Moscow Sep 2006 meeting: second announcement

[Oleg Yu. Malkov]

      IVOA Interoperability Meeting & Small Project Meeting
             Moscow, Russia, September 18 - 22, 2006

                       Second Announcement

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to confirm that the IVOA Interoperability Meeting &
Small Project Meeting (SPM) will take place in Moscow, Russia, in
September 18 - 22, 2006. The results of pre-registration show that
there is a substantial number (about 60) of astronomers who would like
to take part in these meetings.

The participants should complete some or all parts of the Registration
form, namely:
1. Visa support form
2. Accomodation form
3. Social events form
4. SPM participant form
5. Arrival form

The registration form is now available online on the meeting web site
http://www.agora.guru.ru/display.php?conf=interop_moscow-2006

Important dates and deadlines:
Hotel booking is highly recommended to be made before July 9.
The arrival form should be completed by September 4.
The other forms should be completed by July 23.

Accompanying persons should submit all but SPM participant form.

Further information will be made available on the meeting web site.

In case you have any questions, please, contact the organizers at:

Oleg Malkov, Institute of Astronomy,
48 Pyatnitskaya St., Moscow 119017 Russia

phone: +7-495-953-1702
fax: +7-495-230-2081
e-mail: malkov at inasan.ru

Looking forward to seeing you in Moscow

LOC, Interop SOC & SPM SOC
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I. PROGRAM

The IVOA Interop Meeting will consist of two plenary sessions, public
lecture and parallel sessions of Working and Interest Groups. The
Small Project Meting (SPM) will consist of a series of invited talks
and short presentations. A detailed programme of the meetings will be
announced on the meeting web site and on the IVOA twiki pages.

A preliminary schedule of the meetings is the following:

Monday, Sep 18, RAS:
  a.m. public lecture
  p.m. open Interop and plenary session
Tuesday, Sep 19, IoA:
  a.m. + p.m. Interop WGs
Wednesday, Sep 20, IoA:
  a.m. Interop WGs
  p.m. IVOA exec / excursion (Tretjakov Gallery)
Thursday, Sep 21, SAI:
  a.m. closing Interop plenary session, SPM
  p.m. SPM
  evening: banquet
Friday, Sep 22, SAI:
  a.m. SPM
  p.m. excursion (Moscow State University)
Saturday, Sep 23:
  a.m. bus excursion (Moscow)

Here RAS is Russian Academy of Sciences Headquarter.
No Internet connection.
IoA is Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
WiFi Internet is available.
SAI is Sternberg Astronomical Institute of the Moscow State 
University.
WiFi Internet is available.

Maps indicating how to reach these institutions and other places
(hotel, restaurants etc.) will be available soon on the meeting web
site.


II. SOCIAL EVENTS

The conference banquet is being planned on Thursday, Sep 21 in a small
restaurant of the Moscow State University. Approximate price is
20 EUR.

A number of short-distance tours will be offered to the participants
and accompanying persons.

An excursion to the famous National museum of russian fine art
Tretjakov Gallery will be on Wednesday, Sep 20 afternoon. Price is:
240 RUR for the ticket + English-speaking guide fee which is 1200 RUR
for every 20 persons (i.e. 60 RUR per person if we make one or two
groups of 20 people, more if the number of people in the groups is
less than 20).

(As of this writing, USD 1 = RUR 27, and EUR 1 = RUR 34.)

A short tour to the main building of the Moscow State University is
planned for Friday, Sep 22 afternoon. The tour is free.

Moscow city bus tour is scheduled for the Saturday, Sep 23 from 10 am
to 3 pm. Approximate price is 450 RUR (does not include ticket fees if
you want to visit some museums during the tour). The suggested tour
program will appear at the meeting web site soon.

Payment can be made upon arrival in roubles, dollars or euro by cash.


III. VISA INFORMATION

Visa is required for citizens of most countries. Please contact your
local consulate for the details.

There are two ways to get visa:

1. Standard way for scientific missions.
In this case you should fill in the Visa support form and send us the
scanned copy of the first page of your passport (containing your photo
and passport number, rather good quality of image is required). The
scanned copy should be sent to two addresses: malkov at inasan.ru and
myakutin at inasan.ru We will apply your form to the Foreign Affair
Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences. When they issue the
official invitation (usually it takes 2-3 weeks) we will send it to
you. We hope that the official invitations will be issued by Aug 11,
and in this case we will bring them to Prague to distribute among the
participants. A copy of the official invitation will be sent directly
from the Foreign Affair Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences
to a Russian consulate in your country.

2. Tourist visa
Probably it could be more convenient and economical for you to buy a
tour to Russia in a travel agency. Sometimes this way may be more easy
and cheap than the first one. Please ask in local travel agencies. The
most obvious disadvantage is that the tourist companies will provide
you with hotels which are not the same as we usually arrange for the
meetings.


IV. ARRIVAL

Many international (direct or connected) flights arrive in Moscow
international airports Sheremetevo (SVO) and Domodedovo (DME) from
many key locations around the world. We recommend to all participants
to reach Moscow by plane.

Sheremetievo international airport is 15 km north-west of Moscow
circle high-way (official city boundary), and 30 km from the downtown
of Moscow. It is connected by bus and shuttle to the closest metro
stations: "Rechnoj Vokzal" (green line), and "Planernaya" (violet
line).

Domodedovo international airport is 30 km south of Moscow circle
high-way, and is connected by bus and shuttle to the closest metro
station "Domodedovskaya" (green line), and by fast trough train (price
is about 100 RUR) to the Paveletskij railway station in Moscow city
("Paveletskaya" metro station, crossroad of green and brown lines).

The buses and shuttles circulate each 15-20 min from 8 am till
midnight. The price (luggage included) is about 30 RUR.

Universitetskaya hotel (address: Michourinsky prospekt 8/29) can be
reached by metro station "Universitet" (red line), then 5-7 minutes by
bus No. 103, 130, 187, 260, trolleybus No. 34 (bus/trolleybus stop
"Ploschad' Indiry Gandi"). The walk would take some 25-30 minutes.

Another way to reach the hotel from Moscow international airports is
to take a taxi. Typical charge is about 1000-1600 RUR from SVO and
1100-1300 from DME (depends on car class, daytime etc.). Official taxi
offices locate immediately at the customs exit. They work
round-the-clock. It is strongly advisable not to use private cars from
the airport.

On Sunday, Sep 17 (and, if needed, on Saturday, Sep 16), conference
participants will be met by LOC representatives at the airports
arrival lounge. See the IVOA logo.


V. ACCOMODATION

A block of rooms have been reserved in the Universitetskaya hotel,
located within a walking distance from the Sternberg Astronomical
Institute. A map will be available through the meeting web site. Free
transportation to/from RAS and IoA on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
will be provided. Participants who would like to make use of this
arrangement should fill in the corresponding part of the registration
form.

ATTENTION! To insure the accomodation type you wish, please provide
hotel booking information before July 9th. After this date, the
conference organizers cannot guarantee the accommodation required.

Prices are:
1800 RUR per night for single room
3000 RUR per night for double room
3800 RUR per night for "improved" twin room

The hotel adds the fee equal to 25% of one night rate to your account
for preliminary reservation. Additional fee for a breakfast is 80 RUR.

All rooms are provided with shower or bath. Dinner is available until
8 pm. Payment upon arrival in roubles by cash or credit card (Visa,
MasterCard).

The cafe and tea-room in the hotel are open until 10pm and 12pm,
respectively. The restaurant is situated next door to the hotel
building.

The following cancellation conditions will be applied:
Cancellation before and on 30 Aug 2006: no charge.
Cancellation after 30 Aug 2006 and no show: one night deposit
will be required.


VI. SMALL PROJECT MEETING

SPM will last 1.5 days, i.e., 3 sessions. A preliminary list of topics
to be covered during the SPM is as follows:

Digitization projects
Data processing software
Web interfaces
New virtual observatory projects

An invited talk will be arranged in the beginning of each session,
followed by short contributed talks. Posters can be also presented.

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