NOAO/NSO Newsletter Issue 86 June 2006

Science Highlights Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Using the ‘NOAO System’ of Small and Large Telescopes Conociendo al Pueblo Atacameño...... 26 to Investigate Young Brown Dwarfs...... 3 The El Peñón DIMM...... 28 The First Complete Solar Cycle of GONG Observations SOAR Telescope Update...... 28 of Solar Convection Zone Dynamics...... 5 Robert Blum Moves from NOAO South to North...... 29 Discovery of the First Radio-Loud Quasar at z > 6...... 6 Reversed Granulation and Gravity Waves Kitt Peak National Observatory in the Mid-Photosphere...... 8 The Tohono O’odham Nation, the NSF, VERITAS, and The Volume-Averaged Properties Kitt Peak National Observatory...... 30 of Luminous Galaxies at z < 3...... 9 The WIYN One-Degree Imager and its Precursor QUOTA...... 32 Director’s Office Thank You, Judy Prosser, for 18 Years of Service!...... 34 TMT Project Passes Conceptual Design Review...... 12 Taft Armandroff moves from NGSC Director National Solar Observatory/GONG to Keck Director...... 14 From the Director’s Office...... 35 ATST Update: Formal NHPA Consultation Meetings NOAO Gemini Science Center Held on Maui...... 37 The Gemini Planet Imager...... 15 SOLIS...... 38 Phoenix: Five Years of Commitment to Gemini South...... 17 Virtual Camera Expands Flexibility at the Gemini HelpDesk: Helpful Hints for Users...... 18 Dunn Solar Telescope...... 39 NGSC Instrumentation Program Update...... 20 GONG++...... 41 New NGSC Staff...... 20 Public Affairs and Educational Outreach Observational Programs Astronomy From the Ground Up Launches from Tucson....44 2006B Proposal Process Update...... 22 GLOBE at Night Reaches More Than 18,000 2006B Instrument Request Statistics by Telescope...... 22 Participants on Six Continents...... 45 2006B Time Allocation Committee Members...... 25 The CTIO REU & PIA PROGRAM – 2006...... 46 Student Videoconference Has Far-Reaching Results Across the Equator...... 48 SIGN-UP TO RECEIVE NEW TMT E-NEWS On the Cover An electronic newsletter for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will debut in late June. Topics will include the latest project developments, Site-testing equipment for the Thirty science case profiles, instrument updates, pending milestones, and audio Meter Telescope (TMT) installed interviews with project team members. and working on the summit of Cerro E-mail [email protected] to register and receive it from the start! Tolonchar in northern Chile. The small stone structure on the near horizon to Site in Northern Chile Selected for LSST the right is an “apacheta” (ceremonial May 17, 2006 - LSST Corporation Press Release-04 rock cairn, or marker) that likely dates back to the early 1900’s. It now Cerro Pachón, a 8,800-foot (2,650-meter) mountain peak in northern Chile, has been selected as the site for the proposed Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). serves as an important symbol of the indigenous presence on and around the Scheduled to see first light in 2012, the 8.4-meter LSST will be able to survey the entire visible sky every three nights with its three-billion pixel digital camera, probing the mountain, and marks the location of a mysteries of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, and opening a movie-like window on objects special “ceremonia del pago” conducted that change or move on rapid timescales: exploding supernovae, potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids as small as 100 meters, and distant Kuiper Belt Objects. at the time of installation of the TMT equipment on the mountain in honor The decision to place the LSST on Cerro Pachón follows a two-year campaign of in- depth testing and analysis of the atmospheric conditions and quality of astronomical of the Earth Mother or “pachamama.” seeing at four sites in Chile, Mexico, and the Canary Islands. The eleven members of (See page 26 for more details) the Site Selection Committee, chaired by Marc Sarazin from the European Southern Observatory, reviewed detailed proposals from two final sites, San Pedro Mártir in Credit: Juan Seguel and NOAO/AURA/NSF Baja California, Mexico, and Cerro Pachón, regarding their suitability for the project. The final selection was made by the LSST Corporation Board of Directors based on a recommendation from the Site Selection Committee.

Important factors when considering a site for the LSST include the number of clear nights The NOAO-NSO Newsletter is published quarterly per year, seasonal weather patterns, and the quality of images as seen through the local by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory atmosphere. The chosen site also needed to have an existing observatory infrastructure P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, AZ 85726 and access to fiber optic links, to accommodate the anticipated 30 terabytes of data LSST will produce each night. [email protected]

Universidad de Chile Director of Astronomy Leonardo Bronfman said Chilean astronomers are enthusiastic about having the LSST sited in Chile and participating in Douglas Isbell, Editor its development and operation. “We have unparalleled access to a wide suite of facilities in Chile, and are eager to utilize these resources to complement the strengths of LSST.” Section Editors

“The LSST will be the World’s most powerful survey telescope and demands a Abhijit Saha Science Highlights superb site. We finally had a difficult decision between two wonderful sites at Cerro Dave Bell Observational Programs Pachón in Chile and San Pedro Mártir in Mexico. It’s too bad we can’t build two Observational Programs telescopes—one in each hemisphere.” said Donald Sweeney, LSST Project Manager. Mia Hartman “The final decision was influenced by the existing infrastructure at Cerro Pachón and Nicole S. van der Bliek CTIO the array of synergistic facilities in the south.” Buell T. Jannuzi KPNO Ken Hinkle NGSC Siting LSST in Chile leverages the significant multi-wavelength astronomy investments Sally Adams NGSC already there, said University of California, Davis, Professor and LSST Director John Leibacher NSO J. Anthony Tyson. Cerro Pachón is already home to the Gemini South 8-meter telescope NSO and the SOAR 4.1-meter telescope. LSST will be located on a peak on Cerro Pachón Priscilla Piano named El Peñón. (For a related story, see page 28) Douglas Isbell Public Affairs & Educational Outreach

Production Staff Keith Ann Atkinson Managing Editor

Pete Marenfeld Design & Layout

Kathie Coil Production Support

2 June 2006 Science Highlights

Using the ‘NOAO System’ of Small and Large Telescopes to Investigate Young Brown Dwarfs

Keivan G. Stassun (Vanderbilt University)

This article is excerpted in part from an article in the permitted observation only during excellent sky conditions, 16 March 2006 issue of Nature, with co-authors Robert thus yielding observations that nicely sample all phases of Mathieu and Jeff Valenti. the 9.8-day orbit.

rown dwarfs are ‘failed stars’ that span the divide Physical Properties of 2M0535-05 between stars and planets, and thus serve as a critical We simultaneously fit the light-curve (figure 1) and radial- link between theories of star and planet formation. velocity measurements (figure 2) to obtain orbital and physical BYet even the most fundamental physical properties of parameters of the system. At M = 0.0541 ± 0.0046 M , 1 ◉ brown dwarfs—mass and radius—have so far eluded direct the more massive component—the ‘primary’—is four measurement. Prior to the work reported here, the mass of standard deviations below the 0.072 M◉ threshold for a star, only one brown dwarf had been measured with sufficient and at M2 = 0.0340 ± 0.0027 M◉, the lower-mass ‘secondary’ accuracy to make the brown-dwarf nature of the object is even further below this threshold. Both components are definitive (Zapatero Osorio et al. 2004), and in no case had thus proven to be brown dwarfs. a brown dwarf’s radius been measured directly. From the observed eclipse durations and orbital velocities, We have discovered the object 2M0535-05 to be a brown- we directly and accurately measure the radii of the brown

dwarf eclipsing binary—the first of its kind—in the young dwarfs to be R1 = 0.669 ± 0.034R◉ and R2 = 0.511 ± 0.026R◉, (~1 Myr per Hillenbrand 1997) Orion Nebula Cluster. representing the first direct measurements of brown-dwarf This discovery was made as part of an long-term ongoing program using the NOAO 1-m class telescopes, to identify new eclipsing binaries in nearby star-forming regions. This was accomplished by repeatedly imaging thousands of 1.1 young stars and searching for those that exhibit periodic 1.0 diminutions of flux. Observations using high-resolution spectrographs on large telescopes in the NOAO system then 0.9 permit detailed analyses of these fundamental systems. 0.8 Observations with the NOAO System of Small and 0.7 �� Flux (arbitrary units) Large Telescopes �� 0.6 �� The I-band (0.8 µm) light curve of 2M0535-05 shown in �� figure 1 comprises 1,590 measurements obtained over a time span of ~10 years with the wide-field CCD imagers on 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 Orbital phase the KPNO 0.9-m, CTIO 0.9-m, and CTIO 1.3-m telescopes. The light curve clearly reveals the eclipsing nature of the Figure 1. Light curve of 2M0535-05 at 0.8 µm, obtained with system, and provides a precise measure of the orbital period NOAO’s system of 1-m class telescopes at CTIO and KPNO. (P ~ 9.8 days). Dedicated access to these facilities over a A time-series analysis reveals an unambiguous period of long time period was absolutely critical to the success P = 9.779621 ± 0.000042 days. The data are shown folded of our synoptic program to discover rare systems such on this period and phased relative to periastron passage, as as 2M0535-05. determined from the orbit solution (figure 2). A model fit to NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter the light curve and incorporating the final orbital and physical Once we identified 2M0535-05, we required accurate radial- parameters of 2M0535-05 is also shown (solid grey line). The velocity measurements from time-series observations of ratio of eclipse depths provides a direct measure of the ratio the system’s double-lined spectrum in order to measure of effective temperatures, after small corrections for changes the masses of its components. Given the extreme faintness in projected area due to the eccentricity of the system: ≈ of the system in the visible (V 22) and the need for high the deeper eclipse corresponds to the eclipse of the hotter resolving power (R ~ 30,000), we sought high-resolution component. Surprisingly, in this system, the deeper eclipse spectroscopy in the near-infrared, a capability provided corresponds to the eclipse of the lower-mass component to the US community only through Phoenix on Gemini (see figure 2). South. The queue observing capability was ideal in that it continued

June 2006 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 warmer than their more evolved counterparts. counterparts. more evolved their than warmer of stages and larger early significantly be should the contraction gravitational in still dwarfs brown young very that Mazzitelli & D’Antona2001),al. brown- et al. Burrows predict etwhich 1998; 1997; Baraffe (e.g. theoretical models for evolutionary news good dwarf is This contraction. of gravitational of stages predictions earliest the in theoretical dwarfs brown young with consistent generally are size, in stars low-mass to more akin radii, large Such radii. Using the NOAO System continued dwarf, solid line for the secondary. the for line solid dwarf, shown in (a)brown and (b) line the primary for as a dotted is measurements 2 km/s. The isorbit solution radial-velocity the on uncertainty typical The circles. as secondary the of and those as triangles, are brown represented dwarf primary the two brown to dwarfs one another). of Measurements the of approach (i.e.,closest passage periastron of time the to respect with measured is phase Orbital (b). phase orbital of and (a) time measurements both of functions as depicted velocity are 2M0535-05 radial heliocentric The phases. individual, orbital distinct eight at components two of a the velocities radial against the yields spectra star cross- standard individual A radial-velocity the telescope. of South analysis of Gemini correlation 8-m power the (resolving at spectrograph 30,000), Phoenix NOAO’s with obtained spectra near-infrared high-resolution from derived solution, orbit and measurements velocity Radial 2. Figure

Radial velocity (km/s) Science Highlights 20.0 40.0 60.0 0.0 0.0 b 0.1 June 2006 0.2 0.3 0.4 Orbital phase 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 (Bate et al. 2002) suggest that dynamical interactions may be interactions dynamical that suggest 2002) (Bate al. et work theoretical recent & (Reipurth Clarke 2001) through simulations Indeed, numerical and detailed married interaction. later dynamical and a separately formed binary, rather a as but together form not did they perhaps age; the same not are 2M0535-05 in dwarfs brown the perhaps Thus, age. models same the of dwarf brown lower-mass a theoretical than all warmer times be all at will mass given a because of dwarf brown a that puzzling is predict finding This the has it that implying flux. surface higher eclipsed, is secondary the when occurs eclipse deeper the This that fact the from primary. directly follows the than warmer significantly, is but that slightly, temperature effective an has secondary lower-mass be to temperatures surface their of ratio the determine we at which fluxes from µm, surface 0.8 of ratio the yield 1) (figure eclipses depths the relative of the of The ratio temperatures. the effective dwarfs’ regarding brown result surprising a find do We of this unique system promise to provide rare empirical empirical rare stars.’ provide ‘failed of these to origins and nature the into insight promise system unique this of fundamental represents the physical of properties young of brown dwarfs. analyses Detailed measurement 2M0535-05 accurate of direct, first the discovery the generally, More explanation. demands that result unexpected an any In is structure. in 2M0535-05 mass with of temperature event, reversal the physical their altering thereby example, for transport, energy affecting be could one or on dwarfs brown both fields magnetic strong of may presence The 2M0535-05 models. the in ingredients Alternatively, physical additional for need the indicate debate. under hypothesis remains this dwarfs; brown of formation the to integral T 2 / T 1 = 1.054 ± 0.006. Remarkably, the the Remarkably, 0.006. ± 1.054 = Science Highlights

The First Complete Solar Cycle of GONG Observations of Solar Convection Zone Dynamics

Rachel Howe

erhaps the most basic signature of the solar cycle acoustic waves that travel through the Sun to diagnose its is the 11-year rhythm of increasing and decreasing internal structure and motions—have allowed us to probe sunspot activity. Almost as well known is the these flows within the convection zone that occupies the outer P‘butterfly’ pattern of the distribution of active regions, with 30% of the solar radius. Such measurements were the first activity concentrated at mid-latitudes early in the cycle and to establish that the pattern of differential rotation—with the drifting towards the equator by the end. equator rotating about 30% faster than the poles—penetrates

Another key feature of the solar cycle is the phenomenon continued known as the torsional oscillation. This pattern of migrating bands of weak flow in the zonal direction (parallel to the equator) was observed at the solar surface decades ago. More recently, the techniques of helioseismology—using

Figure 1. During the solar cycle, bands of faster and slower rotation migrate from middle latitudes of the Sun toward its equator and poles, a phenomenon known as the torsional oscillation. Helioseismology allows us to infer the rotation profile deep inside the Sun from measurements of mode fre- Figure 2. Phase (left) and amplitude (right) maps for quency splittings, and reveals that the torsional oscillation eleven-year sinusoid fits to optimally localized averaging penetrates well into the convection zone, perhaps even to NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter (OLA) inversions of data from MDI (top), regularized least its base at 0.71 of the solar radius. In this figure, time squares (RLS) inversions of MDI data (middle), and GONG increases in the clockwise direction, with the full circle cor- data (bottom). OLA and RLS are two different methods for responding to eleven years. Each smaller circle represents inferring the interior rotation from the measured frequency an average of the difference from mean rotation over one splittings. The phase of the sinusoidal variation is depth calendar year, from 1995 at the top to 2005. The grey scale dependent. Near the equator, the variation at the bottom of goes from –3 nHz (black) to +3 nHz (white), and the overall the convection zone is apparently two years ahead of that at solar rotation rate is about 450 nHz (13 rotations per year). the corresponding surface latitude. The strength of the signal The data were derived from observations with the GONG net- is not uniform throughout the convection zone, but most if work beginning in May 1995 through August 2005. not all of the convection zone is involved.

June 2006 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 hnig neir yais f h cneto zn over zone convection the of 1995, the dynamics of provided May interior picture a up changing since build to time has Sun first the for us the network allowing of observations GONG continuous Observatory’s Solar National the globe, the around spaced stations six its With that. below rotation solid-body mostly and base its at tachocline the as known layer shear a with zone, convection the throughout The FirstComplete Solar Cycle GONGof continued graduate student—in this case Ian Ian case this student—in graduate a of shoulders the on fell work actual The together. come to efforts parallel two these allowed field, Boötes 1999) Dey, & Januzzi (NDWFS, Survey Field NOAO Wide- the of Deep and camera, FLAMINGOS the with 2.1-m KPNO telescope the at conducted 2006) al., et (Elston survey near-infrared FLAMEX the of release The 2003). al., et (White quasars high-redshift study Survey to (SDSS) Sky Digital Sloan using been Over this same period, Becker and 2004). White have red al., et extremely (Glikman quasars for search to surveys F most the estimate are can We period). 5.5-year a (with measurements component where harmonic second-order a of traces see surface, also can we precise, the to Close period. eleven-year an with sinusoidal approximately is variation the grid, the latitude-depth of two-dimensional in the 5% about point given and any At latitudes. higher pattern at rate rotation slower the of the for part rate rotation latitude solar lower the of 1% angular than in less is change The velocity 1). (figure cycle solar the during mid-latitudes from poles the and equator the approaching rotation faster slightly of zones define observations These aboard very produce (MDI) and 1996 results. similar in Imager started Doppler spacecraft SOHO the Michelson the from observations Parallel cycle. complete a be soon will what Science Highlights radio, optical, and infrared infrared and optical, radio, combining been has team survey or the last several years, the FIRST Discovery of the First Radio-Loud Quasar at z>6 June 2006 these quasars are luminous, with with luminous, are quasars all survey, these the of magnitude z’-band limiting bright relatively the to Owing deg with z objects nine of total a identified subsequently has 2001),and al., et (Fan deg 1550 first its covering after barrier 6 = z the broke SDSS The with universe. the sources light of history ionization as to probe the which well as the holes, on black supermassive place first the of can growth objects such constraints that the from derives high-redshift quasars find to motivation The University. at Columbia student graduate first-year a McGreer, > ~ Robert Becker (UC-Davis/LLNL) Becker Robert 6 drawn from sky coverage of 6550 of coverage sky from drawn 6 2 (Fan et al., 2001, 2006). 2003, 2004,

started to be visible around 45° latitude as early as 2002. 2002. as early as latitude 45° around visible be to started 2007, around due to begin cycle, solar next of the with activity the associated be The eventually will that overlap. band some faster-rotating have cycles successive of patterns The zone. convection of the base the from pattern driven is that the of component a be to likely is There be complete. to unlikely is picture this that suggests zone, convection the inside deep signal strong relatively the with together see, that we pattern The phase regions. active the with associated effects of thermal a result as surface at the it generated is that proposes One model offor oscillation the torsional the origin involved. is zone convection of the not all, if most, but zone convection the throughout uniform not also is signal the the of strength at The latitude. that surface of corresponding ahead years ~2 be to seems zone convection the of bottom the near variation the latitudes, lowest the at depth: with changes variation sinusoidal the of phase The 2. figure in shown as sinusoids, these of amplitude and phase the cycle extends beyond the ten or eleven years between between years eleven or minima. solar ten the that beyond extends indications cycle other the with consistent is observation This 2

= .2 Hwvr bsd n semi- on based However, 5.82. = z of at level J083643.85+005453.3 SDSS is density mJy 1 flux a above known quasar distant most The flux). log optical to radio of of ratio the is R (where 0 ratios < R radio- luminosity with to-optical radio-quiet, are date to z the of All date is about 1 per 750 deg to population the Nonetheless, objects. high-redshift of numbers large locate concluding could surveys 5.7,deeper suggests function > L z ~ Ψ(L) with quasars luminosity function and using the nine density SDSS-discovered space the for Β < -26.5. Fan et al., 2004 derive estimates -3.2±0.7 . This steep luminosity luminosity steep This . > ~ 6 quasars discovered discovered quasars 6 2 . continued

Science Highlights

Discovery of the First Radio-Loud Quasar at z > 6 continued analytic models of dark halo formation, Haiman, Quataert, and Bower (2004) predicted high surface densities of high-redshift radio-loud quasars. In particular, they suggest ~ four z ≥ 6 quasars deg-2 should be found in the FIRST survey’s catalog (Becker, White, and Helfand 1995). Motivated by this suggestion (or, rather, thinking we could prove it wrong), we matched the FIRST catalog to the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey, and the recently released FLAMEX IR survey. The intersection of these three surveys yields a net survey area of only 4.1 deg2. Much to our surprise, the result was the detection of the first z ≥ 6 radio- loud quasar. forest absorption according to the discovered this source independently model of Madau (1995). in April using the MARS spectrograph We began by searching the NDWFS on the KPNO 4-m. Boötes survey region for counterparts The search resulted in a set of candidate to the 394 unresolved FIRST sources z < 4 radio-loud quasars. The source Only about 10% of all SDSS quasars in the NDWFS field, of which 168 lie FIRST J1427385+331241 stood out as are detected with a radio flux density in the intersection of the NDWFS and having all of the expected properties greater than 1 mJy at 20 cm; this FLAMEX survey regions. Roughly of a bright, z < 6 quasar: no emission fraction is roughly the same for the 75% of these radio sources can be > in the Βω and R bands, detection in the z 6 Sloan quasars detected to date identified with NDWFS counterparts, I band, relatively bright infrared fluxes, (1 of 9 detected). Naively, then, we while ~63% have FLAMEX matches. and a highly star like image. The offsets should expect one radio-detected between the optical, infrared, and radio quasar at z > 6 every ~ 8,000 deg2. Using the photometric redshift code positions were consistent with the errors Our quasar has an AB magnitude at hyperz of Bolzonella et al. (2000) to (≤0.3˝). This source was thus selected as 1450 Å ~ -26.6, very similar to that of compute photometric redshifts for the the prime candidate for spectroscopic the other z > 6 Sloan quasars found sample of matched FIRST /NDWFS/ followup observations. The seeing was to date. Thus, we cannot appeal to the FLAMEX sources and adopting the 2˝ as dawn neared on January 3 at the steep luminosity function to explain composite radio-emitting quasar Keck II telescope, but even the low S/N our discovery of this object in a 4 deg2 spectral template from the FIRST Bright spectrum obtained showed immediately survey. Only a survey covering a much Quasar Survey (FBQS, Brotherton et that Ian’s candidate was a winner. larger area will allow us to determine al., 2001), we fit the template to the A spectrum obtained under better whether high-redshift radio-loud NDWFS and FLAMEX photometry conditions at Keck in March is shown in quasars are indeed much more common over a range of redshifts 0 < z < 10. We figure 1. Subsequently, Stern, Brodwin than the evidence to date suggests, included intrinsic dust absorption as a & Dey, pursuing their own high-redshift or whether we just select very lucky parameter, using the starburst galaxy quasar search in the NDWFS using graduate students for our program. dust model of Calzetti et al. (2000). Spitzer selection criteria (the quasar The hyperz code also includes Lyman is detected in all four IRAC bands), NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter

June 2006 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 from the thermal bifurcation of the the of bifurcation thermal the from A with its multiple line diagnostics, and and diagnostics, line multiple its with IBIS of purity spectral high this The topic. of exploration further for suited NOAO-NSO (see (DST) use community for Telescope available and Solar Dunn the NSO at installed (IBIS), Spectrometer Interferometric BIdimensional new The obviously is origin. in photospheric granulation reversed although pattern, a such shown never observational surprisingly have lines photospheric in Previous imaging narrowband utilizing studies pattern. immediately wispy discernible intensity an as granulation reverse show K) and of chromospheric lines (most oftenCa II H of wings far the in acquired cooling filtergrams the High-resolution plasma. to expansion overshooting due convection adiabatic surface simulations of numerical is by This predicted continuum. underlying with the anti-correlation partial a shows granulation” “reversed This pattern. granulation mid-photospheric the in lanes solar leading surface, to inverse contrast intergranular above the km at a few hundred reverses and between granules difference temperature the studies, spectroscopic from known As of waves. sorts various the of role the to regard with especially investigations, current its of subject the and are evolution, temporal layers, the photospheric of upper structure precise the thermodynamical particular, In problems. astrophysical and solar of multitude a for interest ofgreat is motion, heating granular by fields magnetic of coronal shuffling to due to chromosphere Science Highlights the quiet solar photosphere, photosphere, of solar quiet the dynamics the and of structure understanding full

June 2006 esetr 81 Newsletter Reversed Granulation and Gravity Waves Katja Janssen & Gianna Cauzzi (Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory) Astrophysical (Arcetri Cauzzi &Gianna Janssen Katja ), is ideally ideally is ), in the Mid-Photosphere than average because the blue-shifted blue-shifted the because average than with the appear wavelengths, granules darker mostly (fixed) these At is effects. velocity pattern to due this but contrast, inverted show granulation-like line I Fe the a in of wing maps blue the intensity Monochromatic oscillations. were for filtered and time images in tracked resulting the and FOV, from the 80-arcsec region was extracted internetwork A Å quiet 8542 very lines. II Ca chromospheric the and Å, 7090.4 I Fe photospheric the through rapidly resolution spatial by scanning 2004 June in obtained data high of one-hour a sequence used we this, accomplish To signature. granulation reversed the untangle clearly to us DST,allow the at system AO afforded high-order the of resolution use with spatial high the inarcsec.) marks of 8542 Ca II (Tic Å. inwing (d) Intensities core. line iron from +60 mÅ 7090.4I Fe at pixels’ (c)of each profile. Å Intensities (b)intensities Core (a) at -60 Figure 1.Intensities mÅ effect. iron from line core. granulation Reversed p -mode -mode signature of reversed granulation granulation reversed distinctive of the signature that demonstrating mÅ 20—30 disappears, the already pattern distance at while core, line the in only visible is granulation reversed the Interestingly, (the 1b). (figure image core I pattern is in visible the Fe granulation) reversed intensity the of reversal continuum partial A 1c). and 1a (figures distribution intensity very similar a display with core In line the positions to respect pixel. symmetric each way, in this core the line from actual distance at wavelength images 2-D fixed deriving and profiles spectral full the interpolating by effect velocity the “erase” to out set thus We observed. is contrast granular enhanced an where images, red-wing the in occurs opposite The line. the of core the to closer sampled are granules continued

Science Highlights

Reversed Granulation and Gravity Waves continued would be hidden from plain view if with intensity maps acquired in the filtering for p modes is not responsible the spectral resolution of the imaging wing of the Ca II line (figure 1b) that for this effect. instrument were any coarser. are basically unaffected by velocity, although, in this case, the anti- One possible explanation would be The Fe I line core and the corresponding correlation with the continuum reaches the presence of gravity waves in mid- continuum intensities are weakly a higher value (-0.32 ± 0.07), and the photosphere, i.e., at the heights of Fe I anti-correlated (temporal average of peak with respect to the temporal delay line core formation. This hypothesis -0.21 ± 0.05), as predicted by numerical is reached about 10 seconds earlier. It would reconcile the period of the simulations. However, when allowing appears plausible, from this and other oscillation, its presence only in the for a temporal delay between the two indicators, that the Ca II wing represents higher layers sampled, and the fact images, the anti-correlation sensibly lower photospheric layers than the Fe I that the anti-correlation with the increases. This anti-correlation reaches line core. continuum is larger for the Ca II a maximum at about two minutes time wing, by assuming that the reversed difference, consistent with the idea of The two signatures, however, differ more granulation pattern—while strong at cooling granules propagating upward markedly in their temporal behavior. the Ca II levels—becomes “corrupted” from the lower photosphere. The temporal evolution of the cross- by intensity oscillations that build up correlation between the iron line core steeply at the formation heights of the Finally, the anti-correlation rapidly and continuum reveals an oscillation Fe I core. Further details can be found decreases when spatial smoothing is with a period of about six minutes, in Janssen, K. and Cauzzi, G. 2006, applied, indicating that the observed originating in the mid-photospheric A&A, 450, 365. phenomenon has the typical granular layers. Such a variation is not obvious, scale. The same results are obtained however, for the Ca II wing cross- when comparing continuum images correlation. Various tests assure us that

The Volume-Averaged Properties of Luminous Galaxies at z < 3

Gregory Rudnick (NOAO Leo Goldberg Fellow)

he majority of massive galaxies in the local universe Using these data, supplemented with the Sloan Digital are red and dead. They show little current star Sky Survey (SDSS), we selected a subsample of galaxies at formation, and their stars formed in the distant rest 10 -2 0.1 < z < 3 with L V > 3 × 10 h70 L◉, above which we are Tpast, at an epoch corresponding to a redshift perhaps complete. Binning our data into four redshifts, we calculate as high as z = 3 (Thomas et al. 2005; Hogg et al. 2002). the luminosity density in various bands at each redshift and Observations out to z = 1 are consistent with what we see construct the volume-average rest-frame UV-to-optical 11 in the local universe, i.e. the massive (M > 10 M◉) galaxy spectral energy distribution (SED) of all luminous galaxies population is dominated by passive red galaxies, fixing the in the Universe at z < 3. We show these SEDs in figure 1. dominant formation epoch of these galaxies to even higher The mean rest-frame UV–optical SED evolves monotonically redshifts (e.g. Bell et al. 2004). We set out to characterize toward redder colors with decreasing redshift, presumably the properties of the luminous galaxy population at these tracing the progressive assembly of evolved stellar populations higher redshifts and to track the evolution fromz = 3 to 0 in with the advance of cosmic time. a consistent manner. NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter Our rest-frame Ѵ-band selected sample allows us to To do this, we combined data from four disjoint fields, consistently track the evolution in the stellar mass density which have some of the deepest near infrared (NIR) and ρ★ in luminous galaxies all the way from z ~ 3 to the present optical data in existence: the Hubble Deep Fields North day. We accomplish this by fitting a set of model SEDs to (HDF-N; Dickinson et al. 2003) and South (HDF-S; Labbé our observed SED assuming three different simple star- et al. 2003); the cluster field MS1054-03 (Förster Schreiber formation history (SFH) profiles: 1) a single burst, 2) an et al. 2004); and the Chandra Deep Field South (CDF-S), exponentially declining star formation rate (SFR), and 3) with observations taken as part of the Great Observatories a constant SFR model. Although parameters such as age, Deep Survey (GOODS; Wuyts et al. 2006). SFH, and extinction can be highly degenerate, the resultant continued

June 2006 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 10 Properties of at Luminous z<3continuedProperties Galaxies redshift universe. redshift high- the in galaxies of massive view unbiased an for obtaining crucial are observations NIR that clear is it this, From and at 52% density mass 61% contribute stellar of the DRGs The grey- squares. and as circles respectively, filled DRGs, and non-DRGs of densities red their colors. In 2figure wemass show the corresponding to due surveys selected UV rest-frame from absent entirely almost are but optical rest-frame the in bright are galaxies (J have to selected are that 2003) al. et Franx (DRGs; Galaxies Red Distant by contributed density mass thestellar wedetermine Specifically, at redshifts. high of galaxies subsamples into sample complementary split the also can we area, large our by afforded galaxies of number among our four fromfieldsranges 45—70%. the With larger by place in was of ≈7 between by afactor decreases galaxies in luminous density Themass density, mass stellar the determine density, luminosity the and this galaxies these in stars the of ratio to-light parameter mass- stellar determined mean the determine we 1), (figure SED the better mean to model fit best much the From 2001). a al. et Papovich (e.g. is mass stellar redshifts and increases toward lower redshifts. lower toward increases and redshifts all at apparent is model best-fit and data the both of break open optical rest-frame the The fluxes. model fit best the show and circles values measured the show points filled The uncertainties. the within allowed generally are SFHs other the although SFH, fit best formal the indicates star a with row each in panel The SFH. different a corresponds column each and bins redshift the of one to corresponds row SED.Each volume-averaged the to models best-fit The 1. Figure Science Highlights ρ ★

(figure 2).(figure June 2006 z = 0.1 and z

> ~ 1. The rms field-to-field variations in variations 1. rmsfield-to-field The z = 2.8 and 50% of the stellar mass mass = and 50% of 2.8 stellar the z ~ 2 and 2.8, respectively. respectively. ~ 2.8, 2 and s − K − M s ) > 2.3. These These 2.3. > ) ★ /L and, from from and, /L ρ ★

ρ the between difference is systematic slight a is There redshifts. measurements SFR(z) the the reproduce to to necessary correction extinction an authors, many by noticed been has As correction. extinction an without data the isfor line dotted the extinction- and data corrected the to fit the is line solid The data. SFR(z) the to fit parametric (2001) al. et Cole the curves of two integrals the The are selected. are DRGs where bins redshift two the are squares and circles gray filled The here. computed value mean the or HDF-S the either than value lower substantially surveys. a other has which (D03), most HDF-N the is with exception notable well one The agrees fields four our over averaged density mass The pentagons. solid the on errorbars in variations L at complete are population, and galaxy luminous measurements the the to to Our restricted explicitly are fits population. extrapolating galaxy by luminous/massive determined quoted values have authors “total” other Most (2001). al. et Cole from measured density mass stellar local the to normalized been have quantities All plot. the in indicated as are symbols The of evolution relative 2. The Figure limit. There is a gross discrepancy between these model model these between discrepancy gross a is There limit. L same the to computed models of sets two from those to measured without our compare we 3, and figure In with manner. both consistent a in criteria models selection observational the including theoretical to directly total to correct and estimate our compute we Because ★ estimates and the integral of the SFR(z) of the integral the curve. and estimates ρ ★ values for the non-DRGs and DRGs respectively, in the the in respectively, DRGs and non-DRGs the for values ρ ★ for our data are indicated by the dotted dotted the by indicated are data our for rest V > L > ρ ★ ρ

★ thresh measurements to a fixed L fixed a to measurements ρ measurements at almost all all almost at measurements ★ V . The explicit field-to-field field-to-field explicit The . ,

we can compare our data data our compare can we ρ ★ with time and redshift. redshift. and time with continued ρ ★

values values rest rest V V

Science Highlights

Properties of Luminous Galaxies at z < 3 continued

predictions and the observations. Because the observational selection effects were taken into account in a consistent manner the discrepancy cannot be attributed solely to missing galaxies either in the observations or in the models (e.g. Nagamine et al. 2004). The difference must indicate problems that the models have in reproducing the masses and mass-to-light ratios of luminous galaxies at 0 < z < 3.

Despite multiple fields employed in this work, cosmic variance dominates our error budget, and deep NIR imaging over very wide areas is needed to determine robust estimates of the mean mass density of luminous/ massive objects. The emerging wide-field imaging capabilities at NOAO, e.g. NEWFIRM, will permit such surveys to be conducted efficiently.

It is also necessary to characterize the nature of the massive galaxies at high redshift. Medium-band imaging with NEWFIRM, and NIR spectroscopy with GNIRS and the upcoming FLAMINGOS-2 instrument on Gemini, will be crucial in this respect. It is rewarding to be at NOAO and be able to draw upon the resident expertise on these Figure 3. A comparison of the evolution of of ρ★ with the instruments, and establish the collaborations necessary to predictions of theoretical simulations. The solid pentagons design efficient observational programs in pursuit of these rest thresh are our ρ★ measurements for galaxies with L V > L V , where ambitious goals. the dotted error bars indicate the rms field-to-field variations between our four fields. The solid circle is our measurement

of ρ★ from SDSS for galaxies above the luminosity limit. The open circle is our estimate of the total from SDSS and the

arrow connecting them indicates our correction to total ρ★

values. The open hexagon is the total ρ★ measurement from Cole et al. (2001). For each of our measurements the arrow

indicates the correction to total ρ★ derived from the SDSS data. The corrected values are indicated by open pentagons. The dotted curve is the integral of the analytical SFR(z) curve from Springel & Hernquist (2003), which represents

the total ρ★ from that simulation. The solid curve is from a mock catalog created from the SH03 simulation (Finlator et rest thresh al. 2006) and is for simulated galaxies with L V > L V . The results of the Millennium simulation (Springel et al. 2005; Croton et al. 2005) are plotted as follows: the dot-dashed curve corresponds to the total stellar mass density in the simulation and the dashed curve corresponds to the mass rest thresh density in simulated galaxies with L V > L V . The total ρ★ for all simulations agree with the observations at z ~ 0 but NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter greatly overpredict ρ★ at all higher redshifts (as given by our corrected values). When compared to the data using the same observational cut, the simulations fail to match the observational data.

June 2006 11 DIRECTOR’SOFFICE NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY TMT Project Passes Conceptual Design Review

Stephen Strom

he Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project reached a major Development phase is $64 million, or approximately 10 percent of milestone in early May with a formal Conceptual Design the estimated total capital cost of the telescope. Review (CoDR). More than 100 scientists and engineers Tfrom throughout the TMT partnership assembled in Pasadena The reference design for TMT is a 30-meter, filled aperture, highly from May 8–11 to present summaries of current design concepts segmented telescope with 738 mirror segments, each 1.2-meters for the telescope, its optical components, adaptive optics systems, in diameter. It features an f/1 primary mirror with a Gregorian instrumentation suite, operations concepts, site evaluation, and secondary mirror, delivering an f /15 final focus. The optical system the science mission to be enabled by TMT. is capable of delivering a 20-arcmin, seeing-limited field of view (FOV), which feeds multiple adaptive optics (AO) systems. An external advisory panel comprised of experienced scientists, engineers, and managers with extensive experience in large The AO systems range from a mid-infrared system capable projects was tasked with preparing a report to the TMT of feeding a narrow FOV (less than 15 arcsec), to a facility Board. In this report, they will critically assess the TMT AO system capable of producing corrected images over science case, science requirements, observatory a 30-arcsec FOV via use of multi-conjugate AO, to an functional requirements, and the ability of the “extreme” AO system capable of high contrast ratio proposed system and subsystems to meet those (108) imaging, and a “ground layer” AO system requirements. The panel will also assess the state (GLAO) capable of providing significant of project management, organization, improvements over natural seeing with a cost estimates, and the robustness of the 5-arcmin FOV. The ultimate goal is project strategy for phasing the entire a ‘multi-object’ AO system capable of TMT program from design through making adaptive corrections over selected construction, commissioning, and regions of a field of several arcminutes. early operations. The TMT CoDR Provisions have also been made for was observed by representatives an adaptive secondary, including of the Gordon and Betty Moore designs and related cost studies Foundation, the National carried out by industrial vendors. Science Foundation, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, A number of instruments are the Australian Extremely Large Telescope envisioned for TMT. These include an Working Group, and the Carnegie Observatories. imaging integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph, capable of providing diffraction-limited imaging and spectroscopy in TMT Project Manager Gary Sanders presented an overview of the the 1—2.5 micron region over a 5-arcsec FOV; a near infrared history of the project and its alignment with the goals of the most (1—5 micron) and mid-infrared echelle spectrographs capable recent decadal survey. He also discussed the influence on the project of delivering R~100,000 spectra to fixed signal-to-noise, nearly by the report of the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope Science 100 times faster than current generation telescopes. Also Working Group, and the distribution of work and responsibilities envisioned are a “planet formation imager” capable of imaging among the TMT partner institutions (California Institute of forming planets located within 0.07 arcsec of their parent stars Technology, the University of California, the Association of at contrast ratios of 100 million at 1.6 microns and a wide-field Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy, and the US optical spectrograph operating from 0.31 to 1 micron, capable of Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy). deploying hundreds of slits over a 10-arcmin FOV. Additionally, a high-resolution optical spectrograph capable of delivering Sanders reported that the TMT Project Office currently has 30 full- R ~ 60,000 spectra and an infrared multi-object spectrograph time staff working on the Design and Development effort, with capable of deploying multiple integral field units over a 5-arcmin an additional 35 individuals working full-time at the four partner FOV are envisioned. locations. Design and Development Phase studies for this project have drawn broadly on input from US and international communities David Crampton of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics and the to carry out feasibility studies for instruments identified by the TMT TMT Project Office reviewed the status of the instrument designs, and Science Advisory Committee as critical to the ability to carry out reported on the critical commentary provided by panels comprised top-rank science a decade from now. The budget for the Design and of more than 35 external experts. He noted that the instrument continued

12 June 2006 Director’s Office

TMT Project Passes Conceptual Design Review continued design teams engaged the energies and imaginations of several hundred astronomers and engineers from throughout the world, symbolic of the magnitude of the effort that will be required to achieve the highest scientific aspirations of the community.

The successful implementation of adaptive optics is key to achieving TMT’s goals. Brent Ellerbroek of the TMT Project Office reviewed the phased implementation strategy developed for deploying AO capabilities from first light through early operation of TMT. He noted the challenges of component development, and discussed in detail the choices made by the project to minimize risk and leave open paths for enhancing AO capability as component capabilities evolve. Telescope Department Head Larry Stepp briefs the attendees at the first day of the TMT conceptual design review in Two major components of the AO system for TMT are the Pasadena, CA. laser launch facility, which will deploy nine laser beams in “constellations” tailored for specific applications, and galaxies using distant gamma-ray bursts as “beacons” to a facility narrow-field infrared adaptive optics system, probe the structure of the IGM beyond redshifts of 7. which will feed imagers and spectrographs operating in the 1—2.5 micron region. Owing to its combination of sensitivity and angular resolution, TMT will be able to map the chemistry, dynamics Bruce Macintosh of Lawrence Livermore National and star-formation rates for large samples of high-redshift Laboratory described the predicted capabilities of an galaxies, and thereby develop a clear, empirically supported “extreme” adaptive optics system aimed at delivering high- picture of the physical processes responsible for producing contrast imaging of forming planets, and described the the mature galactic forms we see today. From studies of black requirements for telescope optical performance placed by hole masses over a wide range of galaxy types, masses and this challenging and exciting system. redshifts, TMT should be able to provide a definitive picture of the mutual evolutionary relationship between black holes Paul Hickson, of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics and and galaxies. As an example of its power, TMT will be chair of the TMT Science Advisory Committee, summarized capable of resolving the region of influence surrounding a the science enabled by TMT. Hickson noted fundamental billion-solar mass black hole out to redshifts of z ~ 0.4. questions that promise to dominate astronomical inquiry in 2015, which TMT has the power to address. Such Closer to home, Hickson emphasized the power of TMT to questions include: what is the nature of dark matter and deconstruct stellar populations in relatively nearby galaxies dark energy? What were the first luminous objects in the spanning a range of morphological types, and to provide a Universe and at what redshift did they appear? When and detailed record of the ages and chemical compositions of how did the intergalactic medium become ionized? When constituent stellar populations, critical to confronting the and how did the most massive compact objects form? galaxy assembly picture inferred from TMT observations of How did galaxies form, and how do they evolve? When high-redshift systems. He also noted that TMT will have the and where were the heavy elements produced? How do ability to provide deep insights into the processes that give stars and planetary system form? What are the physical rise to the broad diversity of planetary system architectures properties of exoplanets? Are any of these planets likely to now apparent from radial velocity surveys. be life-bearing? The ability of TMT to provide exquisite spectral resolution NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter He noted, for example. that TMT will be able to obtain profiles of molecular tracers of gas orbiting young stars spectra of faint, high redshift objects (z ~ 7—15) more should reveal the signatures of ongoing planet formation— than an order of magnitude fainter than those accessible indicating what kinds of planets (by mass) are forming to the James Webb Space Telescope, and furthermore, when, and in what kinds of disks. In many cases, it will from these spectra, be able to determine the properties of be possible to image forming planets that are still located their constituent stars and thus the nature of ‘first light’ within their parent accretion disks, and to determine their in the Universe. TMT will have the sensitivity to map physical properties. In the longer term, TMT can carry out the structure of the intergalactic medium (IGM) during a survey of a large sample of relatively young stars (less than the peak epoch of galaxy formation between redshifts of 30 million years old) to assess the distribution of giant planet z ~ 2—3.5, explore the relationship between IGM structure orbits and their characteristics. and composition, and probe the population of emerging

June 2006 13 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 14 in Hawaii. Taft has been a highly successful inaugural inaugural successful highly a been has Taft Hawaii. in A from Gemini’s area of control. of control. area Gemini’s from distinct as responsibilities NGSC’s of understanding clear very a exhibited He them. Taftembraced but everyone, for not are mission NGSC the on conditions boundary These the partnership. global the operating leading and on telescopes concentrate to staff Serena Gemini’s La and leaves This Hilo delegates offices. It partner the to them. support user build instruments; doesn’t procures it It the on partners. lightly Gemini by the rest operated infrastructure to designed is Observatory Gemini Theinternational other the by partners. Gemini emulated be to partner office Gemini model a to concept mere a from NGSC brought has Taft instrument the support. into user and management project and morphed (NGSC), mission Center Gemini as Science NOAO office project former US the rebadged we operations, Gemini to construction Gemini from transition the Gemini US With (USGP). Program the called office Gemini a partner ran NOAO Taft”, “Before Island. Big a is the on powerhouse and scientific California’s for Center, leader natural Science Gemini NOAO the of Director Chaffee as Director of the W.M. Keck Observatory Observatory Keck the W.M. of Director as Chaffee say will NOAO June, of to farewell Taft whoArmandroff, is Fred month succeeding the of end the t Director’s Office June 2006 Taft Armandroff moves from NGSC Director to Keck Director Jeremy Mould Jeremy capabilities. Taft and NOAO colleagues built partnerships partnerships built colleagues NOAO scientific and Taft diverse Gemini’s capabilities. of all covering team talented a joined the and Ridgway NOAOSusan creating staff, Mason, scientific Rachel Boogert, Gemini. Adwin Tom Matheson, Cunha, at Katia VerneSmith, try first the correctly execute would that science to propose US users work with who could NGSC for staff scientific a recruited Taft 2003, in Beginning smooth transition. transition. smooth a planning are they and Director, NGSC become will Verne Smith hands. good in NGSC leaves but missed, be will He Observatory. Keck the with job new his in Taft We well wish astronomy. ground-based partner offices and organized a meeting meeting a andorganized offices partner the to out reached Taft offices small, quite are partner the of some as model, office Gemini/national the reaffirmed Committee Visiting Gemini the Once the (e.g. IRAF). of Gemini development areas other in Gemini with early-type dwarf galaxies. This This field and space both challenging in telescopes in a galaxies. large for be interest to dwarf continues ongoing an early-type has Taft laid. was offices national the of development Gemini’s With co- successful for future. foundation the help, the for plan and The responsibilities, share consistency, develop ideas, pool offices. to served meeting partner combined of

NOAOGEMINISCIENCECENTER TUCSON, ARIZONA • LA SERENA, CHILE

The Gemini Planet Imager

James R. Graham (University of California at Berkeley) & Bruce Macintosh (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) for the Gemini Planet Imager Team

he Extreme Adaptive Optics Coronagraph (ExAOC) was identified during the Gemini Aspen Instrument Process as one of four next-generation instruments for the Gemini TObservatory. It was conceived as a high-performance adaptive optics coronagraph optimized for delivering very high contrast at small angular separations, suitable for detecting extrasolar planets.

The results of conceptual design studies were submitted for consideration to the Gemini Board in early 2005, and the Board has now approved contracts to proceed with the design and construction of this instrument. The primary science mission of this instrument, now more euphoniously designated as the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), is to detect self-luminous extrasolar planets at near-infrared wavelengths.

Detecting an old, cold Jupiter-like planet a billion times fainter than the Sun at visible and near-infrared wavelengths is probably a task for the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (GSMT). A young (100 million-year old) Jovian mass planet is only a million times dimmer than its parent star in the near-infrared! These are still undetectable by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) or existing ground-based adaptive optics (AO) systems if the object lies Figure 1. Simulated 20-second Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) within a few arcseconds of its host, but are within reach of the next broadband integration showing a 5 Jupiter-mass extrasolar planet generation of AO systems. in a 6 AU orbit around a 200 million-year old solar-type star at 10 parsecs (33 light-years) from Earth. The star is located behind The GPI combines four techniques to achieve this “firefly next to a an occulting spot. The square “dark hole” region created by GPI’s searchlight” contrast. A high-order AO system uses 1,800 active spatially filtered wavefront sensor and its MEMS deformable mirror actuators on a silicon Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) is 1.8 arcseconds on a side. This is a direct broadband image deformable mirror to control fast-moving atmospheric wavefront (created by combining all wavelength channels in the integral field errors. State-of-the-art optics (λ/200 surface quality), combined spectrograph) with no post-processing. In hour-long exposures, with a nanometer-accuracy infrared interferometer, reduce and GPI will be 13 times more sensitive, and multiwavelength planet remove quasi-static wavefront artifacts. A sophisticated diffraction detection should enhance sensitivity by another factor of ten. control system (a variant of a Lyot coronagraph) removes the Airy pattern. Finally, the science instrument is an integral field spectrograph, which will use multi-wavelength information to method that measures orbital motion, a significant fraction of an reject artifact speckles and allow characterization of discovered orbit must elapse. The Doppler searches, which began accumulating planets. Figure 1 shows a simulated GPI image. Ultimately, in significant quantities of data about a decade ago, now probe out hour-long exposures, GPI should be able to detect objects more to 4.6 AU, although about half of the known planets lie within than ten million times fainter than their parent stars, e.g., able to 0.9 AU. In another five years, they will have reached as far as 6 AU. detect planets out to ages of ~1 billion years (depending on their It is therefore impractical to explore the outer regions, say 30 AU, mass) at a separation of 5—50 astronomical units (AU) from their of solar systems, except by direct imaging. parent star. Extrapolation of current trends in planet abundance with the semi- Why do we need direct detection to find more planets, when nearly major axis of their orbits suggests that the number of detectable 170 Doppler-detected planets are already known? Kepler’s third planets will increase at least linearly with the outer limit of the law, p2 = a3, provides the reason. For reliable detection using a survey, so we expect direct imaging to yield hundreds of planets.

continued

June 2006 15 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 16 regions of solar systems could have abundant Jovian and and planets. Jovian mass super-Jovian abundant have could systems solar outer of the then regions accretion, core as well as gravitational instabilities, by disk form migration can planets and Jovian If processes formation mechanisms. their to clues holds AU 5 beyond planets of abundance the significantly, More TheGemini Planet Imager continued bnacs w wl hv a etrl nw ehd for method new entirely an evolution. and formation of planet exploration have will we abundances, chemical and composition infer to learn of and class atmosphere, new this understand we Once occur. to expected H which in objects are 2). figure see These (700 Kelvin; T dwarfs ofcoolest the that and (125JupiterKelvin) of objects that between first temperatures the with of discovery yield will detection direct as study. be these atmospheres will Understanding a challenge, spectroscopic for atmospheres planetary up opens it that is detection planet direct of aspect alluring most the Perhaps this plot is T Jupiter, plot this with on lies that object astronomical known only The (dashed). curve ammonia the condensation lie below and a objects few the straddles (dashed), Kelvin 400 about at line population condensation cloud water 50 The (< cut). nearby age of (no survey stars parsec) field the from drawn are circles) log in labeled isochrones are lines Dotted 2003). al. et masses (Burrows Jupiter 1–20 from ranging exoplanets of evolution a the show of lines solid The simulation neighborhood. solar Carlo the of Monte survey a from exoplanets detected GPI-of properties atmospheric of distribution The 2. Figure NGSC 10 (billions of years [Gyr]). The detected planets (filled (filled planets [Gyr]). detected The years of (billions June 2006 2 O and NH and O eff =120 log and Kelvin 3 cloud condensation is is condensation cloud 10 g =3.4. te picpl P ta mmes nld Rn Doyon Rene include members team GPI principal Other staff a also at LLNL member is Palmer David manager project systems engineering; and management project for responsible is LLNL project, the this for institution lead with the As (LLNL). physicist Laboratory National a Livermore is Lawrence the at Bruce group optics adaptive Macintosh, GPI. build Bruce and by design led to engineers, and astronomers team of international an commissioned recently has Gemini than brighter target stellar any of environment the about information complete produce new to able be many will to GPI lead discoveries. to unanticipated and likely is and is general, imaging in ultra-high-contrast unexplored of field allowing The stars. evolved and capabilities, targets system solar include GPI its for objectives science to Broader disks. addition debris resolved to polarimetry the sensitivity unprecedented through imaging reach science of its extend will GPI 2010, and first light planned on Gemini South for late 2010. late for South Gemini on planned light 2010, first and through for June 2007, scheduled integration and test review The GPI projectis nowdesign underway,with its preliminary Cruz. at UC Santa Optics Adaptive for Lab Moore the at planned program integration extensive and test an has GPI The Berkeley. UC from coordinated team science international by an provided be will leadership science Strong Montréal. de Université the at and implemented designed be at will tested pipeline and reduction data The designed AMNH. be will system control diffraction coronagraphic The sensor. wavefront infrared precision for the responsible be is JPL will NASA designed UCLA. at spectrograph be built field and designed will integral science systems The time LLNL. at real and design Optical HIA. by led be will software overall and design Mechanical [JPL]). Laboratory Propulsion Jet (NASA Wallace Kent [UCLA]),and Los Angeles at California of (University for Larkin James Berkeley), Laboratory at Cruz Santa at Gavel Adaptive Optics), (University of James R. Graham California Don California [HIA]), of Astrophysics (University of Saddlemeyer Institute Les (Herzberg [AMNH]), History Natural of Museum (American Oppenheimer R. Ben Montréal), de (Université I = 8 magnitude. = 8magnitude. NGSC

Phoenix: Five Years of Commitment to Gemini South

Ken Hinkle & Verne Smith

arch 2006 marked the fifth anniversary of the last However, it was the Demonstration Science program that Phoenix run at Kitt Peak before the instrument resulted in the first refereed paper based on Gemini/Phoenix began its journey to Gemini South. Phoenix is a spectra: “Chemical Abundances in 12 Red Giants of the Mhigh-resolution, 1- to 5-micron spectrograph built by NOAO Large Magellanic Cloud from High-Resolution Infrared in the 1990’s for use at the f/16 foci of NOAO telescopes. First Spectroscopy,” published in late 2002 by Smith et al. in the light occurred on 21 August 1996 at the Kitt Peak National Astronomical Journal. These data were taken in February Observatory 2.1-meter telescope. While the optical design of 2002, and regular queue observing began in semester 2002A. Phoenix (Hinkle et al., 1998, SPIE, 3354, 810) is very simple, Phoenix embraced several innovative features, including a A steady stream of Gemini/Phoenix papers began appearing in million-pixel Aladdin I array that was very large at the time. 2003 and continues today. Eighteen papers that span a broad range of topics are now in the refereed journal literature. NOAO agreed in 2000 to share use of Phoenix with the Gemini Observatory. Gemini is an f/16 telescope and the Phoenix on Gemini South has been a versatile scientific tool. designed slit width of Phoenix (0.34 arcsec on Gemini) is Some examples of its scientific range are studies of detailed a reasonably good match to the typical delivered image elemental and isotopic abundances in red giants from many quality at Gemini South. One feature of the Gemini/ different stellar populations such as the Magellanic Clouds, NOAO contract was the upgrade of the Phoenix detector the Galactic Bulge, various globular clusters, as well as halo to an Aladdin II array. The Aladdin II has proven vastly and disk field stars (figure 1). High-resolution infrared spectra superior to the Aladdin I used at Kitt Peak. The installation of brown dwarfs have been studied for deriving physical of this detector array marked the beginning of the excellent parameters, as well as for measuring very accurate radial performance that Phoenix currently exhibits. velocities and projected rotational velocities. Additional papers include the study of accretion onto massive young stars Phoenix was transported by a combination of truck and still in the process of formation, mapping the distribution of + Boeing 747 air cargo plane from Tucson to Cerro Pachón in H3 in the interstellar medium, or probing the physics of Fu Ori September 2001. A small team from Tucson was at Pachón stars. Phoenix data have also helped set limits on the relative to meet the instrument when it arrived. The NOAO team abundances of aluminium isotopes (including the radioactive worked with a Gemini team led by Manuel Lazo to install nuclei Al-26) in planetary nebulae. Phoenix on Gemini South. Our scientific staff contact at Gemini was Claudia Winge. Claudia and Manuel have continued as Gemini support for Phoenix over the last four years, and have contributed greatly to the smooth operation of the instrument. Over the same period, a number of NOAO staff members have helped support Phoenix: Bob Blum deserves special recognition for long hours spent executing queue observations with Phoenix.

As part of the sharing arrangement with Gemini, NOAO provides observing support. Phoenix was initially a queue instrument. However, Phoenix is interfaced to Gemini differently than Gemini facility instruments. With the refinement of Gemini queue observing, the status of Phoenix was changed to a classical-only instrument. Support is essentially the same from the NOAO perspective, NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter and we greatly enjoy meeting and working with Phoenix classical observers. Figure 1. Spectrum synthesis of the M III component of the X-ray binary GX 1+4 (Hinkle et al., 2006, ApJ, 641, 479). The The first night of observations with Phoenix at Pachón was derived abundances demonstrate that the M giant star in 16 December 2001. While 80 percent of the night was used the system is a first ascent red giant, with a mass less than for alignment to the telescope and performance of other 1.22 Msun. The neutron star primary is the more massive star. engineering functions, two hours were used to take spectra. The neutron star is a textbook case for an accretion-induced The first light spectrum was of FU Ori. These data were collapse supernova. The orbital period, 3.2 years, was also published in an Astrophysical Journal article by Hartmann, derived from Phoenix spectroscopy and is by far the longest of Hinkle, and Calvet in 2004. any X-ray binary. continued

June 2006 17 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 18 of radial velocities plus photometric light curve allows allows curve light photometric plus velocities radial of co- combination The eclipsing). is brown also (which system dwarf binary double-lined and a in to velocities spectra radial University) derive Phoenix high-resolution (Vanderbilt used investigators Stassun Keivan using papers recent most well is the of data: its two Gemini/Phoenix of in illustrated versatility scientific The Phoenix continued there are two options for submitting a request—Regular request—Regular request. II-related a Phase and request HelpDesk submitting for options two are there www.gemini.edu the is to go HelpDesk, To enter States Center. Science United NOAOGemini the for NGO The staff. Observatory information for request to Office (NGO) a your andGemini National Gemini directly make can you which interface through Web-based a is This answer. the with someone D (2006, mechanism ejection companion a by shaped not was and outburst the asymmetric during inherently an from results the nebula ofshape The bipolar outburst. century 19 star’s the during years five than less of period a over M 10 about be to derived was nebula the of mass The Homunculus. the and of picture physical kinematic a build to lines II] [Fe 1.6435-micron star the H evolving 2.12-micron the on focused massive, Smith Carinae. very Eta the surrounding Nebula Homunculus generate the of maps image to spectral kinematic telescope and excellent spatial Gemini the and by delivered Phoenix quality of resolution high the spectral used Colorado) of (University Smith Nathan of this section Highlights Science (2006, dwarfs brown for determined have been parameters physical accurate such R 0.034 M 0.005 ± fundamental (0.054 masses accurate including the Association), Orion the of many (members of ofbrown dwarfs young two of these properties determination the for NGSC Astrophysical Journal Astrophysical sun a quick and easy way to submit your question to to question your submit to way easy and quick a provides HelpDesk Gemini The answer? the find o you but have can’t a Gemini about using question and 0.511 ± 0.026 R 0.026 ± 0.511 and sun June 2006 and 0.034 ± 0.003 M 0.003 ± 0.034 and Gemini HelpDesk: Helpful Hints for Users and

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Gemini HelpDesk continued

Regular HelpDesk Request Regular HelpDesk queries are categorized into three broad If you click the Regular HelpDesk ticket link, you will be subject areas: asked to enter the Gemini partner country of your home • instrumentation institution and the topic of your query. The system • telescope performance and capabilities uses this information to assign your question to the • the proposal and observing process appropriate person. Each of these subject areas is subdivided further: see the drop- These queries are first directed to the NGO staff who field down menu for all topics. Choosing the correct topic for your requests for information from their own community: question will facilitate getting an answer. Sometimes it is not this is Tier 1. Queries that cannot be answered at this clear which topic you should select, so this table illustrates level are escalated to Tier 2 support consisting of either some ideas about associating topics with the subject of your NGO-designated experts or Gemini staff who respond to question. Perhaps the most common mistake in choosing queries from the entire community. Queries that cannot be a topic is selecting a specific instrument, such as GMOS or answered at this level are escalated to Tier 3 support, who GNIRS, when the actual question is about problems with the are all Gemini staff. Gemini IRAF software.

If your question is about Choose this topic Instrument performance That particular instrument Reduction software problems Gemini IRAF Phase II Phase II-related request Writing a proposal for using Michelle Michelle Downloading data Gemini Science Archive Observing strategy–for example GNIRS GNIRS NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter

Screen shots showing two options for submitting a query to the Gemini HelpDesk

June 2006 19 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 20 II s n h fnl seby n tsig hs o the of phase NICI the in testing installed and was mirror assembly deformable The project. final the in is NICI NICI 2006 March the since progress with US, the in developed being gives article This a status update oninstrumentation Gemini programs. science ofin support frontline telescopes Gemini the for instrumentation capable and innovative provide to mission its continues Program Instrumentation NGSC The under the leadership of Doug Toomey. of Doug leadership the under telescope. NICI, South building is Hilo in (MKIR) Gemini Infrared Kea Mauna the on coronagraphic capability dual-beam imaging 5-micron to 1- a provide will (NICI) Imager Coronagraphic Infrared Near The NGSC NOAO/NSO Newsletter GMOS spectrographs. GMOS of support USof the in the users participate Fellow. will Dara NSF as an Postdoctoral served She previously sars. qua and Universe, the of structure large-scale the lensing, gravitational include interests and expertise research Dara’s 2006. February 1 on starting Fellowship, Postdoctoral NGSC the of recipient second the is Norman Dara the spectrographs. of Phoenix and bHROS users US of support NGSC’s in role major a assuming is Katia South, Gemini on Phoenix of user major a Already evolution. chemical galactic and an abundances held stellar on previously expert Katia an is She 2006. Fellowship. Gemini US AURA February 1 on Astronomer Assistant an as Staff NGSC the joined Cunha Katia them. welcoming in us join (NGSC). Please ter Cen theScience of staff NOAO Gemini scientific to the additions following the to Weannounce pleased very are June 2006 NGSC Instrumentation Program Update . Taft &Mark Armandroff Trueblood New NGSC Staff Taft & Smith Armandroff Verne work to NICI final acceptance by Gemini is complete. is Gemini by acceptance final work NICI to the of percent 99 that reports MKIR March, of end the of As underway. is testing system the full and cooled, been NICIhas As oflate April, wheels. the filter addition, in In installed been has filters NICI of installed. complement initial and fabricated been has leak light the eliminate to baffle the for attachment An goggles. vision night with view external the the of examining and location detector the at These source light a baffling. placing by detector found the were in leaks been light has small arrays to NICI traced the on signal background Elevated begun. has AOof the system that aberrations testing static Dynamic beam. input of the into introduced have been types various correcting in performing well is system AO NICI The tested. and fully integrated was system AO the and system, (AO) optics adaptive continued - - NGSC

NGSC Instrumentation Program continued

FLAMINGOS-2

FLAMINGOS-2 is a near-infrared multi-object spectrograph and imager for the Gemini South telescope. FLAMINGOS-2 will cover a 6.1-arcmin- diameter field at the standard Gemini f/16 focus in imaging mode, and will provide multi-object spectra over a 6.1 × 2-arcmin 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.

The FLAMINGOS-2 Team is continuing with the integration and testing phase of the project. The On-Instrument Wavefront Sensor has been delivered, tested, and integrated with the rest of the instrument. The two low-resolution grisms have been received, tested, and installed. Test images through the imaging optics were obtained for the first time using the engineering- grade HAWAII-2 array. The resulting image-quality measurements are encouraging.

As of mid-April, Florida reports that 92 percent of the work to FLAMINGOS-2 final acceptance by Gemini has been completed. The front end of the FLAMINGOS-2 multi-object spectrograph (MOS) dewar is shown. Note the wheel containing selectable MOS plates. NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter

The FLAMINGOS-2 On-Instrument Wavefront Sensor is shown mounted in the dewar.

June 2006 21 OBSERVATIONALPROGRAMS NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

2006B Proposal Process Update

Dave Bell

NOAO received 459 observing proposals for telescope time during the 2006B observing semester. These included 206 proposals for Gemini, 119 for CTIO, 100 for KPNO, 29 for Keck, 18 for MMT, 10 for Magellan, and nine for HET. Twenty-three of the CTIO proposals were processed on behalf of the Chilean National Time Allocation Committee (TAC), and eight of the Kitt Peak proposals were processed on behalf of the University of Maryland TAC.

Thesis projects accounted for 23 percent (106 proposals) of those received. Thirteen proposals requested long-term status, and ten proposals were received for the NOAO Survey Program. Time-request statistics by telescope and instrument appear in the tables below. Subscription rate statistics will be published in the September 2006 Newsletter.

As of this writing, proposals are being reviewed by members of the NOAO TAC (see the following listing). We expect all telescope schedules to be completed by 13 June 2006, and plan to notify Principal Investigator’s of the status of their requests at that time. Mailed information packets will follow the e-mail notifications within about two weeks.

Looking ahead to 2007A, Web information and forms will be available online around September 1. The September 2006 Newsletter will contain updated instrument and proposal information.

2006B Instrument Request Statistics by Telescope

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2006B Time Allocation Committee Members

Solar System (1 May 2006) Galactic (2-3 May 2006) Caitlin Griffith, Chair, University of Arizona, LPL Letizia Stanghellini, Chair, NOAO Drake Deming, NASA GSFC Abi Saha, Chair, NOAO Debra Fischer, San Francisco State University Sidney Wolff, Chair, NOAO Matthew Holman, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA Suchitra Balachandran, University of Maryland David Trilling, University of Arizona, Steward Adam Burgasser, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ed Guinan, Villanova University Extragalactic (4-5 May 2006) Tom Harrison, New Mexico State University Inese Ivans, Carnegie Observatories Dave De Young, Chair, NOAO Greg Laughlin, University of California, Santa Cruz Tod Lauer, Chair, NOAO Kevin Luhman, Pennsylvania State University John Mulchaey, Chair, Carnegie Observatories Ciska Markwick-Kemper, University of Virginia Stephane Courteau, Queen’s University Mario Mateo, STScI Romeel Davé, University of Arizona, Steward John Monnier, University of Michigan Megan Donahue, Michigan State University Bart Pritzl, Macalester College John Feldmeier, Youngstown State University Nathan Smith, University of Colorado Mauro Giavalisco, STScI Nicole Van Der Bliek, NOAO Anthony Gonzalez, University of Florida Eva Villaver, STScI Brad Holden, University of California, Santa Cruz Lisa Young, New Mexico Tech Robert Knop, Vanderbilt University Henry Lee, University of Minnesota Crystal Martin, University of California, Santa Barbara Survey (20-21 Apri l 2006) Tom Matheson, NOAO Tod Lauer, Chair, NOAO Bahram Mobasher, STScI Timothy Brown, High Altitude Observatory Malcolm Smith, AURA Ron Gilliland, STScI Adam Stanford, University of California, Davis Buell Jannuzi, NOAO Donna Weistrop, University of Nevada at Las Vegas Sangeeta Malhotra, Arizona State University Michael Strauss, Princeton Unviersity NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter

June 2006 25 CTIO/CERROTOLOLO INTER-AMERICAN OBSERVATORY

Conociendo al Pueblo Atacameño

Robert Blum

At the summit, after some general sightseeing which all In order to obtain access to Cerro Tolonchar, one high peak in the seemed to enjoy very much, preparations were made for the Atacama region, we began a series of visits to San Pedro de Atacama ceremony. This was led by the most elder of the community and the surrounding area in 2004, first describing our project to a of Peine attending, Don Horacio Morales. Señor Horacio large gathering representing many individual communities. It was has apparently worked all over this region of northern humbling to wait for our turn to speak in the modest community Chile, known as Atacama, principally in various mining center while the locals discussed other business, principally operations. He told us that not anyone could perform this agricultural water and tourism issues. type of ceremony. He knew he had the ability when he was 18 years old. He explained that the ceremony consists of ritual Once allowed to speak, we were received politely and with a number giving to the “Pachamama,” or Earth Mother, and that all of excellent questions. Anxious to have an answer to our request, who were gathered in attendance would have an opportunity we were initially disappointed with the recommendation that to give thanks. The ceremony is a wonderful mixture of we should first visit the small communities of Peine and Socaire native Atacameñan religion and Roman Catholicism. Don near our chosen site. However, this requirement led to a unique Horacio wore beads and crucifix, but spoke as well of animal and rewarding opportunity to get to know the people closest to sacrifice. If this had been a ceremony for a mine operation, Cerro Tolonchar. the latter would have been required. This is because the mine seeks to remove something valuable from the land, and this must, in turn, be compensated with something of value...

These are the words I first used, in a trip log, to describe a ceremony held on the summit of Cerro Tolonchar in November 2005. The ceremony (see photo), was the culmination of a long, sometimes trying, but ultimately very rewarding process. As a partner in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project, AURA has been working since 2000, through its site survey group at CTIO, to identify and gain access to candidate sites showing great promise for the next generation of large, ground based telescopes in northern Chile. A number of candidates were identified from initial surveys of population centers, light pollution levels, mining activity, and remote satellite sensing data.

Beginning in the 1990s, the Chilean government returned effective control to people of indigenous descent living on or near much of its federal land. Much of the territory running along and through Residents of the communities of Peine and Socaire gather on the summit the Chilean Andes in the north of the country was included in of Cerro Tolonchar in November 2005 to perform a “ceremonia del pago’’ this policy. These “ancestral” lands, while still officially owned in thanks for its use. Señora Sara is in the foreground, giving thanks and by the government, were given over to the local communities for words of welcome. (Credit: Juan Seguel and NOAO/AURA/NSF) protection and custodianship. These local communities now have a primary voice in deciding how (and if) they will be used. Organizing meetings in these small local towns is not easy. Peine has essentially no public telephone connections, and Socaire only This new reality has become of singular importance for Andean spotty and temperamental cell phone service. Nevertheless, a date TMT candidate sites. Not only does one need to work effectively was set and we traveled at the appointed time to meet with these with various federal, regional, and local governments as well as communities, first one evening in Peine and then the next day environmental, tourism, cultural, and mining ministries, but in Socaire. We reached the area driving at night along the dirt ultimately with the people who live near the mountain. roads through the Salar de Atacama (a gigantic salt flat). When

continued

26 June 2006 CTIO

Conociendo al Pueblo Atacameño continued we arrived, we were told that due to the previous day’s rain The robotic site survey equipment (see cover) has been storm (it rains several times a year in areas along the salar), installed and takes measurements each night, with machine- no one would be likely to attend the meeting scheduled for like precision, above the communities of people in Peine and that night, as most residents would simply stay indoors Socaire. But the effort began with people speaking face to until the unusual event had passed. face, with ancient words to give thanks and pay respect to the Earth Mother... With nowhere else to go, we went to the community hall where we pitched the project to the few townspeople who The rituals and ceremony were begun by Señora Sara, were curious enough to see who were these strangers as all seem to know her. She welcomed everyone and us walking about. We agreed to return the following night when by name first of all, and then, to our happy surprise, the town “presidenta,” Señora Sara Plaza, said she would spoke first of the desire for the project to be a complete make sure everyone came. We made our way to Socaire and great success. This theme was echoed throughout the next morning and returned to Peine that evening. We the day by many other speakers. Each person present were graciously allowed to present our project in front of was allowed to give thanks and make an offering to the the town committees in both locations. Both communities Pachamama. The AURA group members, including acceded to our request, in the end, and sent formal letters of Alicia Norambuena, who spoke eloquently of the approval to the regional government, which then officially solid foundation this new relationship between the approved the site testing by granting a five-year concession indigenous and scientific communities had been built on the summit. on, each made offering and gave words of thanks. Enrique Figueroa spoke of the honor he felt for having It is difficult to overestimate the economic and cultural been invited to participate in such an important gulf between the technological world of modern astronomy gathering. Each speaker repeated (approximately) the and the small “comunidades” along the Chilean Andes. ritual offering shown by Don Horacio, which involved Yet the people of this region, despite their lack of our 24/7 placing a small quantity of hojas de coca (coca leaves) connected lifestyle, are remarkably well informed and on a fire, then pouring red wine in small amounts at aware of life outside their communities. They questioned the points of a crucifix around the fire, sprinkling wine us about the Hubble Space Telescope, Cerro Tololo, and the by hand on the nearby rocks, and finally sipping a European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. mouthful of wine in the manner of a toast to all present.

It was an honor to visit these people in their homes and to It is a pleasure for the author to thank Enrique Figueroa share, even if briefly, in their community affairs. There is (AURA) and Alicia Norambuena (Data Research, Santiago) an expectation here that projects like the Atacama Large for their tremendous assistance in all the intricacies Millimeter Array (ALMA) and TMT could help shrink the of gaining access to the Chilean TMT candidate sites. gulf between our worlds, at least a little. This community This endeavor would not have been possible without has much to offer us in return, beyond the dry and clear their efforts. skies, if we are guided by the data to build at this location.

NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter

June 2006 27 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 28 sensor (once, or at most a few times per night). Nonetheless, we are continuing parallel efforts to incorporate low-order incorporate to efforts parallel continuing operation. loop” “closed are permit to we cameras guide the into Nonetheless, capabilities sensing wavefront night). per times few a most at or (once, sensor front wave the to recourse occasional only with “open-loop” operate to possible so be will itsuggest results However,circumstances most under that dependence. far temperature and position residual the of correction and for system, tables look-up optical develop upgraded to the of performance the characterize and optimize to underway still is May,testing early of As servo- temperature. and position to mount be figure mirror to of the sensitivity mirror the reduces greatly the and to structure, telescope of the apply they force the allowing cell, from that load mirror the the from variabledistortions forces isolates result effectively to controlled value. the in-line strategy correct This and actuator an incorporate supports new The expected. as work to exactly demonstrated quickly was and 2006, ofnight the time3 April on first the for onsky tested was mirror theSOAR for primary system support lateral Theactive new 8-meter Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Telescope (LSST). Survey Synoptic Large the 8-meter for site potential a as meters) 2,650 (altitude Peñón El S and Gemini South telescopes, the Peñón DIMM was was DIMM Pachón. Peñón on as seeing the same the about measure to telescopes, expected SOAR South the between Gemini situated and is which Pachón, Cerro on DIMM existing the from distance kilometer’s one about At DIMMs for the night ofDIMMs 26 night the March for (grey) Pachón and (black) Peñón the of 1.Comparison Figure CTIO DM) a be mauig h ttl eig on seeing total the measuring been has (DIMM) Monitor Motion Image Differential new way—a the along hiccups few a take or 2006—give January 6 ince June 2006

2006. SOAR Telescope Update The El Pe Hugo E. Schwarz & Edison Bustos &Edison Schwarz Hugo E. Steve Heathcote Steve

ñó even wireless internet available now near the DIMM! the now near available is internet There wireless even station. weather the solar for the modem radio with and dispense panels to us allowed also has for DIMM Peñón the El to fiber optical and power of installation The measurements. of the uncertainty the within equal are averages the and manner, random less in atime, more with or vary the DIMMs between differences 1 Figure been shows the Thecase. that has small this typically telescopes in the background, looking toward the northeast. the toward looking background, inthe telescopes South Gemini and SOAR the with DIMM, Peñón The 2. Figure n DIMM CTIO

Robert Blum Moves from NOAO South to North

Alistair Walker

obert Blum transfers from La Serena to Tucson in commissioning, science verification and observational early June, thus ending an extraordinarily productive support of infrared instruments such as Hokupa’a and nine-year phase of his career. Bob arrived at CTIO NIFS. With his strong instrumentation background, Rin 1997 to take up a tenure-track position after completing he has been a key participant in discussions about new his Ph.D at Ohio State University, and a Hubble Fellowship Gemini instrumentation and proposals such as GSAOI and at the University of Colorado. He continued his research instruments arising from the Gemini Aspen meeting. Bob on the formation and evolution of massive stars, extending will be ramping up his Gemini support work after he arrives his work on such processes near the Galactic Center to in Tucson, devoting all his service time to NGSC activities. other parts of the Galaxy, using infrared photometry and spectroscopy to effectively study the properties of these Bob has been a key member of the CTIO scientific staff for stars, which are almost always located in highly obscured almost a decade, and his departure will leave a large gap. regions. Bob utilized OSIRIS, a powerful infrared imaging We wish Bob, his wife Denise, and their children Brian and spectrometer, then installed on the Blanco 4-meter Megan all the best for this new phase of their lives. telescope, for much of this work. More recently, Bob has observed with infrared instruments on Gemini, extending his work to stars in nearby galaxies via adaptive optics. He is also part of the SAGE survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud using the Spitzer Space Telescope.

As lead infrared astronomer at CTIO, Bob guided the evolution of related instrumentation, which has included the installation of the wide-field imager ISPI on Blanco and the transfer of OSIRIS to SOAR. He has been an articulate and thoughtful member of the CTIO committee that provides advice on instrumentation projects and upgrades, and monitors telescope performance, chairing the committee for the past year. He also represents NOAO on the SOAR Telescope Science Advisory Committee.

Since 2000, Bob has been involved with site-testing activity for the next generation of very large telescopes. For the last three years, he has led the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) site-testing efforts in Chile (see the related article by Bob in this Newsletter). His hands-on management of this project has been very effective, particularly with the often delicate negotiations needed in the early phases of site access.

During the past few years, Bob has also supported the Gemini Observatory through the NOAO Gemini Science Center (NGSC), in particular being involved in NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter

June 2006 29 KPNO/KITTPEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY

The Tohono O’odham Nation, the NSF, VERITAS, and Kitt Peak National Observatory

Buell T. Jannuzi & Jeremy Mould

he name Kitt Peak was officially given to the 7,000-foot sources of high-energy gamma rays. The NSF and the Department mountain that is the home of our national observatory in of Energy (DoE) provide funding jointly for VERITAS. The 1930 by the United States Geographic Board. The name was VERITAS project is considering locating their telescope array in Tnominated by Pima County surveyor George J. Roskruge in honor of Horseshoe Canyon, because of the excellent qualities of this site for his sister Philippa Kitt. The Tohono O’odham name for the mountain the scientific and educational mission of the array. is Iolkam, and it has been used for much longer than 76 years. However, being sensitive to the cultural and historic importance The mountain is of great cultural significance to the people of the of the mountain to the people of the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Tohono O’odham Nation and is sacred to them. Astronomers are NSF is considering that if the VERITAS project were to proceed fortunate to be able to operate our observatories on land leased from with construction on Iolkam/Kitt Peak, the operational lifetime of the Nation by the National Science Foundation (NSF) since 1958. the project may be finite and predetermined. The NSF is further proposing that, at the end of the VERITAS project, those telescopes Iolkam/Kitt Peak is again being considered as the site of a new and all signs of the facility would be removed from the mountain as observatory, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array completely as possible. System (VERITAS; see veritas.sao.arizona.edu), that would study continued

Aerial photograph of Iolkam/Kitt Peak and Babaquivari circa 1957, including the original road and an early site-testing tower.

30 June 2006 KPNO

The Tohono O’odham Nation and Kitt Peak continued

These ideas were presented to the Tohono O’odham Nation on is to them as a sacred cultural site. We want them to know May 4 in an address by NSF Chief Legal Counsel Lawrence that they continue to have full access to all of the land they Rudolph, representing the NSF director and the DoE, before have shared with the world for the purpose of exploring a session of the Tohono O’odham Legislative Council. This the Universe. presentation was the latest step in our ongoing efforts to discuss possible mitigation measures for any negative effects We are continuing to collaborate with schools of the Nation generated by the construction and operation of VERITAS in educational outreach, including no-cost access to our with the Nation. public telescopes and classroom instruction with the Tohono O’odham Community College and the Nation’s K-12 schools. Other proposed elements of the mitigation plan include We have a very positive relationship with the Nation in many respect for the environmental conditions of the site, other areas, including public safety and fire protection. protection of natural inhabitants and historic locations, and the generation of public materials acknowledging the As we approach the 50th anniversary of the signing of the spiritual significance of the mountain and its traditional lease between the Tohono O’odham Nation and the US cultural value. During his address to the Legislative government that enabled the founding of Kitt Peak National Council, Rudolph also expressed the willingness of the NSF Observatory, we are open to discussions about the duration to begin discussions with the Tohono O’odham Nation about under which we enjoy the privilege of observing the skies the lifetime of all astronomical research and educational from the Nation’s land. We would like to refresh and activities on Iolkam/Kitt Peak. He mentioned a timeframe of strengthen the spirit of cooperation that has existed over 50 to 75 years from now as a possible date for ending the past five decades between the international scientific operation of all such facilities on the mountain. community and the people of the Nation.

The Legislative Council has requested that the NSF provide We welcome further discussion with the leaders of the a written proposal for their consideration. NOAO is Nation, and look forward to an agreement that acknowledges working closely with the NSF to advocate for the interests of the interests and concerns of everyone. our visiting astronomers, users, and tenants, as we work to find common ground with the Tohono O’odham Nation. Kitt Peak National Observatory is known worldwide as an important part of the system of ground-based Independent of the discussions regarding VERITAS, we observatories that the very best astronomers use to explore are working to improve communication between the the Universe. We want to enable everyone to take pride observatory and the O’odham people. We want all of the in its existence. citizens of the Tohono O’odham Nation to understand that we respect and acknowledge how important the mountain

Notable Quotes

“Working with telescopes, you could be observing all night. It gets cold. Long hair keeps you warm.

“I’ve had hair longer than the people I’ve been around since I was 9 years old. I’ve always liked people with long hair, and I guess I NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter like myself as well.”

NOAO/WIYN Astronomer Steve B. Howell, quoted on the practical advantages of luxuriant hair in an 18 April 2006 story by Columbia Graduate School of Journalism student Austin Fido titled “Rating scientists: Brains yes, but what about their hair?”

June 2006 31 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 32 to date has exploited WIYN’s superb superb WIYN’s exploited has date to instrument no However, conditions. T to measure and track the local image image local the track and mode) measure video to in or mode either integrating (in independently operate can that cells pixel 494 x 480 of array 8 x 8 of Each ODI’s CCD chips be will into divided technique. an CCD transfer” “orthogonal this uses currently Tonry, The John loan Hawaii’s of on University the from OPTIC, errors. camera guiding prototype telescope and shake, turbulence, to due follow moves atmospheric it to as image CCD optical the the within image charge directly the moving achieved locally be by will stabilization Image conditions. seeing good under arcsecs 0.2 to 0.1 by seeing the enhance to shown been has correction Tip/tilt with pixels. correction, plane 0.11-arcsec focal the sample image will and tip/tilt through images the stabilize WIYN, actively of will ODI quality image the fully exploit To one- one view. of a a field square-degree feature having will camera ODI billion-pixel community 2009. WIYN in the high-resolution to imaging wide-field, will (ODI) provide Imager One-Degree The potential. full WIYN’s to utilize capabilities imaging improved demand for clear a is there Thus not seeing. do delivered sharp WIYN’s observations from benefit its and wide, arcsecs three and arcsecs two are hand, one- the of other the on spectrograph, field degree fibers The of has time minutes. it 3.5 readout and CCD view inefficient WIYN, across an of arcmin at field 10 a only imager provides MiniMo, current The time. same at the view of field large its and quality image The WIYN One-Degree Imager and its Precursor QUOTA KPNO usually limited by atmospheric atmospheric by limited usually delivers excellent images that telescope are 3.5-meter WIYN he June 2006 Daniel Harbeck & George Jacoby (WIYN Observatory) (WIYN Jacoby &George Harbeck Daniel

by the observer using designated designated using observer tools. software the by planning would advance from greatly observations benefit Such exposure. tip/tilt corrected fully each for assigned be to have will stars guide 200 roughly the support: software sophisticated example, require For ofguidestars for configuration ODIwill detectors. these operate new and teach control to to how is us QUOTA of purpose The 8K pixels. x 8K of total a with array, 2 x 2 a only have will plane QUOTA’s focal CCDs, focal ODI’sOTA of array 8 x 8 of consist While will plane controllers. and detectors of type same the use will that 1. figure QUOTA version is of a see ODIdownscaled OTA) called (QUad camera QUOTA pathfinder currently a are building we use, near-term For project. PanSTARRS the and WIYN between collaboration a in developed being are (OTA)detectors Array Transfer Orthogonal specialized These stars. guide bright using motion right. the to WTTM with port, of QUOTA imaging 1. WIYN’s at Figure Rendering pending, as is the interplay between between interplay the is as pending, of most the recent OTAis still detectors demonstration Mosaic The 3). the (figure camera using telescope 4-meter tested the excellent filter atsuccessfully the KPNO We ODI. havefor required be will that the curve transmission the of homogeneity demonstrates that An delivered been has filter band r’ SDSS techniques. to construction QUOTA filter using broadband interference the are prototype we Mosaic KPNO filters, the with fully is compatible it that given QUOTA modest, for more is size filter the Although interference filters. custom-designed be to 40 centimeters), so havewill these filters x (40 size ODI’s of filters uniform colored-glass buy to impossible currently is it filters: QUOTA the to given been corrector has attention the Special 2). (figure optics and dewar, in the lab wheel, WIYN filter the the shutter, the Tucson,including in for are components QUOTA mechanical the All continued KPNO

WIYN One-Degree Imager continued

the OTA CCDs and the Monsoon CCD replace MiniMo as the standard WIYN controller. imager in semester 2007B.

QUOTA is scheduled for commissioning By the time ODI arrives at the telescope, as a static imager this fall. Active image QUOTA will have taught us how to stabilization will be added over the deal with the peculiarities of an OTA- subsequent six months. We expect to based camera, and we will “only” face offer QUOTA, in shared risk mode, the problems of scaling up QUOTA by beginning in semester 2007A. It will a factor of sixteen!

Figure 3 – Picture of M78 obtained with the KPNO Mosaic camera, using the prototype SDSS r’ band filter. (Credit: Harbeck/Schweiker/Marenfeld and WIYN/NOAO/NSF) NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter Figure 2. Hardware components of QUOTA received in the Tucson WIYN lab: Lens mount (a) for the two corrector lenses (only one lens shown). One lens (b) will serve as the front element of the dewar (c). The filter wheel (d) will carry up to eight filters. Some QUOTA filters will be broadband interference filters to serve as prototypes for large-format ODI filters (e). The Bonn shutter (f) allows very short exposures with homogeneous illumination of the focal plane. The instrument control box (g) will deliver telemetry, control the focal plane temperature, and the filter wheel interface. A small eight-channel version of the Monsoon CCD controller (h) is capable of reading out a single OTA chip; a larger 40-channel version for use with QUOTA is currently being assembled.

June 2006 33 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 34 and WIYN Support Office, coordinating communication communication coordinating Office, KPNO Support the in WIYN served and Judy service. exemplary of years 18 J Professor John Salzer, Wesleyan University, writes: University, Wesleyan Salzer, John Professor future. the in best very the her wish We duties. her of the performance and meticulous and Judy.exceptional presence, calming from her support smile, Judy’s of miss will level We excellent same the received newcomer, astronomers Both relative a astronomy. in career her from beginning just is second The Peak. Kitt with been had Judy as long as mountain the to coming been has who observer an from is first The here. two contributions the of share we and Judy, to testimonials presentation for These collected were gratitude. of well expressions many and received wishes and community remarks observing solicited the we from retirement, her of occasion the On locate to difficult particularly a cable).computer securing to medical assistance finding help from (ranging scientists visiting our of needs unexpected the with handled together day, every successfully tasks, detailed and She routine countless respect. thoughtfulness and greatest the same with the worked At she whom with everyone treated she time, thoroughness. and care exceptional with duties her Judy performed work. to the ready and prepared telescope at arrive to astronomers the enabling in assistance her to degree, significant a to due, are years 18 past the over users our of for made were every run. observing The staff, scientific successes observatory by and observers by the preparations, necessary the all use that ensured that She observatories. tenant our staff and observers NSO as as some well of of KPNO, WIYN, facilities telescope visiting the between KPNO through the years. atobserver Kitt Peak, which kepthasin regular us contact continuefrequentI a be to daily basis.a on you sawand for KPNO. I was on the staff as a postdocfrom 1989-1991, office support observing the in job the took first you when graduatestartinga juststudent/postdocwas as out since I NOAO, at time your paralleled has astronomy in career my sense some In years. the through me for you’vedone that all for YOU THANK big a send to and retirement, your in best the all you wish to writingI’m Judy, Dear observers over the past two decades, retired from from after 28 retired February on decades, visiting Observatory two National our Peak past Kitt for the contact over primary observers the Prosser, udy Thank You, Judy Prosser, for 18 Years of Service! June 2006 Buell T. Jannuzi at Santa Barbara, writes: Barbara, at Santa Graduate student Taro Sato, from the University of California future. Congratulations on your retirement, and best wishes for the student observers to my observing team at the last minute,last theat team observing my to studentobservers the to transport added I thattimescan’t ofnumber I specialthecountmountain. arranged or problems minute last fixed you that times the all ORPFs, tardy our about different ways through years.the friendly All the reminders many so in observers KPNO the all Youhelped position! treats people in the personable way [that] Judy did. alwaysappreciateI buttime, brief someonewho very a for Judy’s,with livestheironly mostly of path the crossed who first day. I must have been only one ofso many very astronomersthe on home at [feel]student, grad mere a me, made she appreciatedway I the etc., run, the after airport the to … on the mountain, how I can get reimbursed, how I … get questions about where to pick up the shuttle, how things are of lot a her ask to hadstill I when but exchangesemail…, … the in helpfulalways was Judy.She was on relycould I person only the beforehand, so anyoneintroduced to been hadneithernor buildingknew theI of …, sizesheer the by first got to the NOAO headquarters, I was rather intimidated to the process of observation, and I remember vividly when I exposure good a hadreally astronomyI’veprogram,never small a from student graduate a As 2005. of January in firstvery runobserving in my career was at KPNO 4-meter I remember Judy to be a very courteous and kind person. My YOU!!!! You are the best! you to enoughYOU,THANK butyears, the this YOU,overTHANK THANKsaid not have I that certain I’m the telescope and make the most of my time. ts ad o mgn NA wtot o i that in you without NOAO imagine to hard It’s John Salzer always possessed. You did exactly what your “canpresentthesmile,and do” attitudeyou ever your is most miss will thing I The grateful! alwayswas whichI foralways me, therefor that have Youwere experience. Peak could Kitt wonderful person young another that so approved, change the get to Green Richard down track cheerfully you’d and terms of providing the help I needed to get to in best the beenalways thehave you but years, through I’ve telescopes many at run. observed observing an with associated maximize to hasslesminimize the productivityand their as way a such in observers KittsupportedPeaktheyoutitle states: job NATIONALSOLAROBSERVATORY TUCSON, ARIZONA • SAC PEAK, NEW MEXICO

From the Director’s Office

Steve Keil

arly this year, the NSO published its annual program plan, several European nations met in April, with support from the available at www.nso.edu/general/docs/app06_final.pdf. The European Science Foundation, to discuss the formation of a roadmap presented in the plan has been modified to reflect European organization that could effectively represent European Ethe realities of the recently released Major Research Equipment solar interests, and provide a platform for enhancing European and Facilities Construction (MREFC) guidelines by the National participation in the ATST project. The participants met at the Science Foundation. University of Rome Villa Mondragone and produced a resolution for formation of the organization and for participation in ATST. The plan now assumes a 2009 construction start for ATST, bringing A subset of meeting participants met to further define a board for the telescope on line by 2014 at the earliest. This reality has been the ATST international organization and plan for its first official incorporated in our plans for upgrading the Dunn Solar Telescope meeting, scheduled for this fall. and McMath-Pierce solar facility, to ensure that these premier workhorse facilities remain at the forefront of high-resolution * * * spectro-polarimetry and infrared solar observations, respectively. At the Dunn, the recently implemented Virtual Camera System will be accompanied by an upgraded instrument control system. These systems will make it much easier to bring new instruments on line rapidly and to simultaneously operate multiple high- speed cameras. At the McMath-Pierce, planning for an upgraded telescope control system is near completion, and the NSO Array Camera is now on line for infrared observations.

The SOLIS Vector Spectromagnetograph (VSM) was removed in February to replace the modulators and upgrade some optical elements; it was reinstalled on the Kitt Peak SOLIS Tower in April. The SOLIS Integrated Sunlight Spectrometer (ISS) is currently being cross-calibrated with Fourier Transform Spectrometer data from the McMath-Pierce facility, and with the Littrow spectrograph Ca II K-line scans at the Evans Solar Facility. The SOLIS Full-Disk Patrol (FDP) should be installed this fall and the AURA science awardee K.S. Balasubramaniam with REU students. entire suite of SOLIS instruments commissioned by early 2007. GONG has completed the upgrade of its modulators, resolving AURA presents yearly awards for science, service, and technical an issue of background flatness that the GONG magnetograms innovation at each of the observatories it manages. This year, the were experiencing. GONG is gearing up to support the STEREO NSO science award went to Dr. K. S. (Bala) Balasubramaniam mission with its once-a-minute full-disk magnetograms, farside for his work to improve measurements of solar magnetic fields active-region imaging, and mapping of active regions below the in the chromosphere and photosphere, and for his contributions solar surface. Additional information about SOLIS and GONG to the discovery of sequential chromospheric brightenings. Bala appear in articles that follow in this Newsletter. has demonstrated pioneering leadership in research through the implementation of innovative and experimentally complex NSO is now in the process of updating its Long Range Plan. The observing approaches, revealing new phenomena in the solar report on the Senior Review of ground-based facilities, currently atmosphere and deepening our insight into solar magnetic being conducted by the NSF Astronomy Division, will influence processes. He led a group exploiting ISOON and SOHO data to the exact content and timing of the plan. However, NSO will strive investigate eruptive flare events, resulting in the discovery of to maintain current user support for the solar community as it sequential chromospheric brightenings, shedding light on the pushes ahead on the ATST project. As always, your input on the mechanisms and dynamics responsible for these flare events and NSO plan is welcome and can be sent to me at [email protected]. the global connectivity of the magnetic field. This work is of particular interest to solar-theory groups because it contains new * * * observations of CME/eruptive-flare initiation that can be used in model testing (e.g., the magnetic–field- breakout vs. field–line- Following the first organizational meeting for international tether-cutting models for magnetic reconnection). participation in the ATST last November, representatives from continued

June 2006 35 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 36 in an accompanying accompanying an in NSO and Komsa’sFletcher Berst, enhance about development of VCSthe appear Details community. substantially solar the of support will observing that concepts control innovative Telescope The employs (DST). VCS Solar Dunn outstanding their (VCS)the for System for Camera Virtual a developing in work award innovation technical NSO the received Komsa Mark and Fletcher, Steve Berst, Chris From the Director’s Office continued NSO management and to support other AURA centers centers AURA other needed. when support to and management assist to NSO way her of out goes also Jennifer but effort, time impact cultural ATSTis a full- the project Supporting and analysis. and studies project environmental the through in as Maui, role progresses on significant groups a various plays with also interfacing She community. the in enjoys ATST reputation strong the enhanced has meetings Jennifer’s support of science group working and transition community manager seamless. project virtually Wagner Jeremy to the Oschmann Jim from made skills Her the of ATST. reviews successful of series the in factor key a been have skills progress organizational Her date. excellent to project the by made has the to and course contributions on substantial project made the keeping in force major a been has Jennifer project. ATST the of and support thorough effective timely, her through community solar the to Project ATST to contributions presented for her Ditsler outstanding Jennifer Assistant was award service 2006 The monitor.System Camera Virtual the of front in Fletcher, Komsa Mark and SteveBerst, Chris awardees innovation technical AURA/NSO

NSO June 2006 Newsletter article.

We give our hearty congratulations to Bala, Chris, Steve, Steve, Chris, Bala, to congratulations hearty our give We and instrumentation. and manifestations, surface its and dynamo solar the processes, Aimee NSO, At heating Photosphere.” on magnetic-field-related research pursue to expects Solar the in Phenomena Observed as “Magneto-hydrodynamic on Ulrich Roger of direction the under written was thesis Her Angeles. Los at University, A&M Texas and her of PhD from University in the Astronomy California at Dynamics Engineering Nuclear Solar in BS her the received Aimee on 2008. April in launched be to Observatory, instrument Imager Magnetic Helioseismic forthe scientist project was she where in Boulder, Observatory Altitude High the from us to comes Aimee who joins the NSO asstaff scientific anAstronomer. Assistant Norton, Aimee of arrival the announce to delighted Weare performance. outstanding for their Jennifer and Mark, from Steve Keil. from award service AURA/NSO 2006 the accepting Ditsler Jennifer * NSO

ATST Update: Formal NHPA Consultation Meetings Held on Maui

The ATST Team

he Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for On March 27, an informal public meeting was held at the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) Haiku Community Center to update the public on the is nearing readiness for public review, and a series of ongoing EIS process. A meeting with Maui Community Tcultural impact meetings were held on Maui, HI, in recent College Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto focused on educational weeks. The Draft EIS has been in preparation for several opportunities on Maui and within Hawai‘i that might be months and is scheduled to be released at the end of May. well-matched with the goals of the NSF, NSO and ATST The Final EIS is planned to be published for public review science operations. Foltz, Hunter, Maberry, Van Citters, around September, with completion anticipated by the end and Wagner also met with officials of the Maui Economic of this year. Development Board, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation established in 1982 to focus on diversifying Maui’s economy. Representatives of the National Science Foundation, The team then met with officials of the NOAA Hawaiian the ATST team, the University of Hawaii Institute for Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Astronomy (UH IfA), and KC Environmental (KCE), the Those present at the various meetings received an excellent EIS contractor, participated in formal consultation meetings overview of both planned and on-going programs in under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation education, human resources, and public outreach. Act (NHPA). On March 28, Carney-Nunes, Fein, Foltz, Maberry, Van ATST has been represented by Project Manager Jeremy Citters, and Wagner met with retired Circuit Court Judge Wagner, Project Assistant Jennifer Ditsler, and Project Boyd Mossman, Maui Trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Architect Jeff Barr. Rex Hunter of NSO/Sunspot has Affairs. The group provided him with overviews of the also participated. Representing NSF have been Wayne ATST program, the mission of the NSF and its perspective Van Citters (Astronomy Division Director), Charisse A. on ATST, and the EIS process and status. Carney-Nunes (Assistant General Counsel), Craig Foltz (Astronomy Division Program Manager for NOAO and The second formal meeting was held on May 1 at the NSO), Anthony Gibson (Senior Legislative Policy Analyst), Paukukalo Community Center. The NSF and ATST team and Jean McGovern (Facilities Oversight Advisor). This presented an overview of the Section 106 process and ATST group has been joined by Charlie Fein and Sharon Loando- project, and received many comments from members of Monro of KCE, and Mike Maberry, UH IfA Assistant the public. Several students attended the meeting and Director for External Affairs. expressed their desire to enhance their knowledge of science, while also stating their deep concern about maintaining The first formal Section 106 meeting was held on March the sacredness of Haleakalā. Proposals are being collected 28 at the Mayor Hannibal Tavares Community Center in and a draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is being Pukalani. The meeting was open to the public for questions prepared. The final MOA between the NSF and the involved and comments. The team gave a brief overview of the Native Hawaiian groups must be approved and signed by science and schedule for ATST, and introduced the NHPA the State Historical Preservation Office before the Final Section 106 process. Resolution proposals were requested EIS is released. to be submitted to KCE by April 24. Van Citters and Foltz responded to most of the public questions, and Carney- Nunes responded to questions on the Section 106 process. NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter

June 2006 37 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 38 ucsfl oe f h Vector the of the saw move 2006 of successful quarter first The T VSM adjustments. VSM adjustments. filter following work tunable alignment optical and of resumption the for prepared been has (FDP) Patrol Disk Full- The routine. flat-field powerful more a of development successful the to led that small the discovery a errors, introducing position be in to found were used (ISS) Spectrometer Sunlight Integrated controllers Motor instrument. the within of components Tower SOLIS for facility replacement McMath-Pierce Peak Kitt to (KPST) area a clean in the temporary the from atop (VSM) Spectromagnetograph NSO camera tests. camera and repair grating replacement, modulator during weeks seven over just for resided it where area, clean temporary the within cart custom a VSMon the shows image inset The successfully. and safely instrument the move to staff operators crane the Observatory assist National Peak Kitt and lifted team Members SOLIS the tower. be of SOLIS the on must mount its and to feet 75 pounds, roughly 3,300 approximately weighs instrument Spectromagnetograph (VSM) Vector The 1. Figure continues to be instrument instrument be development. and service to project continues SOLIS the of focus he June 2006

planning was essential to ensure ensure to essential was replace careful planning and to assembly, order modulator in the removed be had optics to (figure back-end the of environment Most 1). dust-free a disassembly for in area laboratory moved a to was 14 February on VSM mount KPST its the from end, this To nm installed. be to modulator 630.2 longitudinal fresh a and modulator nm opportunity 854.2 efficient more This a for allowed also replacement. necessitated its modulator vector nanometer (nm) 630.2 the of Degradation Replacement Modulator (VSM) Vector Spectromagnetograph aligned on reassembly (figure 2). a and (figure retainers grating properly reassembly Spectrograph be on would aligned optics the that The SOLIS The Team SOLIS the Offner mirror . mirror Offner the protects the right) and (lower sheet left, perforated the on is for assembly stage the translation The modulator of assembly). front in housing (black modulator optics corrector the the toward looking end of back the from View VSM the inside assembly 2. Figure

minor adjustments, improvements to to improvements adjustments, minor these for need the Despite placement. to line spectral and necessary coverage disk obtain were position camera and mirror tertiary further the of adjustments that indicated operations, of on VSM resumption KPST the with produced images, the the intensity and Magnetograms on 7. April complete, reinstalled was were and synchronization tests repair, and housing camera-modulator grating installation tests, modulator Once flexure. housing were to replaced reduce grating spectrograph the in pivot flex broken data quality can already be observed observed page). facing see 3, be (figure already can quality data

NSO

SOLIS continued

Figure 3. Images of the south pole of the Sun in February 2000, before replacement of the VSM modulator (top), and in April 2006 after replacement (bottom). The images show the line-of-sight component of the magnetic field in the Ca II 854.2-nanometer chromosphere as dark or light features, depending on the polarity. Many more features are visible in the lower image thanks to the higher efficiency of the new modulator.

Virtual Camera Expands Flexibility at the Dunn Solar Telescope

Dave Dooling

hat to do when a guest investigator wants to enhance NSO’s observing support of the solar community,” use a camera that is not in the regular suite of according to the nomination citation. telescope cameras? You turn it into a Virtual WCamera and then plug it into the Camera Control System at “Chris, Mark, and Steve worked together very professionally NSO’s Dunn Solar Telescope (DST) at Sunspot, NM. and efficiently to get this done, and have exhibited a high

degree of creativity,” said NSO Director Steve Keil. “The new NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter “Basically, a Virtual Camera allows a new detector, with system will offer greatly improved capability for supporting capabilities or features that lie outside of our camera system, NSO users, for providing excellent data in collaboration with to be integrated into and be controlled by the existing existing missions such as SOHO and TRACE, and for the Camera Control System,” explained software engineer upcoming Solar-B and STEREO missions.” Chris Berst. This work also paves the way for the implementation of The work by Berst, Mark Komsa, and Steve Fletcher earned similar concepts with the planned four-meter Advanced them the 2006 AURA Technical Innovation Award for Technology Solar Telescope, which is intended to operate “outstanding work to develop a Virtual Camera for the DST for several decades and be able to incorporate new detector that employs innovative concepts that will substantially technologies as they develop. continued

June 2006 39 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 40 Virtual Camera Expands Flexibility CameraVirtual at Expands the DST continued many favorable comments from other institutions when the many favorable from institutions other comments 2005 December the AR 10810, is the best ever at obtained the DST (see page 32 of Thefirst-light image from the first Camera,Virtual depicting explained. Berst this’,” into ‘Fit say System Control Camera the have than to what control,’ yourather and decide my parameters are say,‘These camera user a have to ability the us gives “It executes on a computer of their choice. On one side of this this of side one On choice. their of computer a on executes The Application. Camera by and developer the is written Application Camera Virtual Virtual the to of is inside which used be protocol communications a developed “We observation. of the used simultaneously, depending on the science requirements be can the Cameras in Virtual Multiple System. Control retained Camera is Virtual display and the storage on data while processing Camera and acquisition image speed high- of burden the places method This camera. any with integrated be can that protocol control “plug-and-play” a devised team Camera Virtual the To challenges, these meet more cameras. facility DST second, of existing rate the per times ten than frames 100 at image can cameras New to need the data. acquire increased systems the speed at increase in which individual results an This require observations. during goals cadence science many Additionally, System.” Control Camera existing of the capabilities the exceed often detectors new these of rates data the general, piece of In hardware. an external with a to camera interface for need the include It may also interfaces. proprietary and interface unique include can requirements such as This USB, Camera Ethernet, Link, Firewire, requirements. of set initial the in contained not emerge were built that cameras capabilities new featuring on, was capabilities,” goes time and “As that requirements explained. System of Berst set Control specific a Camera around a have “We suite. observing the into cameras of visitor integration the as well as cameras, in-house several the of coordination and control the been has problem standing A long- challenge. anbecome operational has turn, in This, most world’s the of instruments. one of solar suites sophisticated operates now NSO result, a As imaging. improved (AO) significantly optics provides that adaptive technology high-order incorporates DST The message. budget W. 2007 FY Bush’s Discover of issue 2006 February the of page Spot” the Marks “X the on NSO the released was Webimage site. Iton featured was NSO magazine, and was mentioned in President George magazine, June 2006 NOAO/NSO Newsletter ). NSO received ). NSO received develop their own Virtual Camera. Virtual own their develop to wish who investigators guest DST future for published be eventually will specifications and developed, is SPINOR as mature will development Camera Virtual the that said Berst polarimetric a to (IBIS) system. Spectrometer Bidimensional Interferometric the of upgrade the and (SPINOR), Regions Optical be Altitude and NSO/High Infrared will for joint Spectro-Polarimeter the Specification Observatory as such Camera projects with Virtual used the addition, In reconstruction image applied. be to methods other and techniques speckle allow to distortions) (atmospheric seeing the “freezes” effectively that rate a at acquired be can data Camera, Virtual new this With Protocol. Camera Virtual the of aspects GUI-related the (GUI)accommodate to Interface User Graphical System for used is Virtual and DST This the theG-band Fletcher observations. Control Cameramodified of 2 Port Camera. on installed Virtual is a Camera as camera CCD 4M30 the new DALSA “customer,”integrating first the was Komsa said. Berst Camera,” aVirtual Application Camera Virtual and computer detector, the We System. call Control Camera the side is other on the and detector the computer is Schematic of the NSO Virtual Camera System at the Dunn Dunn the at System Telescope. Solar Camera Virtual NSO the of Schematic

NSO

GONG++

Frank Hill & the GONG Team

y early June, GONG will have completed two major completed the analysis of the first solar cycle of convection improvements in its instrumental capabilities and zone dynamics inferred from a consistent and continuous operational reliability. First, the new magnetogram data set. These results reveal that the surface torsional Bmodulator driving circuitry and optical components will oscillation extends throughout the convection zone, that have been deployed at every site in the network. This the rotation rate at the tachocline varies over the course development lowers the instrumental background in the of the cycle, and that large-scale dynamical changes in the one-per-minute magnetograms by more than a factor convection zone occur in phase over the entire depth of the of ten, providing an unprecedented data set of full-disk, region. These attributes must be present in any realistic high-cadence, continuous long-term magnetic field model of solar convection. measurements. Second, the new shelter will have been installed at Learmonth, Australia. This is the first time Olga Burtseva has been studying the lifetimes of high-degree a shelter has been replaced, and it upgrades the old rusty solar p modes using time-distance analysis. The lifetimes and leaky unit with a nice “shiny” new one. Both of these are estimated from changes in the amplitude and width of activities are examples of the planning that is required the cross-correlation of a wave packet, as a function of the for long-term programs to fully achieve their scientific number of skips inside the Sun. For each skip, the width and potential. amplitude are derived from fitting a Gabor wavelet to the cross-correlation. The lifetimes are seen to rapidly decrease GONG Science with increased frequency, and spherical harmonic degree, and A long-term payoff of GONG is presented in the Science can reach lifetimes as low as one hour. These very short-lived Highlights section of this Newsletter. Rachel Howe has modes cannot propagate completely through and around the

Lifetimes of high-degree solar p modes using time-distance analysis:. The lifetimes are estimated from changes in the amplitude and width of the cross-correlation of a wave packet as a function of the number of skips inside the Sun. For each skip, the width and amplitude are derived from fitting a Gabor wavelet to the cross- correlation. The plots show the lifetime in hours as a function of frequency for degrees of 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600. The results from GONG and the Tawianese Oscillation Network (TON) data are in good agreement, taking into account the different spectral lines NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter of the observations and therefore the different distribution of the acoustic power with frequency and degree.

continued

June 2006 41 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 42 at Udaipur, where the installation was relatively uneventful, uneventful, relatively was at Udaipur, installation where the started team One Tololo. Cerro and Bear, Big Loa, Mauna in began assemblies at Udaipur, El installed Teide, are March already and several modulator new the of Deployment &Engineering Operations Network helioseismology. hand, for local suited well other are modes these the On properties. solar global the sampling for useful not are so away, and damped are they before Sun GONG++ continued calibration backlog. calibration the reducing in the us assist in further to should platform which future, able this near on be These processing should routine we with tolerance. proceed that our indicate or results within 15th the well encouraging to place, match decimal platforms two 16th the on precision, double results to code the of Linux. pieces to select pipeline updating reduction After data and calibration Solaris- based our porting in made being is progress Significant &Analysis Processing Data assemblies. mechanical needed fabricating busy are makers instrument GONG the and instrument, new the for cables and components the assembling on work to beginning are at remain will GONG’ssite. engineering GONG technicians Theshelter forisalsothecomplete and hotinstrument spare home by new mid-June. its in running up and be should instrument The swap. shelter the for preparation in disassembly of the and instrument storage begin of to 10 May the on components Learmonth) (at arrive to GONG due was first team The 22. May around Learmonth at to onsite be potential in the with 10, Arrival May for 14.scheduled in was March Australia on completed journey its was began and shelter January replacement Learmonth The of sites. of the quality all from data the analyzing and processing presently are We some of modulators. the a to realign for need to a return team be may there delayed and modulators, installed newly alignment of verification proper attaining in difficulty the to Due year. this of May—June in swap shelter the of part as deployed be will went modulator things Learmonth The where well. Tololo, quite Cerro from returned just to has light enough team A Bear. Big at barely manner usual the in setup was the attempted perform there was and alignment an sunlight, Loa, without Mauna At poor by hampered weather. was work the where Bear Big and Loa dust Mauna at Saharan installations completed a Twoteams storm). other to (due skies was not-so-clear modulator under the installed arrived, the finally containing it luggage once of but arrival hardware, late the by stalled was on to continued El then Teide.and ElThe installation Teide NSO June 2006

P i te uue A itga-qaiig loih for algorithm histogram-equalizing A future. the in ZPC the for need the on decision the inform to and data new the original the of quality the with to evaluate (ZPC) code, Point Correction Zero processed, being are system modulator new the with obtained magnetograms latest The continues. pipeline magnetogram-processing the of development The ( maps image ( GONG magnetograms near-real-time for data “cleaner” providing in and installations, modulator the with assisting calibration in tool invaluable our of version processing. With the QR2 hasnew become an modifications, abbreviated an includes now remote instruments, of the status and health the to diagnose primarily used (QR2), QuickReduce2 package software The eclipsed Sun: on the left Humberto Villegas, Aday Robaina, Robaina, Aday Villegas, Humberto left on the Sun: eclipsed partially the of images obtained team GONG the and Teide, at deployment modulator the during occurred eclipse solar A the monitor. Below, one of the eclipse images. monitor.the Below, eclipse of the one on image eclipse an with shelter GONG the in Purdy Tim and gong.nso.edu/data/farside/ gong.nso.edu/Daily_Images/ ). ) and Farside Farside and ) continued NSO

GONG++ continued use in merging the magnetograms has been developed, and 104 (centered at 6 June 2005), with a fill factor of 0.89. 108- various strategies for dealing with network observations day Mode Frequency Tables are available for Month 103, and are being tested. Ring Diagrams are available through Month 104. The DSDS distributed 383 Gigabytes in response to 17 data requests for A prototype GUI for the Data Storage and Distribution the quarter. System (DSDS) is now in the acceptance-testing phase. This interface will facilitate more efficient queries for Comings and Goings the community, and will allow faster response time for Jim Mason has left GONG and NSO to move to Colorado. distribution of the 20 terabytes of global and local GONG Tamara Rogers has joined us as a long-term visitor. Sergey helioseismology products currently hosted online. The on- Ustyugov was here for two weeks, working with Rudi Komm line catalog will soon be integrated with the Virtual Solar on analyzing numerical simulations of convection and Observatory (VSO), making it accessible to a broader user acoustic waves. David Salabert is scheduled to start as a community. postdoc on June 1. Lou Lederer will be dividing his time between GONG and WIYN. The last quarter’s processing includes month-long (36-day) velocity time series and power spectra for GONG Month

GONG, SOHO & HELAS (the Co-ordinated Action on Helio-and Asteroseismology in Europe) are co-sponsoring a helioseismology meeting in Sheffield, UK, from 7—11 August 2006.

GONG scientist Rachel Howe created this logo for the meeting, which is titled “Beyond the Spherical Sun – A New Era of Helio- and Asteroseismology.” NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter

June 2006 43 EDUCATIONALOUTREACH PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH

Astronomy From the Ground Up Launches from Tucson

Stephen Pompea

hat were educators from Padre Island National Seashore, the International Museum of Art and Science, the American Indian Mobile Educational WResources program, and Lookout Mountain Nature Center doing in Tucson in April?

Hint: their time in Tucson involved birdseed, Play-doh, lenses and vellum screens, plastic beads sensitive to ultraviolet light, moon wheels, peppercorns, and a large assemblage of fruit. Answer: They were exploring new and innovative ways to communicate the excitement of astronomy to museum visitors.

Twenty-two outreach staff members from the western United States were hosted by NOAO and Kitt Peak from April 19-21 as attendees of the first face-to-face workshop for the “Astronomy from the Ground Up” (AFGU) project. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) is partnered with NOAO and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) in this NSF-funded Claude Plymate of the National Solar Observatory shows workshop informal science education project. attendees an image of the Sun projected by the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope.

at their facility through a variety of programs and events. The project focuses on professional development through face-to-face and distance-learning workshops delivered to the education staff of nature centers, natural history museums, and to small-to-medium- sized science centers throughout the US. The project is designed to train more than 300 educators over a four-year period. The project also contains an educational research component led by the Institute for Learning Innovations, Annapolis, Maryland.

The three major themes of the workshop were “How Big? How Far?” “Change in the Universe,” and “Light and Color.” Participants received kits in each theme area to assist in the implementation of activities. The participants will work together for the next few years to form a community of practice, thus sharing ideas, techniques, The 22 attendees at the first Astronomy from the Ground Up workshop activities, and event plans. and outreach staff from NOAO and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific visit Kitt Peak. The workshop featured time on Kitt Peak, where participants received a broad variety of hands-on experiences. These included training in Michael Bennett, ASP executive director and AFGU principal binoculars and solar projection (led by ASP President Dennis Schatz investigator, was pleased with the atmosphere of the workshop. of the Pacific Science Center) and optics education information from “The excitement at the workshop was palpable,” he said “The the NOAO-SPIE-OSA “Hands-On Optics” program (presented by participants were eager to learn, and they absorbed and Connie Walker and Rob Sparks of NOAO educational outreach). participated as much as was humanly possible in three days. Our The AFGU experience also included tours of the major telescopes at project staff gained new insights into the challenges of education Kitt Peak National Observatory, and use of 20-inch telescope at the at smaller museums with limited educational resources.” Visitor Center Observatory to stargaze at night.

AFGU is intended to train museum educators, who are not experts “I found the workshop to be extremely beneficial,” said Teri Eastburn, in astronomy education, in how best to incorporate astronomy public education coordinator at the National Center for Atmospheric continued

44 June 2006 Public Affairs

Astronomy From the Ground Up continued

Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO. “It provided a wealth of The next AFGU workshop (for project participants from ideas and materials for me to share with astronomy teachers, the northeast region) will be held in Boston from 15-17 students, and NCAR visitors in general, immediately.” November 2006.

A key part of the project is to aid educators in communicating By the way, the large collection of fruit was used to construct cutting-edge astronomy concepts. Andy Fraknoi, past ASP an edible scale model of the solar system! Director, and Katy Garmany, NOAO astronomer and past ASP President, modeled techniques and demonstrations for the For more information, contact project Co-Principal group to teach about extrasolar planets and other astronomy Investigator Stephen Pompea, NOAO astronomer and current events. Other sessions of the workshop were held manager of science education, at [email protected]. outdoors at the Desert Museum, led by Suzy Gurton, ASP Education Director, and staff member Anna Hurst.

GLOBE at Night Reaches More Than 18,000 Participants on Six Continents

Douglas Isbell & Connie Walker

ore than 18,000 citizen- scientists in 96 countries submitted 4,591 observations Mof the level of darkness of their local night skies during the 10-day GLOBE at Night event last month.

The GLOBE at Night Web site received data from all 50 US states and from every continent except Antarctica, where the constellation used for the project was not visible! At least 399 of the participants were under age 12, with another 949 between the ages of 12-14 years.

“The geographic reach of the GLOBE at Night program exceeded our wildest expectations,” said Connie Walker, A preliminary map of GLOBE at Night participant reports from North America: the an astronomer and science education lighter the dot, the brighter the observed sky. specialist at the National Optical

Astronomy Observatory, one of the of urban and rural sites. The program family groups and dozens of school NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter event’s major co-sponsors. was designed to aid in teaching about children, participating in the activity the impact of artificial lighting on local together, more than make up for a few Conducted 22-31 March 2006, the environments, and about the ongoing less data points,” Walker said. international GLOBE at Night program loss of a dark night sky as a natural was designed to help students, families, resource for much of the world’s Participation was open to anyone and the general public observe and population. —anywhere in the world—who could record how the constellation Orion get outside and look skyward in the looked from as many different locations “We fell a few hundred short of our early evening. Observers reported as possible, as a means of measuring target of 5,000 total observations, but their results online by comparing the brightness of the sky at a variety the engagement and excitement of large continued

June 2006 45 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 46 At least 18,084 people participated participated people 18,084 least At skies. dark very constellation to bright from of visibilities for a range the in stars of the number showing site Web program’s the on images template of set a with Orion in see could they stars of number the GLOBE at Night continued compound, participating in social and athletic activities. activities. athletic and social in participating compound, Serena La the in life of part indispensable an became They of projects. for avariety data hands-on photometric a obtain to able were for and nights, eight of total a for telescope opportunity the 1-meter CTIO/SMARTS the using by experience had observing They research. scientific of delight and frustration the of taste first-hand a had and observers, guest with mingled club, journal the in Thestudents attended lunchand talks colloquia, participated to nebulae stars planetary as individual such supernovae. and remnants from and stellar ranging to CTIO galaxies topics from staff on scientific Gemini with These worked March. students through mid-January from weeks ten for programs (PIA) Astronomía en Investigación de Práctica C program. the conducted comment from one typical teacher who a was students,” young my of many for “Truly and innovative, a real eye opener list. program’s mailing electronic the via updates receive to up signed have people 750 than More Coordinator. Project Night at GLOBE the Meymaris, Kirsten said more,” or participants 50 with events individual of reports than heard we’ve ‘more and people’ for 25 only option an gave was number form our that given larger, much likely “This at GLOBE site. Web the Night self- on to forms according reporting program, the in

Public Affairs Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and and Research (REU) 2006 Undergraduates the for in Chilean Experience three participants and students student US six hosted TIO June 2006 The CTIO REU &PIA PROGRAM –2006 how it is affected by artificial lighting lighting artificial by affected is it how and world, the around varies sky the night of quality the how assess together at help and scientists students Night will GLOBE during made observations “The data. GLOBE at Night of the this Web page for investigations directed at ESRI soon available other be will tools and mapping Viewer Map the for from ESRI. A student Guide exploration GaN/analyze.html ( Viewer Map Night at be can GLOBE the using individually explored results mapped Preliminary Society. Astronomical American the and Union Geophysical American the of meetings upcoming at reported be will results to Initial lighting. related artificial data satellite analysis worldwide in of experts including with begun, cooperation has at set GLOBE data the Night of analysis Scientific continued Styliani Kafka Styliani

), built with support support with built ), Kafka, Gwen Rudie, Allison Widhalm and Matt Klimek. Klimek. Matt and Stella Widhalm Allison Rudie, Gwen Kafka, Director Site Sweet, Anne Newman, Renée Drew Tucker, Mateluna, Brad Cordero, José María Damke, Guillermo right: to Left director. site and students CTIO/PIA 2006 The www.globe.gov/ in Chile; Windows to the Universe; Universe; the to Windows Chile; in la a (CADIAS) Apoyo Astronomia la de Didactica de Centro AZ; in Tucson, Program, (NOAO) Optical Observatory National Astronomy GLOBE the CO; Boulder, The collaboration a is between Night at GLOBE or contact Web page at program the see For more information, 2007.”in again it offer to eager are we event, the inaugural Night at GLOBE the “Given in interest widespread NOAO. Pompea, at science of education Stephen manager and astronomer said fixtures,” lighting poor from pollution light and Institute, Inc. (ESRI). Inc. Institute, Research Systems Environmental and [email protected] www.globe.gov/globeatnight www.globe.gov/globeatnight .

Public Affairs

The CTIO REU & PIA Program — 2006 continued

The students also had the chance to experience the rich Chilean culture and taste the local cuisine.

As a result of their scientific work, the students produced papers which are, in most cases, precursors to scientific publications. The students presented their work with great enthusiasm to CTIO and Gemini scientific staff and visitors in a two-day mini-symposium held in La Serena March 23—24. Their presentations are available at: www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/ctioreu_2006/symposium2006.html.

The outcomes of their projects will also be presented in the poster sessions at the January 2007 meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle. Everyone is encouraged to visit the poster displays and join in discussion of the student’s experience in La Serena. Drew Newman discusses “A Difference Imaging Method for Extracting Light Echo Fluxes with an Application to SN 1987A.”

We will all miss them, and we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. We are confident that they will have brilliant careers, and are looking forward to hearing about their accomplishments.

More information on the 2006 REU program can be found on the CTIO Web site at: www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/ctioreu_2006/REU2006.html.

Guillermo Damke and Allison Widhalm in the CTIO/SMARTS 1-meter telescope observing room. NOAO-NSO 86 Newsletter

June 2006 47 NOAO-NSO Newsletter 86 48 A n tk dgtl itrs f ra of about. questions areas had they that of city the pictures digital take rovers and remote like act e-mailed to them asked and students area, Serena La the from students Tucson story, whole the tell always not does images satellite the from view aerial the Since of Tucson. students image an analyzed Chile from students Tucson the of image an and the La Serena analyzed activity, with the comfortable became they Once satellites. Landsat from cities their of maps analyzing and viewing by areas with ofthe and geography geology own their acquainted become to allowed students activity remote-sensing The Spanish. in but given one fiveof presentations their the all room, with Tucson conference in main videoconference the attended students Twenty-six Serena. La in as participating students many as almost with in conference Tucson, teachers five been have There 12. May on AURA-Gemini Serena La in room the in were attendance in students 50 of those approximately of group A April. March and February, of months the over participated students a hundred couple with schools Chilean half-dozen A science Spanish!) education. (mostly a for tool bilingual a as city each by occupied remote- region geographical comparative of the data sensing two-way using project a prototype a of results the on exchange was The videoconference 2006. May 12 on held Serena, was La Chile in South NOAO and and

Public Affairs OO ot i Tucson in between North NOAO student-to-student videoconference special June 2006 Student Videoconference Has Far-Reaching Results Across the Equator of the activity from start to finish, finish, to answers. finding start and questions from asking activity the of step each who completed ones relentlessly the have are They project. this to commitment their for students teachers the and of all to activity. grateful are the We of modifying versions and early time testing of the lot effort a and spent who students, their and teachers as Tucson the project, as this well to dedication his Ron for thank We Probst. instrument Ron engineer and by astronomer written NOAO was activity creative This to response in students. send Chilean by the requests to city their of areas of pictures taking rovers, remote as acted students Tucson the manner, to Tucson.back parallel In pictures the e-mailed then partners Chilean Their remote- the do to prepared being activity. sensing Serena La in School Horizons New the at Kids

Connie Walker &HugoConnie Ochoa

and the teachers from Chile. from teachers the and area Tucson the from teachers science bilingual by the facilitated English, and The workshops are conducted activity. Spanishin remote-sensing this now eclipses, and lunar monitoring, pollution light- activities, physics various color, and light about teaching on ideas and methods exchanged have students teachers and of group evolving An 2002. that fall since held have NOAOGemini ASTRO-Chile, and dubbed series, a in latest the was videoconference This hemisphere. another in friends new their of faces the of images live see to able were students the when videoconference the on laughter much level personal through e-mails and pictures. a There was on other each know to get to for countries both was from students result important equally An