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29-11-2007
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The NorthStar family

Submitter: Hanno Holties
Description: Although it is always difficult to see your children go out in to the world, it is also a fact of life that it is healthy and necessary to allow them to spread their wings. Last week witnessed such an event as the NorthStar web-based proposal tool http://www.astron.nl/northstar ) had grown out of its adolescent phase.

From 19 to 21 November, a workshop was held in Bologna, Italy, where the development team from ASTRON instructed participants representing observatories around the world about maintenance and development of the NorthStar application. The local organization from INAF-IRA made sure that the tough working hours were complemented with friendly and warm Italian hospitality. The autumn sun and the prospect of a good Italian lunch contributed in no small measure to the happy smiles in the picture. All participants left with a personalized working version of the tool and the workshop marked the formation of a NorthStar community for sharing information, tools, problems, and solutions.

ASTRON will continue NorthStar development, currently with a focus on optical telescopes, but other institutes are now capable of creating and maintaining versions of NorthStar for new instruments as well. As a result of the workshop, we did not so much lose our little guiding star but instead were able to welcome several bright new stars in to the family.
Copyright: INAF - IRA
 
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