NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY
Quarterly Report (2) FY 2004 January 1 – March 31, 2004
A student and her father test their skill as Constellation Detectives. The challenge is to find the constellation, pictured in the box, amid the numerous stars on the map. The actual constellation might be oriented differently on the map and requires patience to locate.
Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Scientific Program Order No. 1, Article 5-C Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0132798, Article VI
Also published on the NOAO Web site: http://www.noao.edu
NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY
NOAO Quarterly Report (2) FY 2004 January 1 – March 31, 2004
Submitted to the National Science Foundation Under Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0132798, Article VI May 12, 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Public Affairs and Educational Outreach (PAEO) Media and Public Information...... 1 Public Outreach...... 2 Educational Outreach ...... 3
Site Safety Reports Tucson and Kitt Peak ...... 6 NOAO South and AURA Observatory...... 9
Observing Programs (Semester 2004-A) NOAO Gemini Science Center ...... 12 Kitt Peak National Observatory ...... 18 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory...... 25 Hobby-Eberly Telescope...... 29 Multiple Mirror Telescope ...... 30 W.M. Keck Observatory ...... 30
i NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT (2) FY 2004 1
PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH (PAEO)
Media and Public Information
Results from NOAO and the Gemini telescopes received very strong media coverage at the January 2004 AAS meeting in Atlanta. The opening Monday press briefing of the meeting focused on the initial results from the Gemini Deep-Deep Survey, the first time that Gemini science has been the sole focus of an AAS press event. This briefing led to coverage in the New York Times, USA Today, The Australian newspaper and every major Hawaiian newspaper, among others. The second day of the meeting featured a well-presented multi-wavelength story of galaxy destruction by gas ram pressure stripping, including data from Kitt Peak and Gemini, that was subsequently reported by Reuters, the Associated Press (reprinted across the nation), United Press International, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Astronomy.com and Sky&Telescope.com. The story later appeared as the cover story for the February 21 issue of Science News. Finally, a Wednesday press briefing on a huge galaxy string in the early universe using observations from Cerro Tololo was cited in the New York Times, the AIP Physics News Bulletin and Sky&Telescope.com. Other NOAO-related news releases were covered actively by space and astronomy news Web sites.
KOLD CBS-TV in Tucson aired their weather reports live from Kitt Peak for their 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 10 p.m. broadcasts on Friday, March 5. In addition to scenic panoramas of both ends of Kitt Peak, the segments included interviews with NOAO PAEO Manager D. Isbell by weathercaster Chuck George on new activities at the Visitor Center and the importance of dark skies, plus many graphical slides of positive Kitt Peak factoids that ran before commercial breaks. The event was topped by the first-ever live TV views of Saturn, the Moon, and Jupiter from the 20-inch telescope at the Visitor Center Observatory in the 10 p.m. broadcast. Media and Public Information Summary of Server Hits An NOAO press release on a joint U.S.-Chinese discovery of a nd Young Stellar Object in the Rosette Nebula, including a 2 Qtr 2004 strikingly beautiful newly reprocessed image of the nebula by Image Gallery Web hits 43,356 co-author T. Rector, led to a variety of news coverage across the world. This coverage included Chinese Central Television, a Education Web hits 78,290 color image in the Dallas Morning News, the cover of the NOAO Outreach Web hits 505,599 March 2004 issue of the Astronomical League’s magazine, and Non-PAEO Web hits 696,880 the French magazine Ciel et Espace. The publicity around this research helped it be selected as #4 in the “Top Ten” major Total Web hits 1,324,125 science and technology advances of the National Astronomical Observatory of China in 2003.
NOAO imagery and information filled the March 2004 issue of Sky&Telescope, including a lead News Note on the first Spitzer Space Telescope infrared images that uses an NOAO (N. Sharp) image of M81 as the optical comparison, a two-page showcase color image of the Pelican Nebula (J. Bally/U. of Colorado) released by NOAO last fall, color images of NGC 6822 by the Local Group Galaxies Survey and M51 (T. Rector and M. Ramirez) to illustrate a book review in the magazine, and a Kitt Peak Advanced Observing Program image of planetary nebula NGC 2438 (A. Block and public visitors) to illustrate a story on objects to see that month in the constellation Puppis. NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT (2) FY 2004 2
The NOAO home page image was updated seven times. NOAO images were featured six times as the “Astronomy Picture of the Day” and four times at the Space.com daily image.
NOAO Press Release Titles for the Quarter: