Electronic Telegram No. 1
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
M.S. 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html


EDITORIAL NOTICE:  CENTRAL BUREAU ELECTRONIC TELEGRAMS
     The Central Bureau hereby issues its first Electronic Telegram
(CBET) as a temporary means for getting urgent items to the astronomical
community.  The intention is for the CBETs to be patterned very loosely
after the Telegrams, issued by the Central Bureau from the 1920s until
the 1990s, that were abbreviated (coded) reports of new discoveries and
were followed up with elaboration on the IAUCs; however, CBETs will
contain more information than could be included in the old Telegrams.
While the option will exist for an evolution of the CBETs into something
more, the initial purpose is to help in the editorial running of the
Central Bureau (particularly when the Director is away) by allowing
those assisting in the running of the Bureau to be free from the
complexities involved in issuing IAU Circulars (which have space
constraints and are produced in TeX for printing).
     Therefore, it is anticipated that these CBETs will be issued less
frequently than IAUCs, and probably chiefly at times when the Director is
unavailable.  They will initially appear only as e-mail communications to
subscribers.  Readers should note that CBETs will not replace the IAUCs,
any more than the old Telegrams did, but another difference will be that
not all information from CBETs will be included on subsequent IAUCs,
which are much more carefully refereed.  CBETs will still be refereed,
but the editing process may be somewhat scaled back for CBETs, and
designations for supernovae, novae, and comets may or may not appear on
CBETs; unlike MPECs, which routinely contain new observations and orbits
for certain classes of minor planets, the CBETs will not routinely be
used for any particular purpose, but rather when it is deemed useful to
complement the issuance of IAUCs.  For this reason, it is advised that
(wherever possible) citations be made to IAUCs and not to CBETs.
     All Computer-Service subscribers to the IAUCs will automatically
receive any CBETs issued by e-mail.  For the time being, CBETs will
not be posted at the CBAT website, though this may change.  Line-charge
items for IAUCs may occasionally appear first on the CBETs for urgent
items, but only one charge will be assessed.
     All contributors of information for IAUCs (and thus potentially
for CBETs) should note that any such information must be sent to
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU, as the Director's personal e-mail may not always
be monitored in his absence.


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are intended to
      be preliminary announcements of items that later appear in the
      formal IAU Circulars.  Citations should normally be made to IAUCs
      rather than to CBETs.

                         (C) Copyright 2002 CBAT
2002 December 20                  (CBET 1)                Daniel W. E. Green