Arecibo Asteroid Dynamics Workshop

February 2-4, 2004

Here is the Workshop Picture! Thanks to all the participants for making this such a successful workshop.

For those of you who have not yet sent an abstract, you get a stern look. Please send it as soon as possible.

Contents

   General Meeting Information

   Important Dates

   Scientific Program

   Arrival Information

   Please Send Your Travel Schedule

   Indication of Interest

   Call for Abstracts

   Contact Information

   Financial Assistance

   Outside Activities

   Meeting Logistics

 

General Meeting Information

Meeting Topic

Over the last several years, it has become clear that asteroid orbital and rotational dynamics are complicated by effects, particularly Yarkovsky/YORP, which introduce spin-orbit couplings, and which depend on the internal structure of the asteroids. These details may be responsible for many of the unsolved problems of ten years ago.

 

The time seems ripe for a workshop to discuss asteroid dynamics in light of recent advances, to allow more detailed presentations and discussion than is usually possible in a larger meeting.

 

The workshop will be held at the Arecibo Observatory, the world's largest radio telescope and planetary radar system. The observatory is located in rather striking karst terrain, 11 km from the north coast of Puerto Rico. We expect the meeting to last 2.5 days, as we are assured that everybody will leave early the last day if we make it three days. But we hope you will consider staying and exploring our tropical paradise - after all, it's February back home. The size of the workshop is limited to about 40 people by the meeting facilities on site at the Observatory.

 

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Important Dates

Abstract Deadline: Monday, 2003 Dec 8, 12:00 UTC.

 

Scientific Program

The itemized program is

here in PDF format or here in postscript file.

The abstracts are here in PDF format or here in postscript file.

Note that the PDF file has some translation problems, but not to worry, the postscript version will be printed and that is what matters. Yes, the page numbers are messed up. I'm fixing that.

The summary is:

Sunday:
Wine and Snack reception (in the library) from ~5 to ~ 9 PM.
Dinner is available in the cafeteria, but only until ~4PM on weekends.

Monday:
Morning sessions
Sandwich bar for lunch
Afternoon sessions
Dinner in the Cafeteria
Rum tasting in the Gazebo sponsored by the Esperanza Society for the Arts.

Tuesday:
Morning: Observatory tours, possibly sessions.
Sandwich bar for lunch (again).
Afternoon Sessions
Evening:
"Banquet" (Danny's porch)

Wednesday:
Sessions in the morning.
Lunch at the cafeteria.
Remaining rum, if any, to be consumed by those who don't have to catch a flight out.

Please Send Your Travel Plans

To help plan airport transportation, please send your arrival and departure times. Also, please let us know if you will be coming straight to the Observatory or not. I know many of you already have sent this, but for completeness, please send it again. We don't want anyone to be stranded at the airport! There is a preliminary airport pickup schedule posted. Please check to see if you are on it correctly. We'll update it as we hear from you.

Arrival Information

NOTE: Print this! Don't do what I always do - get into the rental car and realize the directions and information is still sitting on the web.

When you arrive at the Observatory, give your name to the guard at the main gate. He will give you a name badge, which you should try to keep track of, since it is your visitors' ID while you are here. The guard will give you your room key, and tell you how to get there.

Some of the rooms are outside the gate a very short distance (a shuttle van will be available at reasonable times, and you can probably hitch a ride if you don't want to walk or drive). Other rooms are inside the gate. If you arrive Sunday afternoon / evening, proceed along the road towards the telescope, past the first and second parking areas to the flagpoles. There will be signs pointing to the Library (in the northeast corner of the building). We will have food and drinks at the reception. If you arrive early and want dinner, the cafeteria is open until 4:30pm on Sunday. In emergencies, there are snacks and sodas available in the telescope control room 24hr/day.

The workshop itself will be held in the "Learning Center", adjacent to the Visitor's Center. This venue is located up a fairly steep hill to your left as you drive in. Again, a shuttle will be available at reasonable times. The guards at the gate are available at all times, and can solve most problems.

Registration/Interest - Sign up on email list

TODAY, Saturday April 09, 2016 - Please fill out the registration/interest form and include your presentation topic if possible. You will be kept on our email list for further information on this workshop.

Registration/Interest Form

 

Abstract Deadline: Monday, 2003 Dec 8, 12:00 UTC.

 

Funding Request Deadline: Monday, 2003 Dec 8, 12:00 UTC.

 

Meeting Dates: Monday 2004 Feb. 2 through Wednesday 2004 Feb. 4

 

Reception and Registration: Sunday evening 2004 Feb. 1

 

 

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Contact Information

Scientific Organizing Committee

Scientific Organizing Committee:

            Mike Nolan (Chair),

            Alan Harris,

            Bill Bottke,

            Dan Durda,

            David Vokrouhlicky,

            Donald Campbell,

            Ellen Howell,

 

Local Organizing Committee:

            Ellen Howell Chair

            Mike Nolan

            Others (TBD)

 

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Call for Abstracts

Please send abstracts on or before December 8, 2003 12:00 UTC. Send abstracts by email to Ellen Howell. Try to keep them to one page or less, and send either an ascii text file, postscript, or PDF. Send Microsoft Word Files at your own risk: it may not come out the way you intended. Also, let us know if you want a poster - there will probably be time enough for oral talks, but we can also have poster space if desired.

Meeting Format

The meeting room will accommodate about 40 people, and there is space for about 30 people on site if they are willing to share rooms. If not, there is a modest hotel about 25 minutes drive from the observatory.

Make your room reservations ASAP. Send email with your arrival and departure dates to Edith Alvarez. Room space is limited, so please reserve early. Some other options are listed below, but note that you must rent a car if you stay outside the observatory site. Distances are deceiving: it takes a long time to get from the observatory to anywhere, even if it looks close on the map!

 

We expect to have moderate-length (20-minute) presentations for all who want them, with time each day reserved for discussion. As we are essentially captive at the observatory, discussions can continue into the evening. Suggestions for invited talks are welcome.

 

Financial Assistance

 

We have some funds available for travel assistance, for students and those without any travel funds available. Let us know if you are in need of travel funding.

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Outside Activities

There will be no wine tour, as there is no wine to tour, but a rum tasting has been sponsored by the Esperanza Society for the Arts!

A SCUBA diving and / or caving trip could be arranged.

General advice is here

 

 

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Meeting Site Logistics
General Costs Transportation Lodging Meals	General Puerto Rico is, for most useful purposes (money, visas, mail, telephone, etc.) a part of the USA. You must use the area code (787) for all local calls within Puerto Rico. The observatory postal address is: Arecibo Observatory / Cornell University HC3 Box 53995 Arecibo PR 00612 USA or, for package delivery services: Arecibo Observatory / Cornell University End of road 625 Arecibo PR 00612 USA Tel: +1 787 878 2612 Fax: +1 787 878 1861 Note: You may not use your cellular telephone at the Observatory. For one thing, it probably won't work; but in any case, cellular telephones are VERBOTEN at the most sensitive radio telescope in the world. For us, it's easiest if you use a phone card. There are telephones in the rooms that can dial local Arecibo numbers and toll-free numbers.. Note: There will be no formal tours of the telescope platform, though interested parties can probably be accommodated on informal tours at some point. Ask if interested and not acrophobic. Visiting the transmitter and feed enclosure requires modest physical fitness. The Visitors center and gift shop will be open on Wednesday starting at 10:00 AM, in case you want to buy any observatory trinkets. Participants are welcome to use all of the observatory facilities. A common activity is to jog around the dish (almost exactly 1 km), as it is pretty much the only flat area available..
	Costs Registration: There will be a registration fee of USD150, which includes Coffee breaks, Lunches and Dinners during the workshop. We can accept checks (payable to Cornell University), Visa/MasterCard (hopefully American Express), or cash. There is an ATM machine immediately outside the gate that usually works (unless it's raining). If spouses want to attend meals, we can charge them the price of the meals (probably $35-$50 total). If the "meeting snacks" are not to your taste, breakfast is available in the cafeteria. We will do our best to have coffee continuously available. Note: it may look like the Decaf pot, but it's not. We don't do Decaf.
	Transportation The observatory is a 1.5-hour drive from the San Juan International airport during traffic-free conditions (these are rare). San Juan has several flights a day to most major hub airports in the continental US. There are flights from San Juan to the states at about 6 PM, which would require leaving the meeting site by about 2 PM.   We can provide airport transportation in many cases. The other alternatives are to rent a car or to take a Taxi. The latter should be about $80-$110 per taxi each way. Bear in mind that you will be stuck on site unless you rent a car. There are likely to be telescope users on site as well, which may reduce the number of available rooms somewhat.   All major car rental companies operate out of San Juan. Driving directions and a local map are available. Hertz also has an office in Arecibo, about 1/2 hour drive from the observatory. The traffic in Cairo is decidedly worse than in Puerto Rico, but after living here, I find driving in Boston dead easy, and driving in Los Angeles absolutely impossible.
	Lodging The observatory has 23 rooms on site, most of them with two single beds. These rooms are essentially first-come first-served. Rates and policies are on the observatory web page. We will organize room sharing as the need arises. Please reserve as early as possible, as space is very limited. Internet: All observatory rooms have 100-baseT ports with DHCP, or we can provide you with an IP address. Most rooms have a PC running Linux or Windows in them as well. We can get you an observatory Unix account upon request. We don't have wireless Internet, which happens to be at a frequency very close to that of the Arecibo 1-MW Planetary Radar transmitter. The telephones in the rooms can only dial local Arecibo number and toll-free numbers. If you need to make other non-emergency calls, please use a phone card, and make sure it will work in Puerto Rico. Other area hotels (in order of closest proximity): Parador El Buen Cafe, Hatillo (787-898-1000) is about 25 minutes away. It is not very large. Parador El Guajataca, Quebradillas (787-895-3070) is on the beach, about 45 minutes away. It sometimes has nightlife. Parador Vistamar, Quebradillas (787-895-2065), about 45 minutes away Costa Dorada Beach Resort, Isabella (787-872-7255), about an hour away.   A new hotel is being built about 35 minutes away, and may be ready in time for the meeting. For information about other hotels and activities: http://www.prtourism.com/
	Meals Because of the sparsity of nearby facilities, we expect to provide most meals during the workshop as part of the registration fee. Anyone with dietary restrictions other than "vegetarian" should let us know well in advance so that we can accommodate these. One of the dinners will be designated as the banquet. We also expect to have an evening registration before the meeting.
	Presentation information Please aim your presentation to be 15 minutes of speaking. We will have two screens. We will have a PC with PowerPoint, web browsers, CD reader, USB reader, 1.44 in floppy and an internet connection, hooked to a projector. If you need anything else, let us know. We will have a switch so that your laptop can also be connected. We will have two overhead projectors. We will have coffee. Microsoft Moments come out of the speaker's time unless the presentation is on our PC, or unless you stimulate an interesting discussion. Let us know if you need a slide projector or VHS video.

 

 

 

Last revised: Thursday February 24, 2005