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NOAO/NSO Newsletter NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY/NATIONAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY Issue 95 — September 2008

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NOAO/NSO Newsletter NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY/NATIONAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY Issue 95 — September 2008 NOAO/NSO Newsletter NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY/NATIONAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY Issue 95 — SEPTEMBER 2008 Science Highlights Data Products Program Echoes of Galactic Supernovae.......................................3 Single Sign-on and the Virtual Observatory as Observations of a Small Emergent Bipolar Flux Region .....5 an Operational Facility .............................................27 Carbon-enhanced Metal-poor Stars and the The All-Sky Camera Project ...........................................27 Chemical Evolution of the Early Galaxy ...........................6 Upcoming Data Products Program Meetings Do Solar Subsurface Vorticity Measurements and Events ...............................................................29 Improve Flare Forecasting? .........................................7 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Director’s Office Fiber Echelle Spectrograph Finds New Life First Thoughts and Early Priorities ....................................9 as Exoplanet Hunter .................................................30 The GSMT Chicago Workshop – First Steps Toward Progress on the SOAR Adaptive Module .......................31 a National Design Reference Mission ........................10 Blanco TCS Upgrade ....................................................32 LSST Mirror Unveiled ................................................... 11 Chile Staff Changes .....................................................32 ALTAIR Committee and Survey ...................................... 11 Building the ReSTAR System ..........................................12 Kitt Peak National Observatory The Meinel Partnership and the Founding of the NOAO Gemini Science Center National Observatory ..............................................33 Gemini Classical and Queue Observing Opportunities Pierre Martin Succeeds George Jacoby as for Semester 2009A .................................................13 Director of the WIYN Observatory ...........................34 Suitable 2009A Gemini Queue Programs Commissioning Work on WHIRC Proceeding Well ..........35 May Be Offered Classical Time ..................................14 Update on KPNO Modernization Projects The Personal Contact Option for the and Operations .......................................................36 Gemini HelpDesk .....................................................15 The Joint Subaru/Gemini Conference “Cosmology Near and Far: Science with WFMOS” ......................15 National Solar Observatory Director’s Corner .........................................................37 The Gemini/Subaru Wide-field Fiber Multi-Object ATST ...........................................................................38 Spectrograph (WFMOS): An Update ........................16 First Quarter Deadline for NSO Observing Proposals ....38 Kyoto Joint Subaru/Gemini Science Conference SOLIS .........................................................................39 in May 2009 ...........................................................16 First Lock for McMath-Pierce Planetary Adaptive Report of a Classical Gemini-Subaru Exchange Optics System ..........................................................41 Program Observing Run ...........................................17 GONG++ ...................................................................42 Detailed Aspects of Technical Reviews for International Research Experience T-ReCS and Michelle ................................................18 for (Graduate) Students (IRES) .................................44 Gemini News from the Marseille SPIE Meeting ..............18 NGSC Instrumentation Program Update ........................20 Public Affairs and Educational Outreach Observational Programs US IYA 2009 Momentum Grows with House Resolution, Prototype of Image Exhibition ...................................45 2009A Observing Proposals Due 30 September 2008; Another Successful Horse Camp on Kitt Peak; Survey Proposals Due 15 September 2008 ....................21 KOHN Show Debuts ................................................45 Community Access Time Available in 2009A CADIAS Participates in Show of Integrated Arts with Keck, Magellan, and MMT ................................22 in Argentina ............................................................46 Observing Request Statistics for 2008B A Research Adventure for Tucson Educators ..................47 Standard Proposals ..................................................22 CTIO Instruments Available for 2009A ..........................23 Instruments Expected to be Available for 2009A ............24 KPNO Instruments Available for 2009A ........................25 MMT Instruments Available for 2009A ..........................26 Magellan Instruments Available for 2009A ....................26 Keck Instruments Available for 2009A ...........................26 The NOAO-NSO Newsletter is published quarterly by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, AZ 85726 [email protected] Douglas Isbell, Editor Section Editors Abhijit Saha Science Highlights Dave Bell Observational Programs Mia Hartman Observational Programs Christopher J. Miller Data Products Program Nicole S. van der Bliek CTIO Buell T. Jannuzi KPNO Ken Hinkle NGSC Sally Adams NGSC John Leibacher NSO Jackie Diehl NSO Douglas Isbell Public Affairs & Educational Outreach Production Staff Chris Smith Named Director of CTIO Sheryl Falgout Managing Editor R. Chris Smith has been selected as the next director of Cerro Tololo Peter Marenfeld Design & Layout Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). Smith will succeed Alistair Kathie Coil Production Support Walker in November. Walker will return to the scientific staff of CTIO after five years as director. “Chris has years of experience working for CTIO, he has led a major southern-sky survey of the Magellanic Clouds, and he recently headed the NOAO-wide Data Products Program during a period of extensive developments in virtual observatories,” said NOAO Director David Silva. “I am confident he will excel in this new role as an observatory director. “I thank Alistair for his excellent service as CTIO director during an TWIN GALAXIES IN A GRAVITATIONAL EMBRACE exciting era when the Dark Energy Camera project for the Blanco In what first appears to be a masterful optical illusion, astronomers 4-meter telescope was born, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope at Gemini Observatory have imaged two nearly identical spiral gal- project chose a peak within the AURA compound in Chile for its fu- axies in the Virgo cluster, 90 million light-years distant, in the early ture site,” Silva added. “Alistair has left the observatory extremely well stages of a gravitational embrace. The image was obtained using the positioned for the coming years.” Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Gemini South 8-meter telescope in Chile. A co-recipient of the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize for his part in one of two teams that announced the discovery of the accelerating expan- Like two skaters grabbing hands while passing, NGC 5427 (the near- sion of the Universe in 1998, Smith first joined CTIO as a postdoc- ly open-faced spiral galaxy at lower left) and its southern twin NGC toral student after earning a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1991. 5426 are in the throes of a slow but disturbing interaction—one that He spent three years at CTIO, followed by three years at the University could take a hundred million years to complete. Together, the pair is of Michigan before returning to CTIO as a staff astronomer in 1998. known as Arp 271. Smith is the principal investigator of the Magellanic Cloud Emission The two spiral arms on the western (upper) side of NGC 5426 ap- Line Survey (MCELS), which mapped out the interstellar medium of pear as long appendages that connect with NGC 5427: this inter- the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds in the emission lines of hydro- galactic bridge acts like a feeding tube, allowing the twins to share gen, oxygen, and sulfur to improve our understanding of the interac- gas and dust with each other across the 60,000 light years of space. tions between stars and the gas and dust which surrounds them. Colliding gases caused by the interaction have likely triggered bursts of star formation in each galaxy, as evidenced by the hot pink knots “CTIO is a cornerstone of both the future of NOAO and, more gener- (HII regions) visible in both. The giant ones in NGC 5426 are curi- ally, the future of U.S. astronomy. The facilities available today at CTIO, ously knotted and more abundant on the side of the galaxy closest SOAR, and Gemini and the promise of the exciting next generation to NGC 5427. Starburst activity can also be seen in the bridge con- of facilities located in Chile, including ALMA, LSST, and GSMT are a necting the galaxies. magnificent combination,” Smith said. “I look forward to building upon the strong foundation and excellent staff we have in Chile to take full Credit: Gemini Observatory advantage of the exciting scientific opportunities the future holds.” >>> 2 NOAO/NSO Newsletter | September 2008 >>> SCIENCENOAO/NSO HIGHLIGHTS Echoes of Galactic Supernovae Armin Rest (Harvard University) & Chris Smith (NOAO) for the Echoes of Historical Supernovae (EHS) Team ight echoes from ancient supernova offer a unique and powerful oppor- tunity to study supernovae and their Lrelationships to supernova remnants (SNRs), as well as interstellar dust and Galactic structure. The use of this relatively simple phenomenon of light echoes in such studies is just now developing into
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