Journées 2004 discussions (8 December 2004)

Special discussions were organized during the Journées 2004 that were relevant to the IAU Division 1 Working Groups and the future organization of the division in the framework of the upcoming IAU by-laws on commissions and working groups.

The discussed issues were related to:

(i) the future Division I organization of the activities of the former successful Working Group on ICRS

(ii) the draft report and draft recommendations of the Working Groups on ``Precession and the Ecliptic'' (Chair: J. Hilton) and on "Nomenclature in Fundamental Astronomy", both formed at the 2003 IAU General Assembly,

(iii) the report of the WG on ``Redefinition of UTC'' (Chair: D.D. McCarthy) especially on the basis of recent statements by the ITU-R Special Rapporteur Group.


SHORT SUMMARY OF THE TWO LARGEST DISCUSSIONS DURING THE JOURNEES 2004

One large discussion (Discussion 1) was related to the organization of Division I in the framework of the upcoming IAU by-laws on Commissions and Working Groups. The focus of the discussion was where to put the activities of the ICRS Working Group that, although it was considered as being a successful WG, was disabled in 2003 to comply with the new IAU rules on Commissions and Working Groups. Several solutions were debated. One was a possible distribution of the seven tasks of the former ICRS WG into the most appropriate Division 1 commissions according to their recently revised terms of reference. Another solution was the creation of a new commission to embrace all the activities of the seven tasks. An intermediate proposal was to expand Commission 31 (Time) to include reference systems in general, and to make each of the seven tasks a WG in that expanded commission. These different options are to be futher discussed within the Division 1 special group, chaired by Division I President, T. Fukushima, that is looking at ways to rationalize the current structure and advise on future arrangements.

The other large discussion (Discussion 2) was a panel discussion, related to the work of the IAU Working Group ``Nomenclature in Fundamental Astronomy'', formed at the 2003 GA (Chair: N. Capitaine). The task of this Working Group is to propose new nomenclature associated with the implementation of the IAU 2000 Resolutions and making related educational efforts. Guided by the results of last year's questionnaires, and with input from extensive e-mail contributions, a series of draft explanatory documents have been developed and draft WG recommendations have been prepared including a draft Resolution proposal to the IAU 2006 GA. Key issues include devising expressive new names, avoiding explosive growth in acronyms and initials, and certain relativistic nuances. The discussion during the Journees 2004 allowed the audience to comment on the WG explanatory documents and the draft NFA WG recommendations and Resolution proposal to the IAU 2006 GA and to discuss possible future actions of the WG. For more details, see Discussion 2 Summary .