ASCA AO-7 released

[ASCANews Account <MUKAI@lheavx.gsfc.nasa.gov>]

ASCA Guest observers,

We are pleased to announce the release of ASCA Guest Observer Program
(Cycle 7) announcement by NASA; by agreement, the NASA announcement
is open only to PIs affiliated with a US institution.  The announcement
and related documents are available on the world-wide web at:

	http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/asca/nra_info.html

and via anonymous ftp to legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov, under directory asca/nra_info.

We have updated the ASCA technical description somewhat; those of you already
familiar with ASCA should nevertheless check "ASCA Performance Update" chapter.
	[Please note that we have placed the updated Appendix E on the web
	and in the FTP area on June 3, at about 1:30 pm EDT.  Those of you who
	checked before this time would have seen the AO-6 version.]

The following briefly summarizes the NASA announcement.

Cycle 7 period: 	~1 year beginning early Jan, 1999
Proposal deadline:	1998 September 1
Funding:		No funds are available through this announcement;
	funding is possible through the ADP program for accepted PIs.
Large Programs:		In AO-6, we accepted 10 US targets with exposure
	times of 100 ksec or more.  We anticipate the fraction of large
	programs to increase in AO-7.
Electronic submission:	The scientific justification, as well as the forms,
	must be submitted electronically.  For details, see Appendix C.

There are parallel opportunities for Japanese and ESA scientists; for the
latter, please refer to:

	http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/Asca/announce.html

* * * * * * * * * *
We also note that the staff of the ASCA Data facility (and their equipments)
are moving offices over the next week or so.  We hope to be able to keep
the essential services in operation; however, there may be temporary disruptions
(e.g., unable to reach the ADF web site for several hours) during this period.
We thank you for your patience and understanding.