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Chandra      |             CC     XX XX    OO OO          | CXC
Electronic   |            CC       XXX    OO   OO         | Number 87
Bulletin     |             CC     XX XX    OO OO          | August
             |              CCC  XX   XX    OOO           | 2009
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Welcome to the Chandra X-ray Center's Electronic News Bulletin Number 87.

CXC Web site: cxc.harvard.edu

If you would like to unsubscribe from this alias, simply reply to this message
to let us know.  

Please use this website to update your address or email: 
          http://cxc.harvard.edu/cdo/udb/userdat.html

Contents:

1.  CXC Science Website

2.  Chandra's First Decade of Discovery

3.  Change in ACIS Default Upper Energy Cutoff for AO11

 
 
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Item 1.  CXC Science Website  
============================


The CXC Science Website is undergoing a re-design. The first stage of this, 
including a new design for the top web page and removal of old/obsolete links 
through the whole site, has just been released. Please let us know if you find 
any problems with this updated website and/or have comments or suggestions on 
ease of navigation, design etc.. Email should be sent to the CXC helpdesk.

Belinda Wilkes
CXC Assistant Director


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Item 2.  Chandra's First Decade of Discovery
============================================


The schedule for Chandra's First Decade of Discovery symposium 
is now posted. See:
http://cxc.harvard.edu/symposium_2009/



***POSTER PRESENTATION DEADLINE - FRIDAY 21 AUGUST.
The deadline for abstracts for poster presentations is this Friday 21 August 2009.


***TRAVEL AND LODGING DEADLINE - FRIDAY 21 AUGUST.

A block of rooms has been reserved for attendees of Chandra's First
Decade of Discovery and the Chandra Calibration Review at the Seaport
Hotel, which is adjacent to the World Trade Center. The room rate is
$249/night for a standard room (single or double occupancy) plus 12.45%
hotel taxes and a Hotel Inclusive Charge of $3 per room per night. For
more than two guests in a room, there will be a $25 charge per person
per night.  This rate is valid until 21 August.

URGENT!  Make your lodging reservation for Chandra's First Decade of Discovery 
symposium at the group rate by August 21.  As of now, with the exception of 
our guest room block, the hotel is sold out; an extension does not look 
promising.  Hotels in Boston are highly oversubscribed the week of Chandra's 
First Decade of Discovery symposium.  Competing for space are the Berklee 
Beantown Jazz Festival that has drawn upwards of 70,000 people over a 9-day 
period as well as a software development group with 972 expected attendees and 
the Natural Products Expo East of 20,000 attendees.


See
http://cxc.harvard.edu/symposium_2009/travel.html


** REGISTRATION
Registration is open at
http://cxc.harvard.edu/symposium_2009/registration.html.
Registration fees are $475 ($300 for students, $225 for guests)
on or before 4-September and $600 thereafter. There will be a $100
processing fee for all cancellations on or before 21-August, with no
refunds thereafter.

General and student registration includes two receptions, four
breakfasts, three lunches, and two breaks per day, plus a lunchtime
cruise aboard the Spirit of Boston. A guest registration fee includes
both receptions, all breakfasts and lunches, and one cruise ticket;
attendance at the talks and the breaks is not included.


** CHANDRA CALIBRATION REVIEW

The Chandra Calibration Review will occur 21-September,  the day before
Chandra's First Decade of Discovery, also at the Seaport Boston. The
purpose of the Calibration Review is to share the
Chandra calibration teams' knowledge of the detectors and mirrors with
the community, while encouraging participation and feedback in the
process of calibrating the Observatory.
While there is no registration fee for this review, attendees must
register. Visit the CCR web site at http://cxc.harvard.edu/ccr/ for more
information and to register. Abstracts for the CCR may be submitted at
http://cxc.harvard.edu/ccr/present/abstract.html



** SYMPOSIUM WEB SITE

The most current information on the Symposium can be found on the web
site
http://cxc.harvard.edu/symposium_2009/index.html.
In particular, news and announcements will be posted at
http://cxc.harvard.edu/symposium_2009/announce.html.

Scott Wolk, Doug Swartz and Antonella Fruscione


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Item 3. Change in ACIS Default Upper Energy Cutoff for AO11 
===========================================================

 
Starting with AO11 targets, if GOs do not specify an energy filter for
ACIS observations, the upper energy cutoff will be set to 13.0 keV.  It
had previously been set to 15.0 keV.  This does not affect observations for 
which the GO has specified an energy filter.  The energy filter for ACIS is
specified in the OBSCAT by specifying three parameters, "Event Filter", 
"Lower", and "Range".  Before AO11, if no energy filter had been specified,
the parameter "Lower" was set to 0.1 keV and the parameter "Range" was set to
15.0 kev.  For AO11 and the future, "Lower" will be set to 0.1 keV and 
"Range" will be set to 13.0 keV.  If any AO10 targets have a configuration
change in their ACIS parameters and do not specify an energy filter, the new 
rules will apply.  If a GO would like to match the configuration of an earlier
observation which did not use an energy filter, the GO can achieve the 
identical
configuration by setting "Event Filter = Y", "Lower = 0.1 keV", and "Range = 
15.0 keV".  However, the GO should carefully evaluate the total count rate for 
their observation to make sure that the rate will not exceed the telemetry 
saturation limit for their selected ACIS mode (Very Faint, Faint, or Graded). 
If GOs have any questions, they are encouraged to contact their Uplink Support 
scientist.


Paul P. Plucinsky     



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