_                   
                                                         |_|                  
      V   V   SSSS   OOO   PPPP                 \__      |_|      __/         
      V   V  S      O   O  P   P                   --____/ \____--            
      V   V   SSS   O   O  PPPP                    _ _ _ --- _ _ _            
       V V       S  O   O  P                      |_|_|_|  @|_|_|_|           
        V    SSSS    OOO   P                             o-o                  
                                                          /                   
      ***  N    E    W    S  ***                        <)                    

HALCA STATUS

As described in the last issue, HALCA is now being monitored during a single tracking pass each week. The change to this phase of operations has proceeded smoothly.

PASJ SPECIAL ISSUE

In 2000, a special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ) was devoted to VSOP-related papers, and it is planned to produce a similar issue next year. Prospective authors are encouraged to contact the VSOP news editors so that an indication of the number of papers can be obtained. Papers will be submitted to PASJ in the regular manner and subjected to their normal refereeing procedures (for details, see http://www.asj.or.jp/pasj/en/index-E.html). We tentatively suggest 12th February 2005 as a deadline for the submission of papers to PASJ, which should allow for the papers to be published in the second half of next year.

VSOP TEAM

Richard Dodson was farewelled by the VSOP team at the end of last month after almost two years as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) fellow. As a result of his concerted efforts on VSOP Survey Program data reduction, Richard can now claim to have reduced more VSOP observations than anyone else! Richard also contributed to the VSOP data archive, and VSOP-2 planning, as well as furthering his interests in eVLBI, pulsar, and maser studies. During his time at ISAS Richard found novel ways to recycle coffee cans, and demonstrated the hazards of warming chestnuts in a microwave oven! Richard's farewell party ended, appropriately, at a karaoke bar with Richard belting out Frank Sinatra's "My Way".

VSOP-2 PRESENTATIONS

VSOP-2 was described in presentations at the 7th European VLBI Meeting, held Oct. 12-15 at Toledo, Spain (http://www.oan.es/evn2004/). Presentations on VSOP-2 related topics were also given at the third e-VLBI workshop held in Japan Oct. 6 & 7 (http://www2.nict.go.jp/ka/radioastro/evlbi2004/index.html). The main topic of the meeting was the rapid progress made with real-time and near-real-time VLBI over the last year, and of the importance of these advances for geodetic and spacecraft tracking applications, as well as time- critical science. To emphasize the importance to the geodetic community, after the conference dinner the LOC arranged for an "e-quake", 5.7 on the Richter scale, with its epicenter 100 km north of the conference venue! (Little damage was caused by that tremor, in contrast to the strong quake and aftershocks experienced this past week in Niigata prefecture, where the rescue of a two year old boy four days after the mini-van he was in was caught in a landslide has been a welcome heartwarming story amongst the destruction and hardship the quakes have caused.)

                Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi