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NOAO NEWSLETTER from the Office of the Director Director’s Corner NOAO NEWSLETTER From the Office of the Director .......................................................................................................................................2 ISSUE 118 | OCTOBER 2018 Science Highlights Looking Ahead to Looking Back in Time with DESI ....................................................................................................3 The Dark Energy Survey: The Journey So Far and the Path Forward ......................................................................5 Managing Editor A Reconnaissance of RECONS .......................................................................................................................................8 Sharon Hunt Discovering 12 New Moons Around Jupiter .................................................................................................................9 NOAO Director’s Office Community Science & Data David Silva “More Is Different” in Data-Driven Astronomy ..........................................................................................................11 Data Lab 2.0 Is Bigger and Better ...............................................................................................................................12 Science Highlights The US Extremely Large Telescope Program .............................................................................................................13 Tod R. Lauer “Science and Evolution of Gemini Observatory” Conference ...............................................................................14 Community Science & Data DESI Collaboration Meets in Tucson ...........................................................................................................................16 Ken Hinkle & Jane Price The La Serena School for Data Science: Applied Tools for Data-Driven Sciences ..............................................16 NOAO Mini-workshop: “The Resurgence of High-Resolution Spectroscopy at Gemini” ...................................17 CTIO DECam Community Science Workshop 2018: “Science Highlights, Coming Opportunities, Nicole S. van der Bliek LSST Synergies” ............................................................................................................................................................17 KPNO System Observing Lori Allen NOAO Time Allocation Process ....................................................................................................................................18 Education & Public Outreach A Newly Coated Primary Mirror for Blanco ................................................................................................................18 Stephen Pompea DES Year 5.5 Is Underway .............................................................................................................................................21 SOAR Project Updates ...................................................................................................................................................21 Design & Layout Pete Marenfeld NOAO Operations & Staff Einstein Schools Programme Launched at the IAU Meeting ..................................................................................22 Production Support Colors of Nature Summer Academy ...........................................................................................................................22 Jessica Rose Planning by AURA Observatories in Chile for the 2019 Total Solar Eclipse .........................................................24 Summit on Chilean Astronomy Education.................................................................................................................25 NOAO Staff Changes at NOAO North and South .....................................................................................................26 Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach at Kitt Peak National Observatory .....................27 The NOAO Newsletter is published semi-annually by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, AZ 85726 [email protected] On the Cover Publication Notes Star trails arc around Polaris located immediately above the ten-story-tall McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt This Newsletter is presented with active Peak National Observatory. The McMath-Pierce is being transformed into the Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach thanks to a $4.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. (Credit: W. Livingston/ links online at NSO/AURA/NSF) www.noao.edu/NOAO_Newsletter NOAO Newsletter April 2018 1 DO Director’s Office From the Office of the Director In July 2018, the National Science Foundation requested that formation research now but also lays the foundation for the LSST-driven time- of the new National Center for Optical-Infrared Astronomy (NCOA) be domain research revolution to come. postponed until at least 1 October 2019 to allow more preparation time. Consequently, NOAO lives on. For our organization, under any name, The discovery and characterization of exoplanets and exoplanet systems FY19 promises to be an exciting year in the areas of wide-field surveys, will take a giant step forward as NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Sat- time-domain science, and exoplanet characterization as well as ad- ellite (TESS) mission hits full stride. Several facilities affiliated with NOAO vancing the concept for a bi-hemispheric system of extremely large tele- will provide critical support. The fraction of close stellar binary pairs vs. scopes (ELTs). It’s also going to be another exciting year for our educa- actual exoplanets will be constrained by speckle-imaging observations tion and public outreach team, with the July 2019 total solar eclipse in at the SOAR 4.1m and WIYN 3.5m Observatories in Chile and Arizona, re- Chile as a highlight. spectively. Exoplanet masses will be measured via doppler spectroscopy obtained using the CHIRON spectrometer at the SMARTS 1.5m telescope The wide-field survey science theme within NOAO will make sev- in Chile and the NEID spectrograph at the WIYN 3.5m telescope in Arizo- eral major advances. At the KPNO Mayall telescope, the na. Much of this activity is supported by the NASA-NSF Exoplanet DOE-sponsored Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Observational Research (NN-EXPLORE) program. (DESI) Stage 4 dark energy survey will commence. Pig- gybacking on the main redshift survey will be major As discussed in more detail later in this newsletter, the sub-surveys of approximately 10 million bright gal- US Extremely Large Telescope Program is under devel- axies within z ~ 0.2 and approximately 10 million opment jointly by NOAO, the Thirty Meter Telescope Galactic stars. Meanwhile, at the CTIO Blanco tele- International Observatory (TIO), and the Giant Ma- scope, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) will finish its gellan Telescope Organization (GMTO). Our mutual 5.5-year run, as will the DECam-enabled subset of goal is to strengthen scientific leadership by the US the Legacy Survey. With those major surveys com- community-at-large through access to extremely large pleted, a new set of major community-driven imag- telescopes in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. ing surveys will begin. The NOAO Data Lab will contin- This two-hemisphere model will provide the US science ue to support exploration and analysis of all these major community with greater and more diverse research opportu- surveys with additional capabilities. While enabling “science nities than can be achieved with a single telescope, and hence more now,” these surveys and tool developments are pathfinders for LSST opportunities for leadership. community science support in FY22 and beyond. Later in this issue, you will read about preparations for the July 2019 total Major advances will also be made in the time-domain research infra- solar eclipse in Chile, where CTIO is in the zone of totality. Keep your fin- structure arena. The Arizona-NOAO Temporal Analysis and Response gers crossed for clear skies! NOAO is also deeply involved on the global to Events System (ANTARES) will process the public alert stream pro- level with the IAU Einstein Schools Programme and dark skies educa- duced by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and publish a variety of tion as well as outreach to primary and secondary school students at value-added information while allowing scientists to find transients of the local levels in Arizona and Chile. These activities are all outstanding interest in the stream. Access will be provided to telescopes operated demonstrations of how focusing expertise can have high impact despite by NOAO, the Gemini Observatory, and the Las Cumbres Observatory limited resources. (LCO) for ZTF follow-up. We also anticipate providing follow-up support to characterize the sources of gravitational wave events detected by Before ending, two notes about NOAO senior management. First, after LIGO/Virgo. In collaboration with Gemini and LCO, NOAO will continue 10 years as NOAO Deputy Director, Robert (Bob) Blum has been appoint- development of the Astronomical Event Observation Network (AEON), ed Acting LSST Director for Operations. Not only did Bob manage much which will integrate brokering, scheduling, and data acquisition and of the day-to-day operation of NOAO, he also played critical strategic reduction and will enable coordination among multiple groups to leadership roles in its ongoing evolution. NOAO’s loss is LSST’s great optimize resource use. We look towards a key preliminary AEON test gain!
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