[asapmembers] Arecibo Science Advocacy Partnership: January 2014 Member Newsletter & Proposal Opportunity

[secretary at areciboscience.org]

Dear ASAP Member,
	Last year finished with a worrying bang.  Only a day after our  
December 2013
Newsletter was sent to you, the NSF Astronomy Division published a  
"Dear Colleague"
letter outlining various "options" for "divestment" that included both  
NRAO's Robert Byrd
Telescope (GBT) at Green Bank and "on a somewhat longer timescale"  
Arecibo (at the
end of the current Cooperative Agreement in 2016) as well as a number  
of other facilities.
	Clearly, from an NSF perspective under the current government  
disfunction, facilities
funding has reached a crisis point.  The ASAP Board has met to  
consider responses to
this latest circumstance, and we will keep you informed about what  
further we are taking
in subsequent newsletters.

	More immediately, we are writing to encourage you to prepare science  
proposals
for the March 1, 2014 Arecibo deadline.  We have realized that many  
people do not know
that the proposal pressure on AO has somewhat decreased recently—owing  
largely to
completion of several of the surveys that have often dominated the  
scheduling.  Time is
thus available in all three science areas that the Observatory  
supports, aeronomy, radio
astronomy and planetary astronomy.  Please also share this information  
with colleagues
who may not know about this opportunity.

	Furthermore, the ASAP Board has decided to offer assistance as  
possible to new
(or returning) users in the preparation of their proposals.  This ASAP  
community help is
not intended to replace the specific expertise of the NAIC staff, but  
rather to supplement
it given their more than full responsibilities.  Therefore, if you  
would like to have help or
advice in the runup to submitting on March 1, please consult the  
"Mentoring" tab on the
ASAP website or email secretary at areciboscience.org for referral to an  
appropriate
person in your science area.  Moreover, we are hoping that a number of  
ASAP members
will volunteer to share their expertise as well.  So, if you are a  
current AO user and would
be willing to give some assistance to a new AO user, please also send  
a message to the
secretary above.

	Additionally, we were sorry to learn that NAIC Directory Bob Kerr has  
been taken ill
and will be away from Arecibo until at least the end of January.  We  
wish him a speedy
and full recovery.
	Also, several minor and one moderate (M 6.4) earthquake have struck  
AO in the last
two weeks (e.g., USGS report on one) with deep (~50-km) epicenters in  
the Puertorican
Trench north of the island.  The January 13th quake was sufficiently  
severe to have
caused some damage at the Observatory, and Astronomy Directory  
Fernando Camilo
sent a message to users indicating that the Observatory would be  
closed to both users
and visitors until the extent of the damage could be determined.   
Consulting engineers
from Ammann & Whitney in New York were called and assisted the staff  
in inspecting
the telescope over the last weekend.  It seems that the damage is  
confined to perhaps
8 broken strands in one of the main cables from Tower 8 to the  
triangle.  The cable in
question is the "short" cable that was spliced in 1962 because it was  
delivered short
the foundry.  It then seems that the structure is now judged to be  
stable, but the safety
factor remains too low to permit any telescope motion.  We hear that  
Platform Engineer
Filipe Soberal has designed a reinforcement for the cable and that the  
repairs will begin
immediately.

	Finally, ASAP membership has taken a significant jump following the  
50th Anniversary
Celebration and Symposium.  However, it is still far below the 250-300  
needed to help
protect the Observatory over the coming few years.  So, if you care  
about Arecibo, please
help find and recruit new ASAP members.  Graduate students (or even  
undergraduates
actively involved in AO work) members are welcome, and at this point  
financial support is
less important than growing ASAP numbers.  If every current member  
brought in just one
new ASAP member, the above goal would be met.
	The Membership Brochure is available for download.  Please then help  
us build the
ASAP membership!  Please send this letter to your friends and  
associates and tell them
about the ASAP website: http://areciboscience.org/.
     Please also write the Board with your suggestions and comments.   
The Board is very
eager to have your suggestions both on how best to protect AO as well  
as on the structure
and goals of the new ASAP!

             With sincere thanks and regards,
                  The ASAP Board













-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://areciboscience.org/pipermail/asapmembers_areciboscience.org/attachments/20140123/ea442aeb/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ASAP_banner.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 47196 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://areciboscience.org/pipermail/asapmembers_areciboscience.org/attachments/20140123/ea442aeb/attachment.jpg>