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Forwarded mail from H. Maehara (OAO-NAOJ). Suggestions or comments should be directed to him (maehara@oao.nao.ac.jp) or Michele Gerbaldi (gerbaldi@iap.fr).
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Dear Colleague,
This letter is to present you with a proposal for a Joint Discussion on the subject :
"Progress towards Automating Classification of Stellar Spectra :
Aims and Achievements"
to be helded during the IAU GA in KYOTO, JAPAN, AUGUST 1997.
Such a proposal is coming out from the Commission 45 : Stellar Classification. Below, we present the outline of such a Joint Discussion, hoping that this information will justify a sponsorship by your Commission.
This proposal have been discussed with the colleagues members of the Commission 45 organizing committee as well as with colleagues interested in that field.
All the speakers listed have agreed to participate to this Joint Discussion.
We would appreciate any comments and suggestions you may wish to provide concerning the topics under discussion, the speakers, ...
Looking forward to hearing you, Yours Sincerely
Michele Gerbaldi,
on behalf of the SOC
Michele Gerbaldi
gerbaldi@iap.fr
fax : 33 1 44 32 80 41
Institut d'Astrophysique
98 bis Boulevard Arago
75014 Paris - France
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JOINT DISCUSSION TO BE HELD DURING THE IAU GA in KYOTO, JAPAN, AUGUST 1997.
Title :
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Progress towards Automating Classification of Stellar Spectra :
Aims and Achievements.
Scientific rationale :
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Stellar classification has been a long standing tool for determining global
parameters of the stars and galactic structure, but in the future, we cannot
rely exclusively on spectral classification done by visual means.
Automated classification is the starting point for the future of
large-scale stellar studies considering the development of efficient detectors
capable of covering large fields, fast computer algorithms, and large storage
capacity.
Even with the "old" photographic technology, a typical objective-prism plate
may contain more than 5 10**4 spectra, and the sheer tedium of examining so
many spectra is overwhelming.
For the last 10 years considerable efforts have been made in order to explore
and extend automated schemes to classify stellar spectra and a great deal of
progress has been made. The last Conference on this topic was held in 1993
"The MK process at 50 years : A powerful tool for Astrophysical Insight"
(Pasp Conf 60).
The underlying purpose of this JD is to bring together practioners in
automated classification and specialists in stellar classification in order
to debate of the evolution of this domain.
The role of this JD will be to present the state of art of automated stellar
classification as well as the possibilities and field of application of the
various methods which can be used : artificial neural networks,
cross-correlation with a template, minimum vector distance , pattern
recognition.
An important correlative question will also be discussed during this Joint
Discussion : what is the relations between these new methods and the
stellar classification as it is currently done.
Which astrophysics is behind automated stellar classification ?
Duration : one day and half
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Topics and talks :
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Artificial Neural Network
T. von Hippel (NOAO Tucson - USA))
R. Gulati (IUCAA - India)
B. Weaver (Monterey - USA)
Metric Distance Techniques
J. La Sala ( University of South Maine - USA)
M. Kurtz (CfA - USA)
Pattern-recognition
V. Malyuto (Tartu Observatory - Estonia) (to be confirmed)
Astrophysics and Stellar Classification
D. Mihalas (Illinois - USA)
Automating the MK system
R. Garrison (Toronto - Canada)
R. Gray (Appalachian State - USA) / C. Corbally (Vatican)
Classification of faint cool stars
R. F. Wing (Ohio - USA)
Spectra Template
B. Kurucz (CfA - USA)
Large Surveys
D. Egret (Strasbourg - France)
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Survey (Chicago group)
AAT 2dF (to be confirmed)
Scientific organizing Committee :
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C. Corbally (Vatican) (Editor of the Proceedings)
B. Garrison (Canada)
M. Gerbaldi (France) (Chairperson of the SOC)
H. Levato (Argentine)
J. MacConnell (USA)
H. Maehara (Japan) (to be confirmed)
T. von Hippel (USA) (Edition of the Summaries for the Booklet at the GA)
Local Organizing Committee :
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The LOC of the General Assembly will arrange all necessary matter
Sponsoring Commissions :
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Division IV : Stars (President D. Lambert)
Commission 29 : Stellar Spectra (to be confirmed)
Commission 37 : Stars clusters and Associations (to be confirmed)
Commission 45 : Stellar Classification
Contributed Papers and/or Posters :
-----------------------------------
A poster session will be organized and a poster review will be given during the
Joint Discussion.
Proceedings :
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The talks by the speakers will be published in the Highlights of Astronomy.
We intend to publish a complete version of all the papers including the poster
papers and the discussion in a separate Journal.
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Hideo MAEHARA Okayama Astrophysical Observatory / Natl. Astron. Obs.
Kamogata-cho, Asakuchi-gun, Okayama-ken 719-02, Japan
E-mail:maehara@oao.nao.ac.jp, TEL:8654-4-2155, FAX:8654-4-2360
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