Happy New Year!
Herschel at the 2007 Seattle AAS Meeting

Happy New Year!

The staff of the NASA Herschel Science Center extends best wishes for a happy and productive 2007 to all. This will be a big year for the Herschel Project, with the first call for proposals to be issued and flight hardware coming together. Before we know it, Herschel will be in orbit and taking data. We at the NHSC look forward to supporting you in preparing for Herschel observations, and later in working with those data.

Herschel at the 2007 Winter AAS Meeting in Seattle

This is a brief reminder that the NHSC is hosting a splinter session at the AAS meeting in Seattle -- Herschel: The Coming of Observing Opportunities, Monday, January 8, 2007, 7:00 pm. The agenda features a summary of Herschel capabilities and status.

Agenda Outline --

Welcome and Intro: William Latter; 5 min
Herschel Overview, Status, Observing Opportunities: Göran Pilbratt; 25 min
NHSC and Herschel Observer Support: William Latter; 15 min
SPIRE description and status: Bernhard Schulz; 10 min
PACS description and status: Phil Appleton; 10 min
HIFI description and status: Pat Morris; 10 min
Funding availability for US-based scientists: George Helou; 10 min
Q and A, free form discussions

We are pleased that the Herschel Project Scientist, Göran Pilbratt, will be present and be available for questions and discussions, as will several members of the NHSC and the Herschel community. All are welcome! Please consult the AAS meeting schedule for location and any schedule changes.

The NHSC will also be resident at our booth during the AAS meeting. Please stop by to speak with key NHSC members. We will have on hand current status and information, and provide demonstrations of HSpot, the Herschel Observation Planning and Proposal Submission Tool. In addition we will have on hand a 1/4 scale model of the Herschel Space Observatory.

AAS meetings provide an important opportunity to meet with the NHSC. The 2007 Seattle meeting is the last before release of the Herschel Key Program Announcement of Opportunity. We hope you will take advantage of our Splinter Session and booth to help you become as prepared as possible for submission of proposals.