INTEGRAL Latest News
Update of ISOC Newsletter 22 05 February 2010 The ISOC Newsletter 22 has been updated to correct some editorial mistakes, e.g., an obsolete date for the release of the AO-8 call. The updated version is available here and from the ISOC Newsletter archive. 
A TOO quickly planned! 15 January 2010 After a prompt reply from ISOC following the TOO alert, observations of the blazar PKS 1510-089 (PI Dr. E. Pian) will start this Sunday, 17th of January at 14h15 (UTC), for a first set of 200 ksec. Depending on the evolution of the source, further observations might be performed in the next revolutions, up to a total remaining time of 400 ksec.
8th INTEGRAL Workshop “The Restless Gamma-ray Universe” 22 December 2009 The 8th INTEGRAL workshop “The Restless Gamma-ray Universe” will take place in Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland from 27 to 30 September 2010. The main goal of this workshop is to present and to discuss (via invited and contributed talks and posters) latest results obtained in the field of high energy astrophysics using the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory INTEGRAL, as well as results from related observations from other ground- and space-based high energy observatories. The first circular has been circulated early December.
Communications with ISOC
10 December 2009 The scientific community is reminded that concerning (e-mail) communication with the ISOC and/or the Project Scientist on all aspects of INTEGRAL science operations, including,e.g. - Scientific news worth to consider a TOO observation
- Issues related to AO: proposals, TAC evaluation
- Observation status, technical details of observations (modes, dither pattern)
- Schedule
etc
These messages will only be answered (by ISOC staff or by Project Scientist) if the communication interface used is the “helpdesk”. ( inthelp@sciops.esa.int )
E-mail communications on all issues concerning INTEGRAL Science operations which have been sent to any other user-id, like <name>@rssd.esa.int, or <name>@esa.int will and cannot be answered anymore.
In summary, please use inthelp@sciops.esa.int only
Feedback to INTEGRAL User's Group (IUG)
02 December 2009 Dear users of INTEGRAL,
on 10/11 December, the INTEGRAL User's Group (IUG) will hold its next meeting at ESTEC.
Although after more than 7 years of operations for many of you working with INTEGRAL might be routine, nothing is perfect and the IUG would like to hear from YOU what you think could be improved such that INTEGRAL can serve you even better. We therefore invite you to communicate to us any comments, grievances, (or even praise ;-) ), that you might have, such as the AO process, INTEGRAL operations, data analysis, calibration, the helpdesk, or anything else related to your work with INTEGRAL such that they can be discussed at the IUG meeting.
More details here.
ISOC Webserver maintenance
24 November 2009 Due to necessary hardware replacement, the ISOC Webserver will not be available on Thursday 26 November from 14:00 to 17:00 GMT approximately. This affects, among others, the INTEGRAL Observation Tools and the Integral Scheduling services, including the ToO Alert page. To notify ISOC of a possible TOO during this brief period, please just send a mail to the INTEGRAL Help Desk , which will not be affected by this maintenance. We are sorry for any inconvenience this activity may cause.
AO7 Programme subscription target allocations
27 October 2009 ISOC has prepared the final list of sources approved by the AO7 TAC from the Data Rights proposals to the accepted Open Time proposals. The list, ordered by right ascension as well as by principal investigator, can be found on the Target Lists page for AO-7. There you will also find links to the approved target pointings for AO7 as well as descriptions of the associated Open Time proposals.
AO7
16 October 2009 AO7 officially began today on Oct. 16 during revolution 856 (but AO7 observation of NGC 2110 and then the Mkn 509 observations coordinated with XMM-Newton were already started in 854 and 855). In revolution 856, both monitors of JEM-X will be operating, with a very low telemetry for JEM-X1 (put in a safe/dormant mode) to prepare the final switch from JEM-X1 to JEM-X2: from revolution 856 onwards, JEM-X2 will be the main instrument. Besides, the 14th SPI annealing is planned to last for 6 revolutions and will be done during revolutions 857 until 862. During that time, the SPI instrument will not deliver science data (except during revolution 862). Finally, for more information on the AO7 target fields as well as the accepted sources within the fields, we refer to the approved AO7 target lists and short and long-term planning usual webpages. 
Winners of the INTEGRAL competition 08 October 2009 An INTEGRAL competition was run as part of the 'International Year of Astronomy, 100 Hours of Astronomy' cornerstone project, in which people around the world were given access to leading astronomical observatories. To celebrate this International Year of Astronomy, ESA organised a competition in which students were presented with data from INTEGRAL and asked to study the Galactic bulge, one of the most active regions at the heart of our Galaxy. Entrants were required to perform research tasks using data of variable X-ray sources. The tasks included interpreting the data, searching for evidence of variability and then writing a report on their research. The competition entries were judged by an expert panel comprising ESA scientists. Students from India and South Africa have been selected as the winners of the 'Be an INTEGRAL astronomer' competition. For more details, click here.
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