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ASC Documents

Fred Seward asked if there were any comments on the three ASC documents sent to the Committee for review last year, and also for suggestions on how this process might be made to work more efficiently. There are more documents to be prepared this September and the ASC would really like to get comments and opinions from the Committee. It was decided that the ASC would identify the sections or topics that are most likely to benefit from this review. This list will be sent to the Committee, and then we will arrange for each topic to be read by the member(s) most knowledgeable. The work will be divided and specific responsibilities will be assigned in this process. New developments should be highlighted for the Committee.

Steve Kahn noted that the data system will not be as structured as implied in the documents. All data systems evolve and so will the ASC's. He was also concerned about the emphasis on top-level calibration accuracy (1%) in the ASC Science Plan. He pointed out that the important things are to measure fundamental instrument parameters and to understand where possible uncertainties fall. He is concerned that the ASC (and the AXAF team) may be overemphasizing specific calibration tasks and not giving sufficient attention to others. Problems with Einstein, EXOSAT, and EUVE calibrations and subsequent observations were mentioned, and it was suggested that there should be a presentation on the EUVE calibration to the ASC.

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dmw@cfa.harvard.edu