AURA/NOAO FISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT FY 2011 Submitted to the National Science Foundation December 16, 2011 SN2011fe in M101: This close-up image of the nearby galaxy M101 was obtained with the Mayall 4-m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. M101 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major and is quite similar to our own Galaxy. It is about 20 million light years (6.4 Mpc) away. This image was obtained on 18 September 2011 about two weeks after supernova SN2011fe achieved its peak brightness. The supernova is the bright, bluish star in the upper-right portion of the image (see arrow). It is the closest Type Ia supernova to be observed since 1972. This image was created by combining images taken in four filters: B (blue), V (green), I (orange), and Hydrogen-Alpha (red). In the image, north is to the left and east is down. Image Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker & S. Pakzad NOAO/AURA/NSF National Optical Astronomy Observatory Fiscal Year Annual Report for FY 2011 (1 October 2010 – 30 September 2011) Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0950945 16 December 2011 (Amended for Web publication 23 February 2012) Contents NOAO MISSION PROFILE ................................................................................................. IV 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 1 2 NOAO ACCOMPLISHMENTS ....................................................................................... 3 2.1 Achievements ..................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Status of Vision and Goals ................................................................................. 4 2.2.1 Status of FY11 High-Level Deliverables ............................................ 4 2.2.2 FY11 Planned vs. Actual Spending and Revenues .............................. 7 2.3 Challenges and Their Impacts .......................................................................... 10 3 SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS .............................................................. 12 3.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory ....................................................... 12 3.2 Kitt Peak National Observatory ....................................................................... 14 3.3 Gemini Observatory ......................................................................................... 17 3.4 Community Access Facilities ........................................................................... 19 4 GROUND-BASED O/IR OBSERVING SYSTEM OPERATIONS ............................ 21 4.1 NOAO South .................................................................................................... 21 4.1.1 CTIO .................................................................................................. 21 4.1.2 NOAO South Facility Operations...................................................... 27 4.2 NOAO North .................................................................................................... 30 4.2.1 KPNO ................................................................................................ 30 4.2.2 NOAO North Facility Operations...................................................... 36 4.3 NOAO System Science Center ........................................................................ 38 4.3.1 System User Support ......................................................................... 39 4.3.2 Science Data Management ................................................................ 41 4.3.3 System Community Development ..................................................... 45 4.4 NOAO System Technology Center .................................................................. 49 4.4.1 System Instrumentation ..................................................................... 49 i NOAO FISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT FY 2011 4.4.2 ReSTAR Instrumentation.................................................................. 51 4.4.3 Telescope System Instrumentation Program ..................................... 54 4.4.4 LSST Technology Program .............................................................. 55 4.4.5 GSMT/ELT Technology Program .................................................... 60 5 NOAO-WIDE PROGRAMS ........................................................................................... 62 5.1 Central Administrative Services ...................................................................... 62 5.2 Office of Science ............................................................................................. 63 5.3 Education and Public Outreach ....................................................................... 65 5.4 NOAO Director‘s Office ................................................................................. 71 5.5 ARRA Infrastructure Renewal ........................................................................ 75 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 76 A FY11 BUDGET BY PROGRAM .................................................................................... 77 A.1 FY11 Expenditures .......................................................................................... 77 A.2 FY11 Revenue ................................................................................................. 83 A.3 FY11 Funds Carried Forward to FY12............................................................ 87 B NOAO KEY MANAGEMENT & SCIENTIFIC STAFF ACTIVITY ........................ 88 B.1 NOAO Key Management during FY11........................................................... 88 B.2 Scientific Staff Changes during FY11 ............................................................. 88 B.3 Effort of Scientific Staff by Budgeted Program .............................................. 89 B.4 FY11 Accomplishments and FY12 Plans of Scientific Staff .......................... 93 C NOAO SCIENTIFIC STAFF PUBLICATIONS ........................................................ 121 D PUBLICATIONS USING DATA FROM NOAO TELESCOPES ............................ 134 D.1 Telescopes at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory ............................. 134 D.2 Telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory .............................................. 146 D.3 Gemini Telescopes (NOAO System Science Center) ................................... 156 D.4 W. M. Keck Observatory: Keck I and II ....................................................... 160 D.5 HET and MMT .............................................................................................. 161 D.6 Magellan ........................................................................................................ 162 D.7 CHARA and Hale .......................................................................................... 162 D.8 NOAO Science Archive ................................................................................ 162 E USAGE STATISTICS FOR ARCHIVED DATA ....................................................... 165 F TELESCOPE PROPOSAL STATISTICS .................................................................. 167 F.1 Semester 2011A Proposal Statistics .............................................................. 167 F.2 Semester 2011B Proposal Statistics .............................................................. 168 ii CONTENTS G OBSERVING PROGRAMS & INVESTIGATORS FOR 2011 ................................. 170 G.1 Demographics ................................................................................................ 170 G.2 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory ..................................................... 172 G.3 Kitt Peak National Observatory ..................................................................... 181 G.4 Gemini Observatory ....................................................................................... 190 G.5 Community Access to Private Telescopes ..................................................... 202 H BROADENING PARTICIPATION ............................................................................. 208 I GRANTS OBTAINED IN FY11 ................................................................................... 213 J SAFETY REPORT FOR Q4 ......................................................................................... 215 iii NOAO FISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT FY 2011 NOAO MISSION PROFILE The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) is the US national research and develop- ment center for ground-based nighttime astronomy. Its core mission is to provide access for all qual- ified professional researchers, via peer review, to state-of-the-art scientific capabilities. Through that access, the US research community is investigating a broad range of modern astrophysical chal- lenges from small bodies within our own Solar System, to the most distant galaxies in the early Un- iverse, to indirect observations of dark energy and dark matter. To support that mission and help further US leadership in the international arena, NOAO is leading the development of the US Ground-Based Optical/Infrared (O/IR) System—the ensemble of public and private observatories dedicated to international leadership in scientific research, technical innovation, education, and public outreach. NOAO is also leading programs that help enable a new generation of telescopes, instruments,