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National Optical Astronomy Observatory Tucson, Arizona 85726-6732 This report summarizes scientific, operational, and have been carried out at the 4-m Blanco telescope on Cerro programmatic activities at the National Optical Astronomy Tololo with OSIRIS coupled with the f/14 tip/tilt system, Observatory ͑NOAO͒ and its divisions for the period 1 which provides good images ͑and good throughput͒ in the October 1999 to 30 September 2000. near-IR. A second, new spot was seen for the first time in the data obtained in December 1999 in ϳ0.35 arcsec FWHM images, with about the same brightness as the first hotspot in early-mid 1997. This discovery was confirmed soon after- 1 INTRODUCTION wards by observations made with HST. The National Optical Astronomy Observatory comprises Some models that have been suggested for the hotspots the telescope facilities and associated user services of Cerro make them a singular event, the product of jets of ejecta Tololo Inter-American Observatory ͑CTIO͒ in northern acting as ‘‘bullets.’’ The long delay between the appearance Chile, Kitt Peak National Observatory ͑KPNO͒ in Tucson, of the first spot and any further strong shock feature has been Arizona, and the US Gemini Program ͑USGP͒. In FY 1999, somewhat puzzling. The CTIO observations will allow one NOAO established the Planning and Development Office to determine whether the shock acceleration and turbulence ͑PDO͒, which is a strategic and administrative unit charged in the first and second hotspots are consistent; agreement will with studying, coordinating, and in some cases, spearheading likely eliminate several of the more speculative models. the initiatives recommended for ground-based astronomy by These data will provide useful baseline observations, but in the AASC Decadal Survey Committee. Information on all likelihood will also document the first new development NOAO programs and services, including telescope sched- for many years in the formation of SN Remnant 1987A. ules, instrument availability, and instructions on how to ap- This development provides a unique opportunity for ob- ply for telescope time, is available on the World Wide Web serving the earliest stages of remnant formation. With the at http://www.noao.edu/. discovery and observation of this new hotspot, Bouchet and NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for his collaborators are able to document how non-uniform the Research in Astronomy, Inc. ͑AURA͒, a non-profit corpora- evolution will be, and whether the compositional and kine- tion that manages world-class astronomical observatories matic non-uniformities evident in many older remnants can through its operating centers. ͑More information on AURA be seen even at such early stages on such small scales. and its organizational structure can be found at http:// www.aura-astronomy.org/.͒ NOAO is one of three AURA 2.1.2 Extra-solar Planets: The PLANET Collaboration at operating centers and is managed under a cooperative agree- CTIO ment with the National Science Foundation ͑NSF͒. Detecting extra-solar planets has become big business in astronomy; in the coming years, 10-m class ground-based 2 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH and space-based telescopes will be brought to bear on this In FY 2000, NOAO awarded observing time to approxi- question. So, it is very interesting to note a program that is mately 1,100 astronomers and their graduate students; the being carried out on 1-m telescopes in Chile ͑CTIO͒, South vast majority of PI’s who received telescope time ͑85%͒ Africa, Australia, and Tasmania. This program, the PLANET were US astronomers. Over 300 studies using data derived collaboration, might be thought of as ‘‘big science on the from research at NOAO telescopes have been published over cheap.’’ The telescopes are used in round-the-clock the past 12 months. Samples of recent science conducted at follow-up monitoring of microlensing events reported by NOAO facilities are presented below. other collaborations aimed at finding the main events ͑OGLE, EROS, and MACHO͒. 2.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory CTIO In particular, the intensive monitoring is designed to find „ … the telltale signature of Jupiter-sized ͑or greater͒ planets that 2.1.1 Hot Spots in SN 1987A’s Ring should appear as a sharp spike or perturbation on the normal Various models have anticipated that beginning anywhere microlensing light curve. The near-global coverage of micro- from about 1995 to 2010, the strong shock from SN 1987A’s lensing events toward the Galactic bulge is necessary since fast-moving ejecta would strike its slowly expanding circum- the time scale for the planetary perturbations can be as short stellar nebula. However, until last December, the only sign as a few hours. In principle, less massive planets could also of a strong shock ͑beyond the weaker, diffuse radio, UV, X, be seen in certain cases; the point of PLANET is that it is and optical emission interior to the inner circumstellar ring͒ sensitive enough to put constraints on the frequency of had been in the form of a ‘‘hotspot’’ seen as an unresolved Jovian-like planets. Indeed, PLANET has begun to release H-␣ source in WFPC2 images of the inner ring taken in its initial results and finds that after following up ϳ100 lens- 1997. ing events toward the Galactic bulge and finding no planet P. Bouchet and S. Heathcote ͑CTIO͒, together with A. detections, less than one-third of the external systems can Crotts and collaborators ͑Columbia University͒, have been have Jupiter-mass planets between 1.5 and 3 AU ͑if the monitoring the interaction between the ring and ejecta in He I lenses are 1 M᭪). A similar constraint applies for planets 1083 nm in order to provide early information on the forma- three times the mass of Jupiter at 1–4 AU. tion of new interaction regions along the ring. Observations PLANET has operated as part of the YALO ͑Yale, 350 ANNUAL REPORT

AURA, Lisbon, Ohio State͒ consortium at CTIO for about ity. The new technique developed at WIYN provides a key three years ͑through Ohio State͒. YALO is a model for out- diagnostic in unraveling the puzzle of the ␭ Ori association. side private support and operation of small telescopes at the It will also provide some constraints on the relationship be- National Observatory. The AURA ͑CTIO͒ share is a modest tween environment and the probability that planetary sys- ten percent, which derives from operational support. YALO tems form. runs the Yale 1-m telescope in a queue mode offering its OSU, Yale, and Lisbon scientists, and the CTIO user com- 2.2.2 Large-Scale Structure at Early Cosmic Time ͑ munity the ability to make scheduled and target-of- The way in which the density contrast of superclusters, ͒ opportunity observations on a regular basis for a wide range filaments, and voids grows with cosmic time depends sensi- of science goals. The collaboration uses the dual visual, in- tively on the nature of gravitating dark matter and the frared channel imager ANDICAM provided by Ohio State. amount of ‘‘cosmological constant’’ energy density in the Universe. Numerical simulations have produced vivid and quantitatively distinguishable models, amenable to observa- 2.2 Kitt Peak National Observatory KPNO „ … tional verification. To date, the detailed mapping of large- 2.2.1 Stars with Less Flamboyant Youth scale structure has been confined to limited volumes of the Pre-Main-Sequence stars are often identified through the nearby universe. Detection of rare, easily measured objects is signatures of strong activity associated with a disk of accret- required for even a preliminary assessment of large-scale ing gas. Two signatures are hydrogen line emission and structure at early times. ͑ ͒ strong X-ray flux. The absence of all but two such stars in W. Keel U. Alabama , and S.H. Cohen, R.A. Windhorst, ͑ ͒ the vicinity of the young OB association near the O giant star and I. Waddington Arizona State U. describe in the Astro- ␭ Orionis had led to the conclusion that the ratio of massive nomical Journal their use of wide-field imaging on the Kitt to low-mass stars was much higher in that region than in Peak Mayall 4-meter telescope to make an intriguing sam- ϭ general. That ratio is important in understanding whether the pling of large-scale structure at z 2.4. They centered their winds and radiation from massive stars can disrupt the parent 14-arcminute images on the radio galaxy 53W002, which molecular cloud prior to the formation of lower mass objects. had been found by Hubble Space Telescope observations to ϭ Christopher Dolan and Robert Mathieu ͑U. Wisconsin͒ be part of a rich grouping at z 2.39. Their technique in- report in the Astronomical Journal on a new approach to volved imaging in a narrow-band filter centered on the ex- ␣ taking the young star census near ␭ Ori. They used the Hydra pected wavelength of redshifted hydrogen Lyman emis- multi-fiber spectrograph on the WIYN telescope to survey sion, and comparing the intensity of objects to their color-selected candidate pre-main-sequence stars for the detections in a broad-band continuum B filter. Within a pro- presence of lithium. Lithium is an indicator of extreme stel- jected area of 3.2 megaparsecs, they found 14 candidate Ly- ␣ lar youth, because it is destroyed by fusion reactions at a man emitters, of which 6 were spectroscopically confirmed ϭ Ϯ temperature much lower than that for hydrogen fusion, and is to be active nuclei with z 2.390 0.008. convected downward to destruction during the pre-main- From other images of nearby fields, the excess of these sequence phase. Their survey uncovered 70 new lower mass objects over the ‘‘background’’ density implies a real asso- pre-main-sequence stars, none of which show hydrogen ciation of emitters at greater than the 95% confidence level. emission or strong X-ray flux. This unbiased survey requir- The group of objects is much more extended than can be fit ing wide-field ground-based observations clearly demon- by a dynamically relaxed distribution of objects. In fact, the strates that the ratio of high-mass to low-mass stars in this velocity spread is comparable to the differential in the region is consistent with the ‘‘normal’’ value. Hubble flow across 3 Mpc, suggesting that the group may How could such an overwhelming fraction of pre-main- just be gravitationally decoupling from the expansion. From sequence stars lack a disk signature? The history of star for- analysis of the total imaging area, the authors concluded that mation of the association offers some clues. At present, the groupings as rich as that around 53W002 cover less than 4% parent molecular cloud does not contain enough material to of the sky in that redshift range. The surface density contrast bind the cluster of stars gravitationally, but the motions of of the more luminous objects discovered in the wider field the stars indicate that they were bound until about 1 million surveying from the ground shows a much larger point-to- years ago. The ages of the stars depend on comparison with point variation than that of the fainter objects mapped by the theoretical models. One model argues that the massive and WFPC2 on HST. This investigation stands as a harbinger of smaller stars were formed at the same time some 6 million the explosion of activity anticipated in mapping the birth and years ago, and all star formation ceased about 1 million years growth of the amplitude of large-scale structure in the early ago when the cloud was disrupted, presumably by a super- universe. nova explosion. Another model suggests that the supernova explosion triggered a wave of star formation by compressing 3 USER SUPPORT AND TELESCOPE the parent cloud. In either case, the low-mass pre-main- IMPROVEMENTS sequence stars were in close proximity to the massive, very 3.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory CTIO luminous stars up to 1 million years ago. The intense radia- „ … tion and winds from the massive stars did not disrupt the CTIO continued work to complete a suite of high- whole cloud, but did evaporate the accretion disks around the performance, wide-field instruments for the Blanco tele- smaller stars, obliterating the traditional signatures of activ- scope. The three instruments commissioned in FY 1999, NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY 351

Hydra, Mosaic, and OSIRIS, entered routine operation, while imager is the commissioning instrument for SOAR. The Hy- good progress was made with the wide-field IR imager ISPI. dra IFU consists of an Integral Field Unit that can be swung Two other instrument efforts, an optical imager for SOAR into the Blanco f/8 beam and a fiber feed to the Hydra bench and an IFU feed to the Hydra spectrograph, continued during spectrograph, which can be configured in a variety of ways. FY 2000. This instrument is due for engineering tests early in FY 2001. Leach II array controllers will be used with the new 3.1.1 Blanco 4-m Telescope generation of CTIO optical and infrared instruments on both A multi-year campaign to improve the thermal environ- the Blanco and SOAR telescopes, operating in a Linux- ment of the 4-m telescope entered its final phase with the LabVIEW environment. Software and hardware integration installation of a new cover for the primary mirror. When will take place at the end of FY 2000. open, this cover provides almost no restriction to wind flow across the primary. The thermal control system upgrade was 3.1.3 Existing Small, General-User Telescopes on Cerro completed, and fine-tuning continues. The system can suc- Tololo cessfully keep the primary mirror close to ambient ͑Ϫ2° C, Work on these telescopes ͑1.5-m, 0.9-m, YALO 1.0-m, ϩ0.5° C͒, except when large changes in ambient tempera- 0.6/0.9-m Curtis Schmidt͒ has been restricted to maintenance tures occur; these in any case often occur during periods of and minor improvements. The YALO consortium ͑Yale U., cloudy weather. Real-time display of the thermal data from NOAO, U. Lisbon, Ohio State U.͒ has had initial discussions many sensors, plus meteorological and site-seeing data, are about the desirability of moving ANDICAM, a dual optical available in graphical format on the WWW. Work to cover and IR imager, from the 1.0-m to the 1.5-m when the present the 4-m dome with stick-on aluminum foil has commenced. agreement expires at the end of 2001. Support for the smaller The foil provides excellent nighttime and daytime perfor- telescopes has to be ramped down even further so that CTIO mance, avoiding both over-cooling the dome at night and can provide sufficient manpower to operate SOAR; thus, the excessive heating during the day. Tests with Differential Im- Schmidt telescope will last be available for general users in age Motion Monitors ͑DIMMs͒ inside and outside the dome Semester A 2001. show that internal seeing effects are now very small. The Mosaic II Imager continues to be the most popular 3.1.4 Work in Chile to Control Light Pollution instrument on the Blanco telescope. The system has been The telescopes at AURA’s observatory in Chile ͑Gemini reading out the eight CCDs through one amplifier per CCD South, CTIO, and SOAR͒ are within sight of a rapidly de- until recently, when the conversion to reading out the full 16 veloping conurbation of about a quarter of a million people. amplifiers was completed. This entailed swapping out one KPNO faced this problem many years ago with the develop- CCD for a spare when it was discovered that an amplifier ment of Tucson and Phoenix. Thanks largely to the efforts of was faulty. The same type of failure has prevented the imple- the late Arthur A. Hoag, and of David Crawford and the mentation of 16-channel readout on Mosaic I at KPNO; other International Dark-Sky Association ͑http://www.darksky.org͒, ϫ SITe 2K 4K CCDs in our possession have also failed in the the level of light pollution in the skies over Kitt Peak has same way. These CCD problems have delayed the installa- been contained close to the levels present several decades ϫ tion of a SITe 2K 4K CCD and new camera for Hydra by ago. This success with a fair-sized, modern city is, unfortu- several months. We have purchased one of the last available nately, a unique achievement. CCDs of this type and hope to commission the upgraded The challenge at Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pacho´n to main- Hydra camera early in FY 2001. tain their even darker skies is obviously enormous. ͑It is ͑ ͒ We continue to offer the Ohio State University IR interesting that city lights can now also be seen from Cerro ͑ ͒ Imager-Spectrometer OSIRIS . Replacement of the poorly Paranal and Las Campanas, so control is an imperative for behaving 1K HgCdTe array by Rockwell has restored the international astronomy.͒ Arthur A. Hoag and Victor M. performance to an optimal level. The instrument uses the Blanco led the way in the late ’60s, ensuring that photo- f/14 tip/tilt secondary, which has performed reliably through- graphs were taken at night of La Serena and the surrounding out the fiscal year and routinely delivers images of 0.3 to 0.4 region. Both men have a demonstrated record of far-sighted arcsec FWHM. Optimization efforts, mostly in the software, vision in several areas, but it is probable that neither imag- continue. ined how fast Chile ͑and La Serena͒ would grow in the late ’80s and early ’90s. By late 1993, it was obvious that serious 3.1.2 Major Instrumentation Efforts action was necessary. The immediate challenge was finding Three projects started in FY 1999 all advanced well in FY how and where to begin, given the large number of organi- 2000. The wide-field IR Imager for the Blanco ͑ISPI͒ suf- zations in Chile that might have a role to play, coupled with fered a delay of a few months due to the transfer to Gemini a clear lack of interest in municipal circles at that time. CTIO of both engineers working on the project. Their replacements scientists Mark Phillips and later Rene´ Me´ndez were asked are now making good progress, with instrument delivery to take a leading role on behalf of CTIO in the work within scheduled for early FY 2002. Delivery of the Rockwell 2K Chile to control light pollution. array is still likely to be the pacing item. The SOAR optical The late Claudio Anguita helped organize a visit to Cerro imager has made steady progress. All optics for the focal Tololo by Edgardo Boeninger, a key minister in the ͑outgo- reducer and ADC have been fabricated successfully, and de- ing͒ government team of the then President Aylwin. The tailed design for the whole instrument is 80% complete. This visit took place in December 1993. Sr. Boeninger advised 352 ANNUAL REPORT

CTIO to work with the newly formed ‘‘Comisio´n Nacional a strong focus on education and tourism ͑see http:// del Medio Ambiente,’’ a rough equivalent of the US Envi- www.angelfire.com/wy/obsermamalluca/principal. html͒. ronmental Protection Agency or the UK’s Environment A more recent effort in education and outreach involves Agency. All of this was in the context of the newly emerging using a portable STARLAB planetarium donated by Gemini framework legislation for the environment, which was pro- ͑see http://www.angelfire.com/ri2/planetarioaura͒. CTIO, mulgated shortly after the visit. Following this advice by the University of La Serena, and a recently formed local proceeding immediately to try to work at the national level schools network named REDLASER ͑http:// would be a departure from the very successful ground- www.angelfire.com/ok3/plaura͒, have completed a teacher upwards, municipal-level approach followed in the US by training program with 70 local teachers, who in turn reach Dave Crawford and the IDA. Six years later, the outgoing out to about 9,000 school children. Astronomy ͑and light President Frei of Chile signed the Lighting Guideline pollution control͒ is now in the curriculum of provincial ͑‘‘Norma lumı´nica’’͒ into law. Chile thus became the schools. CTIO and Gemini have provided initial consultation first country in the world to enact light-control legislation and follow-up logistics support for this program alongside within the framework of national environmental law the newly formed astronomy group at the University of La ͑see http://www.conama.cl/version_ingles/envi_topics/ Serena. The next target is to work with the Chilean Ministry light_contamination.htm͒. of Education to get astronomy and light pollution into the In the area of enforcement, CTIO and Gemini have joined curriculum at the national level. forces with CONAMA, ESO, and the Las Campanas Obser- vatory to set up a Chilean national office for the protection of Chile’s skies in La Serena ͑the launch of the OPCC Web site 3.2 Kitt Peak National Observatory KPNO is imminent at http://www.opcc.cl͒. The front page of the „ … September issue of the newsletter of the International Dark- KPNO continued its aggressive efforts on improving de- Sky Association will carry an article about this new office, livered image quality at both the Mayall and WIYN tele- which was inaugurated recently by the National Director of scopes. The 4-meter telescope now delivers sub-arcsecond ͑ CONAMA, Adriana Hoffmann see also http:// images more than half the time, while WIYN delivers im- ͒ www.ctio.noao.edu/light_pollution/news.html . ages 0.6Љ or better 20% of the time. Improvements in reli- The bottom line is that the skies over Tololo and Pacho´n ability, mostly in software, have reduced WIYN’s failure- are still so dark that a movie showing the setting zodiacal induced downtime to ϳ2%. In the area of instrumentation, ͑ light has been made recently at CTIO see also http:// the four-color near-IR imager SQIID was re-commissioned ͒ www.ctio.noao.edu/site/pachon_sky . CTIO, Gemini, and and used for scientific observations, the 4K square Mini- SOAR intend to keep them that way. This effort will be Mosaic imager was commissioned at WIYN, while the CCD enhanced by the election of Malcolm Smith, the Director of Mosaic imager and Phoenix high-resolution spectrograph re- CTIO and Head of AURA’s Observatory in Chile, to the mained in high demand. Patient effort in the public arena positions of Chairman of the International Astronomical paid off with Pima County’s adoption of a stringent update Union’s Working Group on Light Pollution and Vice- to the light pollution control ordinance. President of IAU Commission 50, ‘‘Protection of Existing and Potential Astronomical Sites.’’ 3.2.1 Image Quality Improvements

3.1.5 Educational and Public Outreach A key aspect of improving delivered image quality is con- trolling the thermal environment of the telescope and its In the efforts to control light pollution, work at the grass- components. Major improvements to the Mayall 4-m began a roots level was also essential. Anyone who has worked with decade ago with the installation of dome fans and the cooling environmental issues knows that education and enforcement of the horseshoe bearing oil. More recent changes were com- are among the greatest challenges. The municipal planners pleted near the beginning of the fiscal year, and included a from the town of Vicun˜a ͑pop. ϳ23,000 and the town closest vigorous air extraction system for the volume near the pri- to Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pacho´n͒ provided CTIO with a mary mirror; the air flow direction can be reversed to force much-needed breakthrough. Eduardo Valenzuela ͑an ama- chilled air onto the mirror surface. A large capacity chiller teur astronomer͒ was leading an effort to change lighting in was installed in the area with the pedestal that used to hold the town and contacted Cerro Tololo to see if CTIO was the #5 coude´ flat. It uses a supply line from the chilled glycol interested in working with the municipality on this. The NSF that cools the dome floor. As noted last year, the former iris approved the donation to the municipality, by Cerro Tololo, mirror cover had been replaced by one with fewer segments of a Meade LX200 12-inch telescope, a PC, and a small that open with large gaps in between. The combination of air commercial CCD camera. The municipality won an arts extraction and less restricted air flow over the primary has grant to construct a building inspired by indigenous cultural demonstrably lessened the problems of stagnant air, turbu- design. CTIO donated a small dome that had not been used lence, and trapped air bubbles that used to be routinely vis- for over a decade. The municipality completed Phase 1 by ible in real-time pupil images. Further directing of the air- building a road and installing utilities. The self-sufficient flow will be accomplished with a newly installed set of Mamalluca Observatory, under its director Eduardo Valen- exhaust fans in the primary cell below the mirror. The com- zuela, is now the leading amateur observatory in Chile, with bination of extraction through the declination bearing and NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY 353 beneath the cell seems to be adequate, and the design of a time. That fraction is now at 20%. The delivered image qual- custom plenum for further shaping of the flow will not be ity is 0.5Љ or better 10% of the time. The median is around necessary. 0.8Љ. The median delivered by the site is ϳ0.66Љ, so the Efforts over the last three years have focused on the ther- telescope performance continues to approach the site- mal and mechanical control of the 4-m primary mirror. The delivered seeing. 4-m Active Primary Support system ͑4MAPS͒ was installed Scientific productivity also depends strongly on reliabil- during summer shutdown 1998. After a year of commission- ity. With the departure of WIYN’s dedicated software engi- ing, matching adequate and robust computing power to the neer, the Kitt Peak mountain programming group collec- control task, and replacing some defective pneumatic seals, tively shouldered the load of WIYN software support. Each the system works reliably and as intended. Wavefront maps staff member tackled a set of specific tasks. The result was a are constructed for each telescope focus to guide the open- dramatic improvement in robustness and reliability of WIYN loop correction through the forces applied to each large operations. The average of time lost to technical problems pneumatic support cylinder. dropped to 2.1%, an improvement of a factor of two. Obser- During summer shutdown 2000, the entire focus and tilt vational overhead is tracked separately and currently aver- mechanism on the f/8 secondary was replaced with a system ages 3.7%. After five years of official operations, we can of individually addressable stepper motors and high- now firmly state that the WIYN Observatory has achieved precision encoders. These will lead to implementation of a mature and efficient operational status. tilt correction with telescope position to compensate for the A major improvement in image quality is the design goal minor decollimation that induces measurable coma. The of the WIYN Tip/Tilt imager. The project passed its Prelimi- coming year will see the installation of a wavefront camera nary Design Review in March 1999, with a strong endorse- at the RC focus addressable by the pick-off mirror. The cam- ment from the external review committee and the WIYN era will permit the determination of zero-point offsets for the Science Advisory Committee. The rapid steering mirror will lookup tables on a nightly basis while a spectrograph or address a 4-arcminute field of view, with correction band- other major instrument is installed. That project was deferred widths of up to 25 Hz. The system will have a detector scale Љ for a year to complete the f/8 secondary project and the final of 0.12 /pixel and will be optimized for V through I bands. It commissioning of 4MAPS. will be packaged within the existing instrument adapter, al- The progress to date is reflected in the image quality sta- lowing rapid switching between the conventional imager and tistics for the last three and a half years. The median deliv- the tip/tilt module. The expectation is that images of 0.33 ered image dropped from the typical 1.1Љ to 0.98Љ in the arcsecond FWHM will be achieved, with up to a 50% in- semester ending in January 2000. More interestingly, the crease in Strehl ratio in some bands. The instrument is now in fabrication phase. Difficulties with vendor production of best quartile moved from a typical 0.9Љ to 0.77Љ, and the worst quartile from 1.4Љ to 1.22Љ without the very long tail to challenging optical assemblies and the loss of key engineer- ing personnel have caused the planned schedule to slip about values Ͼ2Љ. Images taken in August during recommissioning after summer shutdown showed an FWHM of 0.45Љ at prime six months relative to the expectations in last year’s report. focus. The instrument will be installed during summer shutdown in The WIYN telescope also received considerable attention 2001 and commissioned during the following semester. in the area of delivered image quality and performance reli- The efforts of Chuck Claver, Charles Corson, Phil Mas- ability. High-frequency oscillations of the telescope mount sey, and the strong technical support are paying off, with were diminished by retuning the filtering of the drive servo every major telescope delivering subarcsecond images rou- tinely. system. Subtle discontinuities in the feedback of environ- mental quantities into the mirror support systems were elimi- nated, which in turn eliminated small position jumps. The 3.2.2 KPNO Instrumentation primary mirror support system was also upgraded for ther- The CCD Mosaic imager is heavily scheduled for science mal control feedback and better engineering data stream for with its thinned, science-grade devices. Mosaic is scheduled debugging. A much faster wavefront camera system was in- for 125 nights in Semester 2000B. The power of this instru- stalled and commissioned. The major work was re- ment illustrates the value of the wide-field capabilities of aluminizing the primary and re-calibrating all the mirror load both the Mayall and CTIO Blanco telescopes. A number of cells during summer shutdown. In addition, the tertiary air- the major survey programs supported by NOAO, including bag support was installed, which eliminates significant trefoil the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey and the Gravitational in the final delivered image, much of which was being com- Weak Lensing Survey, rely heavily on the Mosaic cameras in pensated by an induced distortion of the primary by the ac- both hemispheres. tive support system. The amplitude of higher order uncom- The Phoenix spectrograph was used intensively for high- pensated aberrations should now be reduced, and more resolution near-IR work during the first observing semester importantly, imaging performance at the Cassegrain signifi- of 2000. It was removed from service during the second half cantly improved by operating the primary in a more nominal of the year for modification for shared use on Gemini South configuration. and the SOAR telescope. Because Gemini’s need date was The result has been a steady gain in the fraction of time delayed, Phoenix will be reborn on the Kitt Peak 4-m and that the best image quality is recorded. In 1995, images with 2.1-m telescopes for most of Semester 2001A, before its 0.6Љ or better image quality were produced only 3% of the shipment to the South mid-year. 354 ANNUAL REPORT

The upgraded SQIID, the Simultaneous Quad Infrared Zoning officials of the city and county, as well as the build- Imaging Device, was successfully commissioned and used ing inspectors, County and City Parks officials, and the local for scientific observing in May. Through fixed dichroic beam lighting engineering community. The intent is continual vigi- splitters and filters, the instrument records the image of a lance and positive community reaction to maintenance of single field simultaneously in four bands, J,H,K, and LЈ. access to the dark desert sky. NOAO’s cosponsorship of the ALADDIN development project for 1024ϫ1024 InSb arrays has led to a number of 3.3 US Gemini Program USGP partially working devices with excellent single quadrants. „ … Four such devices are deployed in SQIID. The field of view The Gemini North telescope began science operations in is almost 6 arcminutes on a side on the 2.1-m and gives finer June 2000. The US Gemini Program ͑USGP͒ has twelve sci- sampling over 3 arcminutes on the 4-meter. To handle the entific staff members and four technical or administrative equivalent of a 4-quadrant device, the knowledge gained staff assigned to support US community access on these from developing controllers for Gemini was applied to a state-of-the-art 8-m telescopes ͑see http://www.noao.edu/ KPNO-based data system. SQIID is now the main source of usgp/noaosupport.html͒. Both engineering run and Demon- near-IR imaging data for the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Sur- stration Science programs have involved and will continue to vey, scheduled on the 2.1-m for 41 nights in the current se- engage USGP/NOAO scientific staff. mester for that program alone. For this QuickStart set of shared-risk and early science WIYN imaging received a major upgrade with the com- use on Gemini North, 78 proposals were submitted from the missioning of the 4Kϫ4K Mini-Mosaic CCD imager. Two US community ͑approximately 6:1 oversubscription ratio͒ of the SITe CCDs from the large lot used for populating the and processed via the normal NOAO TAC system. This pro- Mosaic imagers were deployed butted side by side, to give a cess worked smoothly, given the still preliminary under- field of view of 9.5Ј with 0.14Љ sampling. With that scale, standing of the ͑visitor͒ instrument performance on Gemini the imager is poised to take advantage of the very best con- North. Both visitor instruments are supplied by US institu- ditions delivered by the telescope without compromising the tions ͑U. Hawaii supplies Hokupa’a ϩ QUIRC, a 1–2.5 mi- sampling. cron AO imager; U. Florida supplies OSCIR, a mid-IR im- ager and spectrometer͒. The preparation of proposals was aided by information on the NOAO and Gemini Web pages, 3.2.3 Light Pollution Control and by interactions between investigators and the USGP sup- Phil Massey and Craig Foltz measured the sky brightness port scientists. above Kitt Peak and Mt. Hopkins spectrophotometrically, as Gemini has issued a call for the 2001A semester with published in the PASP in April. They found that the current Gemini North. Instruments available include the facility zenith sky brightness for the two sites is identical, with near-IR imager and spectrograph ͑NIRI͒, the U. Hawaii AO Bϭ22.63 and Vϭ21.45 mag/sq. arcsec. The two sites are system ͑Hokupa’a and QUIRC͒, and the U. Florida mid-IR therefore as dark now as Palomar Observatory was in the imager and spectrograph ͑OSCIR͒. Proposals are due 30 early 1970s. The zenith sky over Kitt Peak brightened by September via the standard NOAO proposal submission pro- ϳ0.1–0.2 mag/sq. arcsec in ten years, while the population cess. Approximately 50% of the time during semester 2001A in Pima County grew by 30%. At zenith distances of 60 is expected to be available for science observations, with the degrees, away from direct view of Tucson, the growth in sky rest focused on engineering the telescope system and com- brightness was comparable to the scaling with population missioning additional instruments. The USGP took part in growth. Most of the accessible sky has therefore brightened the Readiness Review for this call at a meeting in mid- less rapidly than the fractional increase in population, a fact August. For details, see http://www.noao.edu/gateway/ the authors attribute to public awareness and a serious out- gemini/. door lighting code. The US participated in the Gemini Science Committee The KPNO Director has served as a member of the Pima meetings in October 1999 ͑Seattle͒ and June 2000 ͑Hilo͒. County Outdoor Lighting Code subcommittee. This group Approximately two weeks before these meetings, the US consists of astronomers, lighting engineers, and members of Gemini Science Advisory Committee discussed topics from the public. We devised a revision to the outdoor lighting the viewpoint of our community, and heard presentations code that imposes lighting caps in units of lumens per acre from the Gemini staff on the instrument program and multi- for all new development and major redevelopment in the conjugate adaptive optics. county. The Code imposes zones of protection around the During this year, Robert Schommer ͑CTIO͒ assumed the major observatories, with stringent limits on the amount of position of US Gemini Project Scientist, following Todd outdoor lighting allowed. Full cutoff fixtures are required, Boroson who served six years in that role. Caty Pilachowski mercury vapor lighting is outlawed, and allowances are became the Deputy Project Scientist in Tucson, and Taft Ar- given for the use of low-pressure sodium bulbs. Despite vig- mandroff became the Gemini instrument program manager orous opposition from national gas station chains and conve- for the US. nience stores, the County Board of Supervisors passed the revised Code in August. The City of Tucson and other local 3.4 Observing Time on the HET and MMT municipalities will now take up consideration of the same code, to assure uniform compliance around the region. Kitt In return for NSF funding of new instrumentation, the Peak management continues to work with the Planning and Hobby-Eberly telescope and the MMT have each agreed to NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY 355 make 27 nights available per year for six years to the com- community; and 3͒ it is important that a large number of munity, with the observing time to be allocated through users gain direct experience with Gemini capabilities and NOAO. We have solicited and reviewed proposals for both how to exploit them as quickly as possible once science op- telescopes, and the proposals will be scheduled just as soon erations begin. as each telescope is adequately commissioned. NOAO will provide some of the support for users of these telescopes. In 3.6 Survey Programs the case of the HET, which will be queue scheduled, NOAO will receive the Phase 2 observing proposals and review FY 2000 marked the second year of NOAO’s Survey Pro- them for accuracy and completeness before they are for- gram. Initiated in response to a recommendation from an warded to the HET for execution. We will then receive the NOAO community-wide workshop Supporting Capabilities data and distribute it to the community. In this way, the for Large Telescopes, the program continued to be highly NOAO community will look like a single experienced user oversubscribed in its second year. Survey proposals differ to the HET staff. from standard proposals in requiring a commitment of sub- NOAO has worked closely with ACCORD ͑the AURA stantial amounts of telescope time over a period of several Coordinating Council of Observatory Directors͒ to devise an semesters to deliver uniform, coherent data sets to the com- extension of this program that would include observing time munity. Proposers must submit complete management plans at other independent observatories and would be responsive for all aspects of the project, and common survey-related to the recommendations of the AASC ͑see the discussion of issues are discussed in an annual meeting with NOAO sup- the Telescope System Instrumentation Program, or TSIP, port staff. later in this report͒. ACCORD has arrived at a proposal that The five surveys begun in the first year of the program is acceptable to both the independents and to NOAO, and is continued into the second year. These programs covered sub- drafting a document for submission to the NSF. ject areas including nearby star-forming regions, detection of mass concentrations through weak lensing, and mapping out 3.5 SIRTF, Chandra, and HST departures from the Hubble flow on very large scales. Two of these, the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey ͑PI’s: Jannuzi Consistent with the recommendation of the AASC that the and Dey, NOAO͒ and A Deep Imaging Survey of Nearby facilities available to the US community should be treated as Star-Forming Clouds ͑PI: Bally, Colorado͒ will be com- a single observing system, NOAO has made arrangements pleted at the end of this year. In addition to the ongoing that will allow observers to apply for space- and ground- surveys, five new surveys were selected ͑from 17 proposed͒ based observing time in a single proposal. Certain conditions to start this year. These are: ͒ must be met: 1 the space- and ground-based data must both ț ChaMPlane: Measuring the Faint X-ray Binary and be essential for answering the scientific questions addressed Stellar X-ray Content of the Galaxy, ͒ by the proposal, and 2 the data must be archived and made PI: J. Grindlay ͑Harvard-Smithsonian CfA͒ available to the community in a timely manner. The amount ț Toward a Complete Near-Infrared Spectroscopic and of NOAO time scheduled for such programs will not exceed Imaging Survey of Giant Molecular Clouds, 20 percent of the available total for Chandra and SIRTF PI: E. Lada ͑U. Florida͒ ͑ combined and will not exceed 5 percent for HST. The limit ț The Resolved Stellar Content of Local Group Galaxies for HST support is below what is currently assigned through Currently Forming Stars, ͒ the normal NOAO TAC process for this purpose. In the case PI: P. Massey ͑NOAO͒ of SIRTF, we are restricting support to the Legacy program, ț Star Formation in HI Selected Galaxies, which is designed to provide databases useful for planning PI: G. Meurer ͑Johns Hopkins U.͒ future SIRTF observations. Proposals to follow up Legacy ț Southern Standard Stars for the uЈgЈrЈiЈzЈ System, observations will have to be submitted in the normal way to PI: A. Smith ͑U. Michigan͒ the NOAO TAC. At the annual meeting on surveys, held in September, a The primary review of joint programs will be conducted number of areas were identified where a coordinated effort by SIRTF, Chandra, and HST TACs. NOAO will then re- will make the job easier for current and future survey teams. view and evaluate the programs recommended by those NOAO will coordinate the distribution of information on TACs to make sure they meet NOAO standards for alloca- data reduction and observing techniques so that all the sur- tion of observing time. vey teams are kept up to date. NOAO will also develop a Joint scheduling of NOAO telescopes with spacecraft en- Web site that will advertise and provide progress reports on sures that proposers can obtain the ground-based data needed the surveys that are underway and, ultimately, provide a uni- to support space observations whether or not they happen to form interface to all the survey data sets. be at an institution that owns a large telescope. This proce- dure will help to guarantee that anyone in the community can write fully competitive proposals. 4 NOAO AND GEMINI INSTRUMENTATION The Gemini telescopes were not included in this program The Instrument Projects Group ͑IPG͒ develops and pro- because: 1͒ we do not yet know what the Gemini telescope duces major instruments for the NOAO nighttime telescopes, performance will be; 2͒ the initial complement of Gemini including those at KPNO, CTIO, and Gemini. The NOAO instruments is better suited to follow-up than to the initial scientific staff conceives, directs, prioritizes, and evaluates surveying that will create broadly useful databases for the the instrumentation projects; the engineering managers are 356 ANNUAL REPORT responsible for meeting schedule, budget, and performance out speed. That system passed its acceptance review and was requirements. NOAO astronomers initiate new instrument delivered to Hawaii in FY 1998. An identical NOAO array projects in response to user requests, scientific staff interests, controller will be used in GNIRS. During FY 2000, NOAO advances in technology, and announcements of opportunity developed a speed upgrade for the array controller to read from the International Gemini Project. out and transfer to the Gemini DHS one full frame per sec- Managing the instrumentation resources efficiently and in ond. NOAO also supported the commissioning of the array a manner satisfactory to both Tucson and Cerro Tololo is controller. crucial to the success of our program. The Instrument Projects Advisory Committee ͑IPAC͒ provides scientific pri- 4.1.3 GMOSÕHROS CCDs oritization to the IPG. IPAC FY 2000 members were Taft NOAO is providing the integration of CCDs, CCD con- ͑ ͒ Armandroff Chair , Sam Barden, Bob Blum, Larry Daggert, trollers, and relevant software for Gemini’s GMOS and ͑ ͒ Dave De Young Secretary , Dick Joyce, Mike Merrill, Ron HROS optical spectrographs. The CCDs are from EEV in the Probst, Alistair Walker, and Sidney Wolff. IPAC meets with UK, and the controllers are SDSU-2. For GMOS I for the instrumentation engineering managers about once a Gemini North, the CCDs, controller, and related software month to review priorities, schedules, and budgets. They de- passed their acceptance tests and were delivered in Novem- velop the scientific content of the long-range plan, on the ber 1999. Also during FY 2000, the NOAO team tested basis of input from the users through the Users’ Committee CCDs for GMOS 2 for Gemini South and integrated these and personal contact, from the WIYN and SOAR partners, CCDs with the dewar and controller. Finally, consultations and from the Gemini advisory structure through the USGP. have occurred with the HROS team about the CCDs and Every instrument under development has an associated in- dewar for HROS. strument scientist from the NOAO scientific staff. We be- lieve that this arrangement is essential for successful 4.1.4 US Gemini Instrumentation Program development—each instrument must have an intellectual One component of the US Gemini Instrumentation Pro- champion to see that the project meets its scientific perfor- gram consists of instruments being built by NOAO for use mance goals. IPAC provides a venue where the interests of on Gemini. Four such projects ͑Gemini Near-IR Spec- each site are fairly represented. trograph, Gemini IR Array Controllers, GMOS/HROS During FY 2000, our ongoing projects advanced, as de- CCDs, and Phoenix͒ are described above. scribed below. The other class of US Gemini instruments are those being built at other US organizations under the direction of the 4.1 Gemini Instruments USGP. USGP runs the competitions in the US community, 4.1.1 Gemini Near-IR Spectrograph (GNIRS) lets the contracts, provides advice and liaison to the instru- ment teams, and carries out management oversight ͑includ- The major instrument under production is the Gemini ing quarterly reviews of each instrument’s progress via a site Near-IR Spectrograph ͑GNIRS͒. This project is the largest visit͒. instrument ever undertaken by NOAO. It will provide long- The Thermal Region Camera and Spectrograph ͑T-ReCS͒ slit capabilities with a range of dispersions through select- is one of the final instruments of the initial complement of able gratings, covering the wavelength region from 0.9 ␮m Gemini instruments. The supplier of this mid-infrared imager to 5.5 ␮m at two pixel scales by means of interchangeable and spectrograph for the Gemini South telescope is the Uni- cameras which feed a single 1024 square ALADDIN-type versity of Florida ͑Charles Telesco, PI͒. The majority of the InSb detector. The project team spent much of FY 2000 T-ReCS optics have been received and inspected, including completing the instrument’s detailed design. GNIRS held a the critical diamond-turned mirrors. At the end of FY 2000, Pre-Fabrication Review in May 2000. The review committee mechanical parts fabrication is nearly complete and mechani- examined the GNIRS team’s progress on mechanical design, cal assembly has begun. The last USGP quarterly review of mechanical analysis, thermal analysis, software design, and T-ReCS for FY 2000 took place on July 18. The T-ReCS prototyping efforts in the areas of cold motors, mechanism team plans acceptance testing on Gemini South in May 2001. drives, and lens mounts. The review committee recom- The first of the second-generation Gemini instruments is mended that the project proceed to detailed design and con- the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager ͑NICI͒. NICI is struction. The critical optics have been ordered, and approxi- funded by monies directed from the NASA Origins Program mately half of them have been delivered and accepted. As to NOAO via a proposal. NICI will provide a 1–5 micron FY 2000 drew to a close, fabrication was initiated for those infrared coronagraphic imaging capability on the Gemini sub-assemblies for which design is complete, notably South telescope. Mauna Kea Infrared ͑MKIR͒ was the suc- GNIRS’s optical benches. GNIRS delivery is planned for cessful competitive bidder for the NICI conceptual design July 2002. study and the only respondent to an RFP for building the instrument. A conceptual design review of MKIR’s concept 4.1.2 Gemini IR Array Controllers for NICI, followed by a procurement review of their pro- The first facility instrument for the Gemini North tele- posal, was conducted on 18 and 19 April 2000. Based on scope is the Near-InfraRed Imager ͑NIRI͒, developed at the positive feedback from the review committee, USGP and University of Hawaii. NOAO has produced for NIRI a pow- MKIR have negotiated a contract and statement of work for erful array controller that has very low noise and high read- NICI procurement. The project plan calls for NICI to be NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY 357 delivered to Gemini South in summer 2004. FLAMINGOS 2 up to R ϭ 70,000 in the wavelength range 1 to 5 microns. is a concept for a near-infrared multi-object imaging spec- NOAO and Gemini plan to make Phoenix available on the trograph for the Gemini South telescope, developed by R. Gemini South telescope at the inception of scientific use of Elston and his team at the University of Florida. The FLA- this telescope. Phoenix will be shared equally between MINGOS 2 concept, which builds on the heritage of the Gemini South and CTIO/SOAR. An agreement has been FLAMINGOS imaging spectrograph, provides 1–2.5 ␮m di- signed between NOAO/USGP and IGPO that specifies the rect imaging as well as multi-slit spectroscopy across a 3–4 modification of Phoenix for Gemini and how the instrument arcminute field of view. FLAMINGOS 2 was developed in will be supported and maintained. Work began in FY 2000 response to the ‘‘Gap Filler’’ opportunity for Gemini South, on designing these modifications. This work will be com- wherein the relatively rapid deployment of a near-infrared pleted in time to ship Phoenix to Gemini South in April spectroscopy and imaging capability was sought. A concep- 2001. The schedule calls for Phoenix to be available for sci- tual design review of FLAMINGOS 2 was held on 28 April entific use on Gemini South starting in July 2001. 2000. A parallel review was conducted for a competing in- strument, IRIS-2g ͑proposed by the Anglo-Australian Obser- 4.2.4 Next-Generation Optical Spectrograph (NGOS) ͒ vatory . The Gemini review committee judged FLAMIN- Long-term studies are currently underway to define a GOS 2 to be more suitable for Gemini’s needs and next-generation multi-object moderate-resolution spectro- aspirations. At the end of FY 2000, the international Gemini graph for the 4-m telescopes. The following science goals Project, USGP, and Florida are discussing how to move for- have been formulated: 1͒ wide field of view ͑diameter of 20 ward toward a contract and work scope for the construction to 40 arcmin͒ in order to complement the narrower fields of of FLAMINGOS 2. most 8-m telescope spectrographs; 2͒ multi-slit mask mode of operation; 3͒ typical resolving power of 5000; 4͒ instru- 4.2 NOAO Instruments ment to work within the window from 400 nm to 1.0 m with ͒ 4.2.1 SQIID Upgrade a CCD detector mosaic; 5 peak efficiency for telescope, spectrograph, gratings, and detector of greater than 40%. A high priority for the users, as expressed through the This last goal is made possible by advances in holographic Users’ Committee, is wide-field near-IR imaging. The first volume phase grating technology, and also coating technol- realization of that capability is the upgrade of SQIID, the ogy. Exploring conceptual optical designs has been the pri- ͑ ͒ four-color J, H, K, narrow-band L near-IR imager. The mary activity during FY 2000. The ideal CCDs for NGOS ϫ original 256 256 PtSi arrays have been upgraded to 512 are the deep-depletion CCDs developed at Lawrence- square quadrants of ALADDIN-type InSb arrays, with a cus- Berkeley lab, due to their panchromatic response. During FY tomized NOAO Wildfire Controller. SQIID was completed 2000, some sample deep-depletion CCDs were obtained and and commissioned during FY 2000. After commissioning, their evaluation commenced. Also, the team has investigated SQIID was scheduled for 21 nights on Kitt Peak in semester the issue of holographic volume phase grating availability 2000A; 73 nights of science observations are scheduled in and has worked to map the scope of the project. semester 2000B. 4.2.5 Wide-Field IR Imager 4.2.2 WIYN TipÕTilt Imager Wide-field imaging, both in the optical and infrared, is a The WIYN 3.5-m telescope is the facility of choice on long-term, key element in the observing capability of Kitt Peak for high-resolution optical imaging. In an effort to NOAO. During FY 2000, NOAO studied several concepts enhance our capabilities for high-resolution imaging over a for a wide-field IR imager with different optical and detector moderate field, a tip/tilt imager is being constructed for configurations. NOAO also held an informal workshop that ͑ ͒ WIYN. The WIYN Tip/Tilt Module WTTM is an optical/ brought together several instrument groups with like interests near-IR re-imaging system that utilizes fast tip/tilt compen- and the two present vendors of IR arrays for astronomy. Two sation and includes real-time focus sensing. The WTTM field proposals with NOAO involvement were submitted to the ϫ of view is 4 4 arcmin at a plate scale of 0.12 arcsec per NSF ATI program as a result of these activities. The first, pixel. The WTTM will be attached to the WIYN Instrument with NOAO as PI institution and Co-I’s from OCIW, MSU, Adapter System, which will facilitate quickly changing be- and STScI, seeks support for the development of a 4Kϫ4K tween the WTTM and the Mini-Mosaic imager by simply IR array mosaic and the production of three mosaics for three ͑ moving a pick-off mirror in response to changing atmo- instruments. This program would be carried out by Rockwell ͒ spheric conditions, for example . WTTM activities during Science Center. The second proposal has U. Colorado as PI FY 2000 included: detailed mechanical design, optics fabri- institution and an NOAO Project Scientist, and seeks to com- cation, software development, and procurement/acceptance bine NSF funding and NOAO base-budget instrumentation testing. On-telescope tests of WTTM are planned for Sep- funds to build a wide-field IR imager for the NOAO 4-m tember 2001. telescopes. The concept is a 4Kϫ4K mosaic detector in a cold-stopped camera at prime focus, with a 30ϫ30 arcmin 4.2.3 Phoenix field of view. An initial design study of this camera was Phoenix is a high-resolution near-infrared spectrometer carried out by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation that has been in productive scientific use on the KPNO 4-m ͑BATC͒ under contract from NOAO. The necessary tele- and 2.1-m telescopes. Phoenix yields spectra with resolution scope modifications were studied by the KPNO engineering 358 ANNUAL REPORT group. BATC is identified in the CU-led proposal as the Synoptic Survey Telescope ͑LSST͒, and a new Telescope subcontractor for the dewar assembly, with NOAO respon- System Instrumentation Program ͑TSIP͒—are being ad- sible for the optics, detector package, and telescope opera- dressed by NOAO. Further, NOAO is also taking part in tions. establishing a National Virtual Observatory ͑NVO͒, which was also recommended by the survey report. In each case, the NOAO Planning and Development Office has taken the 5 NEW CAPABILITIES lead in working with the community and the NSF to develop This section highlights NOAO’s newly established Plan- initial approaches in all of these areas. ning and Development Office, as well as the capabilities be- ing developed under its auspices in response to the Decadal Survey on behalf of the US astronomy community. NOAO’s 5.1.1 Giant Segmented-Mirror Telescope (GSMT) implementation of the major initiatives recommended by the A decade from now, astronomers will have access to ma- AASC are reported, followed by discussions of the Atacama jor new tools on the ground ͑ALMA, the Atacama Large site survey, software development and data management, and Millimeter Array, a powerful new radio telescope currently plans for the SOAR telescope. under design by the US National Radio Astronomy Observa- tory and the European Southern Observatory͒ and in space ͑ 5.1 Planning and Development Office PDO NGST, the Next Generation Space Telescope, an 8-m diam- „ … eter, cooled telescope to be launched by NASA toward the The current climate of excitement in astronomy— end of this decade͒. To exploit these tools fully will require a generated not just by recent new discoveries, but also by a new generation O/IR telescope with angular resolution realization of the enormous potential for future break- matched to ALMA; sensitivity sufficient to characterize the throughs through advancing technologies—has led to an ex- faintest sources imaged by NGST; and a combination of field plosion of investment in new generation telescopes and in- of view and collecting area matched to efficient study of the strumentation. Investment by Europe and Japan over the past first emerging large-scale structures in the distant universe, ten years alone well exceeds $1B; the total US investment in which is a major scientific driver for both ALMA and NGST. new facilities has been only about half that amount. This The AASC identified the minimum-size facility capable trend in strong, focused investment in astronomy on the part of satisfying these requirements to be a 30-m diameter tele- of foreign governments, coupled with the increasingly im- scope capable of delivering near-perfect, diffraction-limited portant role of multiple independent observatories in the US, images at wavelengths of 1 micron and longward ͑thereby led the AASC to assert the need for a new model for US providing 10 mas images matched to ALMA͒; with sensitiv- ground-based astronomy, both to maximize the return on the ity to faint sources sufficient to obtain redshifts and global investment of federal funds and to remain competitive in the kinematics for distant galaxies; and with a field of view sized international arena. to enable efficient statistical studies of large-scale structure The new model for ground-based optical/infrared ͑O/IR͒ in the universe via multiplexed spectroscopy of hundreds of astronomy not only leads to a new vision-that of NOAO, the background quasars and thousands of galaxies simulta- independent observatories, and universities working together neously. A facility providing this combination of sensitivity as a single integrated system for the benefit of the entire and angular resolution will be not only an essential comple- community, but it also mandates a new and challenging role ment to ALMA and NGST, but will also enable science for the US national observatory—that of providing large fa- qualitatively different from that of current generation cilities and complex capabilities that complement those pro- ground- and space-based O/IR telescopes. vided by independent observatories and of working with The AASC envisions that GSMT, with a total cost of those observatories, the broader community, and the NSF to approximately $0.5B, will likely be built via a partnership ensure that the system as a whole evolves and continues to that involves a combination of federal, state, and private in- be competitive. The AASC asserts that an ‘‘effective na- stitutions in the US, or an even larger partnership among US tional observatory’’ is critical to implementing this new and international institutions. As the US national observa- model. tory, NOAO is expected to take the lead in working with the Accordingly, NOAO is rapidly evolving to incorporate community to develop a clear understanding of how the tele- this new vision by embracing new roles and building on its scope should be designed to achieve its full potential, and strengths. NOAO has begun the transition by focusing on thus to realize the scientific aspirations of the US commu- critical elements—bringing the diverse elements of the com- nity. NOAO is also expected to represent the interests of the munity together to prepare a common vision and plan for broad community of US astronomers in developing partner- developing and enhancing the system of community tele- ships that are either national or international in scope. scopes; working to develop partnerships with university To this end, NOAO and AURA have already taken steps groups to develop major new instruments; and concentrating to meet these challenges. During 1998 and 1999, AURA its efforts on activities of national scale ͑such as those asso- sponsored two workshops involving both US and foreign ciated with implementing elements of the NVO͒ that representatives from the academic and industrial communi- complement extant community activities. ties; the workshops were aimed at understanding the scien- In particular, three major initiatives recommended by the tific potential and technical challenges of building a 30- to Decadal Survey for ground-based O/IR astronomy—a Giant 100-m diameter telescope. For the past nine months, NOAO, Segmented-Mirror Telescope ͑GSMT͒, a Large-aperture through its newly established New Initiatives Office ͑a part- NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY 359 nership involving scientists and engineers drawn from a National Virtual Observatory ͑NVO͒. NOAO staff NOAO and the International Gemini Observatory͒, has ͑namely, T. Boroson, D. De Young, S. Strom, and D. Tody͒ formed eight task groups, each focused on a science or tech- participated in the first NVO Workshop held in November nical area key to realizing a design for GSMT. These task 1999 at Johns Hopkins University and in the ensuing months groups comprise individuals drawn from a broad range of the in discussions among the interested parties at universities, US astronomical community, as well as representatives from national astronomical data centers, and national observato- the private sector and the international scientific community. ries. NOAO staff played a key role in the formation and The goal is to develop a set of design concepts and a tech- functioning of a national Interim Steering Committee for the nology road map for GSMT by January 2001, to work with NVO. In addition, NOAO hosted the second NVO Work- the community to raise funds from NSF and other sources to shop held in February 2000 in Tucson. carry out the necessary studies, and ultimately, to oversee the The NOAO staff members named above also made major construction of the GSMT. contributions to the creation of a second NVO White Paper that was presented to NASA and NSF in May 2000. Overall 5.1.2 The Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope coordination and editing of this white paper was carried out (LSST) at NOAO. NOAO staff also attended and made presentations In keeping with its longtime focus on wide-field capabili- at the Virtual Observatories meeting held in Pasadena in ties, NOAO has been a principal participant in early efforts June 2000, and they will be participating in international VO to define and explore a very wide-field-of-view optical tele- meetings this year. It is anticipated that NOAO staff will scope. Initially conceived by Roger Angel ͑U. Arizona͒, the continue this high level of national and international activity facility—including telescope, instruments, data processing on behalf of the NVO during the coming year. and distribution, and operations—is now known as the In addition to active participation in the national effort to Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope ͑LSST͒. The create the NVO, present and planned activities at NOAO are LSST received an endorsement in the recent AASC report, also directed at making the Observatory a viable partner in which recognized science drivers ranging from finding po- the NVO and ensuring that the O/IR community represented tentially catastrophe-causing Near-Earth Objects to mapping by NOAO is able to take full advantage of the NVO capa- dark matter at cosmological distances. During the past year, bilities as they come on line. To this end, NOAO is directing NOAO organized and hosted a small, initial workshop aimed resources toward the establishment of an effective archive at exploring the constraints and desires of a number of po- and data pipelining system that will accommodate current tential scientific programs that could be carried out with the and future survey programs in the optical and IR regions. In LSST. A second, larger workshop is planned for November particular, efforts will be directed in the very near future 2000 with the goal of developing the flow-down from sci- toward building a pipeline processor and an accessible ar- ence requirements to the performance capabilities of the en- chive around the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey, together tire system, including an operations strategy that will allow with other NOAO CCD Mosaic databases. Parallel with this multiple programs to be executed simultaneously. activity will be a new commitment of resources directed Definition and design work on this project have involved toward development of new data acquisition and analysis collaboration with scientists at a number of private institu- tools that will be readily available to the community and that tions including the University of Arizona, Lowell Observa- can be directly incorporated into the suite of NVO software tory, and Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs. NOAO staff in- tools, such as the Data Access Layer. In addition to these volved in this project include R. Green, T. Boroson, C. purely internal activities, discussions are also being held with Claver, R. Reed, and D. Tody. the National Radio Astronomy Observatory to explore com- Beyond the definition stage, NOAO expects that its role in mon interests and common needs that are related to the the LSST will continue to be substantial, with emphasis on NVO, in an effort to maximize effectiveness and minimize the operation of the facility and the management and distri- costs. Similar contacts are being made with the extant NASA bution of the data. In order to develop the expertise and observatories and data centers to establish links and eventual resources needed to undertake the daunting task of managing mutual archive access among these sites. a data flow of more than 1 Terabyte per night, NOAO staff All of these initiatives will ensure that NOAO, and the have been investigating the possibility of undertaking a lim- ground based O/IR community in general, will be fully inte- ited program as a first step toward LSST. This program grated into the design and development of the NVO and will would combine several scientific projects proposed by mem- be able to benefit fully from the increased scientific capabil- bers of the community that could use similar or identical data ity that the NVO will provide. from NOAO’s CCD mosaic imager. Understanding how to merge the requirements of different projects, how to reduce 5.1.4 The Telescope System Instrumentation Program the data with a real-time pipeline, and how to provide effec- (TSIP) tive follow-up capabilities will be essential for the much The goal of TSIP is to foster the development of the ‘‘sys- more ambitious LSST program. tem’’ of ground-based O/IR capabilities by ͑a͒ providing in- dependent observatories that operate the current generation 5.1.3 NOAO and the National Virtual Observatory (NVO) of large telescopes with the funding needed to build a suite During the past year, NOAO has been a major participant of powerful new instruments, and ͑b͒ increasing access to in the community-wide effort to define and bring into being those telescopes to the entire community. Because instru- 360 ANNUAL REPORT ments for 6-m to 10-m telescopes now cost between $5 and results confirmed that Tololo has superb site seeing, at least $10M each, it is no longer possible to equip an individual big as good as the ESO sites. A second DIMM will be installed telescope with a package of instruments that provides the full on Cerro Pacho´n early in FY 2001. range of wavelength coverage and spectral and angular reso- lution; rather each telescope will need to specialize in ways 5.2 Software Development and Data Management that reflect either the unique capabilities of the telescope or Many of the new initiatives in which NOAO is ͑or will the scientific/technical talents of the communities they serve. be͒ involved have substantial software components. Some of At the same time, this specialization makes the most sense these, such as LSST, are dependent on handling very large and has the largest impact if it is accompanied by the sharing volumes of data quickly or efficiently. Others, such as NVO, of these facilities with a larger segment of the community— are aimed at development of uniform interfaces and tools either those that have access to their own specialized facili- optimized for mining O/IR data sets, and organization of a ties or the community at large. community with a culture that has resisted observational pro- The TSIP recommended by the Decadal Survey envisions tocols. Just as in the case of hardware ͑e.g., development of a process of community coordination and cooperation by detectors͒, there are aspects of software development that are which federal, state, or private investment in specialized ca- most efficiently and effectively carried out by a single group pabilities can be targeted in a way that provides the US com- for the benefit of the entire community. The software group munity access to the complete set of capabilities needed to at NOAO has begun the transition from a resource that pri- address frontier problems. A key aspect of this new approach marily supports IRAF and in-house software projects into will be a federal investment strategy that provides funding one that can turn its considerable experience and expertise for instruments in return for public access to time on private toward projects that are more community oriented. or state-operated telescopes. Along traditional lines, the IRAF group ͑6 FTEs͒ has The Decadal Survey assigns a key role to NOAO in the spent much of the last year supporting NOAO instruments community planning efforts central to the success of TSIP. ͑both data acquisition and reduction͒ and current IRAF in- NOAO is charged to work with the community in the devel- stallations, including maintenance of those in Tucson and at opment of a long-term strategic vision to guide the evolution our telescope sites. This maintenance includes the operation of the ensemble of capabilities that make up the implicit of ‘‘save-the-bits,’’ a process by which copies of all CCD ‘‘system’’ of telescopes and instruments, and to work with and IR array data are stored automatically. the National Science Foundation to ensure that federal in- Added to the responsibility for the NOAO instruments is vestment in the ‘‘system’’ matches community aspirations an increasing role in the production of data reduction soft- and is utilized effectively. This approach has the advantage ware for the Gemini instruments. As described in the Gemini of building on the historical strengths of US institutions in Science Operations Plan, each partner country has the re- raising private and state funds to build major new telescopes sponsibility to support its own community in reduction of by making highly leveraged federal investments that enhance Gemini data. For the US, this effort will include IRAF pack- their capabilities. The success of this program is critical to ages that can support data reduction for all Gemini facility ensuring that US astronomy continues its tradition of world instruments. Initial work, aimed at providing infrastructure competitiveness in today’s era of major international invest- improvements to IRAF for these new packages, as well as ment in frontier astronomical facilities. planning software for NIRI, GMOS, GNIRS, and adaptive NOAO and AURA have taken the first steps to develop optics, began this year. Because the NOAO Deep Wide-Field this new cooperative approach by working with the directors Survey ͑NDWFS͒ is one of the most important initial steps of the major private and state observatories to develop mod- of NOAO’s increasing participation in the field of data- els for planning and evolving the implicit system of US tele- intensive astronomical projects, a substantial fraction of the scopes. A broad community workshop aimed at identifying IRAF group effort this year was devoted to facilitating the elements of the system, as well as a science-based explora- reduction of the data for that survey. In particular, programs tion of needed capabilities, is planned for October 2000. to automate astrometric and photometric calibration and to speed up the generation of object catalogs were developed. 5.1.5 Site Characterization and Atacama Site Survey This work will evolve in two directions. First, it is clear that this new software ͑and other efforts to perfect the reduction The Atacama site survey has widened its scope to include of Mosaic data͒ is of interest to most of the groups carrying formal or informal collaborations with ESO, U. Tokyo, and out surveys. A mechanism will be created to ensure that the Cornell U., as well as to participate in US GSMT planning. survey groups can get up-to-date information and software The outsourced contract for analysis of archival satellite that may be relevant to their efforts. Second, the next piece cloud images was extended to cover a full eight years, 1993- of the NDWFS work will be to develop the ability to archive 2000, with the exception of several months for which the the images and catalogs, and make them available to the data are unavailable. The project includes better characteriza- community. Together with the data sets produced by the tion of the existing sites, particularly in the context of adap- other survey efforts, this will be the core of an archive for tive optics. In FY 2000, weather stations were assembled and ground-based O/IR data, possibly supplemented by data tested on Cerro Tololo, and one was then moved to a poten- from all ‘‘PI’’ projects that use the CCD Mosaic Imagers. tial 8-m class telescope site on Cerro Pacho´n. A DIMM re- While the archive represents an important end product of placed the old Carnegie seeing monitor on Tololo; initial the system of facilities and software, the integrated proposal NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY 361 and time-allocation processes represent the starting point of aspects of the common infrastructure like the calibration unit that system. The past year saw the inclusion of time on and instrument selector box for the Nasmyth positions. Gemini, the MMT, and the HET into those processes. Over 800 proposals were received and processed, reviewed and 6 COMPUTER SUPPORT AND NETWORK ranked by discipline-based panels, and schedules were writ- SERVICES ten for 13 telescopes. For the proposals that involved Gemini, the MMT, and HET, the time allocation process was 6.1 Tucson successfully interfaced to each observatory’s more general The Tucson computing facilities continue to evolve as constraints. The overall goal of providing integrated but flex- older systems are replaced by newer, more cost-effective and ible access to the community was further enhanced by inclu- easier-to-maintain systems. In particular, the FreeBSD sys- sion of the survey program and by links to various NASA tem providing WWW service was upgraded. In addition, missions. several older disk drives on various CCS systems failed dur- While most of the effort in software development and ing the year and were replaced by more reliable, and also data management went into the current programs, planning larger, disks. Similarly, older laser printers were replaced by for future projects, such as LSST and the NVO, was not newer, more capable printers. ignored. The IRAF group contributed ideas to discussions The proliferation of desktop workstations, PCs, and aimed at clarifying NOAO’s potential roles in these two X-terminals in scientists’ and engineers’ offices has slowed large projects, and software interests and capabilities will as saturation is approached; however, many desktop systems figure in how NOAO’s participation develops. Work on sup- were upgraded to faster systems over the course of the year. port of surveys and development of archives that is going on The network infrastructure in the Tucson office building now will provide an important base for these future, much was upgraded during FY 2000 to provide switched Fast larger efforts. The recognition of this has led to a restructur- Ethernet connections to every desktop. The network back- ing of the IRAF group so that the members of the group can bone was upgraded to a fully implemented Gigabit Ethernet carry out a larger number of projects having a broader scope. installation based on an Extreme Networks Summit-7i In the upcoming year, we expect to increase the size of the Layer-3 Routing Gigabit switch. A DHCP server was in- group to accommodate some of these new responsibilities stalled covering all the downtown subnets, allowing mobile and directions for software development at NOAO. computers to be connected to any network connection. Finally, the link from the NOAO-Tucson network to the 5.3 Southern Astrophysical Research „SOAR… Telescope Internet was upgraded to a 100 Mbps connection to the Gi- Construction of the 4.2-meter SOuthern Astrophysical gaPOP operated by the University of Arizona. This connec- Research ͑SOAR͒ telescope has continued over the past year. tion allowed NOAO to become a participant in the Abilene SOAR is a partnership among CNPq ͑Brazil͒, the University high-speed research network. of North Carolina, Michigan State University, and NOAO. The telescope is being constructed on Cerro Pacho´n at CTIO, 6.2 Kitt Peak and the schedule for first light is mid-2002. Construction During FY 2000, several infrastructure systems running progress may be viewed on the Web at on older Sun or VxWorks systems were upgraded to Linux http://soartelescope.org/Live_Camera/ live_camera.html. systems running on PC hardware. Among these were the The significant advances made over the past year include Operator’s interface at the 4-m and 2.1-m telescopes and the the following: the primary, secondary, and tertiary mirror PMS, IAS, auto focus, and wavefront camera systems at the blanks made of ULE® were completed by Corning and de- WIYN. New guiders at the 4-m and 2.1-m telescopes ͑also livered to Raytheon in Danbury, Connecticut. Raytheon is using Linux on PC hardware͒ are in place and undergoing responsible for developing the Active Optical System, and testing, and should come into full operation early FY 2001. during this year they completed the system critical design, Also during FY 2000, the mountain network infrastruc- started optical fabrication, and initiated development of all ture was upgraded from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps, and PC rout- mechanical, electrical, and control subsystems. Vertex RSI ers in each dome were replaced with a single Extreme Net- ͑ ͒ Richardson, Texas is building the mount and has also com- works Summit-24 Routing switch. These upgrades were pleted detailed designs and initiated fabrication of the steel, financed by a High-Speed Networking grant from NSF’s mechanics, electronics, and controls. During this period, fa- program on Advanced Networking Infrastructure. This same cility construction was started, and the foundation and struc- grant will be used to fund a DS-3 ͑45 Mbps͒ data line from tural steel portions of the building have been completed. A Tucson to Kitt Peak, which should be available in FY 2001. contract for building the dome was let to Equatorial Sistemas in Brazil. They have completed the detailed design and have 6.3 CTIO - La Serena also initiated fabrication. Development of the LabVIEW- based control system has continued with joint efforts be- The computer facilities in the La Serena offices serve the tween Imaginatics, the LabVIEW Integrator, Rutherford needs of diverse groups: visiting astronomers, the resident Appleton Labs ͑Patrick Wallace control kernel͒, and the in- scientific staff, the engineers of the CTIO ETS, and the sec- dividual subcontractors. Instrumentation development efforts retarial and administrative staff. We have continued the shift have continued at the partner institutions, including signifi- of these facilities from dominantly Sun hardware to a mix of cant activity at CTIO on specific instruments and also several Sun and newer, more cost-effective Linux/PC platforms to 362 ANNUAL REPORT meet the needs of increasingly CPU-intensive applications, end-of-FY 2000 funds. Included in this upgrade plan is the including the reduction and analysis of large data sets such extension of the network to both the technicians’ dormitory as those from our Mosaic camera. ͑for quick remote analysis of simple problems͒ and the as- We have purchased several new high-end Linux worksta- tronomers’ dormitory. tions for new staff astronomers, and have upgraded the older Sun computers of several other staff members to higher per- 6.5 CTIO - Communications formance Linux workstations. Disk space for data reduction The computer networks in La Serena and on Cerro Tololo has also been a major bottleneck in past years, so we have are currently connected via a 2 Mbps commercial microwave purchased new high-capacity ͑50–70 GB͒ disk drives for link. Internet connectivity is provided through a 512 Kbps many of the scientific staff workstations. link through a commercial ISP to Santiago and then via sat- The La Serena Ethernet network has been reorganized to ellite internationally. The speed and quality of these links is provide for more efficient flow of traffic. This involved split- inadequate to support the variety of services that Cerro ting the network into five major subnets ͑central, scientific, Tololo is currently being asked to provide. The quantity of engineering, administrative, and other͒, so that the traffic data generated by modern observatories is increasing rapidly generated between machines on one subnet doesn’t interfere as the detectors used in astronomy continually become with communication elsewhere on the net. DHCP servers larger. The corresponding increased demand for bandwidth have also been installed on each of these subnets to provide causes the existing links to become more inadequate every transparent connectivity for mobile computing anywhere in day. the La Serena network. Gemini South also requires high-speed connectivity to the The computing system has also been reorganized around outside world. CTIO, Gemini, and NASA have indepen- these subnets. The central computers support mostly visiting dently studied the data handling problem and have concluded astronomers and general-use servers. We have reassigned that when Gemini South becomes operational, a minimum computers such that we have two higher end workstations bandwidth of 10–20 Mbps between the telescope and re- ͑one Linux, one Sun͒ that provide both tape access and large search networks in the USA will be required for the effective amounts of disk space. Several lower end workstations operation of the combined observatories. complement these for less intensive visitor ͑and student͒ use. Accordingly, NOAO and Gemini have embarked on a Similarly, two central servers have been assigned to the sci- joint effort to provide the necessary bandwidth. The first part entific subnet for centralized use of tape drives and large of this project will consist of installing reliable, high-speed amounts of disk space. connections between La Serena, Cerro Tololo, and Cerro Pa- cho´n. This will be provided by an internal backbone consist- 6.4 CTIO - Cerro Tololo ing of two microwave links. One will create an OC-3 ͑155 The CTIO mountain network consists of the data acquisi- Mbps͒ channel between La Serena and Cerro Tololo. The tion and reduction computers located in the various domes, second will provide OC-3 service from Cerro Tololo to one or more of which is used by all visiting observers, and a Cerro Pacho´n. High-speed ATM switches will be installed at number of ancillary machines employed by support staff. each of the three locations, followed by IP routers and other Our transition to Linux platforms on the mountain has been appropriate hardware. The use of ATM will permit high re- slower, due to the more mission-critical nature of the com- liability virtual channels of essentially any type to be estab- puters there. We upgraded most of the data reduction ma- lished between the two sites, including 100 Mbps IP service chines in 1998, so they are still performing adequately for and dedicated fixed bandwidth channels for real-time video, most observing programs. However, a few Linux machines telephone service, and instrument control. have been installed for specific applications ͑a new guider A joint NOAO/Gemini proposal to NSF will provide for the 4-m and a new robotic site monitor͒. We foresee a funding for the local backbone. The equipment has been pur- slow migration to Linux on the mountain in the future as the chased, licenses have been obtained, and the link is currently demand for faster machines grows, but after we have proven under construction. It is expected to be fully operational by the stability and solved the maintenance issues involved with the first quarter of calendar year 2001. The equipment used the newer platform. has a 20-year design lifetime. Disk space, or lack thereof, has also been a concern on the The second phase of the connectivity project will be to mountain. To meet this need, we have installed 50 GB disks provide wide bandwidth and high reliability links to the out- connected to the high-speed data reduction computers at side world and particularly to the USA. Connection via the each of the principal telescopes ͑4-m, 1.5-m, and 0.9-m͒. commercial Internet is not sufficient. The real-time and data Several tape drives have also been replaced with newer units transfer needs of the two observatories require connection to that support higher capacity storage ͑e.g., DDS-3 DAT Internet2. drives replacing the older DDS drives͒. Internet2 service has recently become available in Chile The Tololo network infrastructure has been stable over via REUNA2, the Chilean University Network. CTIO/ FY 2000, although traffic has increased somewhat with the Gemini has joined the REUNA2 consortium and will at first larger data sets that are being obtained by visiting astrono- use REUNA2 to provide high-quality links to the Chilean mers. Upgrades to the network are planned in FY 2001, fol- university partners. lowing the subnetting approach used initially in La Serena, Within three years, we expect the observatories will re- and some hardware for this work has been purchased with quire an aggregate bandwidth of at least 32–45 Mbps for NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY 363 communications to the US. Bandwidth like this is not cur- Education ͑RBSE͒, has developed a paradigm and tools for rently attainable in Chile at realistic cost. However, several implementing authentic research opportunities in middle and new high-speed submarine DWDM fibers are expected to be high school classrooms. The annual RBSE four-week work- in service early in calendar year 2001. Preliminary cost esti- shop, which takes place in Tucson and on Kitt Peak, is for mates appear to be within the range of available funding. middle and high school teachers who are interested in incor- Accordingly, a second proposal has been submitted to porating astronomy research within their science classes. NSF for funding of a 45 Mbps channel to STARTAP via Sixteen teachers participated in the fourth annual workshop these submarine fibers as soon as they are available, using a that took place during the summer of 2000, bringing to 58 leased VPC over commercial terrestrial Chilean fibers for the number of teachers who have completed the program. three years. Assuming this proposal is funded, the resulting Teachers implement the program in a variety of ways in the high-speed bandwidth will enable CTIO, Gemini, and SOAR classroom, but conservatively estimating that each teacher to provide streaming of data back to the US as it is being adopts RBSE in three classes a year, approximately 5,000 taken, remote operation of telescopes, and real-time video students are currently learning science and math using and other telescope and monitoring services required by our NOAO-supplied data sets. users. Funding for RBSE winds down in the spring of 2001. A preliminary proposal was submitted to the NSF Education 7 EDUCATIONAL AND PUBLIC OUTREACH and Human Resources directorate Teacher Enhancement pro- NOAO Educational Outreach is responsible for informa- gram to build on the RBSE model and fund its continued tion requests, scientific press and media relations, and edu- development for the next five years. A full proposal has been cational outreach programs, while NOAO Public Outreach encouraged and is due in October 2000. th manages all activities at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center, includ- The May 16 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the ing daily tours and nightly observing programs for the gen- June issue of Sky & Telescope carried stories about the stu- eral public. dent discovery of 73 novae in Andromeda through the RBSE Teacher Enhancement program. This work was also pre- 7.1 National Project Astro Network sented at the January 2000 meeting of the American Astro- nomical Society. NOAO-Tucson was selected the first Chair of the Na- tional Project ASTRO Network, an organization of all eleven ASTRO sites around the country. In this role, NOAO Edu- 7.2.3 Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) cational Outreach will work closely with existing ASTRO For the second year, NOAO/KPNO received a supple- sites and with the National Project ASTRO office to develop ment to its REU funding that supports teacher participation and expand the project in each of our regional communities. in the RET ͑Research Experiences for Teachers͒ program. NOAO hosted the first annual National Network meeting in Three teachers spent the summer of 2000 in Tucson working April and will coordinate the Project ASTRO presentation at with staff astronomers on research projects. the January 2001 AAS Meeting. 7.3 Programs for Students 7.2 Programs for Teachers and Astronomers In these teacher training programs, astronomers are also All NOAO sites hosted undergraduate students in their ͑ ͒ involved either as partners or as mentors. Research Experiences for Undergraduates REU programs with support provided by the NSF. In addition, approxi- 7.2.1 Project ASTRO-Tucson mately four University of Arizona undergraduate students each year are mentored by NOAO staff members as part of Project ASTRO is an exciting program that links profes- the UA/NASA Space Grant Consortium program. sional and amateur astronomers with educators to enhance the teaching of astronomy and increase students’ interest in science. Led by NOAO, Project ASTRO-Tucson has hosted 7.3.1 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) four annual workshops since 1996, bringing to nearly 200 CTIO hosted four NSF-funded Research Experiences for the number of trained astronomers and teachers in the Tuc- Undergraduates ͑REU͒ students during the Chilean summer son area. A fifth workshop is planned for October 2000. The ͑January through March͒ 2000. The CTIO REU program of- NSF Astronomy Division has provided funding to continue fers students the unique opportunity to gain observational NOAO’s leadership role of Project ASTRO for the next three experience studying objects in the rich Southern Hemisphere years. and is the only REU program that takes places during the US ‘‘Project ASTRO the Tucson Way,’’ an informative ar- academic year. It also provides students the experience of ticle written by Ginny Beal, Program Coordinator for Project working alongside Chilean astronomy and engineering stu- ASTRO-Tucson, was published in the January-February dents who participate in the parallel Chilean program ‘‘Prac- 2000 issue of Mercury magazine. ticas de Investigacio´n en Astronomı´a’’ ͑PIA͒. This year’s program was a success, with two students presenting posters 7.2.2 Research-Based Science Education (RBSE) at the June 2000 AAS meeting in Rochester and the other The NSF-funded Teacher Enhancement Program at two planning to attend the January 2001 AAS meeting in San NOAO, The Use of Astronomy in Research-Based Science Diego. 364 ANNUAL REPORT

NOAO hosted eight KPNO REU students and five NSO sponding to 340 requests/inquiries regarding the publication REU students this summer. The REU/RET program includes of NOAO images ͑this does not include the images down- observing opportunities on Kitt Peak telescopes, a lecture loaded from the on-line NOAO Image Gallery͒, and prepar- series, and working closely with a mentor on the scientific ing 64 information packets for special visitors. staff. KPNO and NSO REU and RET participants also vis- ited the ARC 3.5-m telescope in New Mexico with NOAO 7.6 Web-Based Outreach astronomer Nigel Sharp during the traditional ‘‘road trip’’ to NSO-Sac Peak and the VLA. It is anticipated that all eight of The NOAO Image Collection is fully accessible on-line, the KPNO REU students will attend the January 2001 AAS with more than 600 images available for downloading in a meeting. variety of resolutions. We continue to add to the collection from current and archival images, and to improve the cap- 7.3.2 Graduate Education tioning of available images. An outstanding virtual tour of Kitt Peak has been developed and made available off the NOAO will continue its program of supporting a large Web as well. fraction of the US Ph.D. theses in optical astronomy. In a All Web pages for NOAO Educational Outreach have typical semester, about 30 thesis programs are assigned time been given a consistent look and feel, as well as new navi- through the competitive review process, and approximately gational elements. New content has been added for the pub- 120 graduate students participate in observing runs. NOAO lic, including Current Science stories written from NOAO provides travel support for students conducting thesis re- Newsletter highlights, and educational materials. search. The Kitt Peak Visitor Center home page has also under- gone a complete redesign, which gives the page a modern, 7.4 Media Relations clean, and consistent appearance, while allowing visitors to Late in FY 2000, NOAO hired a science writer/Public access information previously not available. Additions in- Information Officer, who is responsible for media relations clude an image gallery, daily tour information, information and for translating the science that is done at NOAO facili- and applications for volunteer service, and on-line reserva- ties into materials that are useful for a variety of programs tion forms for the Nightly Observing Program, the Advanced serving interested laypersons. This individual will increase Observing Program, and daytime school tours. efforts to cooperate with other research facilities on joint releases, streamline our procedures for producing press re- 7.7 Kitt Peak Visitor Center leases and video materials requested by the media, and iden- tify stories with high science value and report them accu- The Kitt Peak Visitor Center serves as the hub for all rately. visitor activities, providing information and services to tour- Press efforts for FY 2000 include the following seven ists on all aspects of the mountain and its facilities. This year press releases, which may be viewed in full at the Center attracted an estimated 50,000 visitors—this in- http://www.noao.edu/outreach/press: cludes visitors who took formal guided tours, participated in ț NOAO Astronomers Take Census of Elusive Brown observing programs, or just toured the facilities on their own. Dwarf Stars with HST, HST Press Release, 8/24/00 The Kitt Peak Visitor Center is gradually being remodeled ț Astrophysicists Detect Cosmic Shear, Evidence of to provide a new and modern look. This year the interior was Dark Matter, NSF Press Release, Lucent refurbished with new carpet and tile. In addition, a new gen- Technologies/Bell Labs Press Release, 5/11/00 eration of exhibits that highlight the activities of the US as- ț The Beat Goes On - Inside the Sun, NOAO Press Re- tronomy community is currently under development. One of lease, 3/20/00 these new exhibits will describe the role of NOAO as the ț 8.1-Meter Mirror Crosses Oceans to Reach Gemini ‘‘gateway’’ for US astronomers to the Gemini, KPNO, and Telescope, NOAO Press Release, 3/20/00 CTIO facilities. ț Kitt Peak’s Mayall 4-meter Telescope Used in Identi- The fee-based Nightly Observing and Advanced Observ- fying Quasar as the Most Distant Object in the Uni- ing Programs for individuals and small groups continue to be verse, JPL Press Release, 2/18/00 highly successful. These programs, which are held at the ț CTIO 4-meter Telescope Identifies Coolest Brown 16-inch Visitor Center telescope, attracted 4,485 people dur- Dwarf, Cal Tech Press Release; 1/15/00 ing the past year. A new state-of-the-art CCD camera has ț Students Help Astronomers Discover 73 Novae in An- been added to enhance the image capabilities of the facility dromeda Galaxy, NOAO Press Release, 1/13/00 for the Advanced Observing Program participants, and an innovative pilot program of nighttime observing sessions to be held monthly for secondary school children of the Tohono 7.5 Science Information and Image Requests O’Odham Nation is currently being developed. The Educational Outreach Office responds to requests NOAO public outreach activities continue to be subsi- from the public for information and NOAO images. In the dized in part by the fee-based public programs and revenue past year, a total of 11,531 requests for information were centers created in recent years. In particular, these programs processed. These included mailing 10,300 ‘‘Discover Your provide a stable source of revenue for upgrades and improve- Universe’’ brochures, answering 827 requests/inquiries ments to the Visitor Center facility and its programs. The gift about astronomy/science ͑by telephone, letter, e-mail͒, re- shop continues to thrive through sales of tourist-oriented NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY 365 books, clothes, Tohono O’Odham crafts, and astronomical NOAO continues to be an active participant in the South- items, as well as a line of products directly related to KPNO western Consortium of Observatories for Public Education and Kitt Peak. An established docent program continues to ͑SCOPE͒. Thanks to this partnership, science from the mem- provide much-needed support to Visitor Center staff and to ber sites can be shared with over a half million public visi- the visitor themselves. tors to SCOPE facilities through the Southwest.