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 .