March 2005 AAS NEWSLETTER Issue 124 A Publication for the members of the American Astronomical Society AAS EXECUTIVE OFFICER BOB MILKEY TO RETIRE IN 2006 Inside Bob Milkey, who has ably served as AAS Executive Officer for nearly 11 years, has announced his intention to retire at the end of June 2006. After a long orbit through Baltimore, where he worked at the Space 3-4 Telescope Science Institute, and his service to the AAS in Washington, Milkey is eager to return to President’s Tucson, where he served on the scientific staff of the Solar Division of the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Column AAS President Bob Kirshner praised Milkey’s contribution: “Until I became President, I had only a vague 4 idea of what the Executive Officer did. Now I know that having someone like Bob Milkey, who understands Minneapolis what the Society is about and who has the skill and good sense to help us do those things every day, is Meeting essential to make the AAS operate successfully. He’s been an excellent Executive Officer and we will need to work hard to make sure we find a worthy successor.” 5 Election Results Kirshner is taking the lead to form a search committee to help define the job and to find the next Executive Officer. Full details of the search will be announced through the AAS electronic announcements and the 5 AAS Job Register. The goal is to find a successor by January 2006 to provide adequate time for the new Council Actions person to benefit from Bob’s knowledge before he departs. The Executive Officer is responsible for smooth functioning of the full range of activities of the AAS in accord with the policies and guidance provided by 7-10 the AAS Council. Pasadena Recommendations 15 2005 Prize Winners PUBLICATION NEWS 16 San Diego Astrophysical Journal Editor in Chief to step down Meeting Highlights Professor Robert C. Kennicutt, Jr., University of Arizona and Editor-in-Chief of the Astrophysical Journal has announced that he will relinquish his position as Editor-in-Chief effective with the completion of his current term at the end of 2006. He has served as the Editor-in-Chief since 1999 when he was chosen as Editor to succeed Helmut Abt. As a result of his impending departure, the American Astronomical Society is soliciting applications and nominations of candidates to assume the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Astrophysical Journal at the end of 2006. The Search Committee has been formed and a longer advertisement, statement of desired qualifications, and list of application materials will be placed in the AAS Job Register, and sent via email. Professor Patrick S. Osmer, Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Ohio State University and a member of the AAS Publications Board will Chair the Search Committee. The Committee welcomes applications or nominations, and both should be sent to the ApJ Search Committee, American Astronomical Society, 2000 Florida Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington DC 20009-1231 or by e-mail to [email protected]. New AJ Editorial Office Opens On 1 January, Jay Gallagher began his term as Editor of The Astronomical Journal (AJ), and the AJ editorial office moved to the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Authors are encouraged to submit articles using the new Web-based Peer Review service on the AJ website. Authors can also continue to submit manuscripts electronically via FTP. Complete instructions are available on the AJ website at www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJ. Questions should be directed to Anita Makuluni, Managing Editor ([email protected]). The American Astronomical Society Linking Initiatives 2000 Florida Avenue, NW The AAS journals have introduced three new linking and tagging options for the electronic editions this Suite 400 year, in collaboration with ADS, CDS, and NED. Washington, DC 20009 (202) 328-2010 1. New AASTeX 5.2 markup will now allow authors to insert links in the electronic text to data sets at [email protected] www.aas.org participating data centers, via ADS. The September 2004 Spitzer Space Telescope special issue of ApJS is the first issue to demonstrate this new capability. › MarchMarch 20042005 1 AAS Executive Office Staff PUBLICATION NEWS CONTINUED Robert W. Milkey, Executive Officer Kevin B. Marvel, Deputy Executive Officer Kelli Gilmore, Meetings Manager Susana E. Deustua, Director, Educational Activities 2. Another new feature allows authors to generate a list of object links to SIMBAD Zuzana Kelyman, Registration Coordinator Judith M. Johnson, Publications Manager and/or NED, which will appear in the content frame of the article. A linked object list Shantice Jones, Membership Services Specialist in the frame of the electronic article will then dynamically update to ADS, NED, and Debbie L. Kovalsky, Information Systems Manager SIMBAD objects web pages as soon as they become available, and will check for Natalie F. Patterson, Financial Assistant Dennis W. Renner, Manager, Membership Services new links each time the article is accessed. Crystal M. Tinch, Publications Specialist 3. The third initiative is the inclusion of a new Facilities acknowledgement field, The AAS Newsletter (ISSN 8750-9350) is which will allow authors to identify instruments used in their papers in a consistent published in March, June, August, October, and December by the American Astronomical fashion across papers, and so help organizations track the effectiveness of their Society, 2000 Florida Avenue, NW, Suite 400, telescopes. Facilities should be listed using a set of standardized acronyms from a Washington, DC 20009-1231; Tel: 202-328- controlled vocabulary list administered by the AAS; these lists will be separately 2010, Fax: 202-234-2560, [email protected]; www.aas.org. tagged in the SGML archive to facilitate searching. The $115.00 annual membership dues for the Whether to use the new features described above is up to the individual author, but American Astronomical Society include $3.00 that is applied toward a subscription to the we encourage it, because they are designed to benefit many different portions of the AAS Newsletter. Periodical postage paid at astronomical community. Data set and object links will allow readers more seamless Washington, DC. navigation between the AAS journals and the data centers, and will allow data POSTMASTER: Send address changes to centers to get important information into their archives more quickly and efficiently. AAS, 2000 Florida Avenue, NW, Suite 400, In addition, with this information the data centers can more rapidly construct links Washington, DC 20009-1231. from their archives back to the electronic journals to help keep researchers aware of Items of general interest to be considered new literature on their favorite objects and data sets. The increase in the for publication in the AAS Newsletter should be interconnectivity between journals and data centers means that a modest amount of sent to [email protected]. Appropriate pictures effort will be rewarded with much greater visibility for your paper. are welcomed. For further information about deadlines and submitting articles, see www.aas.org/publications/newsletter.html. If you have any questions regarding the linking initiatives, please contact Greg Items submitted to the AAS Newsletter are Schwarz ([email protected]). not automatically included in the AAS Electronic Announcements or vice versa. Submit electronic announcement items to New Treatment for Large Figure Sets [email protected]. The AAS journals and the University of Chicago Press have developed a new Judith M. Johnson, AAS Publications Manager presentation format for large numbers of related figures (~25 or more), or “figure Robert W. Milkey, Editor sets,” for the electronic editions. These allow the figures to be aggregated into Crystal M. Tinch, Associate Editor subsets, each with its own navigation and thumbnail gallery. It is anticipated that Jeff Linsky, U. Colorado, Associate Editor, Letters authors making use of this format will also choose to run only one or a few figures Note: Letters to the Editor on current issues of of the set in print, the rest appearing online only, although this is not required. importance to astronomers are welcomed. Letters must be signed and should not exceed Further details can be found at the ApJ and AJ websites. 250 words. Send to Jeff Linsky, Associate Editor, Letters, ([email protected]; 303- Astrophysical Journal Associate Editors 492-7838 phone; or 303-492-5235 fax) one week prior to the AAS Newsletter deadline. We are pleased to announce the appointment of Ethan Vishniac as an Associate Letters may be edited for clarity/length (authors Editor-in-Chief of The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ). He joins the other Associate will be consulted) and will be published at Editor-in-Chief, Jim Liebert, and both individuals will assist the Editor-in-Chief in the discretion of the Editors. organizing the peer review functions of the ApJ and advising on editorial policy Manuscript Submissions Using AASTeX matters. The AJ and ApJ accept manuscripts electronically that are prepared using the AASTeX manuscript package. Following are some important addresses for obtaining information about AASTeX and electronic MEMBER DEATHS submission. Since the 2004 December AAS Newsletter, the Society is saddened to learn of the AASTeX Homepage: deaths of the following members, former members and affiliate members: www.journals.uchicago.edu/AAS/AASTeX User Support: [email protected] Journal Homepages/Manuscript David Evans Lyman F. Kells Timothy McCullough Submission: AJ, ApJ, ApJL Helen D. Prince Damon P. Simonelli www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJ/information.html 2 American Astronomical Society www.aas.org LETTERS TO THE EDITOR transit OR transiting “AAS 205th Meeting” site:www.aas.org The syntax above restricts the search to web pages stored on www.aas.org and containing the phrase “AAS 205th Meeting” Redefinition of Coordinated Universal Time and either the word “transit” or “transiting.” One could replace “transit OR transiting” with “teach OR teaching OR teacher” to Dear Editor: find presentations that contain one or more of those three words.