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IERS Message No. 136                                   November 06, 2008
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IAU Symposium 261 - Second Announcement


Dear Colleagues,

The preparations for the IAU Symposium 261 "Relativity in Fundamental
Astronomy: Dynamics, Reference frames, and Data Analysis" which will be
held in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA, 27 April - 1 May 2009 are
progressing very well. Updated information about the Symposium is now
available at:

http://www.aas.org/divisions/meetings/iau/

The preliminary scientific program, including the invited talks, is
given on this website. If you are interested in giving a contributed
talk or presenting a poster, please register and provide an abstract
(title, author(s), affiliation(s), and a text of abstract) through the
website.

We remind you that the following deadlines:

- The deadline for IAU travel grants is 30 November 2008. If you
  apply for a grant, you must submit an abstract and send us the IAU
  grant application form before that date.

- The deadline for abstract submission is 15 February 2009. Only
  abstracts received by this date will be considered for selection as
  a contributed talk.

- The deadline for early registration is 31 January 2009.

- The deadline for hotel booking at the discounted rate is
  24 March 2009.

- People who need visas for coming to the US should begin the process
  early to ensure success in obtaining their visa. If a letter of
  invitation is required, please let us know the appropriate information
  and a letter will be sent from the American Astronomical Society.

Please check the details on the web page.

Looking forward to meeting you in Virginia Beach.

Sincerely,
Sergei Klioner & Ken Seidelmann
The SOC Chairs


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