reference frame to studies of the Earth's orientation,

Recommends that the International Astronomical Union undertake additional efforts to
1. collect further historical data, and
2. reduce these data in the International Celestial and Terrestrial Reference Systems.

Resolution # 7

• Recognizing
  1. The excellent arrangements made by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC)
  2. The kind hospitality of the members of the LOC and
  3. The important contributions of local agencies to the success of the Colloquium,

Thanks the members of the LOC, the Stazione Astronomica di Cagliari-Carloforte, Universita degli Studi di Cagliari, the Ministero dell Universita e Ricera, Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, and the Comune di Monserrato for their efforts to make IAU Colloquium 178 a success.

Time Balls Drop, Cannons Fire, Around the World

The Commission 41/U. S. Naval Observatory project to drop time balls and fire "time guns" around the world for New Year's Eve was very successful. As the New Year swept around the world time balls were dropped at some 20 sites in 8 countries on 6 continents. Most sites have agreed to participate again next New Year's Eve, when the real millennium begins! Many of the events were coordinated via GPS, tying together the old and new methods of time dissemination. The project gained considerable media interest for an event that was once an important mission for observatories around the world. Participating sites are listed below.

(In Order of Time Zone from International Date Line)

Site		Time Diff From GMT Including DST	Midnight Occurs At This Time EST
New Zealand	Lyttelton (Christchurch)	+13	6 am
Antarctica	McMurdo	+13	6 am
	Scott Station	+13	6 am
Australia	Sydney Observatory	+11	8 am
	Melbourne - Parks Victoria	+11	8 am
	Adelaide - Town Council	+10.5	8:30 am
	Cape Borda Light Station (Kangaroo Island; cannon)	+10.5	8:30 am
	Fremantle	+8	11 am
India	National Physical Laboratory New Delhi	+5.5	1:30 pm
South Africa	Cape Town	+2	5 pm
Europe
Sweden	Goteborg	+1	6 pm
	Karlskrona Naval Base	+1	6 pm
UK	Greenwich - National Maritime	0	7 pm
	Edinburgh (ball and cannon)	0	7 pm
Antarctica	Palmer Station	-3	10 pm
USA	New York Times Square	-5	midnight
	South Street Seaport Museum	-5	midnight
	Washington, DC - USNO	-5	midnight
	Miami (raising an orange)	-5	midnight
	Doane College, Crete NE	-6	1 am Sat
	La Jolla, CA	-8	3 am Sat

Other Commission 41 News

A report to IAU Commission 41 on the Nha Il-Seong Museum of Astronomy

Kwan-Yu Chen

Celebration for the dedication of Nha Il-Seong Museum of Astronomy and the naming of minor planet (8895) Nha was held on June 4, 1999 at Yechon, Korea, where the Museum-Observatory complex is located. There were more than 200 guests attended the ceremony. Well wishers included Minister Seo Jung-Uck of the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology, Governor Lee Eui-Geun of Kyongbuk Province, and foreign astronomers from China, Japan, Poland and U. S.

The official name of (8895) Nha was presented by Prof. Dr. Hasegawa Ichiro, who, together with Prof. Dr. Hurukawa Kiichiro, nominated the name to the International Astronomical Union. Mr. Watanabe Kazuo, discoverer of the minor planet 1995 QN, was also present.

The museum-observatory complex was constructed on two levels. The building of the observatory and living quarters is at the higher ground, and the museum is to the south at the lower level. The name of the museum is "Humgyong-Gak", after the buildings respectively erected by King Sejong in 1437 for housing a special clepsydra, and by King Yonjo in 1770 for housing two star maps engraved on stone slabs. In Dr. Nha's museum, star maps, including a replica of the stone star map of 1395, are exhibited intwo sections; the sundials are displayed on the roof section, which is connected to the upper ground by a stone bridge.

The museum, as a historical heritage of astronomy, is dedicated to young astronomers for generations to come.

Reports on Astronomy

Thanks to everyone who submitted information for the Reports on Astronomy, to be published as Transactions of the IAU, vol. XXIVA. It is always a challenge to abridge these for the small space we are allotted. This year we have more space, but it was still a challenge. The complete report is posted on the Commission 41 Web site at http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/iaucomm41/

Reminders for Manchester General Assembly

• JD 6 Poster Proposals to F. Richard Stephenson
• Abstracts for papers in the special session on Archives to Steven Dick
• Any items for Business meeting to Steven Dick by July 15
• Nominations for C 41 officers to Steven Dick by July 15

HTML version: Wolfgang R. Dick, 3 Mar 2000