SUBJECT: 19th Annual New Mexico Symposium -- 2nd Announcement

   Dark skies and remote sites have attracted world-class astronomical
facilities to the Southwest and supported a wide range of research
since the mid-1900s.  Our achievements span areas in both science and
technology including optical and radio interferometry, and research in
solar physics, planetary science, star and galaxy formation, and the
creation and evolution of our universe.  To support the network of
scientific research in the Southwest and encourage interdisciplinary
discussions, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is
sponsoring the 19th Annual New Mexico Symposium on Friday, October 3,
2003, at the NRAO Array Operations Center in Socorro, NM.  

   We invite astronomers, astrophysicists, and engineers working on
astronomical instrumentation in New Mexico and surrounding states to
attend the NM Symposium and to present a talk or poster (size is
limited to 4' in length and 3' in width).  We especially encourage
students and postdocs. There is no charge for registration and NRAO
will provide a symposium dinner free to officially registered meeting
participants.

   The symposium will start at 9:00 A.M. and finish before 5:30 P.M.
There will be four invited talks, each typically 30 minutes,
including questions.  We will also have time for roughly 15 oral
presentations in a format with ten minutes presentation and five
minutes discussion.  We will also be able to accommodate at least 20
poster presentations.

Our invited speakers for the 2003 NM Symposium are: 
   Prof. Don Backer, University of California at Berkeley
	"Probing Microturbulence in the ISM via Pulsars" (15 min)
   Dr. Galen Gisler, Los Alamos National Laboratory
	"Three-dimensional simulations of the Chicxulub impact
         event at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary" (30 min)
   Prof. Peter Hofner, New Mexico Tech
	"Massive Star Formation" (30 min)
   Prof. Neb Duric, University of New Mexico
	"The LOFAR Project: Impact on Regional Astronomy"  (30 min)

   In the evening, Prof. Don Backer will present the Jansky Lecture,
entitled ""Massive Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Pulsars". This
free lecture will start at 8:00 P.M., at the Macey Center, on the New
Mexico Tech campus, located next to the NRAO Array Operations Center.
The general public is encouraged to attend.

   To register for the symposium, please visit the web site at
http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/events/nmsymposium/2003/ and complete the
on-line registration form.  The deadline for registration is September
12, 2003.  Further information about the meeting can be found at the
web site.  If you have any special requirements for your presentation,
or questions about the symposium, feel free to contact Greg Taylor at
<gtaylor@nrao.edu>.

   Since our mailing list of local astronomers is undoubtedly
incomplete, we would appreciate your help in circulating this
invitation to your colleagues and posting it on your bulletin board/s.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2003 NM Symposium!

Greg Taylor, Scientist
National Radio Astronomy Observatory