天文新闻

TUCSON, Arizona - The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) has received the first year of a four-year, $14.2 million award with the National Science Foundation to design and develop a world-class, 8.4-meter telescope scheduled for completion in 2012.

This award will allow engineers and scientists to complete design work already underway so that the LSST can begin construction in 2009. This unique system for surveying the heavens is made possible by advances in several technologies including:

各位天文界的同仁：

LAMOST项目已经进入安装调试阶段，望远镜各系统即将开始装配，预计至2006年中，LAMOST的主镜和改正镜将开始装调，至2006年底其观测能力将至少相当于2米口径的望远镜，届时将配备一个小的焦面板（约200根光纤，视场约为1个平方度，光纤单元在焦面上均匀分布，每个单元可以独立运动对星），一台光谱仪，分红蓝两臂，采用VPHG光栅，光谱分辨率的模式如下：

总数据量超过12TB的SDSS DR4如期对外发布，测光数据涵盖6670平方度，1.8亿个源。光谱数据涵盖4681平方度，总共849920条光谱。

详情请见：SDSS DR4

SDSS负责人Kron博士 7月11日正式对外宣布在Sloan基金会、自然科学基金委（NSF）、能源部和成员单位的共同资助下，为期三年的SDSS II计划正式启动。SDSS II的三大重点工作是：
一、（LEGACY）完成SDSS的河外巡天，得到北天大约一百万星系和类星体的图像与距离；
二、（SEGUE）银河系的理解与探索，研究银河系的结构和恒星组成，银河系的形成与演化；
三、超新星研究；通过观测遥远的超新星研究宇宙的膨胀。

面对这巨大的挑战，我们LAMOST又该如何？加油啊，同志们！

SDSS II

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A NEW SURVEY - SDSS-II will Map the Universe, the Milky Way and Dark Energy

(JULY 11, 2005)
CONTACTS:

* Dr. Richard Kron, Director, The Sloan Digital Sky Survey II, only by email at rich@oddjob.uchicago.edu

Following the decision of the ESO Council, ESO Archive is now open. Data that are not subject to proprietary restrictions can be requested by users worldwide. Please visit the new ESO Archive Interface, intended to aid astronomers with no previous experience with ESO instruments with general queries. The familiar general and instrument-specific observations and Observation Schedule query forms remain available. (4 Apr. 2005).

Millennium Simulation - the largest ever model of the Universe

The Virgo consortium, an international group of astrophysicists from the UK, Germany, Japan, Canada and the USA has today (June 2nd) released first results from the largest and most realistic simulation ever of the growth of cosmic structure and the formation of galaxies and quasars. In a paper published in Nature, the Virgo Consortium shows how comparing such simulated data to large observational surveys can reveal the physical processes underlying the build-up of real galaxies and black holes.

The current version is the Second Data Release (6dFGS DR2) issued May 2005. The database currently holds 89211 spectra.

Over the past four years, the 6dF Galaxy Survey has accrued the redshifts for thousands of galaxies over the southern sky. Its goal is to map our southern view of the nearby universe through approximately 150,000 galaxies, with peculiar velocities (as well as redshifts) for 10% of the sample. When the 6dFGS finishes in late 2005 it will have covered more than 8 times the area of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, and more than twice that of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

SDSS uses 200,000 quasars to confirm Einstein's prediction of cosmic magnification (April 26, 2005)

Applying cutting edge computer science to a wealth of new astronomical data, researchers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) reported today the first robust detection of cosmic magnification on large scales, a prediction of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity applied to the distribution of galaxies, dark matter, and distant quasars.

芝加哥大学3月23日消息，一个国际联合研究小组最近获得资助，将利用智力托洛洛山美洲天文台4米望远镜配合一架5.2亿像素的CCD相机对三亿个星系进行观测，试图揭示暗能量的起源问题。他们的装备将使得其巡天速度是已往的十倍。项目定名为“暗能量巡天”，如果一切顺利巡天观测将从2009年开始。详情请参见：

http://decam.fnal.gov/
http://cosmology.astro.uiuc.edu/DES/index.html

本站综合科学时报北京1月13日讯，由中国科学院院士工作局、中国工程院学部工作局和科学时报社共同主办，584名中国科学院院士和中国工程院院士投票评选的 “振邦杯2004年中国十大科技进展新闻和世界十大科技进展新闻”今天在京揭晓。 世界十大科技新闻中三项与天文研究直接相关。

2004年中国十大科技进展新闻是：

一、 10万亿次高性能计算机启用并跻身世界十强；二、我国首座国产化商用核电站建成投产；三、西气东输工程全线实现商业运营；四、我国第一个下一代互联网主干网开通；五、“探测二号”发射成功，“双星探测”计划实现；六、纳米“超级开关”材料研制成功；七、高精度水下定位导航系统研制成功；八、我国科学家破解膜蛋白晶体结构难题；九、我国量子信息实验领域取得重大突破；十、我国海域油气资源战略调查获重大突破。

2004年世界十大科技进展新闻是：

一、 “勇气”号和“机遇”号火星车登陆火星并发现有水的证据；二、美超音速飞机创飞行时速超万公里新纪录；三、“卡西尼”号飞船成功进入土星轨道；四、韩、美科学家首次利用克隆技术获得人类胚胎干细胞；五、美科学家首次利用核磁共振技术观测到单个电子；六、美研发利用核反应堆大规模制氢技术；七、日开发出世界最快光通信技术；八、美天文学家发现太阳系最遥远的大天体；九、法艾滋病病毒抗体研究获得重要进展；十、以、美科学家制成能够停止或暂停的分子马达。