KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY
Tucson, Arizona
and
CERRO TOLOLO INTER-AMERICAN OBSERVATORY
La Serena, Chile
Operated by the
ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY, INC
under contract with the
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
QUARTERLY REPORT
January-February-March
1970 KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY
GENERAL
AURA Meetings - The Scientific and Organization Committees met in joint session in Tucson on the morning of 20 January. The com mittees jointly recommended to the Board of Directors that Visiting and Users' Committees be formed, reporting to the Board and to the Observatory Director, respectively, to increase outside review of the activities of the Observatories.
That afternoon the Scientific Committee met and agreed to eliminate reprints from the Observatories' Contribution series, to confine the series in the future to original work, and to eliminate storage and distribution of reprints. It was recommended that Dr. H. A. Abt, Stellar division, accept the offer to become managing editor of the Astrophysical Journal in 1971. Extension of the time limita tion for appointments as consulting scientist from six months to one year was recommended.
The 197 0 Annual Meeting of the AURA Board of Directors was held on 22 January. Board members whose terms expired with this meeting were re-designated for terms of three years, and a new Board mem ber, Mr. Roy C. Fredrickson, Controller of the University of California, was welcomed. Dr. W. A. Hiltner of Yerkes Observatory, Mr. J. A. Franklin of Indiana University, and Dr. 0. C Mohler of the University of Michigan were re-elected as President, Vice- President, and Chairman of the Scientific Committee, respectively, for terms of one year, and non-Board member officers were also re-elected. New Directors-at-Large elected were Dr. G. Neugebauer, California Institute of Technology; Dr. E. E. Salpeter, Cornell University; and Prof. Hugo Moreno, University of Chile. Consul tants re-elected were Dr. I. S. Bowen, Hale Observatories, and Dr. Norman Hackerman, President of the University of Texas. Prof. Claudio Anguita, University of Chile, and Dr. A. B. Weaver, Provost, University of Arizona, are newly-elected consultants.
Reports on activities of the Corporation and the Observatories for the past year were presented by Drs. Hiltner, N. U. Mayall, and V. M. Blanco. It was agreed that a special subcommittee of the AURA Scientific Committee should be appointed to investigate AURA's possible participation in new areas of astronomy, such as infrared and X-ray astronomy. Recommendations of the Scientific Committee, mentioned earlier, were approved.
-1- The AURA Board established the new Research Support Division within the Observatory, and authorized the position of an Associate Director for it. Dr. David L. Crawford, astronomer in the Stellar Division, and manager of the 150-inch telescope projects, accepted an offer of appointment to this new position.
Dr. Bengt Westerlund, Director of European Southern Observatory in Chile, was a guest of the Board of Directors and he reported on present and hoped-for future cooperation between AURA and ESO in Chile. Also present at the meeting were Dr. Robert Fleischer, Head, Astronomy Section, NSF and his assistant, Dr. Gerry Anderson. Dr. Fleischer described the present organization of the National Science Foundation and the formation of the Advisory Panel to the Astronomy Section, which was to meet in Tucson in March.
On 18 March, the AURA Executive Committee met in Tucson. The Committee encouraged the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and Yale University to proceed with negotiations regarding the location of the Yale 40-inch telescope on Cerro Tololo. An imple mentation plan for an Observatory Advisory Committee was approved to provide improved communication with the astronomical community by including among its members a broad spectrum of astronomers including representatives from among the Americas. President Hiltner was authorized to pursue the matter of possible AURA operation of the Mount Lemmon former Air Force radar installation, recently declared surplus by the Department of Defense, and on the disposal of which the Foundation has placed a temporary hold action.
Dr. D. L. Crawford reported on the progress of the 158-inch tele scopes, domes, and buildings, and on the visit of Dr. I. M. Kopylov, director of the new Astrophysical Observatory, at Zelenchuskaja, in the Caucasus Mountains, USSR, where the world's largest 236-inch (6-meter) optical telescope is located.
Meeting in Washington - Dr. W. A. Hiltner as president of AURA Inc., Dr. N. U. Mayall as Observatory Director, and Mr. James M. Miller as Associate Director-Administration represented AURA and the Kitt Peak National and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatories at a meeting held in Washington, D. C. on 8 January of repre sentatives of government-sponsored consortia of universities. In addition to AURA, other consortia delegates were from Associated Universities Inc., Universities Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Argonne Universities Association, and Universities Research Association.
Executive Committee of AUI - Meeting in Tucson on 19 and 20 February were members of the Executive Committee of Associated Universities Inc. The group toured Kitt Peak and were especially
-2- interested to inspect the 36-ft. radio telescope operated by NRAO. In addition to the AUI board members, staff members of NRAO, AUI corporate offices in Washington and New York, and of the Brook- haven National Laboratory were also present.
NSF Panel Meeting - The Advisory Panel to the Astronomy Section of the National Science Foundation, members of the Astronomy Section, and NSF staff members met at Tucson Headquarters on 9-10 March. Interviews were held with KPNO staff members to discuss the various programs, facilities'use by resident staff and visitors, and future plans for Observatory activities.
STELLAR DIVISION
FACILITIES AND INSTRUMENTATION
150-inch Telescope Instrumentation - Conceptual, and in some cases detailed, design drawings are being completed for some of the basic instrumentation for the 150-inch telescopes. These include a Cassegrain position instrumentation rotator and adaptor, a Casse grain spectrograph, prime focus field correctors, a manual prime focus camera, Cassegrain and prime focus guider units, and cameras and test equipment. Dr. C G. Wynne, Imperial College, London, who designed the prime focus correctors, has consulted with Jorge Simmons, the Observatory's optical designer, and the staff in preparing bid specifications for three prime focus field correctors These are: (1) a fused silica doublet with a corrected field of approximately 22 arc minutes (scale approximately lg^/mm) for the range XX3200-10,000A for intermediate-band filters; (2) a UBK-7 triplet designed to correct a field of 50 arc minutes for broad passbands in the violet and blue; and (3) a triplet similarly designed to work in the visual to near-infrared range. While Dr. Wynne was at the Observatory for approximately 10 days follow ing 22 March, he also advised the staff concerning a number of spectrograph camera designs, and discussed some of the alterna tives to the classical Schmidt design for moderately fast wide- field cameras.
Dr. Daniel Schroeder, on sabbatical leave from Beloit College, Wisconsin, and a part-time consultant on optical instruments, has designed and analyzed a Cassegrain Echelle spectrograph system for possible use with the 150-inch telescopes and image tubes.
The Eastman Kodak Company, through the cooperation of a number of persons including Drs. K. C Kennard, J. C. Marchant, and A. G. Millikan, has supplied a quantity of estar base film coated with a special emulsion similar to Ilia-J. Mr. William Schoening has completed a number of laboratory tests using this
-3- material, and he and Dr. A. A. Hoag have applied it at the tele scopes as well. It is believed that this film will be useful for some 150-inch telescope operations.
Tests of the prototype image dissector guider are being continued. Warren Ball, Electronics Laboratory, has modified the control unit to provide for a CRT raster-scanned finder mode. This device allows the observer to view the guider field remotely prior to setting up the guider scan mode. Don Trumbo, using a small com puter system designed for applications at one of the 36-inch tele scopes, has investigated the suitability of the image dissector guider for focus control,with promising results.
In February, an Advisory Committee of the Anglo-Australian large telescope project, including Dr. A. Rodgers, Mount Stromlo; Dr. T. D Kinman, KPNO; Mr. M. Beard, CSIRO; Mr. J. D. Pope, Anglo-Australian Telescope Project, Canberra; and Mr. G. Carpenter, Royal Obser vatory, Edinburgh, met in Tucson to consider telescope acquisition and guidance problems.
Dr. H. A. Abt has completed a comparative study of a number of existing coude spectrographs, preparatory for the preliminary design of a fixed spectrograph for the 150-inch telescopes.
General Instrumentation - The Research Support Division has com pleted three 3-channel photometers. Two are for use at Kitt Peak and the third for Cerro Tololo. In these instruments, beam splitters are used to divert light to two or three photomultipliers. One difficulty with this kind of instrument results from the polarizing properties of beam splitters. John Richardson, Optical Shop, is investigating ways to minimize this effect.
Following an optical design by Dr. Schroeder, Bob Harrison, In strument Shop, has completed an asymmetric Czerny-Turner spec trometer for use with image dissector scanners and the Kron elec- tronographic or other image tubes. The spectral resolution of this instrument at the No.2 36-inch telescope with a 6 arc-second entrance aperture ranges from 5 to 40l with the presently avail able gratings. When used with an image dissector and Don Trumbo's Honeywell 416 computer system, this instrument is a rapid scan ning, programmable single-channel spectrophotometer. It is in tended that the same instrument will function as a multi-channel spectrophotometer when used with the Kron or McGee electrono- graphic tubes. Further information concerning the properties and availability of this instrument will be reported later.
-4- Dr. H- M. Dyck has modified the polarimeter, described in the July-August 1969 Bi-Monthly Report, in order to chop alternately between sky and sky-plus-object for polarimetry of faint sources. Data acquisition for this pulse-counting instrument can be accomplished with either a RIDL Multiscaler or the 416 computer system.
An optical feed is being constructed for use with the coude" spectro graph at the 84-inch telescope. The optical system resembles that of the McMath Solar Telescope, as shown in the accompanying dia gram (Fig. 1). However, because the flat mirror is to be driven under the control of a small computer, the orientation of the mirrors is arranged for maximum convenience in bringing the beam from the image-forming mirror into the existing spectrograph building. The support pier and wind shield for the image-forming mirror are nearly completed, as shown in the photograph (Fig. 2). This project is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 1971, at which time the coude" spectrograph will be available for continuous
use.
Dr. T. D. Kinman is investigating the problems of applying the Kron electronographic tubes for direct electronography with the Kitt Peak telescopes. Unfortunately, Irakly Papiashvili, who has been employed on this project since March 1969, has resigned to return to California for personal reasons. "Eric" has done a magnificent job in helping Dr. Gerald E. Kron fabricate these systems and in preparing them for use at the telescopes. His skill and experience will be sorely missed.
General - Dr. Richard H. Miller, on leave from the University of Chicago, began a three-month stay at the Observatory as a Consult ing Astronomer on 23 March. He is continuing his work on tech niques in interferometry.
Dr. D. L. Crawford has been appointed Associate Director of the Research Support Division of the Observatory. He will, however, continue his observational research working with J. C. Golson, Mrs. Jeannette Barnes, and other associates in the Stellar Division.
-5- Fig. 1 - A perspective view of the 84-inch telescope coude spectrograph optical feed now under construction. Light reflected from the first flat to an image-forming mirror in the tower is returned to the spectrograph slit by way of an additional flat (Drawing by C. Bachelier, Engineering Department). Fig. 2 - Tower for image-forming mirror in the coude spectrograph feed system. The 36-inch diameter image-forming mirror will be supported on top of a concrete pier within the outside steel tower Visitor Use of Stellar Telescopes
Observer, Institution Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program (Two) (Two) 84-inch 50-inch 36-inch 16-inch
M. A'Hearn, U. of Maryland Photometry of Reflection Nebulae 6(42)
E. Avner, U. of Illinois Velocities of Stars Near Galactic Pole 4(20)
B. Bookmyer, U- of Arizona Photoelectric Light Curves of Eclipsing Binary Systems 4(19)
M. Breger and D. Gezari, State U. of New York, Stony Brook Pre-Main Sequence Short-Period Variables in NGC 2264 6(16) 2(7)
J. Danziger, Harvard College Observatory Spectroscopy of Galaxies 6(41)
I. Epstein, Columbia University 4-Color Photometry of RR Lyrae Field Stars 3(0)
C. Everett, U. of Michigan Abundance Determinations of Late-Type Dwarfs and Sub- dwarfs 5(44)
A. Feinstein, Observatorio Astronomico, La Plata, Argentina Ha, 8' y Measures 8(45)
F. Forbes and W. Stonaker, U. of Arizona Lightweight Metal Optical Performance Tests 3(27)
-6- Observer, Institution Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program (Two) (Two) 84-inch 50-inch 36-inch 16-inch
T. Gehrels, R. Thomas, R. Sather, C. Vesley, and L. Dunlap, U. of Arizona Lightcurves of Asteroids 2(9) 13(94)
E. Guinan, Villanova University Narrow-Band Photometry of R Canis Majoris 12(44)
T. Gull, T. Soifer, and P. Phillips, Cornell U. Search for Molecular Hydrogen 17(114)
A. Heiser, Dyer Observatory UBV Photometry of B Stars in Monoceros 9(43)
H. Heifer and C Sturch, U. of Rochester 5-Color Photometry of North Galactic Pole K-Giants 14(47) 8(27)
K. Janes, Yale University Intermediate-Band Photometry of Late-Type Giant Stars 14(64)
D. Jenner, Washburn Observatory Supergiant Galaxies with Multiple Nuclei 3(15) 3(32)
D. Klinglesmith, Goddard Space Flight Center Detailed Abundance Analysis of Peculiar Star 29 psc 1(12)
A. Landolt, Louisiana State U. UBV Faint Standards 14(81) 4(13)
K-C Leung, Goddard Institute for Space Studies Investigation of Variables in M67 6(29)
-7- Observer, Institution Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program (Two) (Two) 84-inch 50-inch 36-inch 16-inch
M. Molnar, Washburn Observatory B Stars with Discrepant Colors 3(28) 5(51)
G. Mumford, Tufts University Photometry of Cataclysmic Variables 7(27)
C Perry, Louisiana State U. Interstellar Reddening in the Solar Neighborhood 4(19) 11(19)
A. Philip and L. Tifft, Dudley Observatory High Galactic Latitude A Stars and Horizontal Branch Stars 7(27) 6(37)
M. Sandford, Indiana University Narrow-Band Polarimetry of Mira Variables 2(13)
S. Shawl, U. of Texas Spectroscopy of Mira Variables 10(77) 4(6)
S. Simkin and L. Goldstein, Columbia University Stellar Velocity Fields in Disk Galaxies 3(31) 3(23)
M. Smith, U. of Arizona High Dispersion Spectroscopy of A-Stars 2(17)
W. Stein, F. Gillett, and E. Ney, U. of Minnesota; u. of California, san Diego, Infrared Photometry 14(58)
S. and K. Strom, State U. of New York, Stony Brook Study of Blue Stragglers 5(16)
-8- Observer, Institution Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program (Two) (Two) 84-inch 50-inch 36-inch 16-inch
J. Swings, JILA, Boulder, Colo. Peculiar Bright Line Stars 4(29)
van Biesbroeck, U- of Arizona Micrometer Measures of Double Stars 2(13)
N. Visvanathan and E. Becklin, Harvard College Observatory Photometry of Non-Thermal Sources 3(23) 4(35)
G. Wallerstein and T. Grenfell, U. of Washington Spectra of Peculiar Stars in the Near Infrared 4(33)
Webb, U. of Texas Determination of Carbon Abundances in Late-Type Stars 3(32)
T. Weekes, Smithsonian Astro- physical Obs., Mount Hopkins Gamma Ray Optical Pulsar Correlation Experiments 1(5)
Wegner, U. of Washington Spectra and 6-Color Photom etry of Cool White Dwarfs 3(11) 4(14)
G. Welch and G. Sastry, Wesleyan University Colors and Light Distri bution of cD Galaxies 6(51) 4(11)
P. Wild and J. Elliott, U. of Texas UBV Photometry of New Subdwarfs 9(32) 7(30)
D. Wills, U. of Texas Spectrographic Observations of Quasi-Stellar Radio Sources 3(23)
-9- Observer, Institution Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program (Two) (Two) 84-inch 50-inch 36-inch 16-inch
G. Wolf, Flower and Cook Obs. Elliptical Polarization of Starlight 16(113)
N. Woolf, R. Gehrz, and John Hackwell, U. of Minnesota Infrared Photometry of Stars 13(80)
A. Young, C. Daub, B. Nelson, and R. Mielbrecht, San Diego State College Spectroscopy of Eclipsing Binary Systems 6(44) 3(24)
D. Zipoy, U. of Maryland Near Infrared Photometry of Young Clusters 5(37)
Totals 57(447) 81(410) 101(575) 114(542)
Summary of Telescope Use Scheduled nights and (hours used)
January February March
84-inch 29 (272) 26 (205) 26 (243)
50-inch 20 (167) 19 (141) 17 (152)
No.l 36-inch 26 (216) 19 (189) 20 (162)
No.2 36-inch 21 (156) 23 (180) 18 (145)
No.3 16-inch 20 (169) 11 ( 73) 8 ( 55)
No.4 16-inch 19 (155) 15 (102) 11 ( 76)
-10- SOLAR DIVISION
Magnetic Field Observations (W. C Livingston, J. W. Harvey) - A program of reduction and analysis of the extensive collection of solar magnetograms obtained at Kitt Peak during the last 3 years has been underway for several months. The original observations are acquired by means of the SDS-910 on-line computer and recorded on magnetic tape. These tapes are taken to Tucson, compressed and added to the permanent magnetogram library.
As the first step of the reduction process, we make a pictorial representation of the recorded data. This display allows us to assess quickly the quality of the observations and to determine whether further analysis is warranted. At present, pictures are generated in two steps: first, a magnetic tape is prepared with the CDC 6400 computer in Tucson from the recorded magnetogram. The tape contains instructions for generating the picture with the cathode-ray-tube display system located in the solar telescope on Kitt Peak. Second, the tape is taken to the display system and the picture actually generated using the SDS-910 computer.
An example of one of the best magnetograms is shown in the accom panying illustration (Fig. 3). The observation was made on 27 October 1968 at 8 a.m. The active region was located in the southern hemisphere about one day east of central meridian passage. The top row shows from left to right the intensity of the con tinuum, the wings of the 5233A iron line, and the wings of the 5250.2A. iron line. The second row shows the velocity field mea sured with the 5233A line, positive longitudinal magnetic field strength, and the magnitude of the transverse magnetic field. The third row shows the velocity field measured with the 5250JI line, negative longitudinal magnetic field strength, and the direction of the transverse field. The bottom row shows the intensity of the core of the 5250i line, K and Pla in the velocity pictures, dark features are approaching the ob server while bright features are in recession. It is noteworthy that both spectral lines indicate virtually identical velocity fields, and that the Evershed velocity pattern in the sunspot shows so clearly in a spot close to the disk center.
We have been surprised to find in our reduction of magnetograms that the spatial resolution is nearly always limited by seeing rather than by the relatively coarse square aperture of 2.5 arc sec on a side. This result means that the new 40-channel magneto- graph, which employs 2.5 arc sec apertures for full disk magneto grams, makes good use of the most frequent seeing conditions at Kitt Peak. -11- Fig. 3 - pictorial representation of a vector magnetogram showing magnetic, velocity and brightness information in an active solar region, North is at the top and east to the left. See text for details 1970 KPNO Eclipse Expedition to Mexico (A. K. Pierce) - Logistics and weather, not science, rule an eclipse expedition. One is reminded of the last Mexican eclipse of 1923 : Puerto Libertad was the only clear site along the path; A. E. Douglass from the Steward Observatory led the expedition, Godfrey Sykes solved the logistics. In his article in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the pacific (Vol. 36, Page 170, 1924), Professor Douglass described the trip from Tucson to the site and the fine scientific results, not mentioning anywhere the fly that sat on the plate so clearly in front of the corona. But, it was Godfrey's son, Glenton, who described, 40 years later, the circumstances whereby the telescope lens was left on a desk in Tucson and how it was retrieved, the expedition's problems with water, cars, petrol, etc.
We describe here our 1970 scientific effort — its successes and failures so far as the results have been analyzed, and the logistical problems so admirably met and solved by Charles Slaughter, Peggy Wiggins and Barbara Pinkney. I have yet to hear of an expedition that was not a last-minute rush, rush, overtime affair. Ours was no exception, although plans were laid well in advance and our efforts were coordinated with the National Science Foundation and with Mexico. Numerous conferences were held, programs defined, drawings started, optics and electronics assembled; a site survey was made along a portion of the path. We attended to visas, shots, food, money, transportation, water, gas, tools, cots, spare parts, and boxes of scientific equipment, all of which had now grown topsy-turvy -- the volume and weight exceeding previous expectation.
The circumstances of the eclipse were: date, March 7, 1970; path of totality: started in the Pacific, moved across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, roughly SW by NE, in the vicinity of Oaxaca; swept through the Gulf of Mexico and entered the U. S. near perry, Florida; moved up the eastern coast just slightly on shore as far as Newport News, Virginia; out to sea and intersecting land again in Nova Scotia and Labrador. The width of the path was about 150 miles. The maxi mum duration, 3 minutes 20 seconds. From the standpoint of weather, the greatest chances of success were to be had in Mexico, 1922 miles from Tucson, rather than in Florida.
Numerous scientific sessions defined programs which we would attempt : (1) Rotation and radial velocities in the corona (Jack Harvey, Loring Doe, with assistance of William C. Livingston). A high dis persion spectrograph with five entrance slits was to be fed by a coelostat and lens. In the focal plane the five images of the green coronal line would be photographed through an image tube along with a neon comparison spectrum.
-12- (2) Solar limb darkening and photography of spicules in the continuum (John Kirk and Keith Pierce) .A 36-inch diameter coelostat would feed light to a 24-inch diameter lens of 50 ft. focal length. With a filter and a narrow slit sagittal to the crescent, photoelectric measurements of limb darkening could be obtained. Portions of the 5-inch diameter image of the chromosphere were to be photographed with 1 sec and 2 sec exposures at second and third contact. (3) Photoelectric measurements of selected coronal lines (Charles Slaughter and Dick Aikens). An attempt would be made to record photo- electrically the coronal lines of Fe in different states of ionization: Fe X to Fe XIV. The spectrum could be scanned 6A by rotating the grating; the output from each photocell was to be amplified and re corded on magnetic tape. (4) photographs of the corona in selected wavelengths (Charles Evans) . The peculiar observation of Deutsch and Righini at the eclipse of 1952, which showed strong emission in H but not K,would be checked by photographing the corona with four 24-inch focal length Aero Ektar lenses through narrow passband filters centered on Ha, H, K, and the coronal line X6707 A. (5) Magnetic fields (Wm. C. Livingston) . An important part of our eclipse effort was to be carried out at Kitt Peak. At the request of Gordon Newkirk of the High Altitude Observatory, Climax, Colorado, who could make direct photographs of the corona, Livingston on Kitt Peak would make maps of the sun's magnetic field for two weeks before and after eclipse day. An attempt would be made to relate the coronal features to surface features on the sun and to build a three-dimensional picture of the corona.
Slaughter's July 1969 site survey showed that the small Indian village of Quiechapa, high in the mountains 80 miles south of Oaxaca and right on center line, would be ideal. The only problem would be the very difficult 50 miles of road, used and maintained by a company logging in the mountains. (It was completely washed out from 28 days of con tinuous rain in August.) Through their parish priest, Father Horatio Sarabia, the people of the village of Quiechapa assured us complete cooperation.
The many boxes of equipment, food, etc., weighing more than 3 tons, were carefully loaded into a 2-1/2 ton, tarp-covered, stake truck to be driven by Noah Martin. Charles Slaughter and I accompanied the truck in a carryall. Just hours before leaving, we received the one all-important document from the Mexican National Committee of the University of Mexico that gave us permission to import our equipment through the Nogales "aduana fronteriza", our border crossing. It appeared to be a powerful document but was far from solving all our problems at the border. With the footwork of Charles Slaughter and
-13- the hard work and skill of our broker, R. Joffory, we cleared customs in two days and were on our way by noon of February 18, arriving at Hermosillo that evening. The road south from Hermosillo was bad with long, very bumpy detours. We felt sure that this would be a good test of the equipment, which included image tubes, a 400 lb. 36-inch diameter coelostat mirror, and a 24-inch achromatic lens. Of course, we would have no way of knowing if the lens was in a. thousand pieces until located at the site a few days before the eclipse. As we pulled in to Guaymas at 11:00 a.m., we found that the big truck gearshift could not be moved. Fortunately, a g. M. sales and repair shop showed up a block from the gas station, and we limped in. With great bold ness, a fine young Mexican mechanic, Noah, and Charles pulled the drive shaft, transmission and clutch, while I weighed the many pos sibilities — all bad — to keep on schedule. The culprit was a bolt that was poorly installed, but, aside from the holes that it had made in the l/16-in. thick steel clutch housing (the holes looked like they were made from the inside with a large caliber bullet), nothing could be found wrong. With some considerable trouble, everything was put back together with only two nuts left over. We tipped the mechanic and were on our way at 3:00 p.m. That night we ran late (9:00 p.m.) under moonlight sky, and swore never again to do so. Too many animals, people, unlit cars, one-eyed cars, etc., were on the road.
Our trip on south to Oaxaca was now uneventful except for the occa sional town where police liked to pull us over, ask questions, and see our papers. Charles in his good Spanish kept us out of jail, at least for these particular faults. In Guadalajara we were told "get off the main streets", and as a result we got lost and found no accom modations. In desperation we drove another 75 miles in the dark and the rain, and again swore never to do it again. Here we were plagued by one of our major oversights in preparations — that of gas tank size. The big truck had a 20-gallon tank just like the carryall, but delivered half the mileage. With the station spacing and gas avail ability as it is in Mexico, one does not pass up a gas pump without careful consideration. In this instance a providential station ap peared in the middle of nowhere near the shores of Lake Chapala and, wonder of wonders, was still open at 8:00 p.m. on a Saturday night. That same night we finally obtained "accommodations" in the best hotel in Ocotlan for 12.00 pesos apiece — not a highlight on the trip!
Forewarned was forearmed, however, and we stopped at the first motel encountered on the outskirts of Mexico City (a fortunate move for it was the only motel along the route) . Early Monday morning, while it was still dark, we negotiated the Mexico freeway system by flash light and map, and although we saw little of the city, we got through almost without incident (we only made one wrong turn but managed to recover).
-14- This, our last day on the road to Oaxaca, was the roughest for the road was: (a) narrow, (b) under improvement, and (c) very, very wind ing .
Oaxaca, a city of 80,000 inhabitants, lies on a broad 5000 ft. plain, ringed by distant mountains. The city is curled around the base of low hills, which are capped with the beautiful archaeologic ruins of Monte Alban.
The valley of Oaxaca, like the valley of Mexico, is currently, as it was historically,a region of high population density. It was in teresting, and depressing, to note that, like Mexico, this valley, too, is fast fading from view under a curtain of smog.
As a base for our eclipse expedition, it contained all the needed services: material, shops, markets, and night life, not to mention hot baths in noisy hotel rooms that resounded with neighboring con versations, church bells ringing every quarter hour,and "entertainment" on the Zocalo (central plaza) .
On Tuesday, February 24, the 7th day, we moved south from Oaxaca with 5-gallon jugs of water -- of which several broke because of being made of extremely poor glass —, a 50-gallon drum of gas, our big, heavily loaded truck, and the carryall to explore the possibility of Quiechapa as a site. For 40 miles south of Oaxaca, ones moves along the high broad valley of Oaxaca. The road then descends 10 miles of steep grade to the bottom of the Rio Grande river, and 60 miles from Oaxaca we reached the small village of Nejapa. Lunch on the porch of a small restaurant consisted of some indescribable beef, black refried beans, tortillas and beer. Turning off the paved highway toward the high mountains, we followed a new gravel road for 10 miles; turning off this, we followed a logging road, the carryall running several kilo meters ahead to look for passing places, in the event the dust of log ging trucks was sighted (there were only a few places to pass on this narrow road, and backing down a 20% grade with our truck was no fun). After passing the village of Yautepec, of which we shall have more to say, we proceeded up the incredibly steep and narrow road to the 7000 ft. level of the higher mountains, covered by pine trees. About 10 miles from Quiechapa we turned off the logging road onto a still steeper and narrower road, if that could be possible. After making three tries to get around several sharp curves, Charles decided that we had better park the truck (in the middle of the road), and go on in the carryall, which had a 4-wheel drive and a winch. It was a good move, for I am convinced that if we had taken the big truck another mile we would be there yet, for the road got still steeper, I estimate a 60% grade, and the curves sharper. We arrived at Quiechapa about 4:30 p.m.
-15- Unfortunately, Father Sarabia, with whom we had had a good deal of correspondence, was not in; he was reported out visiting one of the many neighboring villages. Charles explained to the mayor and a few prominent town citizens that we were very sorry - so were they. We were shown the town, the fine irrigation ditches that brought fresh water down from a great spring high on the side of the mountain where terracing indicated a very ancient people had labored. We were given supper and cots in the courtyard of the monastery of the old church, and we were very well cared for.
Next morning, after a fine breakfast, we returned to the parked truck and retraced our way down the logging road, stopping at the village of Yautepec. We asked them about the possibility of setting up camp. With great enthusiasm,they offered us anything we desired, including the basketball court in the village square, for our equipment. This was declined, since it was adjacent to the school and the church. Instead, we selected a large field between the road and creek, just b'elow the village (Fig. 4). Leaving our truck in Yautepec, we re turned to Oaxaca in the carryall to meet those flying in from Tucson- Mexico City the next morning. Also, we were to meet Frank Orral and Jack Zirker from Hawaii, who wished to set up a joint camp.
After examining the "highway" to Yautepec, the Hawaiian group decided to camp at Nejapa, and we proceeded literally to entrench ourselves at Yautepec, a small village of 800 people nestled in a narrow valley. The village consists of four main streets surrounding a large central square and a few minor streets along the hillside lined with adobe homes. Facing the tree-lined square that includes the church, school to the sixth grade, basketball court, public fountain and water supply, there are a number of small general stores and the town's administra tive offices, including the jail. The village supplied us with water for washing and, from one store with a gas refrigerator (there is no electricity in town), cold beer and coke. Except for a few addi tional items like straw hats, we had brought almost everything that we had needed in our truck and carryall.
The days before eclipse were clear except for light cirrus and were very hot. A typical day meant rising at sunrise, generally cool withr dew on our sleeping bags, an excellent breakfast prepared by our ex perts, work until 11:00 a.m., by which time it was too hot to do any thing but have a light lunch, a walk to the village for a beer or a Pepsi, work from 4:00 p.m. until dark, then have a superb supper under our Coleman lanterns. In setting up camp, the cooking and eating area was placed close to and under the shade of a large tree at the eastern edge of the field along the creek. Necessary additional shade from the hot afternoon sun was provided by large pieces of
-16- Fig. 4 - The village of San Carlos Yautepec. The site of the KPNO eclipse expedition is the field in the foreground below the road. The group on the left is around and in the trench dug for the 24-inch f/25 camera. canvas suspended by ropes slanting outward from the tree. Our cots and sleeping bags were always in the open — thanks to the fine weather. Experiments were close to camp but located so that the early morning sun between the trees was available.
Green (non-cured) adobe brick was purchased from the village, and a mason and his helper were hired to lay up adobe piers. Since lumber was not available — in spite of the fact that lumber trucks passed us day and night — without an 80-mile journey to Oaxaca, John Kirk and I built, with much help from the villagers, a 50-foot long trench that we covered with poles and black plastic for our telescope tunnel. There was a pit at each end — one held a coelostat (Fig. 5) and 24-inch lens, the other held our camera system. The other experi menters assembled their equipment on the adobe piers and provided themselves with canvas shelters from the heat of the sun (Fig. 6).
Two men, Dick Aikens and Mike Doe, became very popular with the vil lagers through their skill in fixing battery powered radios. So many radios came to camp that a few days before the eclipse it was neces sary to turn them away in order to satisfy our own equipment needs.
A fringe benefit of radio repair was the gratuity that usually appeared in the form of eggs, and, in fact, we soon began discussing the extent of any given repair job in terms of the local value standard: a 3-egg fix (tune a 'Hecho en Mexico"radio and add antenna) or perhaps a 6-egg job (Japanese radio smashed).
Eclipse Day dawned clear with only a trace of cloud to the south, later- identified as smoke from a forest fire in the higher mountains. Break fast was unhurried. To the cadence of time signals from WWV at Ft. Collins, Colorado, final preparations were made for the eclipse. First contact occurred and the developing crescent was watched with interest. Four soliders drove up in full battle gear and were stationed on the road passing the field. The village people had been instructed not to approach camp on eclipse day and to stay along the road; thus, they were two blocks from camp. To my amazement, only ten or so showed up. I presume that the welter of conflicting warnings over the news media kept many indoors.
One-half hour before totality one could perhaps detect a slight decrease in the brightness of sunlight, but it was very obvious to all that the "heat of the day" had gone. There was simply no energy in the sun light. A few minutes before totality the landscape darkened ap preciably, and crescent images filtered through tree leaves onto our tents. We were now convinced that it would be perfectly clear, and our only anxiety was with the operation of our equipment.
-17- Fig. 5 - Sliding the 36-inch coelostat down into the pit. This flat mirror reflected light to the 24-inch f/25 achromatic doublet lens used to photograph the chromosphere, and to make photoelectric measurements of limb darkening. Fig. 6 - Coronal rotation spectrograph being assembled by Mike Doe (left) and Jack Harvey (right). The coelostat is on the left, the image-forming lens is in the black enclosure, and the spectrograph is in the cylinder. Ed Weber called out time until second contact, and various pieces of equipment were started according to their requirements. At the moment of totality the pale blue sky, with Mercury and Venus showing, and an incredibly complex corona (Fig. 7), was a magnificent sight. A beau tiful pink prominence was uncovered by the advancing moon. Totality ended. For a few seconds narrow (1/4-1/2 inch) shadow bands, inter laced but with an average separation of 2-4 inches, danced on the ground. It was all over except for a toast to the sun (Fig. 8), which had again escaped the jaws of the jaguar, and the calibration of our equipment.
A gran baile del eclipse" was held in the village square that evening. Sunday morning found us nearly packed. We lined up the youngsters from the village and gave each an item of leftover food chosen at random, be it a jar of fruit, mustard, olives, etc., until our stock was reduced to that needed for the return. We bid our new-found friends adios and returned to the U. S. by different routes and means — Noah Martin, Dick Aikens and Charles Evans returning with the vehicles.
A preliminary analysis of the data has been made: (A) Dr. Harvey re ports that the radial velocities of the coronal green line are in good agreement with the hypothesis that the corona co-rotates with the photosphere. However, the random velocities are much smaller (factor of 10-20) than previous interferometer observations. (B) Isopho- tometer tracings of the corona obtained by Charles Evans show no dif ference between the H and K photographs. Thus, the difference found by Deutsch and Righini is not obtained.
-18- Fig. 7 EL ECLIPSE TOTAL DE SOL EN SAN CARLOS YAUTEPEC EL 7 DE MARZO DE 1970 KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY, E.U.A. Fig. 8 - After the eclipse, some of the expedition members have a toast to the sun. In the group are (left to right) : Arnulfo Jarquin (mason), Victorino Martinez (mason's helper), jack Harvey, Mike Doe, John Kirk, Dick Aikens, Saul Levy, Ed Weber, Keith pierce, Charles Evans (hidden), Bob Anderson, Nyla crone Wasley. Kneeling in front: Charles Slaughter, John Lutnes. PLANETARY SCIENCES DIVISION
Fourth Arizona Conference on Planetary Atmospheres (M.J.S. Belton) - This year's conference, dealing with "Motions in Planetary Atmo spheres," was held at the Hilton Inn in Tucson on 2-4 March 1970. The organization of the conference was unusual in that most of the members of the Organizing Committee (R= M. Goody, Chairman, Harvard; C. Leovy, Washington; R» Lindzen, Chicago; A. M. Obukhov, Moscow; N. Phillips, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and M. J. S. Belton, KPNO) were not regular members of the Planetary Sciences Division. Also, the style of the conference was consider ably modified from the usual practice: rather than a formal series of contributions, a seminar style was adopted. Each of the 5 half- day sessions was under the guidance of a moderator whose task was to bring together the diverse approaches. Each topic had a key speaker and a small number of chosen contributors, who either commented directly on the speaker's views or presented an alternative point of view. The remainder of the available time (about half) was devoted to spontaneous discussion.
Fifty scientists, equally divided between geophysical fluid dynami- cists and astronomer-physicists, attended the conference. There were three participants from abroad: R. Hide, England, and G. Golitsyn and M. Ya. Marov, USSR.
Conference topics included: (i) The relationship between planetary dynamics and external parameters; (ii) Mars, the general circula tion; tidal and orographic effects; boundary layer phenomena; (iii) Venus, the deep circulation; the four-day circulation; atmo spheric tides; the nature of the Venus clouds; the coupling of clouds with convection and large scale motions; and (iv) Jupiter, energy sources; flow regimes. The sessions were moderated by N. A. Phillips (MIT), A. Robinson (Harvard), G. Carrier (Harvard), V. Suomi (Wisconsin), J. Charney (MIT). Key speakers were G. S. Golitsyn (Moscow), C Leovy (Washington), N. Phillips (MIT), P. Gierasch (Florida), A. Robinson (Harvard), W. Malkus (MIT), J. Lewis (MIT), R. Goody (Harvard), A. Ingersoll (California In stitute of Technology), and P. Stone (Harvard).
Perhaps four developments of general interest became apparent at the conference: (1) it became clear that the recently discovered large-scale orographic relief on Mars will have a major effect on the general circulation of the atmosphere. (2) The discussion of the four-day (blue cloud) circulation on Venus provided consider able excitement. W. Malkus (MIT) proposed that a mechanism whereby Reynolds' stresses, induced by the apparent motion of the Sun, support high mean velocities in the atmosphere. This,
-19- he suggests, represents the source of the true circulation in the Venus atmosphere, at least to the considerable depths at which most of the solar radiation is absorbed. This mechanism was originally suggested by G. Schubert (UCLA) as an explanation of the apparent rapid rotation of the high atmosphere. The resulting picture of atmospheric motions on Venus is, therefore, quite different from the Goody-Robinson model of a deep, steady circulation driven from above. (3) It was also brought out that there is a distinct possi bility of differentiating between the two models, for they predict stream velocities in the region of the atmosphere, which scatters and absorbs sunlight, that differ by a factor of about 10. An observational test might therefore be possible. (4) Another topic which created considerable interest was a model circulation in Jupiter's atmosphere driven by water vapor which was proposed by P. Gierasch (Florida) and A. Barcilon (Florida). They offered an explanation of the belt and zone structure of Jupiter's atmosphere which represents an alternative to the model of P. Stone (Harvard) in which the belt structure is a result of symmetric, baroclinic instabilities in the general circulation.
In retrospect, the conference, while providing a forum for new material in a rapidly developing discipline, can perhaps be judged best by the considerable amount of spontaneous discussion and ideas generated. There are plans to incorporate a number of the major papers given at the conference in a special sub-section of the Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, possibly in the July 1970 issue.
Auroral Expedition (K. A. Dick) - KPNO was represented on NASA's 1969 Airborne Auroral Expedition by Dr. K. A. Dick, who was par ticipating under a grant received while still at the Johns Hopkins University. The expedition utilized NASA Ames Research Center's Convair 990 Flying Laboratory "Galileo" as a platform on which to mount a wide variety of auroral instrumentation. A total of 14 research flights was made during the period 23 November to 18 December 1969. The majority were night flights out of Fort Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, in the auroral oval. In addition, one flight was made from Eielson AFB, Alaska, and two from Bodc|>, Norway. The more northerly location of the auroral zone near Norway allowed flights into a region where the oval was in dark ness at noon around the time of the winter solstice.
The apparatus used by the JHU-KPNO group consisted of a one- meter Ebert-Fastie spectrophotometer (of a design similar to that housed in the airglow observatory on Kitt Peak), and a six- position filter-wheel photometer. Various auroral and airglow
-20- emissions in the spectral range 3000 - 8000 A were studied during the expedition. Other experiments on board were:
(1) All-sky cameras and photometers from the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska;
(2) Cameras and vector magnetometer from NASA Ames Research Center;
(3) TV cameras from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center;
(4) Riometers and photometers from Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory;
(5) Bolometer radiometer from ESSA-APCL; and
(6) Spectrometers and photometers from the University of Colorado, National Research Council of Canada, Uni versity of Saskatchewan, and CNRS, France.
During the course of the expedition, it was possible to fly under the orbits of several satellites: 0G0 VI, ATS-E, and OV 118. It is hoped to correlate aircraft measurements with particle detector data from these satellites.
Although data analysis is at a preliminary stage, indications are that the most interesting results will relate to the morphology and photometry of noon-time and adjacent sunlit auroras. The remoteness of areas suitable for the study of such phenomena has meant that little information has been collected on them. Some results of the preliminary analysis are to be presented at a special session of the Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C, on 20 April 1970.
RESEARCH SUPPORT DIVISION
Optical Shop - Smoothing work has continued on the 158-inch quartz mirror, with rouge and an 18-inch tool rotation technique. Al though the absolute surface height errors remained about the same (about \ wave) for several weeks, the softening of the ring zones has been very evident, and the image size is improving rapidly as the slope errors decrease. This work will continue until the ring zones appear insignificant as compared to the larger ir regular blotches that must be removed by careful handwork.
The null-lens for use in testing the primary mirror is now fully operational and the focograms taken with it agree perfectly with the profiles calculated from the wire test and the Hartmann test.
-21- Figure 9 shows null-lens photos taken on 26 March and 1 April, respectively. The upper one shows the shadow of part of the grind ing machine. Ghost images produced by internal reflections within the null-lens are visible to the left of center. Small imper fections in the illustrations are caused by dust particles in the laser beam.
Owens-Illinois has completed the pocket boring of the first 52-inch secondary (for the f/8 Cassegrain) and will soon ship it to Tucson for finishing. This procedure removes about 30% of the weight.
Mr. John Richardson conducted the preliminary tests of the first 150-inch aluminizing tank at the manufacturer's plant, and the test samples showed the firing to have been satisfactory, and that we should receive excellent vacuum tanks.
The 36-inch Cer-Vit image-forming mirror for the solar telescope west auxiliary system has been completed by Mr. Bruce McKellar. It was figured by hand to an off-axis parabola, and it gives very fine images with a resolution of about % arc-second under double- pass auto collimation in the vacuum test tunnel.
150-inch Telescope Projects - Visitors - On 3 February, Dr. C. W- Borgmann, Ford Foundation, met in Tucson with Drs. N. U- Mayall, V. M. Blanco, and D. L. Crawford to review progress on the CTIO telescope. The Ford Foundation is supplying half of the funding ($5,000,000) for the large telescope in Chile.
Dr. I. M. Kopylov, Director of the Russian 6-meter telescope project, spent the week of 2 February in Tucson to discuss his project, and AURA's large telescope projects, with the AURA tech nical and scientific staff. Many informative discussions were held.
Engineering - General - The copy and reproduction service is now functioning with a complete microfilm system, consisting of a Kodak camera and film processor, ITEK film mounter, card-to-card duplicator, and reader-printer. The aperture and copy cards are key-punched for filing, distribution, and identification purposes. Full-size reference print racks have been replaced by half-size prints filed in a combination storage, reference, and light table unit. CTIO is planning the purchase of an ITEK reader-printer for their records office. This link will make full use of the KPNO key punch aperture card system*
-22- Fig. 9 - Null-test photographs of 158-inch mirror. Upper: March 26, 1970, showing sharp zones (about ± 1/4 wave errors) before smoothing. Lower: April 1, 1970, showing result of rouge polishing to smooth zonal errors. Engineering Technical Reports issued during the quarter include:
No. 11 "Simulation of a Spur Gear Drive for the 150-inch Stellar Telescope" — D. M. Edison;
No. 14 "Electrical Drive Considerations for the 150-inch Stellar Telescope" — L. B. Mortara;
No. 16 "Binary-Decimal-Binary Multiplexed Two-way Converter for Man-Machine Interface" — P. R. Vokac;
No. 17 "Free Vibration of Structures" — D. A. DaDeppo;
No. 21 "150-inch Stellar Telescope Optical Studies, Part I, Optical System Concepts" — D. L. Crawford and E. T. Pearson.
Engineering - Kitt Peak - Designs have been completed for a workers' washroom addition and relocated telephone equipment room on Kitt Peak.
A survey to enable Engineering to record "as built" drawings of all buildings and utilities on Kitt Peak has been completed. When the drafting is completed, these drawings will help the Kitt Peak force to locate buried utilities, since they will provide a permanent record of wires and pipes in buildings and utilities.
Engineering - Stellar Division - Design of the tower for the altitude-azimuth mounting for the coelostat flat mirror is complete, and construction will start in April on this component of the 84- inch telescope's coude spectrograph feed (See Fig. 1).
The instrument Shop has completed fabrication of three 3-channel modular photometers: two for use at KPNO, and one for CTIO.
Fabrication of ten Lockwood cold boxes is completed: three for the Stellar Division, two for the Planetary Sciences Division, one for the Electronics Laboratory, and four for CTIO.
Two 10-inch finder telescopes and a two-speed secondary focus mechanism for the 84-inch telescope are complete and will be in stalled in April.
Design, fabrication, and installation of a focus mechanism for the image-tube spectrograph camera are completed.
-23- The Engineering design has been completed and fabrication is con tinuing on three automatic offset guiders: two for use by the Stellar Division at KPNO, and one for CTIO.
Fabrication of the 12-inch Schmidt telescope, for Dr. Belton's comet program, is continuing in the Instrument Shop.
The task of designing and producing shop drawings for the 50-inch telescope primary mirror cover and light baffles has been con tracted to Mr. S. Dale Phillips.
Engineering - Solar Division -A 3-image (35mm) camera with variable shutter speeds ranging from l/50th to l/250th of a second is in early design stages.
An adjustable slit jaw for the 80-channel magnetograph, a new in strument table over the vacuum spectrograph tank, and the No.2 west auxiliary mirror back support are complete in Engineering and ready for Instrument Shop fabrication.
The Optical Shop has completed a 36-inch diameter image-forming mirror for the No.2 west auxiliary system, which will be installed during the 5 May maintenance shutdown period. Set-up in the optical shop test tunnel is being maintained for reworking the No.2 east auxiliary (aluminum) mirror.
A 48-inch diameter beryllium mirror support frame is being manu factured by Keystone Engineering, with installation in the tele scope scheduled for July.
A rotating disc, image guider head, mount for 14% x 18%-inch grating, and double-pass system for the I-R spectrograph are complete in Engineering and under construction in the instrument Shop.
Construction of a 70 x 26-foot eastward observing room extension is complete, and Engineering is developing plans for a horizontal spectrograph on the south end of this addition. A new darkroom, plate storage, and instrument storage area will occupy most of the new addition.
A retractable mirror support structure for the No.4 west auxiliary mirror is being installed in front of the I-R spectrograph.
Engineering - Planetary Sciences Division - Preliminary design concept drawings have been made for component procurement of a 3.34-meter planetary spectrograph.
-24- Engineering - 150-inch Telescope - Scale models (1/32 size) have been made of the 150-inch telescope, including aluminizing chamber and portions of the building in the immediate area around the telescope. The models were primarily made to assist in the plan ning and design of handling equipment associated with the tele scope components and its instruments.
Engineering - Cerro Tololo - During a visit in February, R. L. Stevens, headquarters electrical engineer, inspected the electrical installation in the 150-inch telescope building, reviewed the cable trench and routing requirements for the computer center, estab lished power requirements for the new technicians' dormitory, recommended necessary transformer equipment, investigated the present electrical services for the La Serena facilities to resolve numerous hazardous conditions, and recommended additional power equipment.
During a March visit, Jerry R. Jones, Headquarters civil engineer, reviewed and inspected all facilities at Cerro Tololo and La Serena. Engineering studies were initiated for development of La Junta springs in the immediate future to serve both Morado and Tololo. This is necessary as the supply of water at Los Placeres will not be adequate for both locations, even if the flow were normal, and especially in view of the severely reduced current flow to 1000 gallons per day.
ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION
Mountain - Kitt Peak Weather
Jan. Feb. Mar.
Precipitation: Tr on 1 day 0"39 in 2 days 3"30 in 7 days
Temperature: Extreme Hi 64°F 62°F 63°F Extreme Lo 17 18 19 Mean Hi 49 52 50 Mean Lo 3 5 3 5 3 2
Construction of the Solar Observing Room Eastern Extension by the Sundt Construction Company was completed late in March. Construc tion of the 84-inch Auxiliary Coude1 Feed pier and windshield for the No.2 mirror was also finished late in March. All construction work on the project is being done by the mountain operations group and is presently on schedule (See Fig. 2).
25- One of the half-million gallon water storage tanks was sandblasted and re lined during the month of March. The new lining is of the Epoxy type and should give much longer service as a cleaner source of stored water. A recent analysis report of mountain water by the Infilco Co. of Tucson showed the processed mountain water to be of excellent quality due to the new flocculation system put in service last summer. At the end of March, there were about 600,000 gallons of water in storage.
There were 3826 visitors in January, 4583 in February, and 4868 in March.
Tucson Operations - Inventory and property control activities were assigned to the Operations Department, and a vigorous property retirement program, in accordance with regulations outlined by the National Science Foundation, has been implemented. The annual physical inventory, started on 15 March, is expected to be com pleted and ready for transmittal to the NSF on or before 1 June.
PUBLICATIONS
The following publications by staff members and visiting astronomers were accepted during January, February, and March as Kitt Peak National Observatory Contributions:
No. 519 - Anne Cowley: WY Geminorum - An Eclipsing Binary? (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific)
No. 520 - J. E. Felten, H. C Arp, and C R. Lynds: The M87 Jet. II. Temperature, ionization, and X-Radiation in a Secondary Production Model. (Astrophys. J. 159, 415-423)
No. 521 - Michael B. McElroy and Donald M. Hunten: Photochemistry of COj in the Atmosphere of Mars. (J. Geophys. Res. 75, 1188-1201)
No. 522 - J. W. Harvey: Short Period Oscillations and Doppler Velocity Gradients. (Solar Physics 11, 26-28)
No. 523 - C. R. Lynds: Improved Photographs of the NGC 1275 Phenomenon. (Astrophys. J. 159, L151-L154)
No. 524 - A. G. Davis Philip: Radial Velocities of Field Horizon tal-Branch Stars. II. HLF 2. (Astron. J.)
-26- No. 525 - Helmut A. Abt and Saul G. Levy: Spectra of the Cepheid HR 8157. (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific)
No. 526 - Edward J. Mannery and George Wallerstein: The Use of UBVr Photometry for the Discovery of Peculiar Stars. (Astron. J. 75, 169-170)
No. 527 - George S. Mumford: On the Magnitude-Color Relation for Cygnus X-2 and WX Centauri. (IAU Symp. No. 37: Non-Solar Gamma-Ray and X-Ray Astronomy)
No. 528 - D. L. Crawford: Calibration of 4-Color and Hfl Photom etry for B- and A-Type Stars. (IAU Symp. No. 38: The Spiral Structure of Our Galaxy)
No. 529 - Vera C Rubin and W. Kent Ford, Jr.: Emission Line Intensities and Radial Velocities in the Interacting Galaxies NGC 4038-39. (Astrophys. J.)
No. 530 - Jeffrey L. Linsky: On the Relative Intensities of the Calcium H and K Lines. (Solar Physics)
No. 531 - W. C. Livingston: Spectroscopic Observations of Differential Rotation with Height in the Solar Envelope. (IAU Colloquium No. 4: Stellar Rotation)
No. 532 - David L. Crawford: Calibration of Intermediate-Band Photometric Parameters and V sin i Effects. (IAU Colloquium No. 4: Stellar Rotation)
No. 533 - Joseph W. Chamberlain and Gerald R. Smith: Interpretation of the Venus CO- Absorption Bands. (Astrophys. J.)
No. 534 - R. A. Wells: Low Degree Surface Harmonics of Mars and Continental Drift: Addendum. (Geophys. J. Roy. Astron. Soc.)
No. 535 - Malcolm G. Smith and Daniel W. Weedman: Internal Motions in Galactic and Extragalactic HII Regions. (Astrophys. J.)
No. 536 - Douglas S. Hall and Franklin G. VanLandingham: The Nearby Poor Cluster Collinder 399. (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific)
-27- No. 537 - G. W- Lockwood: Near Infrared Photometry of Two Extremely Red Objects. (Astrophys. J.)
No. 538 - N. R. Sheeley, Jr., and 0. Engvold: Simultaneous Measurements of Magnetic Fields and Brightness Fields with a Four-Image Spectroheliograph. (Solar Physics)
No. 539 - T. D. Parkinson and E. C Zipf: Energy Transfer from N2 (A3E/u+) as a Source of 0(1S) in the Aurora. (Planet. Space Sci.)
No. 540 - Mahiro Simoda and Kiyotaka Tanikawa: On the Giant, Asymptotic, and Horizontal Branches of the Globular Cluster M5. (Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan)
No. 541 - R. J. Dufour and Paul Lee: On the Value of R for NGC 2244, (Astrophys. J.)
No. 542 - Howard E. Bond: The Peculiar High-Velocity Star HD 204613. (Astrophys. J.)
No. 543 - Douglas S. Hall and Franklin G. VanLandingham: On the Membership of U Sge in Collinder 399. (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific)
No. 544 - Helmut A. Abt, Mark Jennings, Paul D. Lee, and Karen R. Villere: Mean Velocities of Binaries in the Perseus Arm. (Astrophys. J.)
No. 545 - Poul Eric Nissen: The Relative Metal-to-Hydrogen Ratio for the Sun, Hyades, and 53 F5-G2 Stars. (Astron. Astrophys.)
No. 546 - Hong-Yee Chiu, R. Lynds, and S. P. Maran: A Pulsar Hunter; Tests on NP 0532. (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific)
No. 547 - E. J. Weber and L. Davis, Jr.: The Effect of Viscosity and Anisotropy in the Pressure on the Azimuthal Motion of the Solar Wind. (J. Geophys. Res.)
-28- No. 548 - Gopal Sistla and J. W. Harvey: Fraunhofer Lines Without Zeeman Splitting. (Solar Physics)
No. 549 - Roberta M. Humphreys: M Supergiants in the Perseus Arm. (Astrophys. J.)
No. 550 - R. Lynds and D. Wills: The Unusually Large Redshift of 4C 05.34. (Nature)
•29- PERSONNEL SUMMARY
AS OF
KPNO 1 April 70
CTIO 31 March 70
KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY
FILLED POSITIONS
DIRECTOR'S OFFICE
STELLAR D1VIISI0N 12 23 SOLAR DIVISION PLANETARY SCIENCES DIVT _12_ RESEARCH SUPPORT PIT: -25- Engineering 5 Inst. Shop . 1 Optical Sabp 12. 32 Electronic Lab 14_ Space Engineering Lab. J£ JL§_ ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION Administration 19 27 Library" Photographic Lab. Computer Services Operations - Tucson Hq" 17 .2_5_ Operations - Kitt Peak 11 3R. TOTAL FILLED (KPNO) 14 10 19 11 17 44 82 50 255 11 28 POSITIONS COMMITTED REPLACEMENT RECRUiTiNC *4 TOTAL POSITIONS (KPNO) 261 11 28
150" TELESCOPE PROJECT 11 24 CERRO TOLOLO INTER-AMERICAN observatory FILLED POSITIONS SCIENTIFIC DIVISION 12 ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION Administration 13 10 24 Mountain Operations Electronic Shop 24. _26_ Instrument Shop ENGINEER!^ 2
TOTAL FILLED (CTIO) 13 12 34 71 POSITIONS COMMITTED REPLACEMTTNTirECRlJITINC'
TOTAL POSITIONS (CTIO] 75 CTIO TELESCOPE CONSTRUCTION OFFICE ♦Includes one position in Research Support Division (SEL); one in Kitt Peak Operations and two unallocated positions. CERRO TOLOLO INTER-AMERICAN OBSERVATORY
GENERAL
Weather - 1970 January February March
T max (°C) 25.6 26.1 28.9 T min (°C) 5.6 6.7 6.7 Wind max (mph) 54 38 48 Observational nights 30 23 27
On 17 March, the first shower in more than three years fell in La Serena. Bringing only 4.7 millimeters of water, this rainfall did not lessen appreciably the severe drought conditions that continue in the provinces of Coquimbo and Atacama. The flow of water at Los placeres spring has dwindled to a negligible amount. At present, Cerro Tololo is using water trucked from the Elqui River.
Staff Visits - During the report period, the following KPNO staff members visited CTIO to provide technical and administrative support: I. G. Blevins, internal auditor, 20 January to 5 February; R. Stevens, associate engineer, 2 January to 19 February; E. M. Erickson, con troller, 23-28 February; J. M. Miller, Associate Director-Administra tion, 23 February to 4 March; J. R. Jones, associate engineer, 9-29 March; and N. U. Mayall, Observatory Director, 21-31 March.
In addition, Dr. W. A. Hiltner, AURA President, visited CTIO 21-28 March. On their visits to CTIO, Drs. Hiltner and Mayall were ac companied by Dr. C. D. Shane, former President of AURA, who paid his first visit to CTIO in nine years. An extended visit in connection with the 150-inch telescope dome construction was begun at CTIO by Mr. W. W. Baustian, chief engineer KPNO, on 7 March.
During the report period, the following CTIO staff members visited Tucson to consult with KPNO staff members: Dr. M. G. Smith, assistant astronomer, 16 February to 5 March; N. LePore, assistant mountain superintendent, 16 February to 16 March; and Dr. V. M. Blanco, CTIO Director,17 January to 5 February and 9-20 March.
Other Visitors - CTIO Headquarters in La Serena was visited by Drs. H. W. Babcock, J. B. Oke, and A. R. Sandage, and Mr. Bruce Rule of the Hale Observatories on 9 February, and by Dr. H. H. Swope, of the same Observatories,on 12 March.
-30- Dr. A. Blaauw, the new General Director of European Southern Obser vatory (ESO), visited the CTIO Headquarters on 23 March, accompanied by Dr. B. Westerlund, resident Director of the ESO observatory in Chile.
Visits to Cerro Tololo were made by Mr. Oscar Flores, NASA Wallops Island Station, and Sr. Horacio Undurraga, NASA liaison officer at the University of Chile. These visits were in connection with an observational program that will be carried out on Cerro Morado by NASA with the cooperation of the University of Chile. The observa tions, to be made from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, will be of a barium-ion cloud to be ejected from an earth-orbiting satellite, scheduled to be rocket-launched from NASA's Wallops Island Station sometime between September and November 1970.
Mr. C. Fleming, safety engineer of Hartford Insurance Company and acting as a consultant on safety matters, visited CTIO 23-28 February.
Public visitors received at Cerro Tololo totaled 737, including six school groups. These visits were distributed as follows: January - 282, February - 274, and March - 181.
CTIO-ESO Staffs Meet - On 27 April, the first joint meeting of the scientific staffs of ESO and CTIO was held at Cerro Tololo. Guests at this occasion were prof, and Mrs. H. Moreno of the University of Chile. During the meeting, various staff members reviewed in an informal manner the research projects in which they are engaged. It is intended that these meetings will be repeated every six months. Abstracts of the presentations will be submitted to the Southern Hemisphere Information Bulletin for publication. participants in the meeting, in addition to prof, and Mrs. Moreno, were, from ESO, Drs. A. Ardeberg, F. Dossin, R. Havlen, E. Maurice, J. Rickard, P. S. The, and B. Westerlund; from CTIO, V. M. Blanco, J. A. Graham, J. E. Hesser, W. E. Kunkel, B. M. Lasker, P. S. Osmer, and Mr. D. J. Ludden. personnel Notes - Messrs. L. Pasten and L. Garvizo, who were seriously injured along with Mr. A. Fredes in a vehicle accident on 14 October last year, have returned to work. Mr. Fredes, who still wears a leg cast, is ambulatory and is expected to recover completely.
Announcement was made on 28 March that Dr. M. G. Smith, assistant astronomer-CTIO, and Srta. Ana Maria Maraboli, part-time secretary- CTIO, are engaged to be married.
Mr. D. J. Ludden, senior engineer-CTIO, was named chief engineer- CTIO effective 1 April and for the duration of his present tour of duty.
-31- Comet Bennett (1969 i) - This is the second naked-eye comet to ap pear in the southern skies in the past few months. Fig. 1 shows the comet as it looked at 08:30 UT 7 March, when it was located approxi mately at RA 22^22m, Dec -42° 0 (1950) . The scale of the photograph is 33 arc sec per mm; south is at the bottom, and east is to the right. The original plate was taken by Sr. Arturo Gomez with the Curtis Schmidt telescope of the University of Michigan.
Library - The CTIO book-binder in Santiago closed shop because of labor troubles, and a new book-binding company was tried. The first shipment of books received from this new binder is well done. The amount of material continuously received has now filled completely the library as well as temporary shelving located in some of the offices. This condition has required the storage of books in boxes, pending the enlargement of the library that is scheduled for FY 1971. In order to help in library matters, Mrs. Adriana Amenabar Southern was hired as part-time assistant librarian on 7 March.
INSTRUMENTATT ON
A gravity-activated preload mechanism for the declination axis of the Curtis Schmidt telescope was designed by CTIO chief engineer Dwight Ludden. This mechanism was built in the CTIO shops and is now in stalled. (Fig. 2)
The CTIO data acquisition system developed under the supervision of Dr. Barry M. Lasker, assistant astronomer, CTIO, with the collabora tion of the Electronics Laboratory personnel at KPNO and the CTIO staff, was given its first trial at the 36-inch telescope on Cerro Tololo on 24 March, approximately eight months after fabrication of the system was initiated. The system, which worked perfectly, was first tried in a routine UBV photometric observational program. This data acquisition system is built around two NOVA computers supplied by Data General Corp. It incorporates eight 30 MHZ pulse counters, ten 10 kc digital voltmeters, three 10 kc digital to analog convert ers, one real-time clock with a long-term accuracy of 5 parts in 10 , two teletypes, two paper tape punches, and one optical tape reader. The system is capable of providing time sharing service to three observing stations. The system is located in the 36-inch telescope building office, and remote operation from various tele scopes can be effected by use of teletypes and "Kluge" boxes.
CONSTRUCTION
The erection of six new prefabricated houses was completed on the
-32- Fig. 1 - Comet Bennett (1969 i) photographed by Sr. A. Gomez at 08:30 U.T. March 7, 1970, with the Curtis Schmidt telescope of the University of Michigan. Fig. 2 - CTIO Chief Engineer, Dwight Ludden, demonstrating the new declination axis preload mechanism on the Curtis Schmidt camera. (Photography by Blanco Photographic Enterprises, March-5, 1970). La Serena AURA property. Four of these new houses are seen to the left in Fig. 3. Two of the new houses are shown in Fig. 4, along with some of the new trees planted nearby.
A 2h mile section on the access road to Cerro Morado was initiated. Traced by KPNO associate engineer J. R. Jones and CTIO 150-inch tele scope building construction supervisor S. R. Hurdle, the new road section by-passes about two-thirds of the old access road, which was laid over difficult terrain with grades as high as 20%. The new road swings south-eastward, starting about 1 km up from Quisco Pass (formerly La Mollaca Pass), and rejoins the old road about 1 km from the start of the Morado plateau. (Fig. 5)
A small, but vital, job of environmental conservation is shown in Fig. 6. This is the lone cactus, or quisco, after which the mile- high pass is now named. The structure around the quisco has pro tected it from road-building debris created by work on the access road to Cerro Morado.
The most visible progress in the 150-inch telescope building was a coat of white paint applied to the dome during the last days of March (Fig. 7). This covering makes the new building easily visible, on clear days, from the upper sections of La Serena. In the interior of the building, numerous finishing touches are being added, and the elevator for handling the primary mirror cell was installed. The personnel and service elevator installation was also started.
The new dormitory for technicians on Cerro Tololo saw much progress in two of its projected four wings. Fig. 8 shows the construction work as of 5 March.
TELESCOPE USAGE
Observer, Institution, Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program Michigan Lowell (Two) 60-inch 36-inch Schmidt 24-dnch 16-inch
R. Wing, Ohio State Univer sity , Infrared Narrow-Band Photometry of Late-Type Stars 1 (8) 2 (17) *2 (22) * (1 night on stand-by status)
-33- Fig. 3 - The La Serena AURA housing compound, showing on the left-hand side four of the six new houses added recently (April 1, 1970). , ••••••••••••
Fig. 4 - Two of the new houses in La Serena. Recently planted shrubs and trees are seen in the foreground (April 1, 1970). ***. jgB/tm
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:% •
•?4&Z**m2 M Sr Fig. 5 - part of the new section in the access road to Cerro Morado, photographed by Sr. L. Pasten on 3 April. This view, looking east ward from near the top of the newly constructed road, shows Cerro pachon in the background. Fig. 6 - A vital piece of new fabrication protects the lone cactus (quisco) after which mile-high Quisco Pass is named. New work on the Cerro Morado access road is shown in the background (Photography by Blanco Photographic Enterprises, March 5, 1970). Fig. 7 - The 150-inch telescope building showing part of the first coat of titanium white paint on the dome as of April 3, 1970. &# «*«*."• •1
Fig. 8 - The new technicians dormitory at Cerro Tololo as it appeared on March 5, 1970 (photography by Blanco Photographic Enterprises). Observer, Institution, Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program Michigan Lowe 11 (Two) 60-inch 36-inch Schmidt 24-inch 16-inch
P. Osmer, CTIO , Radial Velocity varia tions of Magellanic Cloud Supergiants 11 (93) 7 (61)
H. Y. Chiu, NASA Institute for Space Studies , S. Maran, NASA Goddard Space Center, and R. Townsend, KPNO , A Search for Optical Pulsars 5 (38)
R. Keenan, Perkins Observa tory , Spectral Classification of Carbon Stars 9 (69)
J. Graham, CTIO , a) Magellanic Cloud RR Lyrae Stars b) Bright B-Star Pro gram *6 (67) 4 (24) * (4 nights on stand-by status)
H. J. Wood, Leander McCormick Observatory , Spect r ophot ometrie Studies of Newly-Discovered Spectrum-Variable Stars 12 (105)
M. Smith, CTIO, Direct Photography of Galaxies and H II Regions 2 (19)
R. McClure, Yale Univer sity Observatory, Photometry of Stars in Old Clusters 6 (60) 8 (68) 4 (18)
-34- Observer, Institution, Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program Michigan Lowell (Two) 60--inch 36-inch Schmidt 24-inch 16-inch
R. Humphreys, Vanderbilt University, Radial Velocities and Spectral Types for Super giants in the Carina- Crucis Region 7 (66) 7 (62) 6 (48)
S. Czysak, Ohio State Univer sity, and L. Aller, University of California at Los Angeles, Spectrophotometric Inves tigation of Stars and Nebulae in the LMC and Certain Planetary Nebulae in the Galaxy 5 (47) 6 (48)
H. Bradt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Search for the Optical Counterparts of X-Ray Sources 5 (29)
A. U. Landolt, Louisiana State University, A Determination of Ef fective Temperatures from Eclipsing Binaries 10 (144) 3 (29)
R. Brucato, Dearborn Observatory, Observation of Time Vari ation of Emission of Line Strengths in Of Stars 4 (27)
J. Hesser, CTIO, and R. C. Henry, Naval Research Laboratory , K-Line Photometry of A- Stars 3 (21) 4 (9)
-35- Observer, Institution, Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program Michigan Lowe 11 (Two) 60-inch 36-inch Schmidt 24-inch 16-inch
C. L. Perry, Louisiana State University, Determination of the Color Excess and Distance Modulus of Galactic Cluster NGC 4755 9 (67) 8 (66)
R. Garrison, David Dunlap Observatory, a) Spectral Classifica tion of Southern OB Stars b) Spectral Classifica tion in the Sco-Cen Associat ion c) Spectral Classifica tion of Mira vari ables 12 (97)
W. Kunkel, CTIO, a) Search for Optical Counterparts of X-Ray Sources b) Monitoring of Flares of YZ Canis Minoris 1 (11) 5 (25)
M. Snowden, University of Florida, a) Photometry of Bright Supergiants in the LMC b) Photometry of Ap Stars c) Photometry of NGC 6475 17 (137) 26(184)
H. Bond, Louisiana State University, Survey of Barium Stars *7 (75) 10 (72) * (1 night on stand-by status) j. Claria, Universidad de Cordoba, UBV Photometry of I Canis Minoris 2 (23) 11 (90)
-36- Observer, Institution, Scheduled nights (hours observed) and Program Michigan Lowell (Two) 60--inch 36-inch Schmidt 24-inch 16-inch
D. J. McConnel, University of Michigan, a) Michigan Schmidt Survey Program b) Spectral and Photo metric Observations of Southern Peculiar
Q+" arc O i- CIA. o .— *xi i (a;/Q^ 37(163) *7 (49) * (1 night on stand-by status)
J. Stock, Universidad de Chile, Intermediate and High Latitude Survey of Early- rPrrnp Q4- =a y o ^•Yr DL uJL o 5 (30)
H. Johnson, Lockheed Mis siles and Space Co., Investigation of X-Ray Sources and Other Hot WUVdMot7 z^ —TJ_jJ_]\tri Vo W/"W"*-iJcLlo *~»+- oc2 — 11 (58)
A. Gomez, University of Michigan and CTIO, University of Michigan Survey Program and Photography of Comet
DcnnstLT3^ri v*i v\ a 4~ 4~ _— 50(255)
E. Miller, University of Arizona, Observations of 0 and Early B Stars and Their Associated HII Regions
T v» ^* a V T v\ a —— f^ £T\ v\ 4— an >• n n _— in uaiina-Leniaurus 5 (51) 13(144)
J. Maza, Universidad de Chile with University of Chile students, P. Cordova, I. Alfaro, and M. Goldschmidt, UBV Photometry of Selected Star s 9 (69) -37- Observer, Institution, and Program Scheduled nights (hours observed) Michigan Lowe 11 (Two) 60-inch 36-inch Schmidt 24-inch 16-inch
C. Contreras, Universidad de Chi le , UBV Photometry of the Eclipsing Binary, CW CMa 12 (50)
Lowell Observers, H. Rojas and 0. Saa, Planetary Patrol Program 86(366)
PUBLICATIONS
The following publications by staff members and visiting astronomers were accepted during January, February, and March as Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Contributions:
No. 100 - Peter B. Boyce: Blue Haze and Mariner 6 Pictures of Mars. (Science 167, 907-908)
No. 101 - Raymond E. White: Secondary UBV Comparison Stars Near Some Southern Globular Clusters. I. Stars Brighter Than 16th Magnitude. (Astron J. 75, 167-168)
No. 102 - Howard E. Bond and Arlo U. Landolt: Photometric and Spectroscopic Observations of AG and HR Carinae. (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific)
No. 103 - Barry M. Lasker and James E. Hesser: High Frequency Stellar Oscillations. III. A Brief Report. (IAU Information Bull. Variable Stars No. 412)
No. 104 - W. A. Hiltner and D. E. Mook : Optical Monitoring of Sco X-l for 1967 to 1969. (Astrophys. J.)
No. 105 - Delo E. Mook: Results of Simultaneous V and B Monitoring of Sco X-l. (Astrophys. J.)
-38- No. 106 - G. A. Burginyon, R. J. Grader, R. W. Hill, R. E. Trice, R. Rodrigues, F. D. Seward, C. D. Swift, W. A. Hiltner, and E. J. Mannery: Sco XR-1, Some X-Ray and Optical Ob servations, May 1969. (Astrophys. J.)
No. 107 - Carlson R. Chambliss: The Eclipsing Binary System BV 845 (Astron. J.)
No. 108 - Carlson R. Chambliss: The Eclipsing Binary System RW Pisces Austrini. (Astron. J.)
No. 109 - D. L. Crawford, J. V. Barnes, and J. C. Golson: 4-Color and H/J Photometry for Bright Stars in the Southern Hemi sphere . (Astron. J.)
No. 110 - Edward J. Mannery: Photoelectric Photometry of Nova HR Delphini 1967. (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific)
-39-