This volume of the ASP Conference Series contains papers presented at the ninth annual conference for Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems, also known as ADASS99. The ADASS Conference Series provides a forum for scientists and computer specialists concerned with development of software for astronomical data acquisition, vizualisation, reduction, analysis and archiving, and telescope and instrument control systems.
ADASS IX was held at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the beautiful Kohala Coast of Hawaii's Big Island, from October 3 to October 6, 1999. The conference was hosted by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation (CFHT). There were a record number of 286 registered participants, including 84 people representing 17 countries outside the United States and Canada.
The conference itself started Sunday afternoon, when 2 tutorials were presented, followed by the Conference Reception. Due to the high number of participants, the conference saw over 3 days: 24 BoFs and demos, 37 oral presentations divided in 9 sessions, and 154 posters. The submission rate of 70% for manuscripts explains the thickness of these proceedings!
The banquet, on Tuesday evening, featured a traditional Hawaiian luau with local specialties along with a traditional hula show.
We start with sections on software in general , from software development, management and support (Part 1), to the possible use of different scripting languages (Part 2), observation planning and scheduling programs (Part 3), archiving (Part 4), distributed data systems, and data mining (Part 5).
Then we continue with telescope and instrument control systems (Part 6), future instruments and telescopes, in space and on the ground (Part 7), adaptive and active optics (Part 8), and finally some application of these instruments and telescope: sky surveys (Part 9).
Once data has been gathered by instruments and telescopes under the control of specific software, it sometimes goes through pipelines (Part 10), but always has to be seen by users with one of many different visualization tools available (Part 11). Data is later reduced, processed (Part 12) using many analysis tools (Part 13), techniques and software, with some of these tools being specific to IRAF (Part 14).
The Local Organizing Committee (LOC), chaired by Mercédes Stevens, consisted of Moani Akana, Dennis Crabtree, Bernt Grundseth, Coleen Hickman, Bob Link, Nadine Manset, Pierre Martin, Christian Veillet, and David Woodworth. This dynamic team was significantly assisted by numerous other employees and resources made available from the hosting institution, CFHT (S. Isani, M.-C. Hainaut, K. Barton, D. Warren, R. Alles, W. Pexa, R. Savalle, L. Wells, J. McDonald, J.-C. Cuillandre). Staff from other observatories (Subaru, Keck, 88-inch telescope, IRTF, UKIRT, JCMT) and the MKSS staff also donated some of their time for the guided tours at the summit. The organization and logistics support provided made this conference run smoothly.
Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the technical and financial support of the conference sponsors: Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Center for Supercomputer Applications (NCSA), National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Sun Microsystems, and Network Computing Devices (NCD).
A survey was conducted by the POC between October 29 and November 12, 1999, and shows that in general, participants were satisfied with the content and organization of the conference, and impressed with the venue and activities offered. Results of the survey are on the Web at:
Past conferences are listed in the ADASS webpage:
ADASS2000 will be hosted by the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory in Boston, Massachusetts, from November 12 through 15, 2000. For
further information, visit their website
(http://hea-www.harvard.edu/ADASS/) or send mail to
adass@cfa.harvard.edu
The ADASS IX Editors
Nadine Manset, Christian Veillet
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation
Dennis Crabtree
Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
National Research Council
August 2000