... The Science Operation Department is composed of Astronomers, Telescope Instruments Operators(TIOs) and Data Handling Administrators(DHAs). ... Astronomers have proposed several methods to quantitatively measure the amount of turbulence above the telescope, which the most common ones is Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM). In optical testing, the Hartmann test is the common method to test the quality of optical components. ... Hartmann mask consists of 48 lenses. ...

VISTA Data Flow System: Status Jim Emerson*a, Mike Irwinb, Nigel Hamblyc b a Astronomy Unit, Queen Mary Universit y o f London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK Inst itute of Astronomy, Universit y of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK, c Inst itute for Astronomy, School of Phys ics, Universit y of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK ABSTRACT Data from two IR survey cameras UKIRT's WFCAM and ESO's VISTA can arrive at rates approaching 1.4 TB/night for of order 10 years. ...

... Space activity at the beginning of XXI-st Century view from inside G.M.Chernyavskiy STC for Earth Space monitoring of FSUE , Russia 1. The systemic approach in astronautics Everyone who has linked his life with astronautics and those who are interested in the future of the inhabitancy medium and its expansion up to cosmic scales, are troubled about the current state and development of space activity in the World and in the Native Land of the first artificial Earth satellite (AES). ...

... For reliable estimation of the accuracy of asteroid CCD observations we usually consider from ten or more various NUMBERED MINOR PLANETS (NMPs) observed during several nigths per month (more then 50 positions). ... They can be considered as an indicator of accuracy of the CCD positional observations with given MPC code. ... For any NUMBERED minor planet the (O-C) values must be zero if the errors of observations and the errors of its theory are absent. ...

... 322, L29 ± L36 (2001) The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey ± V. The 10k catalogue S. M. Croom,1w R. J. Smith,2 B. J. Boyle,1 T. Shanks,3 N. S. Loaring,4 L. Miller4 and I. J. Lewis1 1 2 3 4 Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH41 1LD Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE Department of Physics, Oxford University, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH Accepted 2001 March 7....

... Fifteen years ago, on February 20, 1986 the launching of the Core Block marked the beginning of the Mir Orbital Station construction. Currently the Mir Station consists of 6 modules. ... The Mir Station total mass is near 130 tons. ... For sinking unburned Mir Station fragments after reentering atmosphere a Southern Pacific Ocean area limited by the following point coordinates: 53 њ S, 175 њ W; 23 њ S, 175 њ W; 23 њ S, 132 њ W; 30 њ S, 127 њ W; 30 њ S, 90 њ W; 53 њ S, 90 њ W is choosen. ...

... The paper tracks basic evolution of the Soviet rocket and space industry after the 1946 and analyzes "genealogical trees" of the original enterprises (NII-88, NII-885, OKB-456, etc.) to reveal typical features of this evolution. ... The paper tracks basic evolution of the Soviet rocket and space industry after the 1946, when an original set of institutions was established. ... The study demonstrates, that the evolution of the Soviet rocket and space industry is more complicated, than usually...