TF PDPP Business Meeting, Thursday August 17 (Chair: E. Griffin)
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In its 3-hour meeting the PDPP Task Force first received reports on
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(a) digitizing plates from the USNO plate archive of Natural Satellite
observations,
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(b) calibration tests of the USNO StarScan instrument and commercial scanners,
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(c) digitizing the Bordeaux Carte du Ciel plates and generating astrometric
catalogues and
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(d) the new Harvard rapid digitizer, including a video of the instrument in
operation.б
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The meeting was informed about the latest version of the TF's Newsletter,
SCAN-IT #4, now available at the PDPP Website
(http://www.lizardhollow.net/PDPP.htm).б
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It then accepted a proposed amalgamation with the "Astrographic Catalogue &
Carte due Ciel" WG of Commission 8, such that the PDPP absorbs new members who
are not already members of both groups.
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The rest of the meeting was given over to a proposal from the Chair for a
cooperative effort to digitize plates in Europe on a major scale.б The TF has
been encouraging efforts to digitize plates wherever feasible, and while there
have been a few noble individual programmes, continuity of funding has remained
a serious obstacle.б The TF is therefore proposing a comprehensive
collaboration involving as many European observatories as possible, offering
storage and scanning facilities at a central site and seeking funding from the
EU.б Such a scheme was planned in 2000 in Brussels, but a prototype rapid
scanner had first to be constructed to demonstrate proof-of-concept.б The
meeting agreed that the timing for a major collaboration is now appropriate,
and encouraging signals for the proposal were indicated by potential
participating observatories.
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Elizabeth Griffin (Chair)
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