AURA/NOAO FISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT FY 2010 Revised Submitted to the National Science Foundation March 16, 2011 This image, aimed toward the southern celestial pole atop the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope, shows the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the Milky Way (Carinae Region) and the Coal Sack (dark area, close to the Southern Crux). The 33 “written” on the Schmidt Telescope dome using a green laser pointer during the two-minute exposure commemorates the rescue effort of 33 miners trapped for 69 days almost 700 m underground in the San Jose mine in northern Chile. The image was taken while the rescue was in progress on 13 October 2010, at 3:30 am Chilean Daylight Saving time. Image Credit: Arturo Gomez/CTIO/NOAO/AURA/NSF National Optical Astronomy Observatory Fiscal Year Annual Report for FY 2010 Revised (October 1, 2009 – September 30, 2010) Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0950945 March 16, 2011 Table of Contents MISSION SYNOPSIS ............................................................................................................ IV 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 1 2 NOAO ACCOMPLISHMENTS ....................................................................................... 2 2.1 Achievements ..................................................................................................... 2 2.2 Status of Vision and Goals ................................................................................. 3 2.3 Challenges and Their Impacts ............................................................................ 5 3 SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS ................................................................ 7 3.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory......................................................... 7 3.2 Kitt Peak National Observatory ......................................................................... 9 3.3 Gemini Observatory ......................................................................................... 11 3.4 Community Access Facilities ........................................................................... 14 4 GROUND-BASED O/IR OBSERVING SYSTEM OPERATIONS ............................ 16 4.1 NOAO South .................................................................................................... 16 4.1.1 CTIO .................................................................................................. 16 4.1.2 NOAO South Facilities Operations ................................................... 21 4.1.3 NOAO South Computer Infrastructure Services ............................... 22 4.2 NOAO North .................................................................................................... 22 4.2.1 KPNO ................................................................................................ 22 4.2.2 NOAO North Facilities Operations ................................................... 27 4.2.3 NOAO North Computer Infrastructure Services ............................... 28 4.3 NOAO System Science Center ........................................................................ 28 4.3.1 System User Support ......................................................................... 29 4.3.2 Science Data Management ................................................................ 30 4.3.3 System Community Development ..................................................... 34 4.4 NOAO System Technology Center .................................................................. 36 4.4.1 System Instrumentation ..................................................................... 37 4.4.2 ReSTAR Instrumentation .................................................................. 39 4.4.3 Telescope System Instrumentation Program ..................................... 41 i NOAO FISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT FY 2010 4.4.4 LSST Technology Program ............................................................... 42 4.4.5 GSMT/ELT Technology Program ..................................................... 45 5 NOAO-WIDE PROGRAMS ........................................................................................... 47 5.1 Business Services ............................................................................................. 47 5.1.1 Central Administrative Services ........................................................ 47 5.1.2 NOAO South Administrative Services .............................................. 48 5.2 Office of Science .............................................................................................. 48 5.3 Education and Public Outreach ........................................................................ 49 5.4 NOAO Director‘s Office .................................................................................. 57 5.5 ARRA Infrastructure Renewal ......................................................................... 58 APPENDICES A FY10 BUDGET BY PROGRAM ....................................................................................... 61 A.1 FY10 Expenditures ........................................................................................... 61 A.2 FY10 Revenue .................................................................................................. 66 B NOAO KEY MANAGEMENT & SCIENTIFIC STAFF ACTIVITY ........................... 70 B.1 Key Management FY10 ................................................................................... 70 B.2 Scientific Personnel Changes FY10 ................................................................. 70 B.3 Effort of Scientific Staff by Budgeted Program ............................................... 71 B.4 Scientific Staff Accomplishments and Plans ................................................... 75 C NOAO SCIENTIFIC STAFF PUBLICATIONS ............................................................ 105 D PUBLICATIONS USING DATA FROM NOAO TELESCOPES ............................... 122 D.1 Telescopes at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory .............................. 122 D.2 Telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory ............................................... 130 D.3 Gemini Telescopes (NOAO System Science Center) .................................... 139 D.4 W. M. Keck Observatory: Keck I and II ........................................................ 142 D.5 HET and MMT ............................................................................................... 143 D.6 Magellan ......................................................................................................... 144 D.7 CHARA and Hale .......................................................................................... 144 D.8 NOAO Science Archive ................................................................................. 144 E USAGE STATISTICS FOR ARCHIVED DATA .......................................................... 146 F TELESCOPE PROPOSAL STATISTICS ...................................................................... 148 F.1 Standard Proposals for 2010A ....................................................................... 148 F.2 Survey Proposals for 2010A .......................................................................... 149 F.3 Standard Proposals for 2010B ........................................................................ 150 F.4 Survey Proposals for 2010B ........................................................................... 151 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS G OBSERVING PROGRAMS & INVESTIGATORS FOR 2010A/B ............................. 152 G.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory..................................................... 154 G.2 Kitt Peak National Observatory ..................................................................... 164 G.3 Gemini Observatory ....................................................................................... 173 G.4 Community Access to Private Telescopes ..................................................... 187 H BROADENING PARTICIPATION ................................................................................ 193 I GRANTS OBTAINED IN Q4............................................................................................ 199 J SAFETY REPORT FOR Q4 ............................................................................................. 200 iii NOAO FISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT FY 2010 MISSION SYNOPSIS The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) is the US national research and development center for ground-based nighttime astronomy. Its core mission is to provide access for all qualified 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 challenges from small bodies within our own Solar System, to the most distant galaxies in the early universe, 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, and software tools to meet the research challenges of the next decade. In particular,