BEST PROGRAMS FOR OBSERVING THE '99 TSE IN ROMANIA As you know, the eclipse of August 11, 1999, will be an exceptional event, as:

• - it is the last eclipse visible from Europe for the next several decades;
• - it is the last eclipse of this millennium;
• - the totality band practically bisects Europe, from north-west to south-east, actually the most populated zone of the old continent;
• - it takes place in midsummer, at suitable hours (11 UT in Romania);

THE MAXIMUM WILL BE IN ROMANIA:

• - the maximum duration (2 min 23 s);
• - the maximum coverage of the sun (103%);
• - the maximum height of the sun (59x);
• - the highest probability of clear sky;
• - most various relief forms;
• - regions of great tourist attraction, practically unknown abroad; (a very short presentation of theses ones can be found on http://roastro.astro.ro/~eclipsa
• - Bucharest is the only European capital situated exactly on the central line of the totality band;
• - there is also the only professional astronomical observatory on this line, which has a solar telescope;
• - the second professional astronomical observatory situated in the totality band is also in Romania, namely in Timisoara.

BUCHAREST AND TIMISOARA OBSERVATORIES:

PROFESSIONAL INSTRUMENTS

Bucharest

1. The Cassegrain Telescope (50/750 cm)

Set up by Carl Zeiss Jena in 1964, it is endowed with a photoelectric photometer with photomultiplier of EMI 9502 B type and with UBV - Johnson filters. The telescope is used mainly for observing variable stars, but served also for the PHESAT'95 campaign. Recently it was endowed with a CCD camera SBIG ST-6 V with the array dimensions 8.6 x 6.5 mm, number of pixels 375 x 242 and pixel size 23 x 27.

b) The Solar Refractor (13/195 cm)

Also constructed by Carl Zeiss Jena, it is used to visual and photographic observations of the solar photosphere in integral light. A H alpha filter (6563 A) of Halle-Lyot-Ohman type, mounted on a special refractor (8/120 cm), is used to photographic observations of chromospheric formations (filaments, prominences, flares). Due to the financial situation of the last few years, the photospheric observations were limited to the visual ones, the plates being already exhausted in 1992.

c) The Meridian Circle (19/235 cm)

The Meridian Circle is of Gauthier-Prin construction, having a Merz-Steinheil objective. The instrument has two declination circles (1 m diameter each), divided at every 5'. The telescope is endowed with an impersonal micrometer, whose right ascension travelling frame is carried by a motor, hand-corrected during the observation, with adjustable speed according to the star declination. The collimation of the optical axis is measured by means of two meridian marks located at about 80-100 m from the instrument. At present the observations are stopped.

d) The Astrograph (38/600 cm)

The Prin-Merz double astrograph uses photographic plates of 24 x 24 cm; the instrument has a field of 2 x 2 degrees. A HiSis 22 CCD camera was attached in 1995. It has the following characteristics: CCD chip KODAK KAF 0400, dimensions 6.90 x 4.60, pixels 768 x 512, pixel size 9 mm square.

e) The Danjon Astrolabe (10/100 cm)

The astrolabe, transferred from Brussels to Bucharest, is connected to a computer by a chronograph card designed under the license of Paris Observatory. We built a reflecting prism of 45 degrees zenith distance and bought a block of zerodur from Schott (Germany).

f) Solar Radiometer

There are three equipments (in various stages of construction) devoted to solar radiometry in the 1..2GHz, 2..3 GHz and 10..12 GHz bands. The noise resolution varies between 0.1K and 10K . For the acquisition system a 8 channel 12 bit digital analogous converter is used. The collecting area consists of a 2 m parabolic dish on a polar mounting with electric clocks, and a 3m parabolic dish, whose polar mounting is still to be completed. The first notable result was the observation of the partial solar eclipse of October 12, 1996 on the frequency of 10 GHz.

Computation techniques

Since 1995 we own a powerful computational platform consisting of a superscalar computer (Silicon Graphics Power Challenge M), one processor R 8,000 64 Mb RAM, 2 mb secondary cache, speed 300 M flops) and a graphical workstation INDY (B 2 Mb RAM, 1Mb secondary cache, speed 150 mflops) NFS connected with PCs. In 1996 the coupling of the computational endowment of the Astronomical Institute to the local NFS network was accomplished. At the same time the local network was coupled to the INTERNET and Web systems.

Timisoara

The Cassegrain Telescope (30/169 cm)

This telescope, equipped with a photomultiplier of EMI 9862 Q type, is used to observations of variable stars.

PROPOSAL FOR CONTEST

Because these instruments are very well placed, in majority just on the central line of the totality band and practically on the maximum of this event, we have already received some proposals of programs to use them. So we decided to open a contest for the best program for each instrument. The proposals within the framework of this contest will be analysed by the following international jury:

Jay M. Pasachoff (Chair of the Working Group on Eclipses of the IAU),
Zadig Mouradian (Observatoire de Paris), Magda Stavinschi (Astronomical
Institute of the Romanian Academy), William C. Livingston, U.S. National Solar Observatory, and perhaps others.

The judges reserve the right to submit their own proposals.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

1. Curriculum vitae, containing compulsorily:
   • professional studies,
   • professional activity,
   • experience in observing solar eclipses.
2. Proper proposal, containing compulsorily:

           - scientific goals of the program
             (including an abstract of 1/2 page),
           - necessary instrument,
           - needed improvements,
           - the team of observers,
           - other needs (preparing stage, etc.)
	   - collaboration with Romanian astronomers

DEADLINE:

April 1, 1998

The proposals must be send preferably by e-mail to:

   Prof.Jay M.Pasachoff
	Hopkins Observatory
	Williams College
	Williamstown, MA 01267
        Fax: 413 597 3200
        e-mail: jmp@williams.edu

        Dr.M.Stavinschi
        Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy
        Str.Cutitul de Argint 5
        Bucuresti, RO-75212, Romania
        Tel: +401 335 68 92
        Tel/fax: +410 337 33 89
        e-mail: magda@roastro.astro.ro

Dr.Magda Stavinschi

Director of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy
President of the International Association "Eclipsa '99"