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Chandra      |             CC     XX XX    OO OO          | CXC
Electronic   |            CC       XXX    OO   OO         | Number 65
Bulletin     |             CC     XX XX    OO OO          | August
             |              CCC  XX   XX    OOO           | 2007
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Welcome to the Chandra X-ray Center's Electronic News Bulletin Number 65.

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.  Director's Discretionary Time Observation of Chandra Deep Field South 

2.  Chandra Cycle 9 Education and Public Outreach Call for Proposals

3.  CIAO 4.0 Beta 2 Release 

4.  Chandra Calibration Workshop

5.  Chandra Director's Office  IT Specialist Job

6.  National Virtual Observatory (NVO) Jobs
 
7.  Chandra Data Archive Job
 
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Item 1.  Director's Discretionary Time Observation of Chandra Deep Field South 

==============================================================================


We have decided to carry out a 1Ms Director's Discretionary Time (DDT) 
observation to extend the exposure on the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS) from 
~1Ms to ~2Ms. The 1Ms of DDT will be drawn from unused Cycle 7 and 8 DDT. 
Preliminary scheduling plans would initiate the observations in mid-September 
of this year with possible completion of the observations over a 2-3 month 
period.

The rationale for extending the exposure depth on CDFS rather than CDFN (which 
already has an exposure of ~2Ms) is based in large part on the location of ALMA
and several other present and future large ground-based telescopes in the 
Southern Hemisphere. Extension of the CDFS exposure to 2Ms should produce 
important new science while facilitating an ultimate objective of achieving 
4-5Ms exposure for this field (or possibly even deeper if warranted by future
findings). At this time it is not our intention to use further DDT to extend 
the field deeper than 2Ms. We anticipate that requests to extend the exposure
beyond 2Ms will be addressed through Peer Reviews of future proposals for 
Large or Very Large projects.

In a few weeks we will release a Letter calling for proposals from the
community to reduce and analyze the CDFS data beyond the standard 
Chandra pipeline processing, with the analysis and interpretation expected to
target specific scientific research goals. These proposals are likely to be 
due around November 1 of this year. They would be similar to Archival Research 
proposals in that they would propose a science investigation along with a 
funding request and brief justification. There is no proprietary time, no 
funding pre-allocated to any individual or group,, nor any Principal
Investigator associated with this DDT program. The data will become public
immediately after they are processed, v&v'd, and archived. We anticipate that
initial funding provided via this Call will be available in December 2007.

Harvey Tananbaum, Martin Weisskopf, and Belinda Wilkes


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Item 2.  Chandra Cycle 9 Education and Public Outreach Call for Proposals
=========================================================================


The CfP for the Chandra Cycle 9 Education and
Public Outreach proposal opportunity has been
released. All successful Cycle 9 US-based PI's 
are eligible to apply. We strongly encourage
your participation in this effort to engage
students and the general public with the 
results of your Chandra science research.
The EPO proposer page may be accessed directly at 
http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/proposals/
or from the CXC proposer page. Proposals are
due November 2, 2007. Even if you have successfully
proposed in the past, please read the CfP and the NASA
guidelines carefully. There have been changes to the
criteria which are described in those documents.
Questions should be directed to the CXC EPO Coordinator, 
Kathy Lestition, at 617-495-7399, klestition@cfa.harvard.edu


Kathleen Lestition                      
Education & Outreach Coordinator       


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Item 3.  CIAO 4.0 Beta 2 Release 
================================


The Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) is pleased to announce that version
4.0 Beta 2 of CIAO ("Chandra Interactive Analysis of Observations") is
now available for download from:
http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciaobeta/download/

[Note the new URL for the Beta software website.]

          -----------------------------------

CIAO 4.0 Beta 2 is the second of a 3 step beta release of the full CIAO 
4.0 which is planned for Winter 2007. CIAO 4.0 Beta 2 includes CIAO 4.0 
Beta 1. Note that CIAO 4.0 Beta 2 does *not* include Sherpa.

CIAO 3.4 is still available for download and supported as the stable
CIAO release. This is the version to use if Sherpa is needed.

The "About CIAO 4.0 Beta" page has more information:
http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciaobeta/beta.html

          -----------------------------------

CIAO 4.0 Beta 2 includes a new, GNU-compliant, substantially more
powerful version of ChIPS - the CIAO plotting package.  Also new is
CRATES, a software package which provides a high level I/O interface for
use within various scripting environments. CIAO applications (i.e. ChIPS
and Sherpa) use CRATES to read input data for use in plotting and
fitting and to write output data files.

For the first time we are offering *Python* in CIAO along with the
veteran *S-Lang* as a user scripting environment.
A new set of web pages dedicated to ChIPS
http://cxc.harvard.edu/chipsbeta/
provide initial documentation and a gallery of examples.

Several tool updates are also included in this release.

Read the complete release notes, including the section "How CIAO 4.0
Beta 2 Affect Your Analysis":
http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciaobeta/releasenotes/ciao_4.0beta2_release.html

                     ---------------------------------

CIAO 4.0 Beta 2 is fully GPL compliant.  OTS (off-the-shelf) software
have been updated to current versions.  A new test script ("smoke test")
is included to aid users in verifying installation of the release.

CIAO 4.0 Beta 2 is distributed for the following platforms:

     * Solaris 8
     * Linux Redhat 8.0
     * Fedora Core 4
     * Mac OS X PowerPC 10.4
     * Mac OS X Intel 10.4

This release will not work on older versions of Mac OS X.
More details at http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciaobeta/download/platforms.html

                    -----------------------------------

As always please send questions and requests for enhancements to the CXC
HELPDESK (http://cxc.harvard.edu/helpdesk/).

CIAO 4.0 Beta 2 is a collaborative effort between the SAO/CXC Science
Data Systems, the SAO/CXC Data Systems, and MIT/CXC personnel.

Antonella Fruscione (for the CIAO development team)
              

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Item 4.  Chandra Calibration Workshop
=====================================

25 Oct 2007, Huntsville, AL

The Chandra Calibration Workshop (CCW) will be held at the conclusion
of the 8 Years of Chandra Symposium.  Calibration related posters will
be displayed all through during the Symposium, and talks will be presented
in an afternoon session on Thursday, October 25.  For registration and
abstract submission instructions, please see
	http://cxc.harvard.edu/ccw/
or contact ccw at head.cfa.harvard.edu


Vinay Kashyap


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Item 5.  Chandra Director's Office  IT Specialist Job
=====================================================


The Chandra Director's Office has an opening for an IT Specialist (SAO 
Job#27-37). The work primarily involves interacting with and supporting 
Chandra Observers and Proposers as they prepare their proposals, plan 
observations and obtain and analyse their data. Support is provided via email, 
web-pages and  personal interactions. It also includes supporting and 
attending
meetings, conferences and workshops, for example the AAS and the Chandra Peer 
Review. We are looking for applicants with an interest in astronomy, a BS/MS 
in Physics/Astronomy, scripting/programming experience. Research and/or 
teaching experience is a plus. 

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/hr/postings/27-37.html


Belinda Wilkes
Assistant Director
Chandra X-ray Center (CXC)



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Item 6.  National Virtual Observatory (NVO) Jobs  
================================================

There are openings for two IT Specialists (Applications Software) in
the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory. Java skills are required. The employees will be assigned
to the National Virtual Observatory (NVO) project and will be part of
a team working to design, develop and implement Virtual Observatory
(VO) software, with emphasis on Data Model projects. 

For more information on this job posting and how to apply, please
visit the SAO Employment Opportunities page, posting #27-31
(http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/hr/postings/27-31.html).


Jonathan McDowell and Arnold H. Rots   



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Item 7.  Chandra Data Archive Job 
=================================


The Chandra Data Archive has an opening for an Information Technology 
Specialist (Archive Operations Specialist) in the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) 
Data System Operations Group of the High Energy Astrophysics Division, 
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO).  The CXC's primary mission is to 
foster excellent scientific research by providing services to Chandra users 
and archive researchers.  In effect, the CXC provides a bridge between the 
general scientific community and the Chandra Observatory.  The primary purpose 
of the position is to provide computer and software support in the acquisition 
and dissemination of data from X-ray satellites and the archiving of this data.

For more information on this job posting and how to apply, please visit the 
SAO Employment Opportunities page, posting #27-39 
(http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/hr/postings/27-39.html).

Sherry Winkelman
Chandra Archive 



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