aura/noao annual project report fy 2004lala j142442.24+353400.2 lies at a redshift of 6.535, which...

Three-color composite image of spiral galaxy NGC4402 taken at the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope on Kitt Peak using the WIYN Tip-Tilt module, an adaptive optics device that uses a movable mirror to provide first-order compensation for the jittery motion of the incoming image caused by variable atmospheric conditions and telescope vibrations. NGC4402 is interacting with the intergalactic medium of the Virgo Cluster.

Photo Courtesy: H. Crowl (Yale University) and WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF

AURA/NOAO ANNUAL PROJECT REPORT FY 2004

Submitted to the National Science Foundation via FastLane November 1, 2004

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................iii

1 SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS....................................................................1 1.1 NOAO Gemini Science Center, 1

A Luminous Lyman-α Emitting Galaxy at Redshift z=6.535, 1 Accretion Signatures in Massive Star Formation, 1

1.2 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), 3 The Halo of Our Galaxy: Structured, Not Smooth, 3 Science with ISPI at the Blanco, 3

1.3 Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), 4

2 THE NATIONAL GROUND-BASED O/IR OBSERVING SYSTEM ..............................6 2.1 The Gemini Telescopes, 6

Support of U.S. Gemini Users and Proposers, 6 Providing U.S. Scientific Input to Gemini, 7 U.S. Gemini Instrumentation Program, 7

2.2 CTIO Telescopes, 8 Blanco 4-Meter Telescope, 8 SOAR 4-m Telescope, 9 Blanco Instrumentation, 9 SOAR Instrumentation, 10 SMARTS Consortium and Other Small Telescopes, 10

2.3 KPNO Telescopes, 11 Performance Upgrades at WIYN, 11 New Instrument and Upgrades, 12 New Major Tenant for KPNO, 12 Site Protection, 13

2.4 Enhanced Community Access to the Independent Observatories, 13 MMT Observatory and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, 13 W. M. Keck Observatory and the Magellan Telescopes, 14

2.5 Joint NOAO-NASA Time Allocation, 14 2.6 NOAO Survey Programs, 14 2.7 NOAO Data Products Program, 15

3 MAJOR INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM ....................................................................16 3.1 Gemini Instruments, 16

Gemini Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (GNIRS), 16 Gemini Next-Generation Instrument Design and Feasibility Studies, 16

3.2 NOAO Instruments, 17 NOAO Extremely Wide-Field IR Imager (NEWFIRM), 17

3.3 SOAR Adaptive Optics Module (SAM), 17 SOAR Optical Imager, 18 Monsoon Detector Controller, 18

NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

NOAO ANNUAL PROJECT REPORT FY 2004

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4 IMPLEMENTING THE DECADAL SURVEY .................................................................19 4.1 Site Characterization for New, Large Facilities, 19 4.2 AURA New Initiatives Office, 20 4.3 Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), 24 4.4 National Virtual Observatory (NVO), 26 4.5 Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP), 26 4.6 Adaptive Optics Development Program (AODP), 27

5 PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATION OUTREACH .....................................................29 5.1 Educational Outreach (EO), 29

Teacher Leaders in Research-Based Science Education, 29 Project ASTRO-Tucson, 30 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), 31 Astronomy Education Review (AER), 31 Other Educational Outreach Highlights, 32

5.2 Public Outreach, 33 Kitt Peak Visitor Center, 33 Other Public Outreach, 34 Coordination with the External Community, 34

5.3 Media and Public Information, 34 Press Releases and Image Releases, 34 Special Information Products, 36 Web-based Outreach, 36 Image and information Requests, 37

5.4 Education and Public Outreach at NOAO South .............................................................. 37 REU Site Program at CTIO, 37 Support of Local K-12 Science Education, 37 ASTRO in Chile, 38 Video Lectures to U.S. Teachers, 38 Observatory Tours, 38 Ongoing Efforts to Control Light Pollution, 38

6 COMPUTER INFRASTRUCTURE AND NETWORK SERVICES .................................40 6.1 Tucson, 40 6.2 Kitt Peak, 40 6.3 NOAO South – La Serena, 41 6.4 NOAO South – Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón (SOAR and Gemini Support), 43

APPENDICES A Key Management and Scientific Personnel Changes B New Organizational Partners in FY04 C NOAO Scientific Staff D Scientific Staff Publications FY04 E Observing Programs and Investigators F Publications Based on Data from NOAO Telescopes G Activities Encouraging Diversity within NOAO H Site Safety Report: 4th Quarter 2004: Tucson and Kitt Peak

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FY 2004 was the year in which the Gemini Observatory became the main attraction for

astronomers proposing to observe at NOAO facilities. In semester 2004A, for the first time, observing proposals to the NOAO Gemini Science Center (131) exceeded those for Kitt Peak National Observatory, and for semester 2005A, NOAO received more proposals for Gemini (217) than KPNO and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory combined. This marks yet another milestone in the progress of Gemini from NOAO concept, through construction and instrumentation, to productive science. NGSC has begun its re-organization to cater to our new users, so that Gemini will progress to the next stages of discovery, publication, and leadership in the international and national 8-meter telescope arena. Deputy Director Verne Smith and Assistant Astronomer Tom Matheson, joined the NGSC scientific staff in 2004.

GNIRS, the facility infrared spectrograph built by NOAO, was commissioned in 2004. U.S. science verification programs involved: candidate young brown dwarfs; SDSS Type II quasar candidates; the reddest quasars; dust and ice chemistry in quiescent molecular clouds; η Carinae; T Tauri binaries; VV and S CrA and their planet-forming disks; ice and hydrocarbons in NGC 4418; the central black hole of Centaurus A; molecular emission from accretion disks; LMC obscured stars; excitation conditions in Herbig-Haro objects; and Pre Main Sequence Binaries. The availability of an integral field unit on GNIRS in 2005 will increase the instrument’s versatility still further. Design studies for the second generation of Gemini instruments commenced in 2004.

The SOAR 4.2-meter telescope was dedicated in April 2004. SOAR is the Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research, and a collaboration of NOAO with University of North Carolina, Michigan State University, and LNA Brazil. Like WIYN, SOAR is a successful public-private partnership, and both WIYN and SOAR serve as models for the public-private partnership envisioned for the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (GSMT).

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project established its headquarters in Pasadena, California in 2004. The partners for the design and development phase are Caltech, the University of California, ACURA, and AURA. (Similar in concept to AURA, ACURA is the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy.) Also in 2004, AURA submitted proposals to the NSF for design and development work for both GSMT (including an alternate design) and LSST, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Such is the confluence on the NSF of proposals for implementing projects from the 2001–2010 decadal survey, that the astronomy division has requested assistance from NOAO in road-mapping future OIR facilities. This is to be done in 2004/5 by a Long Range Planning Committee chaired by past-President of the AAS, Caty Pilachowski.

NOAO public affairs and educational outreach (PAEO) accomplishments reached new heights in 2004 with facility-like oversubscription of the exemplary Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education (TLRBSE) program. Also, 12 TLRBSE graduates will receive observing time jointly from Kitt Peak and the Spitzer Science Center. New educational materials were a further popular highlight of our nationally prominent PAEO program in the year past.

1 SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS

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1.1 NOAO GEMINI SCIENCE CENTER

A Luminous Lyman-α Emitting Galaxy at Redshift z=6.535

A team of U.S. astronomers led by J. Rhoads (STSci) reported the discovery of extremely high rates of star formation in one of the most distant known galaxies in the Universe (2004, ApJ, 611, 59). LALA J142442.24+353400.2 lies at a redshift of 6.535, which puts it 12.8 billion light-years away. Thus, we are seeing this galaxy as it looked about 850 million years after the Big Bang. This faint, distant galaxy has a star formation rate of more than 11 solar masses per year, a very high rate among galaxies at this distance and epoch in the early Universe. Rhoads and collaborators traced the galaxy’s starburst activity by measuring emission in the Lyman-α emission line, using deep multi-object spectroscopy conducted at Gemini Observatory with GMOS-North (see Figure 1).

The galaxy was first identified in the Large Area Lyman Alpha (“LALA”) survey, a deep imaging survey conducted at the Kitt Peak National Observatory using the CCD Mosaic Imager at the 4-m Mayall Telescope. LALA is one of the largest surveys to search for very distant galaxies via their Lyman-α emission lines, the signpost of hydrogen that is ionized by hot, young stars in these galaxies. Such emission-line galaxies are identified by comparing their images in narrow bandpass filters from the LALA survey to broad-band filter images from both LALA and the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey.

The properties of the Lyman-α line can be used to study the reionization of the Universe because neutral intergalactic hydrogen should scatter Lyman-α light. The authors explore whether unusual effects in the gas within or around LALA J142442.24+353400.2 could facilitate the escape of Lyman-α emission. For example, if the line is Doppler-shifted to longer wavelengths before it reaches the intergalactic gas, either by a drift velocity of the emitting galaxy or by interaction with gas internal to that galaxy, the intergalactic scattering can be reduced. Nonetheless, the properties of LALA J142442.24+353400.2 are most easily understood if the Universe is already mostly ionized at z = 6.5.

Accretion Signatures in Massive Star Formation

Massive stars (those of spectral types O and early B) synthesize and eject significant fractions of many of the elements heavier than helium, as well as deposit large quantities of energy, into the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Galaxy. These O and B stars play a significant role in the ongoing chemical evolution of the Milky Way and in the dynamics of its ISM. The character of stellar

FIGURE 1 Spectrum of LALA J142442.24+353400.2,

obtained with the GMOS spectrograph on Gemini North.

The solid histogram shows the measured flux, and the

dotted line shows the 1-sigma flux uncertainties.


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nucleosynthesis and the energetics of supernovae explosions are strong functions of the mass of the star. Quantifying the physical processes that drive the formation of massive stars is thus an important step in understanding what sets the masses of these objects which have such a strong influence on the structure and evolution of our Galaxy.

In order to probe the formation of massive stars, Blum, Barbosa, Damineli, Conti, and Ridgway (2004, ApJ, in press) have obtained high-resolution infrared (IR) spectra of four massive, young stars that are members of clusters that power Galactic giant H II regions. The new spectra were obtained with the NOAO-provided Phoenix high-resolution infrared spectrograph on Gemini South. Blum and collaborators used the Phoenix spectra to investigate the circumstellar environment of these young stars. All objects show emission in the 2.3 µm CO 2-0 vibrational-rotational bandhead, with a range of velocity broadened profiles. Figure 2 shows the CO 2-0 bandhead emission for Source 268 in M17: the insert shows the intrinsic emission-line profile for a single line (υ=2-0, J=51-50). The smooth curve in this figure represents a model for the emission profile from a circumstellar disk, and the comparison between model and observed spectrum is excellent.

In addition to the CO spectra, emission lines from hydrogen Brackett-γ and, for one source, also Br-α, were observed. Unlike the spatially unresolved CO emission, the H Brackett lines were spatially resolved along the slit. The additional constraints provided by the hydrogen lines allow Blum and collaborators to model the circumstellar geometries of these massive young stars. In three of the four

stars, the CO emission is well-fit as arising from Keplerian circumstellar disks viewed from various inclination angles. A fourth star, #48 in NGC 3576, is better fit by a more complicated geometry, with an expanding cavity that is being broken up, as well as a more compact accretion torus. These results demonstrate the usefulness of high-resolution IR spectroscopy providing the velocity resolution, coupled to high-quality spatial resolution along the spectrograph slit.

Blum et al. (2004) show conclusively that stars in the mass range of 10-30 MSun form with accretion disks, just as for lower mass stars. These results increase our understanding of the star formation process for masses of stars that ultimately have an enormous influence on the chemical and dynamical evolution of the Milky Way.

FIGURE 2 The CO first overtone rotational-vibrational

band for Source 268 in M17. The smooth curve is a

model fit from a Keplerian disk. The observed spectrum

consists of two grating settings, with the insert showing

the emission-line profile from a single CO line.


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1.2 CERRO TOLOLO INTER-AMERICAN OBSERVATORY (CTIO)

The Halo of Our Galaxy: Structured, Not Smooth!

The classical picture of the halo of our galaxy as being a rather homogeneous structure composed only of stars and globular clusters that are as old as the galaxy itself has radically changed in the last decade. Star counts from the all-sky photographic surveys with large Schmidt cameras resulted in the discovery of the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy that is presently colliding with, and being disrupted by, our own Galaxy. In particular, the 2MASS and SDSS surveys have produced large well-calibrated catalogs that are the basis for quantitative follow-up studies of the distribution, kinematics, ages, and composition of stars throughout much of the halo.

Such studies are the focus of research by S. Majewski (U. Virginia) and collaborators using the Hydra multi-object spectrograph on the Blanco telescope and the Cassegrain spectrograph on the 1.5-m telescope. First, by combining the 2MASS and SDSS databases in order to maximize the depth reached, they identified several distant halo overdensities beyond 50 kpc, which, using radial velocities from the Blanco, are now proven to be distant tidal stream structures. These structures are consistent with being distant parts of a fully-wrapped trailing tail from the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy. Combined with the leading arm tail wrapped in the inner Galaxy, the Sgr tails apparently reach some 700 degrees circular in extent. Further work will prove whether the two distant structures are indeed connected, will measure the extent and mass of the Sgr dwarf, and will characterize the galactic potential.

A related study uses the recently published Grid Giant Star Survey (GGSS), which provides a database of 70,000 halo and thick disk giant and horizontal branch star candidates and is ideal for studying the structure of the Galaxy out to a distance of more than 50 Kpc. This catalog, a preparation for the NASA SIM mission, has significant contributions from CTIO observations made from a team led by V. Smith (U. Texas; NOAO) and D. Geisler (U. Concepción). Majewski and collaborators have already used this database to identify stars that are representatives of a tidal debris stream roughly consistent with the Sagittarius leading arm mentioned above. In FY04, they embarked on an ambitious project to probe about 10% of the 1302 GGSS fields, focusing initially on high latitude regions to begin mapping halo substructure and tying this to small-scale variations of the metallicity distribution function. A pilot survey very successfully demonstrated that the techniques efficiently detect networked streams.

Science with ISPI at the Blanco

The Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI) is currently the largest near-infrared focal plane in the Southern hemisphere (10′ FOV). Observers are now taking advantage of this fact and the good image quality (typically 0.6 ″ at K with 0.3″ pixel sampling) provided at the Blanco 4-m to make deep follow-up observations for cutting edge space-based missions and ground-based optical surveys.

B. Mobasher (STScI) and collaborators are using ISPI to obtain near-infrared data to Ks ~ 21 magnitudes in a two degree equatorial field set by the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) project, COSMOS. This intensive HST Treasury project seeks to connect studies of large-scale structure and galaxy evolution at redshifts beyond z = 2. The ISPI images will be critical in selecting different galaxy subsets from the two million COSMOS galaxies including extremely red objects (EROs) and the most massive galaxies at high z.


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M. Haas (University of Bochum) is using ISPI to follow up on an intriguing new set of objects found in the Infrared Space Observatory ISOCAM 6 micron parallel survey. The ISOCAM data, in combination with other ground-based surveys, suggests this new population may be very red AGN with substantial mid infrared (MIR) emission. The team is using ISPI to take deep images of these MIR AGN which have no 2MASS counterparts.

D. Norman (NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at CTIO) and collaborators have used the Blanco 4-m Deep Lens Survey (DLS) taken with the prime focus imager MOSAIC II to do a follow-on study of quasars in regions of massive dark matter peaks. Norman’s team is obtaining deep ISPI images of a unique sample of DLS shear selected galaxy clusters to search for quasar candidates in an unbiased way. Ultimately, the sample of ISPI quasars found in the DLS clusters will be used to test hierarchical models for cluster formation and specifically, their assumptions on the relative spatial distributions of quasars and dark matter halos.

On the other end of the distance scale, K. Luhman (CfA/SAO) and collaborators are using ISPI to survey the Chamaeleon I and Ophiuchus star-forming regions. Combining deep ISPI images with I-band data from Magellan and IRAC (3-8 micron) imaging from the Spitzer Space Telescope, Luhman’s team will be able to trace the initial mass function in these young (1 Myr) clusters to approximately 1 Jupiter mass. A similar project based on a Spitzer Legacy Project is also using ISPI (combined with Blanco MOSAIC II imaging) to detect near Jupiter mass objects in and around nearby molecular clouds. This project is led by K. Allers in collaboration with D. Jaffe at University of Texas.

1.3 KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY

Stellar Clockwork

Distinguishing among models of pre-main sequence stellar evolution requires a high level of precision in measured stellar parameters. Normally, the accuracy of determinations of stellar mass or radius is limited for pre-main sequence stars by uncertainties in the distances to the recently formed stellar associations. One certain path to improvement in precision is time coverage of an eclipsing spectroscopic binary system. The combination of a high accuracy light curve and double radial velocity curve allows distance-independent determination of masses and radii for the two components.

K. Stassun (Vanderbilt), R. Mathieu (U. Wisconsin), L. R. Vaz (U.F. de Minas Gerais), N. Stroud (U. Wisconsin), and F. Vrba (USNO, Flagstaff) reported in the April, 2004, Astrophysical Journal Supplement on the discovery, measurement, and analysis of a spectroscopic binary in the Orion OB1 association. They used a combination of 1-meter class telescopes for regular photometric monitoring over two years, including particularly the WIYN 0.9-m and the CTIO 0.9-m. They obtained monitoring spectra with WIYN Hydra and through TSIP time on the HET echelle spectrograph.

The resulting light curve was fitted, including a model for starspot modulation. The combination of light curve and velocity curves allowed a determination of masses and radii to 1% accuracy—the primary having 1.01 solar mass, and the secondary 0.73, the lowest value ever measured in a pre-main sequence binary. The high-dispersion spectra also allowed spectral typing, resulting in effective temperatures, then luminosities. Comparison with a range of current models showed that no one set of models adequately described the H-R diagram locations and mass-radius relations, particularly when combined with data from other measured systems in the literature. One important trend was noted with respect to the surface lithium abundance. The initial Li is easily destroyed in low-temperature


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fusion reactions; the residual amount is very sensitive to the efficiency of convection and depth of the convection zone. The empirical measurements of Li abundance in the binary pair in Orion combined with those of other measured systems as a function of mass very strongly favor models with inefficient convection in the interior, even though higher efficiency is required to fit the abundance observed in the Sun.

This new, high precision dual mass determination will point the way toward models of pre-main sequence evolution with higher reliability and consistency.

What Are Those Damped Lyman α Absorbers Anyway?

Quasar sightlines frequently show intervening absorption systems with sufficient neutral hydrogen column that radiation damping wings appear on the Lyman α line. The statistics of the frequency of such systems suggest that they contained as much neutral hydrogen in the early Universe as is found in stars in the present-day Universe. The question is: what are these absorbers? Are they the progenitors of massive galaxies with huge disks of gas, or are they sub-luminous, much less massive galaxies, perhaps on their way to coalescence in building up a larger, modern galaxy? One discriminant between those two choices is a measurement of the tendency of damped Lyman α hosts to cluster with other galaxies. More massive hosts would be in denser environments with higher clustering amplitudes, while less massive hosts would be more uniformly distributed. Early studies on narrow fields around a few individual objects have not yielded decisive results.

N. Bouché (U. Mass Amherst) and J. Lowenthal (Smith College) reported in the Astrophysical Journal of July 10, 2004, about their attack on this problem. They used the KPNO Mayall 4-meter telescope + CCD Mosaic camera to measure the association of three damped Lyman α absorbers with surrounding galaxies at similar redshifts of ~3. The galaxies in the environment local to the absorber were distinguished by the break in their observed spectral energy distributions caused by the nearly opaque absorption of intervening neutral hydrogen clouds (the Lyman α forest) at that redshift, as Lyman Break Galaxies. They took images covering 1 sq. deg. around each quasar probe with a damped system in 4 filter bands from ultraviolet through near-infrared (I). Those colors were sufficient to estimate redshifts accurately to ~0.06/(1+z) in an area 65 Mpc on a side. By taking a redshift slice of width 0.15 centered on the redshift of each absorber, they were able to identify an average of ~75 Lyman Break Galaxies in each field. The completeness limit of fainter than 24th magnitude in I guarantees that galaxies as faint as L* are well covered.

By a detailed statistical analysis, Bouché and Lowenthal showed that the Damped Lyman α absorber was correlated with the surrounding Lyman Break Galaxies at the 95% significance level, with the signal strongest on a scale of 5-10 Mpc. The formal amplitude of the clustering was greater than that measured for Lyman Break Galaxies with themselves, suggesting that the Damped Lyman α hosts are more massive than the typical Lyman Break Galaxy. On the other hand, simulations by the same authors suggest that the DLA’s should be slightly less massive, and the amplitude determination has a large uncertainty. The correlation length is 5 ± 4.5 Mpc for a Hubble constant of 100, similar to that for fairly massive galaxies at lower redshifts.

Although this early investigation did not yet yield a definitive answer for the relative masses of Damped Lyman α galaxies compared to Lyman Break Galaxies, it laid the groundwork for a robust statistical approach to answering the question and expanding our insight into the era of galaxy formation and coalescence.

2 THE NATIONAL GROUND-BASED O/IR OBSERVING SYSTEM

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2.1 THE GEMINI TELESCOPES

Support of U.S. GEMINI Users and Proposers

The NOAO Gemini Science Center (NGSC) supports the U.S. community’s use of the state-of-the-art Gemini 8-meter telescopes. This support work includes informing the U.S. community of Gemini scientific observing opportunities, answering U.S. proposers’ and users’ queries, performing technical reviews of U.S. Gemini observing proposals, applying the NOAO TAC process to the U.S. Gemini observing proposals, interfacing with Gemini on the implementation of the selected U.S. Gemini proposals, providing assistance with and checking of the U.S. Phase-II submissions, and selected operational support to Gemini.

The NGSC saw a strong response from the U.S. community to the Gemini Call for Proposals for semester 2004B. On Gemini North for 2004B, 84 proposals were received: 45 for GMOS-North, 18 for NIRI alone, 5 for NIRI with the Altair adaptive optics system, and 17 for Michelle (some proposals requested more than one instrument). Ninety-three U.S. proposals requested Gemini South: 29 for GNIRS, 28 for T-ReCS, 28 for GMOS-South, 9 for Phoenix, and 2 for the Acquisition Camera. In total, 161 U.S. Gemini proposals sought 371 nights on the two Gemini telescopes.

The U.S. community responded enthusiastically to the Gemini Call for Proposals for semester 2005A. Overall, U.S. proposers submitted 217 proposals for 2005A, which represents a 35% increase over the number submitted in 2004B. On Gemini North for 2005A, 121 proposals were received: 60 for GMOS-North, 35 for NIRI alone, 12 for NIRI with the Altair adaptive optics system, and 22 for Michelle (some proposals requested more than one instrument). One hundred fourteen U.S. proposals requested Gemini South: 39 for GNIRS, 34 for GMOS-South, 24 for Phoenix, 23 for T-ReCS, and 1 for the Acquisition Camera. In total, 217 U.S. Gemini proposals sought 475 nights on the two Gemini telescopes. The numbers of U.S. Gemini proposals and nights requested represent all-time highs. The oversubscription factors of 5.1 at Gemini North and 4.2 at Gemini South demonstrate healthy community engagement.

The Gemini observing process requires the submission of a Phase-II program once an observing program is approved. NGSC staff performed Phase-II review, and related proposer interactions, for U.S. Gemini proposals. Because the Phase-II submission must describe an

The NGSC booth at the Atlanta AAS meeting in January

2004 featured displays on how to propose for Gemini

observing, brochures on available Gemini instruments,

and a tutorial on preparing Phase II programs.


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observation completely and conform to numerous rules and conventions, few users submit a correct Phase-II initially. Usually, multiple iterations and communications with the P.I. are required.

In order to see the powerful capabilities of GNIRS on Gemini South exploited for major scientific initiatives, NOAO is conducting a pilot program to enable observations with high scientific potential that require significant blocks of time. This “GNIRS Key Science Opportunity” was initiated for semester 2004B and continued in semester 2005A. In order to help inform the community, NGSC created a Web site on the GNIRS Key Science Opportunity. The site has links to GNIRS information and features a form to allow interested parties to indicate their interest to persons forming science teams. In addition, NGSC held a Webcast on the GNIRS Key Science Opportunity on March 16, 2004. During the proposal review process for semester 2004B, NOAO selected the first program for GNIRS Key Science: “A Near-Infrared Kinematic Survey of Nearby Galaxies: Black Holes, Bulges, and the Fundamental Plane” by Karl Gebhardt (University of Texas) and colleagues.

NGSC provided observing support and maintenance of the NOAO-built Phoenix high-resolution infrared spectrograph on Gemini South. NGSC staff members K. Hinkle, R. Blum, et al. observed with Phoenix on Gemini South for community queue science programs during FY 2004. NGSC regularly sends staff to the Gemini telescopes to provide assistance with queue observing and for training on Gemini observing procedures. Witnessing firsthand how the Gemini telescopes, instruments, and queue observing function is essential to supporting the U.S. community. NGSC Staff have also participated in instrument commissioning and system verification at the Gemini telescopes. During FY 2004, NGSC Staff helped support 205 nights of observing and/or testing at the two Gemini telescopes.

Providing U.S. Scientific Input to Gemini

The U.S. Gemini Science Advisory Committee (SAC), which serves as NGSC’s commu-nity-based advisory committee, met by teleconference and had numerous e-mail discussions during FY 2004. T. Armandroff briefed the committee on the status of the Gemini telescopes and instruments, the U.S. instrumentation effort, and current scientific and technical issues. The U.S. Gemini SAC discussed the current state of observing capabilities on Gemini, future opportuni-ties, and how the priorities of the U.S. Gemini community should be enunciated. Membership of the U.S. Gemini SAC is described at www.noao.edu/usgp/staff.html. Six members from this group participated in the Gemini Science Committee meeting in La Serena, Chile on October 13-14, 2003. T. Armandroff represented the United States at the Gemini Operations Working Group meetings in February 2004 in Waikoloa, Hawaii and in August 2004 in Sydney, Australia.

U.S. Gemini Instrumentation Program

One component of the U.S. Gemini Instrumentation Program consists of instruments being built by NOAO for use on Gemini. GNIRS is such an NOAO-built instrument and is described below in the Major Instrumentation Program section of this report.

The other class of U.S. Gemini instruments consists of those being built at other U.S. institutions under an AURA contract awarded by NOAO, with NGSC technical and managerial oversight. Progress on two such instruments is described below.


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NICI, the Near Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, will provide a 1-5 micron dual-beam coronagraphic imaging capability on the Gemini South telescope. Mauna Kea Infrared (MKIR) in Hilo is building NICI, under the leadership of Doug Toomey. During FY 2004, the NICI team achieved the following major milestones: completion of fabrication and procurement of major NICI components; integration of the NICI components into the NICI dewar; assembly, integration, and testing of the electronics associated with the NICI cold mechanisms and detectors; successful vacuum test and first cold test; and continuing progress on developing the NICI adaptive optics system. At the close of FY 2004, the second cold test of NICI with the first readout of the integrated detector system was imminent. By the end of FY 2004, MKIR reported that approximately 93% of the work to NICI final acceptance had been completed. NICI is expected to be deployed on Gemini South in 2005.

FLAMINGOS-2 is a near-infrared multi-object spectrograph and imager for the Gemini telescopes; it will be commissioned at Gemini North and used there for some period before being relocated to Gemini South. FLAMINGOS-2 will cover a 6.1-arcminute-diameter field at the standard Gemini f/16 focus in imaging mode, and will provide multi-object spectra over a 6.1×2-arcminute field. It will also provide a multi-object spectroscopic capability for Gemini South’s multi-conjugate adaptive optics system. The University of Florida is building FLAMINGOS-2, under the leadership of principal investigator Steve Eikenberry. During FY04, the FLAMINGOS-2 team was in the fabrication phase and accomplished the following major milestones: fabrication and procurement of major FLAMINGOS-2 components; fabrication, test fitting, and vacuum testing of both the main camera dewar and the smaller (MOS) dewar that contains the masks for multi-object spectroscopy; and the first software Beta release. At the close of FY 2004, approximately 59% of the work to FLAMINGOS-2 final acceptance had been completed.

2.2 CTIO TELESCOPES

In FY04, CTIO telescope activities were concentrated in two main areas: (1) operating a suite of wide-field instruments on the Blanco telescope, and (2) integration and commissioning efforts at SOAR. In addition, an Announcement of Opportunity was issued soliciting partners in the development of a major new instrument for the Blanco telescope in exchange for observing time. CTIO continues to be a favorable site for Southern hemisphere projects, with two new initiatives undertaken in FY04. Also in FY04, the SMARTS consortium ramped up to a four-telescope suite.

Blanco 4-m Telescope

The future Blanco instrumentation plan features NEWFIRM, a wide-field 4K imager being built at NOAO, to be shared, beginning in 2007, between the Mayall 4-m on Kitt Peak and the Blanco. Following staff and User Committee discussion, an Announcement of Opportunity was issued for the development of a major new instrument for the Blanco telescope. No restrictions were placed on the type of instrument that could be proposed, though prospective proposers were encouraged to build on the wide-field capability of the prime or RC foci of the telescope and to take a System-wide view of facilities available to the U.S. community, in particular those in the Southern hemisphere. A single proposal was received from a consortium led by Fermilab, including the Universities of Illinois, Chicago, and Berkeley/LBNL The consortium proposed a four-pronged project to study Dark Energy


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for which they would build a very wide-field CCD imager and conduct a 5-year survey starting in 2009, using 30% of the telescope time. The project includes a new prime focus cage with 500 Gpixel camera and five-element prime focus corrector with 1.1-m diameter front element, data pipelines, archive, and data products. External reviews for both Fermilab and NOAO have recommended that the project go ahead.

SOAR 4-m Telescope

The SOAR optics and mirror support assemblies were delivered in January 2004 and rapidly installed; an engineering first light image showing star profiles that matched the sub-arcsecond site seeing at the time was available by the official dedication ceremony on April 17, 2004. With help from the other SOAR partners—Brazil, Michigan State University, and the University of North Carolina—CTIO staff have almost completely taken over from SOAR project staff in the integration and commissioning of the telescope and its instrumentation. CTIO is also building the instrument adaptors and calibration facilities for the two Nasmyth platforms; the first assembly was delivered in mid-2004. Work has concentrated on characterizing the primary mirror active optics system; some defects in the design of the radial support system were identified and an improved system is being designed. Full science operation is now expected for semester 2005-B, with an early science program in 2005-A.

Blanco Instrumentation

• MOSAIC 2: The Mosaic imager at prime focus continues to be the most popular Blanco instrument. Failure of one of the CCDs necessitated operation with only seven CCDs for a few months until a replacement was located and successfully installed. The new CCD, loaned by University of North Carolina, is well-matched to the others, thus restoring the instrument to its full potential.

• ISPI: The Infrared Side Port Imager is presently the widest field large-telescope IR imager in the Southern hemisphere, covering 11 arcminutes square with 0.33 arcsec per pixel sampling at 1–2.4 microns. This complements the small-field, high angular resolution near-IR imaging capability soon to be available at SOAR, and the infrared spectroscopic instrumentation, GNIRS and T-Recs, at Gemini South. Following commissioning of ISPI in FY03, the instrument has been heavily scheduled in FY04 for a variety of survey and targeted programs.

• HYDRA-CTIO: HYDRA is the third Blanco wide-field instrument; it can be installed perma-nently together with Mosaic and ISPI. It had an extensive upgrade during FY03; performance and reliability were significantly improved and the instrument saw significant use in FY04.

• RC and Echelle Spectrographs: These spectrographs were scheduled in severely blocked mode throughout FY04; plans to retire them were put on hold for a year given slippage in the SOAR telescope schedule and delays in the delivery of Gemini instruments.


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SOAR Instrumentation

• Optical Imager: This instrument, built at CTIO, was delivered to SOAR. Two E2V CCDs were installed due to the long delays in delivery of the Lincoln Labs CCDs. The Optical Imager is the commissioning instrument for the SOAR telescope, and appears to fully meet or exceed its specifications. In particular, transmission through two ADC prisms and four focal reducer elements was very high; the Solgel coatings were deposited at CTIO using a facility developed for that purpose.

• OSIRIS: The Ohio State Infrared Imager and Spectrometer, which is fitted with a CTIO 1K × 1K Rockwell HgCdTe array, was moved to SOAR after several years of use on the Blanco telescope. It will be used to commission the infrared “side” of SOAR, and will provide modest-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy (up to R=3000) for the NOAO and SOAR community.

• Other SOAR Partner Instruments: CTIO is building dewars and integrating the CCD focal planes for both the University of North Carolina Goodman High-Throughput Spectrograph and the University of Sao Paulo Integral Field-Unit Spectrograph. Substantial progress was made on both projects in FY04, although completion was hampered by delay in the delivery of the Lincoln Labs CCDs that are specified for both focal planes.

SMARTS Consortium and Other Small Telescopes

The Small and Moderate Aperture Telescope Research System (SMARTS) consortium entered year two of the three-year project. NOAO users averaged 30% of the time on the 0.9-m, 1.3-m, and 1.5-m telescopes over the course of FY04. In April 2004, the 1.0-m was added to the suite of telescopes, with a CCD imager built by Ohio State University, initially with a 512 CCD, to be replaced at the end of 2004 with a 4K CCD. The deployment of the U. Montreal 2K IR Imager on the 1.5-m was re-scheduled to 2005, due to delays in completion of the instrument. Operations have run very smoothly, with the fraction of useful time on the sky remaining high, and service observing is now an option on all telescopes (mandatory on the 1.3-m). There is strong interest among consortium members in renewing the present agreement (i.e., SMARTS II) after its expiration in January 2006.

The University of North Carolina Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescopes (PROMPT) project consists of six small telescopes that rapidly follow-up Gamma Ray Bursts discovered by the SWIFT satellite and subsequently trigger a target-of-opportunity interrupt at SOAR. At other times, the telescopes will make observations as part of an extensive education and outreach program in North Carolina. Ground-breaking commenced for this facility, located between the GONG station and the 1.3-m telescope on Cerro Tololo, towards the end of FY04.

Agreement was reached between the Ruhr University at Bochum (RUB), Germany and AURA to install the Bochum 1.5-m hexapod telescope at CTIO. This unusual high-tech telescope will initially be tested and operated by RUB, and may later become a part of SMARTS II.

U.S. institutions operate two other telescopes on Cerro Tololo. The 0.6/0.9-m Curtis Schmidt telescope is operated by the U. Michigan, now open part-time in a NASA-funded project to catalog space debris in geosynchronous orbits. The 0.4-m Lowell telescope remains closed to general users, although it is occasionally operated by the Lowell Observatory.


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2.3 KPNO TELESCOPES

FY04 efforts concentrated on WIYN, with aluminizing of the optics and completion of the Hydra fiber positioner construction and installation. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Space Telescope Science Institute successfully assembled and integrated their IR Multi-Object Spectrograph for a stunning first-light commissioning run on the 2.1-m, while progress continued on development of the high-precision radial velocity spectrograph, the Exoplanet Tracker. The battle to preserve dark skies continued in the local political arena.

Performance Upgrades at WIYN

The year’s technical efforts were focused largely on WIYN. It was time in the cycle for re-aluminizing the optics, particularly the primary. That deadline forced the issue of completing some long-needed improvements to the mirror handling cart. New drive screws with higher precision control made the jacking motion much smoother. With the usual cautious approach, the cart was tested with concrete road barriers and verified prior to handling of the valuable primary itself. The entire operation went smoothly and with much less stress than in previous removals. Site Engineer Charles Corson’s routine maintenance of the mirror support system was worthwhile in identifying and replacing some misbehaving components. The resulting performance since reinstallation and realignment has been superb. Typical rms wavefront errors delivered to the sensor are under 100 nm, leading to regular imaging performance with 0.3”-0.4” FWHM.

During the year, a dedicated team led by Pat Knezek worked on design, fabrication and integration of a replacement for the Hydra fiber positioner. Some key components of the original positioner could no longer be replaced, leading to the risk of catastrophic failure. In addition, several improvements had been made to the design when implementing Hydra II for CTIO, which were desirable upgrades for WIYN performance. In the course of testing and commissioning the new positioner, several aspects of the long-frozen software control were brought to fully working order. During the full month of WIYN shutdown, the old positioner was removed, its gripper mechanism was transferred to the new system, and the new positioner was installed with a precision realignment scheme on the telescope. The first scheduled shared-risk science run was a complete operational success. Further improvements planned for FY05 will bring the performance to a level superior to its predecessor, while offering a maintainable system for a further ten years of active use.

Major progress was made in advancing the technology to produce wide-field CCD cameras with zonal fast guiding on-chip. George Jacoby leads WIYN in a collaboration with John Tonry and the PanSTARRS group at the University of Hawaii to develop Orthogonal Transfer Arrays of CCDs. These 4K × 4K devices allow fast read-out of individual 512 square cells; the centroided position of a guide star can be fed back to clock adjacent cells and move charge vertically or horizontally in either direction to achieve local fast guiding. WIYN is working with Dick Bredthauer of the commercial firm STA in close collaboration with PanSTARRS source Barry Burke at MIT Lincoln Labs. Both groups staged initial foundry runs, which were largely successful. The MITLL OTA has been demonstrated to image with its full format. The STA foundry devices will enter the testing phase before the end of CY04. The NSF ATI program granted WIYN the money to produce an 8K × 8K camera with OTA CCDs, QUOTA, planned for first light in 2006. All these steps are critical successes along the way to the production of a One-Degree Imager (32K x 32K) of OTA CCDs, planned for science operations in 2009.


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New Instruments and Upgrades

John MacKenty (STScI) delivered the IR Multi-Object Spectrograph for a successful first-light commissioning run on the 2.1-m in September. IRMOS was produced for KPNO by Space Telescope Science Institute and the JWST project at Goddard Space Flight Center. The instrument employs a commercial digital micro-mirror array as a cold, programmable multi-slit mask. KPNO fabricated the optical bench, and designed and fabricated the telescope mounting interfaces and handling cart. The instrument was on sky the first night of the run, and was successfully exercised for throughput and geometric calibration. Custom “slit” configurations were programmed for multiple stars in an open cluster and for a flared long-slit to maintain constant S/N in a nearby galaxy. With further development efforts planned for FY05, the control system will allow the user to image a field, then design a slit configuration from the image, dial in the grating of choice, and immediately take multi-object near-IR spectra. First public access through proposals is anticipated for semester 2005B.

Jian Ge and his Penn State/U. of Florida colleagues had several successful test runs with their technically developing precision radial velocity fiber-fed bench spectrograph. The optics project a fringe pattern from a Michelson interferometer at nearly right angles to the absorption features on the widened stellar spectrum. The recorded phase of the interference fringes is then extremely sensitive to small velocity shifts. They were able to obtain 3.5 m/s repeatability, following a series of upgrades that provided significantly improved thermal stability. Very high throughput was achieved by acquisition of a larger diameter collimator and implementing both beams of the interferometer. Use of the instrument on the 2.1-meter should afford stable measurements on stars of 8th and 9th magnitude. The next step in improving long-term stability is to provide an interferometer with full passive thermal compensation, very similar to the design used in the GONG network. The intention is to make the Exoplanet Tracker available to NOAO proposers sometime next year.

The software control system for the CCD Mosaic camera also received a much-needed refurbishment. Bob Marshall, the Mountain Programming Group lead, essentially hid the Sun OS data acquisition machine as a buried controller, addressable through a window in a modern Linux system. Observers have enjoyed the enormous increase in processing power for data reductions and much improved bandwidth for taping data. The physical camera also received thorough maintenance, including tune-up and fixing of the pneumatic filter track that has restored fully reliable performance.

New Major Tenant for KPNO

Because of site approval difficulties near Mt. Hopkins, the VERITAS project chose a site on Kitt Peak for their development. This observatory is the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System. Its scientific goal is to detect and characterize the extremely high energy gamma rays that are produced by quasars, supernova explosions, and other compact objects by the optical flashes emitted when the gamma-ray photons smash into the Earth's atmosphere. This project received high priority in the astronomy decadal survey. It is led by Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, PI Trevor Weekes, and includes a consortium of universities: Purdue, Iowa State, Washington - St. Louis, Chicago, Utah, UCLA, McGill, Dublin Ireland, and Leeds in the UK. The US partners are funded by the Smithsonian Institution, Department of Energy, and NSF.

The observatory will ultimately consist of seven 12-meter (36-foot) optical imaging telescopes, each with 315 mirror segments, and a 3.5-deg field of view. The final array configuration is planned to be a filled hexagon with sides of 265 feet. The initially funded configuration consists of 4


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telescopes. The telescope array does not need access to the horizons but does need protection from ground-level lights. The project identified a bowl area just above our “lake” suitable for placing the telescopes, support structures, and control building. They received approval for sublease of a dedicated site of ~20 acres. An Environmental Assessment with a finding of no significant impact was completed in March, allowing site preparation to begin. The Tohono O’odham Utility Authority ran utility lines to the site and the project’s contractor has completed grading of the pads and roads. The VERITAS Observatory is on track to become the major tenant on Kitt Peak and will be a high visibility international scientific facility.

Site Protection

The rapid growth of the Tucson metropolitan area requires a proactive approach to minimize the impact of light pollution on the operation of the Observatory. In FY03, the KPNO Director made several appearances at the State Legislature to speak on behalf of a bill that required new State construction projects to adopt a set of defined light pollution control standards or to abide by the relevant standards from the local government, whichever were more stringent. That bill was ultimately approved with a strong majority and signed by the Governor into law. In FY04, the major issue in light pollution has been with Pima County and its attempt to settle disputes with the billboard industry over numerous violations of County code. The KPNO Director was asked by the County Board of Supervisors to serve on a Citizen’s Advisory Committee to develop terms for a settlement that represented astronomy and community interests. The goal is to gain long-term acceptance by the billboard industry of the principle that the County and State have authority to regulate; the benefit will be voluntary compliance with light pollution control ordinances, which will be very effective when observed.

2.4 ENHANCED COMMUNITY ACCESS TO THE TELESCOPES OF THE INDEPENDENT OBSERVATORIES

NOAO continues to coordinate the time allocation process for telescope time that is made available to the broad community on the large, independent telescopes through the Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP), and its predecessor, the Facility Instrumentation Program.

MMT Observatory and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

In the late 1990s, NSF’s Facility Instrumentation Program granted instrument funds to groups associated with the MMT Observatory and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET). In return, the MMT Observatory agreed to schedule 162 nights at a nominal rate of 26 nights per year and the HET agreed to carry out observations equivalent to 101 clear nights at a nominal rate of 17 nights per year for telescope programs approved by NOAO’s Time Allocation Committee (TAC). NOAO’s role in this program is limited to the time allocation and community interface activities.

In the 2004A semester, NOAO did not solicit new proposals for time on the MMT due to a backlog of accepted proposals that had not been scheduled previously. In the 2004B semester, NOAO received 9 proposals for time on the MMT, requesting a total of 19.5 nights. Overall, this amounts to an oversubscription rate of about 1.5, though the split between bright time and dark time requests is not even, with dark time exceeding bright time by about two to one. This is due in part to the suite of instrumentation available on the MMT, which is heavily weighted towards dark time instruments. Five of these 9 proposals were granted time.


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In the two 2004 semesters, NOAO received 9 proposals for time on the HET, requesting a total of 18.0 nights. This amounts to an oversubscription rate of about 2.0 over the time available. Six of these proposals were granted time.

W. M. Keck Observatory and the Magellan Telescopes

In both 2004 semesters, time from the Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP) awards was available to the community. NOAO’s role in TSIP includes not only the distribution of telescope time, but also the management of the annual TSIP proposal peer-review process, and oversight of the instrument development activities of successful proposers. Those parts of the program are discussed below in section 4.5 of this annual report.

In 2004, six nights per semester were available on each of the Keck 10-m telescopes. In the two proposal semesters, a total of 61 proposals requesting 112.5 nights were received. The resulting over-subscription rate was about 4.5. Seventeen observing proposals were granted time in these two semesters.

In the 2004B semester three nights were available on each of the two Magellan 6.5-m telescopes. NOAO received 8 proposals requesting a total of 21 nights, an oversubscription rate of 3.5 Two of these proposals were granted time.

2.5 JOINT NOAO-NASA TIME ALLOCATION

NOAO has arranged several ad hoc programs to address the needs of projects that require time on ground-based telescopes associated with observations made on one of NASA’s Great Observatories, Chandra, HST, or Spitzer. The goal of these arrangements is to eliminate the double jeopardy of two peer reviews for proposals that require both sets of observations to accomplish their objectives. During FY 2004, one HST proposal and two Chandra proposals were approved for NOAO observations. With the successful initiation of Spitzer operations, a similar arrangement has been negotiated with the Spitzer Science Center, starting with cycle 2 of their General Observer program.

2.6 NOAO SURVEY PROGRAMS

The NOAO Survey Program has been very successful, with 15 surveys undertaken since inception in 1999. The surveys tend to be multi-year projects, and often are aimed at generating complete data sets. In 2003, it was realized that NOAO should make an effort to adjust its allocation of telescope time to accommodate weather and instrumental problems that survey projects have encountered, in order to improve the chances of success. Consequently, no new survey proposals were solicited in 2003 or 2004. Instead, the annual meeting of survey PIs was held with the survey panel of the NOAO TAC as audience, and the PIs were asked to address the needs of their surveys for supplemental telescope time. Those projects that were within a year of completion were given the opportunity to request a specific additional allocation, and the survey panel then met to consider these requests.

In 2004, no survey projects were granted an increase to their existing allocation.


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2.7 NOAO DATA PRODUCTS PROGRAM

Following the launch of the NOAO Science Archive (NSA) in mid-2002, the Data Products Program has focused on the development of an integrated data management and processing system that will provide efficient access to NOAO data and data products to the astronomical community. The short term goal of the program is to move from the current archive holdings—limited to data products provided by the survey teams—to the storage of all raw data from all NOAO facilities, together with the pipeline reduction of a substantial fraction of that data. The intent is to provide a new channel for access to data, by making data available to the community after a proprietary period, and also to assist observers by providing a simple way to download raw or reduced data following their observing run. Thus, this system provides data transport, data safe store, and data access, and will be compatible with standards, interfaces, and tools that are being developed by the National Virtual Observatory effort. This is a large undertaking and only the first pieces are in place by the end of FY 2004.

Work on the NOAO Science Archive (NSA) in FY 2004 focused on design activities for release 3, scheduled for FY 2006. This will be the release at which the “interim” NSA, put in place to serve the NOAO survey program data to the community, will be replaced by a carefully engineered, scaleable archive into which data from all NOAO telescopes and instruments will flow. A preliminary design review was held in February 2004.

Work on data reduction pipelines has moved from its early focus on the CCD Mosaic Imagers to NEWFIRM, the wide-field near-IR imager that is now under construction. This development is being done with the assistance of two personnel from the University of Maryland, a scientist and a software developer. The first release of the NEWFIRM pipeline, to support commissioning of that instrument, is scheduled for July, 2005.

A significant step forward was achieved in August, 2004 when the old tape-based Save-the-Bits program was superseded by a new automatic transport system that captures all the raw data streams from NOAO telescopes. Raw data repositories are currently maintained in La Serena and Tucson; these are mirrored to the other site to provide additional backup. Discussions are underway with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) to provide a third storage site.

The Data Products Program staff continued work on the Gemini IRAF development, as part of a joint Gemini-NOAO effort. Most of the system work required has been completed, and data reduction packages have been released for some of the Gemini instruments. This work is expected to complete in mid-2005.

3 MAJOR INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM

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3.1 GEMINI INSTRUMENTS

Gemini Near-Infra-Red Spectrograph (GNIRS)

The largest instrument project ever undertaken by NOAO, the Gemini Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (GNIRS), now provides the Gemini South telescope with long-slit capabilities at a range of dispersions through selectable gratings, covering the wavelength region from 0.9 micron to 5.5 microns at two pixel scales, by means of interchangeable cameras that feed a single 1024 pixel square ALADDIN-type InSb detector. It also provides options for 0.9–2.4 micron cross-dispersion, polarization analysis, and an integral field unit.

The project team, under the leadership of Project Scientist J. Elias, delivered the instrument to Cerro Pachón on October 31, 2003. GNIRS was installed on Gemini South, and integration with all telescope systems was completed in December. First starlight through GNIRS was recorded in early January 2004, and on-telescope acceptance tests were completed in February, leading to formal acceptance of the instrument by Gemini. The integral field unit, built by the University of Durham, was installed in GNIRS in March and successfully commissioned shortly thereafter. GNIRS has been enthusiastically received by the Gemini science community, garnering a large number of proposals for observing time in Semester 2004B.

Gemini Next-generation Instrument Design and Feasibility Studies

Following its summer 2003 workshop in Aspen, and review of the workshop results with the Gemini Science Committee and Board, Gemini published on December 19, 2003 four Calls for Proposals for new instrument studies. Two of these were calls for formal design studies, amounting to fixed-price bids to build the instrument from the study teams. The instruments to be covered by these studies were a high resolution near-infrared spectrograph (HRNIRS) and an extreme adaptive optics coronagraph (ExAO-C). The remaining two calls were for less formal feasibility studies to resolve questions about technical feasibility and cost. The instruments covered by these studies were a prime focus fiber-fed extremely wide-field optical spectrograph (GWFMOS), and a ground-layer adaptive optics system (GLAO). NOAO took part in collaborations responding to each of the four calls, and all the proposals in which NOAO took part were successful. In the end, Gemini commissioned two competing teams for each of the two design studies (HRNIRS and ExAO-C), so as to ensure there would be competing bids to build these instruments. Gemini commissioned one team for each of the feasibility studies.

On HRNIRS, the NOAO Major Instrumentation Program has joined forces with the University of Florida under the organizational leadership of the NOAO Gemini Science Center. NOAO and UF

3 MAJOR INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM

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are each devoting substantial scientific and engineering resources to preparing a conceptual design and costing to support the joint bid to build this instrument. On ExAO-C, NOAO is contributing scientific and managerial support to a design study partnership led by the University of Arizona. On GWFMOS, NOAO is participating in a large coalition (seven institutions) led by the Anglo-Australian Observatory by contributing both scientific and engineering staff. Finally, on GLAO, NOAO is part of a team led by the University of Arizona. All the studies are to be delivered to Gemini in the first half of FY 2005, with review presentations to be held a month or two after delivery.

3.2 NOAO INSTRUMENTS

NOAO Extremely Wide-Field IR Imager (NEWFIRM)

NEWFIRM, a world-class capability for wide-field imaging in the near infrared, is a key element in the U.S. system of facilities provided by NOAO. It has a 27 × 27 arcmin field of view with 0.4 arcsec per pixel at 1–2.4 microns and will operate at the R-C focus on either 4-meter telescope (Mayall or Blanco). The instrument per se will be complemented by a highly automated data reduction pipeline feeding the NOAO data archive. Most of FY 2004 was devoted to completing the detailed designs for the various instrument subsystems, and critical design reviews were held for the major subsystems as they were completed. The spherical optics were received back from the vendor and found to meet or exceed specifications in all regards. A contract for the figuring and polishing of the three aspheric elements was let to the University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center, and delivery of those items is expected early in FY 2005. The dewar vessel was completed by an outside vendor and delivered following acceptance testing near the end of FY 2004. Detailed mechanical design took longer than planned, but by the end of FY 2004 most major mechanical components were either in process or in queue in the Tucson and La Serena instrument shops. Fortunately both shops, especially La Serena, were able to devote considerably more resources to the fabrication effort than originally planned, so much of the time lost in the design phase should be recovered in fabrication. Electronics and software developments are proceeding well and are not pacing the schedule. Early in FY 2004, a contract was signed with Raytheon Vision Systems for a foundry run of twelve ORION II 2K × 2K InSb detector arrays. Raytheon completed the first three contract milestones in FY 2004, and delivery of the first devices is expected in the first half of FY 2005. Finally, the NOAO Data Products Program and the University of Maryland began working jointly on the data handling system and data reduction pipeline to enable rapid scientific use of the large volume of data expected from NEWFIRM. Due to delays in mechanical and optical design and fabrication, the initial delivery to the Mayall telescope is now expected in the first quarter of FY 2006 (last quarter of calendar year 2005).

SOAR Adaptive Optics Module (SAM)

The SOAR 4.2-m telescope on Cerro Pachón will produce very high quality images over a field of view 10 arcminutes square (see http://www.ctio.noao.edu/~atokovin/soar). The SOAR Adaptive Optics Module (SAM) is designed to enhance this image quality by correcting the turbulence in the first 5–10 km of atmosphere, reducing the image size by half during appropriate atmospheric conditions, which are expected to be available about half the time. Following the FY 2003 Conceptual Design Review (CoDR), the team solicited and received further input from the SOAR scientific


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community about the relative priorities of the science goals. The responses stressed the priority of the wider-field laser guide star system. Based on this input, the diffraction-limited mode using natural guide stars was downgraded in importance, leading to a significant simplification of the instrument’s optical design. This simplified design was presented to a half-day “delta-CoDR” in January of 2004. The review panel wholeheartedly endorsed the revised design, applauded the team’s sharpened focus on the most important aspects of the science case, and encouraged the team to proceed full speed towards a Preliminary Design Review. Shortly after the delta-CoDR, the SOAR Board formally approved SAM as one of the two additional instruments NOAO is obligated to supply under the SOAR partnership agreement. The team finished FY 2004 hard at work developing the designs to the level required for a PDR, which is expected to be held early in FY 2005.

SOAR Optical Imager

The SOAR Optical Imager, a facility class instrument being built at NOAO South and the commissioning instrument for SOAR, was delivered during FY 2004. The image is located at a bent-Cassegrain port and incorporates its own rotator, atmospheric dispersion corrector, and focal reducer, together with a tip-tilt guider capable of controlling M3 at up to 50 Hz. The focal plane consists of a 4K × 4K mini-mosaic of E2V CCDs, where were successfully integrated with an SDSU (Leach) controller and subsequently optimized. The instrument passed flexure testing and has been integrated with the SOAR telescope and software systems.

MONSOON Detector Controller

The MONSOON image acquisition system is the NOAO solution for scalable, multi-channel high-speed image acquisition systems required for next-generation projects. MONSOON is designed to be flexible enough to support CCD, CMOS and IR diode imaging arrays in a wide variety of uses, including science instruments, acquisition and guide cameras, and wavefront sensors. It is under development jointly by staff at both NOAO North in Tucson and NOAO South in La Serena. FY 2004 saw significant advancement for the project. All three major hardware components—the master control board, the clock & bias board, and the data acquisition board (in both IR and CCD prototype versions)—underwent revisions based on lessons learned from optimizing the prototypes built in FY 2003. The first “production” system was delivered to the NOAO IR detector laboratory for use in testing the 2K × 2K ORION InSb arrays. Substantial progress was made on the assembly of the controller for the NEWFIRM focal plane, delivery of which is called for in FY 2005. NOAO took the first steps towards opening the MONSOON design information to the community under an “open source” licensing agreement. Finally, several other institutions expressed interest in using MONSOON controllers within their own projects, and NOAO began collaborations to supply two of them with MONSOON systems to meet their needs.

4 IMPLEMENTING THE DECADAL SURVEY

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4.1 SITE CHARACTERIZATION FOR NEW, LARGE FACILITIES

Most site characterization activities in FY04 took place in the context of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project. Toward the end of the fiscal year, the management of site testing the was transferred, via an agreement between Caltech and AURA, from the Sites Working Group to direct TMT project control. Informal collaborations continued with Cornell, Carnegie, UNAM and INAOE (Mexico), and several other groups. Liaison with ESO on site-testing equipment calibration issues was actively pursued.

Site testing continued at the first northern Chile TMT site with the installation of a Multi-Aperture Scintillation Sensor (MASS), which provides low-resolution turbulence profiles above 0.5 km, and a Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM), which measures the integrated turbulence through the whole atmosphere, to accompany the weather station installed during FY03. This equipment functioned throughout most of FY04 and delivered valuable data on the turbulence characteristics of the atmosphere above the site. Lessons learned from this deployment, particularly concerning equipment reliability and procedures, were applied to the preparation of the equipment to be installed at several sites in Chile, Mexico, and Hawaii in early FY05. A weather station was installed on a second Chilean TMT site, while the station installed in FY01 on Cerro Honar, above ALMA, continued to operate and provide essential long-term data on this very high-altitude (5,400m) site, as did a similar weather station on nearby Cerro Negro. Further work on the sites near ALMA awaits approval of the extension of the Science Park. No measurements were made on Mauna Kea during FY04 due to delays in the permit process; however. by year-end a way forward to allow testing at the TMT north-shield site was identified and equipment should be installed early in FY05.

Several months were spent on an extensive “calibration campaign” on Cerro Tololo, with multiple MASS-DIMMS, instrumented towers, weather stations, two Sound Detection and Ranging (SODAR) systems, supplemented by instrumented balloon launches and modeling of the wind flow over the terrain. The major aim of the campaign was to develop robust and accurate techniques for measuring turbulence over the first kilometer, i.e., from the ground to the free atmosphere, which is a critical need for design and operation of TMT Adaptive Optics. As part of this effort, the level of systematic error in the measurement of integrating seeing was pushed to below the 0.05 arc second level. The campaign ran to the end of FY04 and the various data sets are being reduced and reports written.

A MASS unit was provided for installation at Dome C, Antarctica, during the 2003–2004 southern summer, and the instrument functioned along with a SODAR for the first part of the subsequent winter. The published results indicate that this site has significantly better seeing than any site yet tested on the planet. Identical MASS-DIMM units, constructed in FY03, are being deployed as part of the TMT campaign, on Cerro Pachón, Cerro Tololo, and by ESO at their observatory sites and in Argentina. A unit is also being deployed at Las Campanas in a collaboration with Carnegie, as part of the site testing for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT).

Site testing continued on the “LSST site” on Cerro Pachón, and a year of weather station data were analyzed. Installation of a MASS-DIMM between SOAR and Gemini will further help characterize this site, as will data from balloon launches obtained as part of the TMT Tololo calibration campaign, and wind flow modeling. Light pollution models for Cerro Pachón were revised using recently issued population census totals and the lowering in sky illumination produced by the


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bulk changing of lighting fixtures as a consequence of the new Chilean lighting law. A written report concluded that Cerro Pachón was a very dark site, and even under conservative assumptions, the light pollution would remain low for some decades.

4.2 AURA NEW INITIATIVES OFFICE

Based in Tucson, the AURA New Initiatives Office (NIO) is charged with ensuringbroad astronomical community access to a 30-meter-class telescope that will be contemporaneous with ALMA and NGST, by playing a key role in scientific and technical studies leading to the creation of the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope [GSMT].” As a collaboration between Gemini and NOAO, the NIO draws on the expertise of Gemini and NOAO staff in Tucson, Hilo, Hawaii, and La Serena, Chile.

In FY 2004, NIO efforts focused on (1) preparation of a proposal to the National Science Foundation requesting federal support in the amount of $39M to advance two ELT concepts—one the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) in which AURA is a partner (see below); the other an alternate ELT concept—and (2) active participation in the technical and scientific working groups critical to advancing the TMT concept and initiating its Design and Development Phase. The following highlights additional FY04 accomplishments in specific areas.

Staffing

The NIO team, staffed primarily by NOAO engineers and scientists, also includes senior Gemini staff members filling key positions in the NIO structure. This has enabled NIO to leverage Gemini’s telescope building experience to guide the GSMT technical studies. At present, 16 FTEs support NIO efforts.

Web Site

The NIO public Web site at http://www.aura-nio.noao.edu provides a tool for communicating ongoing NIO activities, including the results of the many technical studies completed by NIO staff, collaborating institutions, and subcontractors. The Web site, which is updated periodically, also contains copies of presentations and links to the sites of other Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) groups.

Science Working Group (SWG)

NIO has created a community-wide GSMT Science Working Group in response to a request from the National Science Foundation. The charge of the SWG is to “advise the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences on a strategy for guiding federal investment in a Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (GSMT).” Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, Director of the Institute for Astronomy at the U. Hawaii is the chair of the GSMT SWG, with NOAO’s Steve Strom as vice-chair. In FY04, the science working group presented the conclusions of its first major report, Frontier Science Enabled by the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope, to the Astronomical Sciences Division of the NSF and to the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics. This report, which recommends vigorous NSF investment in the GSMT technology development program is available at: http://www.nsf-gsmt swg.noao.edu/SWG_Report/ SWG_Report_7.2.03.pdf. During FY04, the GSMT SWG (a) initiated a study to advance qualitative and quantitative understanding of the complementarity between JWST and a 20–30-m ELT; and (b) continued to provide a public forum for discussion of technical progress


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and scientific capabilities of two ongoing US ELT programs: Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The SWG also met jointly with ESO scientists to advance mutual understanding of the scientific capabilities of TMT, GMT and OWL. The SWG has also enjoyed high-level representation from the Japanese astronomical community. Several investigations of the GSMT SWG were supported by NIO staff members, who carried out technical, performance simulation, and project planning studies.

Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) Partnership

In May, 2003,Letters of Intent to participate in a joint Design and Development of a 30-m class ELT were signed by AURA, the California Institute of Technology, the U. California, and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA). The four partners have agreed to refer to the joint effort as the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) project.

The Letters of Intent state that each party will solicit funding from appropriate agencies to support the Design and Development phase of the TMT project. The California Institute of Technology and the University of California—which together have formed the California Extremely Large Telescope (CELT) Development Corporation—have received funding in the amount of $35M from the Moore Foundation, while ACURA has been awarded funds from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI). AURA-NIO submitted a proposal to the NSF that would provide funding in the amount of $17.5M as its share of the Design and Development Phase for TMT. Participation by AURA in TMT provides a strong voice for the US community in shaping the design of the telescope and ensuring that its capabilities meet community aspirations. The TMT partners agree that all federal investment in TMT will result in access for the US community.

The TMT partners have established an Interim Board of Directors, on which Jeremy Mould serves, and a Science Advisory Committee (SAC), on which Steve Strom, Joan Najita, Buell Jannuzi, and Joe Jensen (Gemini) serve as AURA representatives. The SAC is charged with developing and updating a Science Requirements Document. By vote of the TMT Board, SAC membership will be offered to members of the broader astronomical community in order to provide direct input to the cost-performance-risk trades that will be made during the Design and Development Phase.

The following NIO staff members served on TMT working groups: ⎯ Adaptive Optics Working Group: Brent Ellerbroek ⎯ Integrated Modeling Working Group: George Angeli (Chair), Konstantinos Vogiatzis ⎯ Instrumentation Working Group: David Sprayberry ⎯ Sites Working Group: Alistair Walker (co-chair); Dave DeYoung

AURA Proposal to NSF for Design and Development Phase

In July 2004 AURA submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation which requests $39.4M to provide funding for (1) the public portion ($17.5M) of the funding needed to carry out the Design and Development Phase for a 30-m diameter segmented-mirror, optical/infrared telescope (TMT); (2) funding ($14M) to advance to the Design and Development (D&D) Phase for an alternative 20-30m-class concept, such as the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), to the point where its performance, cost and risk can be assessed; (3) funding for technology development common to both TMT and the alternative concept ($2M); (4) funding ($1.5M) for community groups to carry out conceptual designs for two instruments: one for TMT and one for the alternative concept; (5) $3.5M


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to support an education and public outreach program; and (6) $0.9M to support a Theory Challenge program aimed at engaging theorists in shaping the design of ELTs.

The first of these investments will leverage $35M in non-federal funding (donated by the Moore Foundation to the California Institute of Technology and the University of California), plus funds requested of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), and will enable AURA to participate fully on behalf of the US community in a partnership to advance TMT to a fully-costed Preliminary Design by the end of 2007.

The second major investment will support a design study aimed at developing an alternate technical approach. One such example is the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT): a concept that provides the collecting area of a 21.5m telescope by combining the light from seven 8.4m mirrors. The GMT project, apartnership among the Carnegie Institution, Harvard/Smithsonian, the University of Arizona, the University of Michigan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is currently in the midst of its Conceptual Design Phase.

AURA will ensure strong community participation by both observers and theorists in shaping each of the ELT designs, so that the resulting facility performance fully meets community aspirations. This approach will allow AURA to keep apprised of the progress of both ELT programs in order to maximize transparency of technical studies, and to ensure that the imagination and technical talent in the US community is fully engaged in developing key technologies and instrument concepts.

This joint approach has a precedent: the NSF support of mirror technology in the 1980s, technology development that eventually led to the successful development of the Keck, Magellan, MMT, LBT, and Gemini telescopes. In this case, however, all of the NSF funding will result directly in community access to these telescopes. Moreover, the AO and detector technology will benefit the current generation of 6-10m telescopes.

Site Testing

AURA has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the California Extremely Large Telescope (CELT) group to collaborate on evaluation of candidate sites for TMT. The list of candidate sites has been narrowed by investigations of logistical issues such as land ownership, as well as by a series of remote sensing studies that have used satellite data to quantify the number of clear nights and the precipitable water vapor for each site. Each prime candidate site has also been modeled using computational fluid dynamics to investigate the boundary layer turbulence over the site under various wind speeds and directions.

In-situ site testing equipment has been developed, and multiple copies are being purchased and assembled. This equipment includes weather stations, differential image motion monitors (DIMMs) capable of recording integrated seeing through the upper atmosphere and ground-layer, and multi-aperture scintillation sensors (MASS) capable of mapping turbulence profiles above candidate sites. Weather stations, DIMM and MASS units have been deployed on several candidate sites; deployment will be complete in 2005.

Supported Technical Studies

NIO has supported studies at collaborating institutions and sub-contractors within the Gemini partner countries. Studies supported in FY04 include:


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⎯ “Feasibility Study for Large Format Detector Arrays,” a study of detectors to be used for very high order adaptive optics wavefront sensors by E2V Technologies, Inc.

⎯ “Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations of Airflow around the GSMT Primary Mirror,” by Tennessee State University;

⎯ “Feasibility Studies for Large Format Volume Phase Holographic Gratings” by the Centre Spatial de Liège.

⎯ “Development of Methods and Software Tools for Analyzing Integrated Computer Models of Extremely Large Ground Based Telescopes” by the MIT Space Systems Laboratory.

⎯ “Fabrication of Silicon Carbide Prototype Mirror Segments for the Thirty-Meter Telescope” by Coorstek.

⎯ “Fabrication of Silicon Carbide Prototype Mirror Segments for the Thirty-Meter Telescope” by POCO Graphite.

⎯ “Fabrication of Silicon Carbide Prototype Mirror Segments for the Thirty-Meter Telescope” by SSG Precision Optronics.

⎯ “Feasibility Study for Production of Silicon Carbide Prototype Mirror Segments for the Thirty-Meter Telescope” by SSG Precision Optronics.

Collaborative Studies

NIO is working in collaboration with a number of technical and astronomical organizations interested in helping develop technology for extremely large telescopes. These collaborations include:

• U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). AFOSR has provided funding to port the parallel Gemini adaptive optics simulation code to the 260-Node Huinalu Linux cluster at the Maui High Performance Computing Center. This project will provide AFOSR with a simulation code for modeling the AEOS adaptive optics system, and provide NIO with a platform for more efficient modeling of AO systems for ELTs.

• NSF Laser Development Proposal. Gemini, CfAO, Keck Observatory, and the USAF Starfire Optical Range are continuing their collaboration to develop facility-class sodium guide star laser systems for 8-m to 10-m telescopes. The principal investigator for this collaboration is Brent Ellerbroek of NIO. During the past year, the Starfire team demonstrated a 50-watt laser in the lab, which is now being installed at the Starfire 3.5-meter telescope for on-sky tests. A second laser, developed by Coherent Technologies, Inc. for Gemini North, has already achieved 10 Watts in the lab with more improvement expected before the laser is shipped to Hilo in November. Work on the source selection for a 3rd laser system (slated for the Keck I telescope) is continuing. This effort has also funded three small R & D contracts with Coherent Technologies, Lawrence Livermore National Labs, and the University of Adelaide to investigate innovative laser technologies for use in laser guide star systems on future extremely large telescopes.

Other Technical Activities of NIO and Affiliated Gemini and NOAO Staff

• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) In addition to modeling wind flow over candidate observatory sites, CFD studies have been performed to quantify wind loading of the 30-m


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telescope in its enclosures: Approach has been validated by comparison to results from wind tunnel tests performed at the California Institute of Technology and the Canadian Institute for Aeronautical Research.

• Integrated Modeling. Integrated modeling simulates the performance of a complex opto-mechanical system, including active compensation of disturbances through dynamic control systems. In support of the TMT Reference Design Study, NIO has developed integrated models of two different structural configurations proposed for TMT, whose performance has been modeled when subjected to dynamic wind disturbances.

TMT Interim Tasks

NIO staff contributed to interim technical development activities, in collaboration with staff from the other TMT partner institutions, in the areas of adaptive secondary mirrors, adaptive optics development, silicon carbide segments, and stressed-mirror polishing

FY 03 Technical Papers by NIO Staff and Affiliated Gemini and NOAO Staff

Refereed Journals

⎯ B. L. Ellerbroek, “Linear systems modeling of adaptive optics in the spatial frequency domain,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, accepted for publication.

Conference Papers: Submitted to SPIE Conference, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, June 21 - 26, 2004

⎯ Brent L. Ellerbroek, “Adaptive Optics Without Borders: Performance evaluation in the Infinite Aperture Limit”

⎯ George Z. Angeli, Anna Segurson, Konstantinos Vogiatzis, Doug MacMynowski, Jennifer Dunn, Scott Roberts, Joeleff Fitzsimmons, “Modeling Tools to Estimate the Performance of the Thirty Meter Telescope: An Integrated Approach”

⎯ Konstantinos Vogiatzis, Anna Segurson, George Z. Angeli, “Estimating the Effect of Wind Loading on Extremely Large Telescope Performance Using Computational Fluid Dynamics”

⎯ Anna Segurson, George Z. Angeli, “Computationally Efficient Performance Simulations for a Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Point Design”

4.3 LARGE-APERTURE SYNOPTIC SURVEY TELESCOPE (LSST)

The Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is one of three major new ground-based facilities recommended for construction during the coming decade by the AASC. It has also been recommended as a high priority by two additional NRC decade surveys, one dealing with the interface between physics and astrophysics and the other with solar system exploration. A report by the Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) highlighted LSST as one of three high priority facilities for characterizing dark energy.


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During FY04, the LSST Corporation, of which NOAO is a founding member, added several new members, including Harvard-Smithsonian, the University of California at Davis, the University of Illinois, and the Kavli Institute at Stanford. The chief officers of the project continued in their positions: John Schaefer from Research Corporation is President, the Director is Tony Tyson of UC Davis, and Don Sweeney from LLNL is project manager.

The project scientists and project managers for the three major components of

aura/noao annual project report fy 2004lala j142442.24+353400.2 lies at a redshift of 6.535, which...

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