Making Access to Astronomical Software More Efficient

Access to astronomical data through archives and VO is essential but does not solve all problems. Availability of appropriate software for analyzing the data is often equally important for the efficiency with which a researcher can publish results. A number of legacy systems (e.g. IRAF, MIDAS, Starlink, AIPS, Gipsy), as well as others now coming online are available but have very different user interfaces and may no longer be fully supported. Users may need multiple systems or stand-alone packages to complete the full analysis which introduces significant overhead. The OPTICON Network on `Future Astronomical Software Environments' and the USVAO have discussed these issues and have outlined a general architectural concept that solves many of the current problems in accessing software packages. It foresees a layered structure with clear separation of astronomical code and IT infrastructure. By relying on modern IT concepts for messaging and distributed execution, it provides full scalability from desktops to clusters of computers. A generic parameter passing mechanism and common interfaces will offer easy access to a wide range of astronomical software, including legacy packages, through a single scripting language such as Python. A prototype based upon a proposed standard architecture is being developed as a proof-of-concept. It will be followed by definition of standard interfaces as well as a reference implementation which can be evaluated by the user community. For the long-term success of such an environment, stable interface specifications and adoption by major astronomical institutions as well as a reasonable level of support for the infrastructure are mandatory. Development and maintenance of astronomical packages would follow an open-source, Internet concept.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure; Accepted for publication in Proceedings of Scienc

Broad Components in Optical Emission Lines from the Ultra-Luminous X-ray Source NGC 5408 X-1

High-resolution optical spectra of the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 5408 X-1 show a broad component with a width of ~750 km/s in the HeII and Hbeta lines in addition to the narrow component observed in these lines and [O III]. Reanalysis of moderate-resolution spectra shows a similar broad component in the HeII line. The broad component likely originates in the ULX system itself, probably in the accretion disk. The central wavelength of the broad HeII line is shifted by 252 \pm 47 km/s between the two observations. If this shift represents motion of the compact object, then its mass is less than ~1800 M_sun.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Kajian Tentang Relevansi Peradilan Adat terhadap Sistem Peradilan Perdata Indonesia

The position of adat court in Indonesia civil legal system has a long history. Distinction of public or private sphere would appear when adat court decisions in contact with national judicial system. Interaction between both systems isn\u27t ideal, either at the level of norms and practices. Unification policy of judiciary institution is one cause which make adat court was forgotten. Although the Judicial Authority Law opens possibility of resolving civil cases by agreement based mechanism, it requires the various perspectives both of legal-normative regarding the existence of adat court and the law implementation prespective regarding Indonesian civil justice system. Kedudukan peradilan adat dalam sistem peradilan perdata nasional memiliki sejarah panjang. Pembedaan ranah publik or privat muncul ketika putusan pengadilan adat bersentuhan dengan ranah sistem peradilan nasional. Hingga saat ini, interaksi antara keduanya belum ideal, baik pada tataran norma maupun praktek. Kebijakan unifikasi badan peradilan menjadi salah satu penyebab peradilan adat lambat laun mulai ditinggalkan. Undang-Undang Kekuasaan Kehakiman membuka kemungkinan upaya penyelesaian perkara perdata secara perdamaian sebagaisemangat yang termanifestasi dalam sistem peradilan perdata. Oleh sebab itu, perlu dikaji dari sisi legal-normatif mengenai keberadaan pengadilan adat dan secara empiris melalui implementasi aturan tersebut dalam sistem peradilan perdata Indonesia

Tramp Novae Between Galaxies in the Fornax Cluster: Tracers of Intracluster Light

We report the results of a survey for novae in and between the galaxies of the Fornax cluster. Our survey provides strong evidence that intracluster novae exist and that they provide a useful, independent measure of the intracluster light in Fornax. We discovered six strong nova candidates in six distinct epochs spanning eleven years from 1993 to 2004. The data were taken with the 4m and the 1.5m telescopes at CTIO. The spatial distribution of the nova candidates is consistent with $\sim$16-41% of the total light in the cluster being in the intracluster light, based on the ratio of the number of novae we discovered in intracluster space over the total number of novae discovered plus a simple completeness correction factor. This estimate is consistent with independent measures of intracluster light in Fornax and Virgo using intracluster planetary nebulae. The accuracy of the intracluster light measurement improves with each survey epoch as more novae are discovered.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (Sep 9, 2004). Version 2: Added references. Full resolution versions of figures 1-7 and 10 can be found at http://astrowww.phys.uvic.ca/~neill/fnx

New Structure In The Shapley Supercluster

We present new radial velocities for 189 galaxies in a 91 sq. deg region of the Shapley supercluster measured with the FLAIR-II spectrograph on the UK Schmidt Telescope. The data reveal two sheets of galaxies linking the major concentrations of the supercluster. The supercluster is not flattened in Declination as was suggested previously and it may be at least 30 percent larger than previously thought with a correspondingly larger contribution to the motion of the Local Group.Comment: LaTex: 2 pages, 1 figure, includes conf_iap.sty style file. To appear in proceedings of The 14th IAP Colloquium: Wide Field Surveys in Cosmology, held in Paris, 1998 May 26--30, eds. S.Colombi, Y.Mellie