NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY › dir › q_rep › q2-07.pdf · 2007-04-27 · NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY Quarterly Report (2) FY 2007 January 1 – March 31,

NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

Quarterly Report (2) FY 2007 January 1 – March 31, 2007

New image of spiral galaxy IC342 from the KPNO Mayall telescope released at “The Night” meeting in Washington, DC, in February 2007 as an example of the value of dark skies

Photo by: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF

Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Scientific Program Order No. 1, Article 5-C

Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0132798, Article VI

Also published on the NOAO Web site: http://www.noao.edu

NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation

http://www.noao.edu/

National Optical Astronomy Observatory Quarterly Report (2) FY 2007

(January 1, 2007 – March 31, 2007)

Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0132798

April 30, 2007

Contents

1 PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH (PAEO).......................................... 1 Media and Public Information ......................................................................................1 Public Outreach ...............................................................................................................1 Public Outreach ...............................................................................................................1 Educational Outreach .....................................................................................................2 Educational Outreach .....................................................................................................2

2 TUCSON AND KITT PEAK SITE SAFETY REPORT ............................................................... 6 2 TUCSON AND KITT PEAK SITE SAFETY REPORT ............................................................... 6 OSHA Recordable Occupational Injuries and Illnesses and Other Incidents.........6 OSHA Recordable Occupational Injuries and Illnesses and Other Incidents.........6 Safety and Health .............................................................................................................6 Safety and Health .............................................................................................................6 Fire Protection and Prevention......................................................................................7 Fire Protection and Prevention......................................................................................7 Environmental .................................................................................................................8 Environmental .................................................................................................................8 Insurance...........................................................................................................................8 Insurance...........................................................................................................................8 Security..............................................................................................................................9 Security..............................................................................................................................9

3 OBSERVING PROGRAMS SEMESTER 2007-A....................................................................... 10 3 OBSERVING PROGRAMS SEMESTER 2007-A....................................................................... 10 NOAO Gemini Science Center....................................................................................10 NOAO Gemini Science Center....................................................................................10 Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO)...................................................................15 Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO)...................................................................15 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory................................................................18 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory................................................................18 Community Access to the Private Telescopes ...........................................................22 Community Access to the Private Telescopes ...........................................................22

4 SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM ORDERS AND AMENDMENTS................................................... 24 4 SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM ORDERS AND AMENDMENTS................................................... 24 SPO # 3 AST-0243875 KPNO REU.............................................................................24 SPO # 3 AST-0243875 KPNO REU.............................................................................24 SPO # 5 AST-0335461 TSIP .........................................................................................24 SPO # 5 AST-0335461 TSIP .........................................................................................24 SPO # 6 AST-0336888 AODP ......................................................................................24 SPO # 6 AST-0336888 AODP ......................................................................................24 SPO # 7 AST-0432601 Conferences, Symposia, Workshops & Other Meetings ..25 SPO # 7 AST-0432601 Conferences, Symposia, Workshops & Other Meetings ..25 SPO # 8 AST-0353843 CTIO REU ..............................................................................25 SPO # 8 AST-0353843 CTIO REU ..............................................................................25 SPO # 9 AST-0551161 LSST Project ...........................................................................27 SPO # 9 AST-0551161 LSST Project ...........................................................................27 SPO # 10 AST-0443999 GSMT Project.......................................................................28 SPO # 10 AST-0443999 GSMT Project.......................................................................28

Quarterly updates on scientific, operational, and programmatic activities, including

telescope subscription rates, are published separately in the quarterly NOAO Newsletter (See: http://www.noao.edu/news_rep.html

Quarterly updates on scientific, operational, and programmatic activities, including telescope subscription rates, are published separately in the quarterly NOAO Newsletter (See:

http://www.noao.edu/news_rep.html )

i

http://www.noao.edu/news_rep.html





1

1 PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH (PAEO)

Media and Public Information

• Three colorful new images from the Mayall 4-meter telescope were the centerpiece of the NOAO exhibit booth at the AAS winter meeting in Seattle, which drew a video news report by the Slacker Astronomy podcast, which was also posted on YouTube. These images later appeared on many Web sites, including the “Astronomy Picture of the Day.”

• Associate Director for PAEO D. Isbell was named by the AAS as the co-chair of the U.S. program committee for the planned IAU/UNESCO “International Year of Astronomy” in 2009. Isbell quickly developed an overall goal and organizational structure for the U.S. effort and presented it two weeks later to an international planning meeting in Garching, Germany.

• NOAO images were featured five times as the “Astronomy Picture of the Day” and once as the Space.com “Image of the Day.” The image on the NOAO home page was replaced 13 times, and four new images were added to the on-line NOAO Image Gallery.

Press Releases Issued Last Quarter

• New Images of the Bubble Nebula and Barnard 163 from Kitt Peak

• Calling Dr. Frankenstein! : Interactive Binaries Show Signs of Induced Hyperactivity

Public Affairs and Educational Outreach Information Requests & Inquiries

(3 months ending 3/31/07)

Type/Origin of Request Number

Information requests/inquiries about astronomy/science (phone calls, e-mails, and walk-ins/requests for posters, bookmarks, brochures, etc.

300

Requests and inquiries for use of NOAO images

325

Total 625

• Spiral Galaxy Image Benefits From Vigilance on Dark Skies

• Two Ways to Participate in GLOBE at Night 2007: Classic and Digital

• Buell T. Jannuzi Named Director of Kitt Peak National Observatory

Public Outreach

The Public Outreach department coordinates activities at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center, including retail operations, daily and special tours of Kitt Peak facilities, the docent program, the popular fee-based public observing programs, educational exhibits, and media events. Following are highlights of last quarter’s activities:

2 NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2007 (2)

• As of the end of March 2007, the formal public membership group for the Kitt Peak Visitor Center had 144 members.

• After a weak January/February due to poor weather, the Kitt Peak Nightly Observing program experienced a record attendance for March.

• Articles on the Kitt Peak Visitor Center and its nightly stargazing programs were published in the Travel section of the New York Times, AAA Highroads magazine, and Sunset magazine.

• Through special effort by NOAO public outreach staff, Kitt Peak National Observatory was one of the attractions identified on a new National Geographic Society “geotourism” map of Southern Arizona.

• Public outreach staff participated in the February University of Arizona Elderhostel program, making presentations and conducting tours of Kitt Peak.

• In March, the “Starship Kids,” a group of 37 Japanese students, landed at Kitt Peak to experience the Nightly Observing program (NOP). NOAO staff members volunteered to translate for the students.

PAEO Kitt Peak Visitor Center

Summary of Visitors (3 months ending 3/31/07)

Group/Program # of Visitors

General public tours 3,102

School groups K-12 120

Special tours 24

Nightly Obs. Program 1,879

Advanced Obs. Program 50

Total Visitors 5,175

• A group of science undergraduates from the University of Maryland concluded a spring-break tour of Arizona with a night at Kitt Peak. They used the 20-inch RC telescope at the Visitor Center to capture images of the Moon and Saturn.

• Two groups of students traveled from Springfield, VA, and Colorado Springs to attend the Youth Group Overnight program in January and March. Both groups attended the NOP and spent the remainder of the evening on the Visitor Center telescope before camping out in the center.

Educational Outreach

GLOBE at Night 2007

• The 2007 GLOBE at Night campaign was held March 8–21, 2007, led by C. Walker. This year’s campaign received funding to buy and distribute 135 Unihedron Sky Quality Meters to educators, students, amateur astronomers, science museum staff, and International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) members in 21 U.S. states, the Washington, DC area, and five other countries. Some of the sites also included major observatories like CTIO, KPNO, NSO-Sunspot, Gemini North, Gemini South, and Whipple Observatory. The unaided eye observations part of the program yielded double the number of observations (over 9,000) as last year’s campaign.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH 3

Kits for teaching about light pollution were designed by Walker and S. Pompea, and built and distributed by NOAO to sites across the country.

• A press release on GLOBE at Night 2007 drew wide media coverage around the world (see the March 7, 2007, item posted at www.noao.edu/news), with more attention expected when detailed results are released in late April 2007.

• Related presentations included an invited talk and workshops on GLOBE at Night 2007 at the AURA and IDA-sponsored symposium “The Night” in Washington, DC, on February 21–22, as well as workshops on GLOBE at Night at the annual meeting of the IDA in Tucson.

Astronomy Research Based Science Education (RBSE)

• The 18 high school teachers from around the U.S. selected for the 2007 RBSE class began their on-line class in January. K. Garmany and T. Rector have led separate three-week investigations on imaging and spectroscopy, respectively. There have also been two weeks on introducing research to the classroom, led by J. Lockwood. This content background has prepared the teachers to begin one of four different directed-research projects in the final three weeks of the on-line course.

• NOAO’s 18 Spitzer-RBSE teachers continued their research efforts using Spitzer Space Telescope data, with several teachers and students presenting posters at the AAS Seattle meeting. Planning was conducted for continued support of the Spitzer-RBSE program through the education component of the NASA WISE mission, led by the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab.

Project ASTRO

• The GLOBE at Night 2007 program was the centerpiece of the Spring 2007 workshop for the Project ASTRO and Family ASTRO programs. Four astronomer partners and 12 teachers, including one from Mexico, signed up to take Sky Quality Meter measurements over the two-week event window. Kits to help teach students the concepts of reasons for preserving dark skies were also distributed.

• EO staff led by C. Walker have embarked on a new ASTRO-Chile activity that incorporates the newest images of Mars from the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission and the HiRise camera operated by the University of Arizona to examine different surface features on the red planet and how they compare to features on Earth. This unique effort follows the ASTRO-Chile comparative Earth remote-sensing activity that NASA would like to incorporate in their array of curricula, though the new Mars activity is also a stand-alone activity. Ties to science standards are provided. An astronomer, an astronomer/science educator, a couple of science teachers and a science education/astronomy graduate student are involved in developing the material and giving the teacher workshops.


Hands-On Optics (HOO)

• NOAO continues to support a large number of MESA teachers in California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Maryland, as well as science centers nationwide. The project team reported on plans for the last year of NSF informal science funding of HOO at the project’s National Advisory Board meeting on January 21 in San Jose, and was congratulated on its fine efforts. A book chapter requested on HOO for an NSTA publication on national standards and informal science education is in preparation.

• Professional development workshops were given at the New York Hall of Science and at the Chabot Space and Science Center. R. Sparks of PAEO is working closely with Learning Technologies Inc., the HOO kit distributor, to solve some production problems, such as some electronic parts becoming unavailable.

• In February, the NOAO HOO team held its first distance-learning workshop in conjunction with the Astronomy from the Ground Up program (see below). Twenty educators participated in the on-line course, which included one week on the Hands-On Optics mini-kit “Terrific Telescopes.”

• NOAO is working with Flandrau Science Center and the University of Arizona GEAR-UP project to offer three one-week intensive optics camps in June. An additional four-day optics camp is being offered in conjunction with the Girl Scouts of America in August.

• For the fourth consecutive year, NOAO staff and student outreach workers hosted mini-workshops at the Math, Science and Technology “FunFest” held at the Tucson Convention Center. Over the three 4-hour days of FunFest, more than 6,150 students and adults attended the event, and at least a tenth of them visited the HOO “Essence of Luminescence” mini-workshops. The ever-popular HOO “Hit the Target” mini-workshop was invited back for a second year. The NOAO HOO project also sponsored an Optics Fest at St. Michael’s school in Tucson in February.

• NOAO staff and student outreach workers supported the regional and Arizona-wide MESA competitions for middle and high school students this year. Both events were held in Tucson at the University of Arizona. For the NOAO-supported competition at both events, roughly 30 schools were represented, with 2–4 students competing from each school. The competition centered on “Hit the Target,” an HOO capstone activity using mirrors, a laser and an understanding of the law of reflection.

• NOAO continues to support an extended program for HOO at the Boys & Girls Club in South Tucson and in Sells. A leading staff member at the Boys & Girls Club in South Tucson commented, “These ‘Aha!’ moments for the kids are the reason it is so important to keep providing them these opportunities—you truly are making a difference in the life of these young people by giving them this exposure to science.” Fifteen to twenty students attend weekly HOO sessions at the South Tucson Boys & Girls Club, with half as many attending every other week at

PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH 5

the sessions in Sells. As a form of assessment at the end of each session, students fill out answers to a few key questions in a “passport.” Answering most questions correctly leads to a rewarding activity such as a trip to Kitt Peak National Observatory. The NOAO student-staff team has been invited back this summer to both clubs.

Astronomy from the Ground Up

• The key activity for this quarter was the testing and delivery of an on-line prototype professional development workshop for museum professionals. K. Garmany led NOAO’s effort in this area, serving as the astronomical consultant. The 20 participants were introduced to activities they could use at their museums, and conducted a lively on-line discussion. The three-week workshop concluded with a joint observing session on SLOOH, a remote telescope operated in the Canary Islands. Garmany described the objects as they were imaged with this 14-inch telescope, and discussed with the participants how they could use a facility like SLOOH at their science centers.

Other Educational Outreach Activities

• The EO group had a strong presence at the AAS/AAPT meeting in Seattle, with D. Isbell and S. Pompea chairing sessions and several staff members making presentations, including three talks on the Hands-On Optics project and one talk on LSST education. C. Walker contributed posters on educational scaffolding for the solar teacher-student research project, a “walk-through-the-Sun” project for the McMath-Pierce Telescope tunnel, a Chilean/U.S. joint education project on remote sensing, a Project ASTRO National Network poster, and the GLOBE at Night project.

• NOAO received word that its professional development project with the University of Arizona to train elementary and middle school teachers at Piñon Unified School District #4 in northern Arizona was accepted. This Math Science Partnership (funded through the Arizona State Department of Education) will provide five workshops this fall and winter, as well as teaching kits for teachers provided through the school district. NOAO is planning the professional development program, which begins in August. The professional development schedule and materials must be submitted in advance to the Arizona State Department of Education and to Hopi and Navajo Tribal Elders.

6

2 TUCSON AND KITT PEAK SITE SAFETY REPORT

OSHA Recordable Occupational Injuries and Illnesses and Other Incidents

• On January 10, a hay bale fell off an oncoming vehicle and struck the Kitt Peak shuttle bus. The driver of the bus suffered non life-threatening injuries; one passenger suffered minor bruising. The hay bale struck the bus in the lower section of the driver’s window and the upper quarter panel. The bus was towed to a local shop to acquire a cost estimate for repairs. The driver took time off to recover and has since returned to work. This case is considered an OSHA recordable injury due to time off from work.

• Shuttle van #65 was struck by a rock kicked up by a passing vehicle on its way down from Kitt Peak on January 19. The driver’s-side rear side window was shattered. No employees sustained injuries.

• The driver of shuttle van #69 backed into a third party vehicle while at the intersection of Second Street and Cherry Avenue on January 25. No one was injured and the van was undamaged. The third party vehicle was damaged and an auto liability claim was made to AURA’s insurance company.

• On February 6, a craftsperson was moving two HVAC blowers with a cart and one of the blowers fell from the cart. The craftsperson tried to prevent the blower from striking the ground and caught the blower with his right hand. A sharp edge on the blower cut his hand and he suffered a small laceration that required three stitches. This case will be considered an OSHA recordable.

• On February 9, a Kitt Peak engineer was helping the Facilities staff secure cargo. The engineer was positioning a bungee cord and the hook that was connected to the equipment slipped from its connection point and struck him on the forehead causing a laceration that required stitches. This case will be considered an OSHA recordable.

• In the evening of March 28, an undocumented alien (UDA) was found in the Solar House on Kitt Peak. Border Patrol was notified and responded and captured the UDA. An observer reported that items had been removed from his rental car between 2:00 and 3:00 P.M. that day. His jacket, Nikon camera and lens were recovered from the UDA when the Border Patrol searched him, but the observer is missing a camera lens and a camera bag.

Safety and Health

• As an annual requirement, the OSHA 300A log was completed, signed by the Acting Director and posted throughout Tucson and Kitt Peak facilities before February 1. For calendar year 2006, Kitt Peak enjoyed a year with no OSHA recordable injuries. Tucson experienced one OSHA recordable injury, ending the year with an incident rate of .43 (number of injuries per 100 employees).

TUCSON AND KITT PEAK SITE SAFETY REPORT 7

• C. Gessner attended the NEWFIRM planning meeting on January 5. A safety, health and environmental action plan was prepared for the project team. Other risk management involvement included review of lifting procedures during major lifting work.

• C. Gessner participated in the WIYN ODI (one-degree imager) filter mechanical design review on January 22. Several options were discussed for a safe way to move the filter group to the loading position rather than someone lifting the weight. One probable solution may be to implement a manual worm gear drive, eliminating all concerns about lifting loads and risking the filters.

• A risk management presentation was presented to new PAEO Docents on January 29.

• C. Gessner participated in the mini-review (pre CoDR) of the LSST summit facilities held on February 6. Risk management suggestions and comments were provided to the project team.

• In March, the Gemini Safety Manager’s search committee interviewed the last of the eight telephone interview candidates and selected three for final personal interviews. The three candidates arrived in Hawaii during the week of March 5. Each candidate was given a tour of the facilities including a trip to Mauna Loa, then a full day of presentations, search committee interviews, and one-on-one interviews with Gemini staff. After several meetings, the search committee made their final decisions on March 19. Vicki Daniel, Dr. Jim Kennedy and C. Gessner met with Dr. Doug Simons that evening to present the search committee’s recommendation. All agreed that Mr. Ronald C. McKinnon was the best fit to transform Gemini’s safety/risk management efforts, guiding Gemini to “World’s Best in SHE Management.” Ron accepted the offer on March 29 and is planning to arrive in Hilo on June 1. C. Gessner was honored to be the chair of this search committee.

Fire Protection and Prevention

• Tucson and Kitt Peak fire alarms and fire suppression systems were inspected and tested.

• On February 21, Kitt Peak was visited by an entourage of wildland firefighters from the Tohono O’Odham Nation, two gentlemen from the firefighting division of the BIA, and a hotshot crew from the California Sycuan Fire Department. The purpose of their visit was to discuss plans to execute the Wildland/Urban Interface Mitigation Plan that was developed in 2003. Execution of the plan is unknown.

• CFO responded to an “alarm condition” related to the computer room Halon fire suppression system on March 23. It was determined that the backup batteries were defective and there was no chance of the system tripping. The batteries were replaced and United Fire was asked to inspect the system prior to the regularly scheduled maintenance check.

• 8:00 P.M., Wednesday, March 28, the Tohono O’Odham Nation Fire Department contacted C. Gessner to report that a small fire was burning at Kitt Peak on the west side about 400 feet below mile marker 8 on Highway 386. Kitt Peak staff immediately implemented the procedures


as detailed in the NOAO/NSO Contingency Plan. The fire remained in this area as the firefighting measures ensued. The Tohono O’Odham Nation Fire Department set up their command center at the turnout near mile marker 8 with Assistant Chief Guy Acuna and Emergency Management Officer Chuck Kmet as the incident commanders. That night, NOP visitors were safely escorted off the mountain and a head count of all mountain personnel was made in case of the need for evacuation.

On Thursday, a hotshot crew of firefighters was dispatched from Northwest Fire District and they began working on the fire. Mountain personnel continued to be on standby and prepared “in house” fire protection measures. The mountain was temporarily closed to the public. Additional Northwest Fire District hotshots were dispatched, with 22 working on the fire. Around 6:15 P.M., the Fire Department dispatched a single slurry drop from an air tanker and telescopes were closed for about four hours due to smoke. Kitt Peak staff accommodated the Fire Department and the hotshot crew with dining room facilities and a place to spend the night both Wednesday and Thursday. The Northwest Fire District hotshot crew constructed a fire line and put out hot spots during the late afternoon and evening.

By Friday evening, the fire on the west side of Kitt Peak was fully contained and was not advancing. Favorable, light winds and an increase in humidity helped put down the hot spots that remained and the hotshot crew was dismissed late Friday night. Guy Acuna monitored the fire area through the night and until late afternoon on Saturday. Guy Acuna announced that the fire was extinguished at 4:00 P.M. on Saturday and Kitt Peak was reopened to the public. Everyone worked well together and there were no reports of property damage or injuries.

Environmental

• The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) 2006 Facility Annual Report (FAR) as a Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator of Hazardous Waste for NOAO was completed and submitted in January.

• NOAO received past due invoices for UST taxes from the ADEQ Underground Storage Tank (UST) division in March. The ADEQ again verified that we are a Federal facility and are not responsible for the ACT invoices. The previous invoices that show “Outstanding” are going to be marked as “Fee Billed in Error.”

Insurance

• On January 8, C. Gessner and K. Wilson met with George Curran and Deborah Narcisso, AURA vice president for administration, to discuss the status of AURA’s insurance program.

• Follow-up and paperwork continues related to the January 10 accident involving NOAO’s driver and the Kitt Peak shuttle bus. On March 13, C. Gessner received a telephone call from Ms Cruz of Farmer’s Insurance. Per the telephone conversation, Ms Cruz indicated that Farmer’s Insurance has accepted liability for the January 10, 2007, accident on Highway 86 involving their client and the Kitt Peak bus. Information sent by e-mail included photographs

TUCSON AND KITT PEAK SITE SAFETY REPORT 9

of the damage to the bus taken on the date of the accident, the towing bill and a quote for repairs. The bus is presently at Auto Safety House in Tucson.

• Property insurance for the Gemini-leased modular buildings was cancelled as the buildings have been removed from the property.

Security

• Central Alarm was awarded the three-year contract for unarmed security services at NOAO’s Tucson facilities this quarter.

10

3 OBSERVING PROGRAMS SEMESTER 2007-A

NOAO Gemini Science Center

For the six months ending March 31, 2007, a total of 77 scientific programs were awarded time through NGSC telescopes, including 12 (16%) graduate thesis programs. Telescopes scheduled and number of nights awarded are specified in the following tables. (Key: GEM-NQ = Gemini North Queue, GEM-SQ = Gemini South Queue, GEM-N = Gemini North classical, GEM-S = Gemini South classical, GEM-K = Gemini/Keck time exchange, GEM-Su = Gemini/Subaru time exchange, * = poor weather program, G = Graduate Student, O = Other, T = Thesis Student). NGSC Observing Programs: Gemini Telescopes – Non-Thesis (65) Telescope Nights

1. M. Agüeros (Columbia U.), N. Silvestri (U. of Washington), S. Kleinman (Subaru Telescope), J. Liebert (Steward Observatory), S. Anderson (U. of Washington), F. Camilo (Columbia U.), D. Eisenstein (Steward Observatory): “Finding the Friends: High-Resolution Spectroscopy of New SDSS Low-Mass White Dwarfs”

GEM-NQ 1.73

2. E. Barton (UC Irvine), J. Smith (Steward Observatory), J. Jensen (Gemini Observatory), C. Papovich, R. Dave (Steward Observatory): “Searching for Star Formation at z=8.2”

GEM-NQ 3.3

3. E. Berger, US Lead Scientist for R. Rutledge (McGill University), E. Berger (Carnegie Observatories), G. Basri (UC Berkeley), T. Fleming (Steward Observatory), M. Giampapa (National Solar Observatory), J. Gizis (U. of Delaware), C. Johns-Krull (Rice U.), J. Liebert (Steward Observatory), E. Martin (University of Central Florida): “The Full Picture of Magnetic Activity in Ultracool Dwarfs: Simultaneous Observations of Coronae and Chromospheres”

GEM-NQ 0.83

4. J. Blakeslee, US Lead Scientist for L. Ferrarese, P. Cote, E. Peng (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics), M. West (Gemini Observatory), A. King, D. McLaughlin (University of Leicester), L. Glass (University of Victoria), C. Onken (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics), J. Blakeslee (Washington State U.), A. Jordan (ESO): “Nuclear Feedback on Galaxy Evolution: Masses, Ages, and Star Formation Histories of Nuclear Star Clusters in Nine Virgo Early-Type Galaxies”

GEM-NQ 1.35

5. J. Blakeslee, US Lead Scientist for E. Peng (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics), J. Blakeslee (Washington State U.), D. McLaughlin (University of Leicester), M. Takamiya (U. of Hawaii), M. West (Gemini Observatory), T. Puzia (STScI), P. Cote (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics), A. Jordan (ESO), R. Chandar (Carnegie Institution of Washington), L. Ferrarese (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics), P. Goudfrooij (STScI), M. Kissler-Patig (ESO), S. Mei (Johns Hopkins U.), G. Trancho (Gemini Observatory): “The Dark Matter Content of Early-Type Galaxies in the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey”

GEM-NQ 0.9

6. R. Blum (NOAO), P. McGregor (Australian National U.), C. Barbosa (IAGUSP), P. Conti (U. of Colorado), A. Damineli (Instituto de Astronomia Geofisica), E. Figueredo (Open U.), P. Crowther (University of Sheffield): “Galactic Massive Star Formation: The Case for NIFS and W43”

GEM-NQ *

7. R. Blum (NOAO), A. Damineli (IAGUSP), P. Conti (U. of Colorado), A. Moises (G) (IAGUSP), E. Figueredo (Open U.): “The Incredible Shrinking Milky Way”

GEM-SQ 2.6

8. K. Brand (STScI), M. Brown (Princeton U.), V. Desai (California Institute of Technology), A. Dey (NOAO), E. Le Floc’H (U. of Hawaii), B. Jannuzi (NOAO), C. Papovich (Steward Observatory), T. Soifer (SSC), D. Weedman (Cornell U.): “NIRI spectroscopy of 2.1<z<2.4 optically faint luminous infrared galaxies”

GEM-NQ 1.9

9. S. Brittain (Clemson U.), J. Najita (NOAO), B. Donehew (G) (Clemson U.): “Measuring Warm Gas in Transitional Disks around Herbig Ae/Be Stars”

GEM-S 2

10. M. Brown (California Institute of Technology), C. Trujillo (Gemini Observatory), D. Ragazzine (California Institute of Technology): “The formation and evolution of a collisional system in the Kuiper belt”

GEM-NQ 0.6

11. R. Chandar (Carnegie Institution of Washington), T. Puzia, P. Goudfrooij, B. Whitmore (STScI), B. Miller (Gemini Observatory): “Lamp Posts in the Dark: Globular Clusters as Tracers of the Halo in M101”

GEM-NQ 2.7

12. H. Chen (U. of Chicago), J. Bloom (UC Berkeley), J. Prochaska (UC Santa Cruz), K. Glazebrook (Swinburne U.), S. Lopez (Universidad de Chile), M. Pettini (University of Cambridge), P. Hall (York University), A. Bunker (University of Exeter), C. Bailyn, B. Cobb (Yale U.), E. Ramirez-Ruiz (UC Santa Cruz), D. York (U. of Chicago): “Rapid Spectroscopy and Imaging Follow-up of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows on the Gemini Telescopes”

GEM-SQ 0.7

OBSERVING PROGRAMS SEMESTER 2007A 11

NGSC Observing Programs: Gemini Telescopes – Non-Thesis (65) Telescope Nights

13. D. Christlein (Yale & Universidad de Chile), D. Zaritsky (Steward Observatory): “Science with Rotating Slits: Star Formation in the Extreme Outskirts of Galaxies”

GEM-NQ 1

14. G. Clayton (Louisiana State U.), M. Barlow (University College London), B. Sugerman, M. Meixner (STScI), D. Welch (McMaster U.): “What Fraction of Type II Supernovae Produce Dust and Why?”

GEM-SQ 1.05

15. H. Crowl, J. Kenney (Yale U.): “Stellar Populations of Stripped Spiral Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster” GEM-NQ *

16. K. Cunha, V. Smith (NOAO), G. Doppmann (Gemini Observatory): “Chemical Enrichment History of the Bulge: Using IR-Spectroscopy to Probe an Obscured Inner-Bulge Field”

GEM-SQ 1.4

17. P. Green (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), J. Silverman (Max-Planck Institute fur extraterrestrische Physik), W. Barkhouse (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), B. Jannuzi (NOAO), D. Kim (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), M. Smith (CTIO), B. Wilkes, H. Tananbaum (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “Growth and Feeding of X-ray-selected Supermassive Black Holes”

GEM-NQ 3

18. D. Haarsma (Calvin College), M. Donahue (Michigan State U.), M. Dickinson (NOAO), M. Postman (STScI), P. Rosati (ESO), J. Stocke (U. of Colorado), G. Voit (Michigan State U.): “Redshifts of distant X-ray galaxy clusters”

GEM-NQ 1.48

19. L. Haberzettl, J. Lauroesch, G. Williger (U. of Louisville), K. Roth (Gemini Observatory), R. Dettmar, D. Bomans (Ruhr Universitat, Bochum): “Spectroscopy of an Extreme Low Surface Brightness Galaxy in the HDF-S”

GEM-S *

20. T. Harrison (New Mexico State U.), S. Howell (NOAO), P. Szkody (U. of Washington), J. Wellhouse (G), J. Bornak (G) (New Mexico State U.): “An Infrared Spectroscopic Survey of Intermediate Polars”

GEM-SQ *

21. C. Heinke (Northwestern U.), P. Jonker (Science Research Organization of the Netherlands), R. Wijnands (University of Amsterdam), R. Taam, C. Deloye (Northwestern U.): “Simultaneous X-ray and Optical Study of an Accreting Millisecond Pulsar in Quiescence”

GEM-SQ 0.35

22. L. Helton (G), C. Woodward (U. of Minnesota), N. Evans (Keele University), T. Geballe (Gemini Observatory), S. Team (O) (Spitzer Nova Team): “Synoptic Mid-IR Spectra ToO Novae”

GEM-NQ 0.78

23. J. Hennawi (UC Berkeley), X. Prochaska (UC Santa Cruz): “Quasars Probing Quasars: Shedding Light on the Environments, Emission Geometry, and Lifetimes of Quasars”

GEM-NQ GEM-SQ

2 2

24. S. Howell, US Lead Scientist for I. Soechting (University of Oxford), R. Clowes (University of Central Lancashire), M. Huber (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), S. Howell (NOAO): “GMOS Spectroscopy of Superclusters at z=0.8 - investigating the structure assembly process”

GEM-SQ *

25. E. Jensen, D. Cohen (Swarthmore College), M. Gagne (West Chester): “Imaging an Extended Gaseous Disk around a Weak-Lined T Tauri Star”

GEM-SQ 0.8

26. R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), R. McCray (U. of Colorado), P. Challis (O) (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), K. Heng (U. of Colorado), N. Smith (UC Berkeley): “The Reverse Shock in SN 1987A”

GEM-SQ 0.2

27. J. Lotz, US Lead Scientist for W. Harris (McMaster U.), J. Lotz (NOAO), B. Miller (Gemini Observatory), H. Kennedy (McMaster U.): “Ages and Metallicities of the Nuclei of Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies”

GEM-SQ 0.6

28. K. Luhman (Pennsylvania State U.): “Spectroscopy of Candidate Substellar Companions” GEM-SQ 0.1

29. L. Macri (NOAO), K. Stanek (Ohio State U.): “An accurate calibration of the Cepheid Distance Scale with the Maser Galaxy NGC4258”

GEM-NQ 1.5

30. F. Marchis (UC Berkeley), J. Spencer, K. Jessup (Southwest Research Institute), A. Davies, R. Lopes (Jet Propulsion Laboratory): “Imaging Io’s Volcanic Activity in Support of the New Horizons Flyby”

GEM-NQ 0.5

31. T. Matheson (NOAO), L. Dessart (Steward Observatory), S. Blondin (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), B. Leibundgut (ESO), D. Hillier (U. of Pittsburgh), R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), B. Schmidt (Australian National U.): “Constraining the Hubble Constant with a Type II Supernova”

GEM-NQ 1.2

32. J. Monnier (U. of Michigan), P. Tuthill (U. of Sydney): “Mid-IR sizes of YSO disks: Precision calibration using interferometry”

GEM-SQ 2

33. D. Nesvorny (O) (Southwest Research Institute), R. Binzel (MIT), C. Chapman (Southwest Research Institute), A. Ramirez (Universidad de La Serena), D. Lazzaro (Observatorio Nacional, Brazil), P. Vernazza (Observatoire de Paris): “Spectroscopic survey of km-sized main-belt asteroids”

GEM-S 1.5



34. G. Orton, P. Yanamandra-Fisher, K. Baines (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), L. Fletcher (G) (University of Oxford), A. Simon-Miller, G. Bjoraker (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), R. Gladstone (Southwest Research Institute): “New Horizons Mission Support: Joint Study of Jupiter’s Anticyclonic Vortices and Aurorae”

GEM-SQ 0.8

35. E. O’Sullivan, US Lead Scientist for A. Romanowsky, T. Richtler, D. Geisler (Universidad de Concepcion), F. Faifer, J. Forte (U. Nacional de la Plata), E. O’Sullivan (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), T. Ponman (University of Birmingham), Y. Schuberth (Universitat Bonn), A. Jordan (ESO): “Dark matter lost or found? - the definitive dynamical portrait of an ordinary elliptical galaxy”

GEM-SQ 0.15

36. C. Papovich (Steward Observatory), J. Huang (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), C. Conselice (University of Nottingham), E. Le Floc’h (Steward Observatory), M. Maia (Observatorio Nacional), T. Webb (McGill University), D. Koo, E. Laird (UC Santa Cruz), J. Lotz (NOAO), D. Marcillac (Steward Observatory), K. Nandra (Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine), B. Weiner, C. Willmer (Steward Observatory): “Nebular Line Emission in z~1 Spitzer/MIPS-Selected Galaxies”

GEM-Su 0.5

37. E. Perlman (Florida Institute of Technology), M. Birkinshaw (University of Bristol), J. Radomski (Gemini Observatory), M. Georganopoulos (University of Maryland in Baltimore County), D. Worrall (University of Bristol), J. Schaefer, C. Packham (U. of Florida): “High Resolution Mid-IR Imaging of Radio Galaxies”

GEM-NQ GEM-SQ

0.550.18

38. S. Perlmutter, US Lead Scientist for I. Hook (University of Oxford), R. Carlberg, D. Howell (University of Toronto), D. Neill (California Institute of Technology), K. Perrett (University of Toronto), C. Pritchet (University of Victoria), M. Sullivan (University of Toronto), R. McMahon (IoA, Cambridge), J. Bronder (University of Oxford), G. Aldering (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), S. Perlmutter (UC Berkeley), R. Pain (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), A. Conley (University of Toronto): “The Nature of Dark Energy from Type Ia Supernovae”

GEM-NQ 1

39. M. Perrin, J. Graham (UC Berkeley): “Measuring Physical Conditions and Mass Flux in the Bipolar Jet of LkHa 233 with GMOS and OSIRIS”

GEM-NQ 0.15

40. J. Prochaska (University of California Observatories), J. Hennawi (UC Berkeley), J. Kollmeier (Carnegie Observatories), Z. Zheng (Institute for Advanced Study): “Illuminating QAL Systems with Their Background Quasars”

GEM-NQ 0.63

41. K. Retherford, G. Gladstone (G), J. Waite (G) (Southwest Research Institute), T. Stallard, S. Miller (University College London): “Phoenix Imaging of Jupiter and Saturn H2 and H3

+ Auroral Winds during New Horizons Jupiter Encounter and HST International Heliophysical Year Campaigns”

GEM-S 1

42. G. Richards (Drexel U.), D. Chelouche (Institute for Advanced Study), P. Hall (York University), J. Hennawi (UC Berkeley), N. Inada (University of Tokyo), C. Keeton (Rutgers U.), C. Kochanek (Ohio State U.), M. Oguri (Princeton U.), D. Schneider (Pennsylvania State U.), S. Wyithe (U. of Melbourne), A. Yonehara (University of Tokyo): “Spectroscopic Monitoring of SDSS J1004+4112”

GEM-NQ 1.22

43. S.E. Ridgway (CTIO), M. Lacy (SSC): “Natural Guide Star AO Imaging of Radio-quiet Quasar Hosts at High Redshifts”

GEM-NQ 1

44. A. Robinson, D. Axon (Rochester Institute of Technology), T. Bergmann (UFRGS), K. Fathi (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias): “The nuclear spiral in Arp102B: accretion flow or jet-cloud interaction?”

GEM-NQ 0.2

45. H. Roe (Lowell Observatory), C. Trujillo (Gemini Observatory), M. Brown, E. Schaller (G), A. Bouchez (California Institute of Technology): “Titan’s methane clouds: The hunt for regions of active surface geology”

GEM-NQ 2

46. B. Rothberg (STScI): “Dynamics of Merger Remnants in the Infrared” GEM-SQ 1.6

47. D. Rupke, S. Veilleux (U. of Maryland): “The Structure and Power Source of Superwinds in Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies”

GEM-NQ 1

48. A. Seth (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), N. Bastian (University College London), R. Blum (NOAO), N. Caldwell (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), V. Debattista (U. of Washington), T. Puzia (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics): “The Formation History of NGC 4244’s Nuclear Star Cluster”

GEM-NQ 1

49. N. Seymour (SSC), M. Brookes (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), I. McHardy, T. Dwelly (University of Southampton): “Disentangling the evolution of starburst and AGN populations in deep radio surveys”

GEM-NQ 2.16

50. M. Shara, US Lead Scientist for L. Drissen (Laval U.), M. Shara, D. Zurek (American Museum of Natural History), A. Moffat, N. St-Louis (University of Montreal), C. Robert (Laval U.), R. Doyon (University of Montreal): “Infrared Spectroscopy of southern Galactic Wolf-Rayet candidates”

GEM-SQ *

51. A. Siemiginowska (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), J. Bechtold (Steward Observatory), T. Aldcroft (SAO), D. Burke (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “The cluster around the z=1 quasar 3C 186”

GEM-NQ 1.65



52. N. Smith (UC Berkeley): “IR Variability of Eta Carinae” GEM-SQ 0.9

53. V. Smith, K. Cunha, K. Hinkle (NOAO): “Characterizing Chemical Evolution in the Small Magellanic Cloud”

GEM-S 2

54. A. Speck, A. Corman (U. of Missouri, Columbia), K. Volk (Gemini Observatory), G. Sloan (Cornell U.), M. Barlow (University College London): “The Dust Shell Structure and SiC Feature Around Nearby Carbon Stars”

GEM-NQ 0.4

55. K. Stassun (Vanderbilt U.), R. Mathieu (U. of Wisconsin Madison): “Visible-light light curves of the first brown-dwarf eclipsing binary”

GEM-NQ GEM-SQ

1 1

56. D. Steeghs, US Lead Scientist for T. Marsh (University of Warwick), D. Steeghs (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), G. Roelofs (G), P. Groot, G. Nelemans (Radboud University Nijmegen), G. Ramsay (Mullard Space Science Lab), S. Barros (G) (University of Warwick): “Orbital periods of AM CVn stars”

GEM-NQ 0.7

57. D. Stern (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), C. Kochanek (Ohio State U.), M. Brodwin (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), M. Brown (Princeton U.), R. Cool (G) (Steward Observatory), A. Dey (NOAO), P. Eisenhardt (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. Gonzalez (U. of Florida), V. Gorjian (California Institute of Technology), B. Jannuzi (NOAO): “A Complete Sample of Mid-IR Selected AGN”

GEM-N 4

58. K. Su (Steward Observatory), Y. Chu (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), K. Volk (Gemini Observatory): “Resolving the Dust Disk Around the Central Star of the Helix Nebula”

GEM-NQ 0.3

59. C. Telesco, M. Moerchen (U. of Florida): “The Mid-IR Structure of Two Debris Disks” GEM-SQ 0.35

60. M. Torres, D. Steeghs (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), B. Gaensicke (O), T. Marsh (University of Warwick), P. Rodriguez-Gil (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias), L. Schmidtobreick (ESO), K. Long (STScI), M. Schreiber (Valparaiso U.): “Unravelling the role of the SW Sextantis stars in the evolution of cataclysmic variables”

GEM-NQ 0.4

61. D. Turnshek, US Lead Scientist for D. Nestor (University of Cambridge), D. Turnshek, S. Rao (U. of Pittsburgh), M. Pettini (University of Cambridge), B. Menard (CITA): “The Nature of Ultra-strong MgII Absorber Galaxies”

GEM-NQ 0.7

62. A. Weinberger (Carnegie Institution of Washington), R. Fisher (Gemini Observatory), A. Roberge (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies): “Mid-Infrared Polarimetry of the Disk of (beta) Pictoris”

GEM-NQ 1

63. B. Wilkes (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), M. Smith (CTIO), P. Green (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), A. Mossman (G) (SAO), M. Kim (O), D. Kim (G) (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), B. Jannuzi (NOAO), W. Barkhouse (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), J. Silverman (Max-Planck Institute fur extraterrestrische Physik), D. Norman (NOAO): “The Nature of Optically-Faint, X-Ray Selected AGN - Spectroscopy.”

GEM-SQ 0.3

64. J. Wisniewski (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), K. Bjorkman (U. of Toledo), M. Clampin (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center): “V838 Monocerotis: A Nova-like Ejection, Stellar Merger, or Star Which Ate Several Giant Planets?”

GEM-NQ 0.98

65. M. Wong, I. de Pater, P. Marcus (UC Berkeley), C. Trujillo (Gemini Observatory), G. Orton, K. Baines (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. Simon-Miller (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), N. Chanover (New Mexico State U.): “Jupiter’s Red Spots during the New Horizons Flyby”

GEM-NQ 0.4

Thesis Programs (11) Telescope Nights

1. J. Brown (T), G. Blake (California Institute of Technology), A. Boogert (CTIO), K. Pontoppidan (California Institute of Technology), B. Merin, V. Geers (G), E. van Dishoeck (Leiden Observatory): “Mid-IR imaging of proto-planetary disks with inner gaps”

GEM-SQ 1.2

2. C. Espaillat (T), N. Calvet, E. Bergin, L. Hartmann (U. of Michigan Dearborn), K. Hinkle (NOAO): “Probing the Planet-Forming Region of T Tauri Stars in Chamaeleon”

GEM-S 3

3. X. Fan, L. Jiang (G) (Steward Observatory), C. Carilli, R. Wang (T) (NRAO), F. Walter (Max Planck Institut fur Astronomie), P. Cox (Instituto di Radioastronomia), M. Vestergaard (Steward Observatory): “Near Infrared Spectroscopy of Submillimeter-Luminous Quasars at z~6”

GEM-NQ 1.4

4. C. Fassnacht, M. Auger (T) (UC Davis): “Lens Redshifts of CLASS Gravitational Lenses” GEM-NQ 2.06

5. M. Fitzgerald (T), J. Graham, P. Kalas (UC Berkeley): “The HD 32297 Debris Disk: Dust Composition & Structural Asymmetry”

GEM-NQ 0.5

6. F. Hamann, L. Simon (T), P. Hidalgo (T) (U. of Florida), D. Nestor (University of Cambridge): “Quasar Metallicities and Host Galaxy Evolution”

GEM-K 1.5


Thesis Programs (11) Telescope Nights

7. M. Moerchen (T), C. Telesco (U. of Florida): “Seeking Silicate Emission in a Newly Resolved Extended Debris Disk”

GEM-NQ 0.28

8. F. Mullally (T) (U. of Texas, Austin), A. Burrows (Steward Observatory), T. von Hippel (U. of Texas, Austin): “Confirmation of a white dwarf + brown dwarf binary”

GEM-NQ 0.1

9. A. Soderberg (T) (California Institute of Technology): “The Relation of Type Ib and Ic Supernovae Revealed with NIR Spectroscopy”

GEM-NQ GEM-SQ

0.5 0.38

10. G. Wilson, US Lead Scientist for A. Muzzin (T) (University of Toronto), G. Wilson (SSC), H. Yee (University of Toronto), M. Lacy (SSC), D. Gilbank (University of Toronto), J. Surace (SSC), H. Hoekstra (University of Victoria), S. Majumdar (CITA), C. Lonsdale (IPAC), M. Gladders (U. of Chicago): “GMOS Spectroscopy of Two Extremely Rich IR-selected Galaxy Clusters at Redshift 1.4–1.5”

GEM-NQ 1.44

11. C. Woodward, L. Helton (T) (U. of Minnesota), S. Team (SSC): “Synoptic GNIRS XD Spectra ToO Novae”

GEM-SQ 1.2

12. P. van Dokkum (Yale U.), M. Kriek (T) (Leiden Observatory), R. Quadri (G) (Yale U.), M. Franx (Leiden Observatory), G. Illingworth (UC Santa Cruz): “Dead or alive? The efficiency of suppressing star formation in massive galaxies at high redshift”

GEM-S 4


Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO)

For the six months ending March 31, 2007, a total of 48 U.S. scientific programs were awarded time on the KPNO telescopes, including 21 (44%) graduate thesis programs. Telescope(s) scheduled and number of nights awarded are specified in the following tables. (Key: WIYN-SYN = Synoptic/Queue, TOO = Target of Opportunity program, G = Graduate Student, O = Other, T = Thesis Student, U = Undergraduate Student)

U.S. Programs: Kitt Peak National Observatory – Non-Thesis (27) Telescope Nights

1. K. Cook, M. Gregg (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), L. Macri, J. Mould (NOAO), P. Stetson (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics), D. Welch (McMaster U.), D. Alves (UC Davis): “A Cepheid Distance to the Coma Cluster”

KP-4m WIYN

3.52

2. A. Dey (NOAO), C. Willmer, C. Papovich (Steward Observatory), M. Brown (Princeton U.), B. Jannuzi, M. Dickinson (NOAO), S. Faber (UC Santa Cruz), K. Brand (NOAO): “Measuring the Evolving Space Density of the Red Galaxy Population”

KP-4m 6.5

3. D. Domingue (Georgia State U.), C. Xu, Y. Cheng (G) (California Institute of Technology): “Local Benchmarks for the Evolution of Interacting Galaxies - Redshift and EW Measurements”

KP-2.1m 2.5

4. S. Eikenberry (U. of Florida), J. Paredes (Universitat de Barcelona), R. Bandyopadhyay (U. of Florida), M. Ribo (Universitat de Barcelona), S. Raines (U. of Florida), J. Marti (Universidad de Jaen): “FLAMINGOS Spectroscopy of Candidate EGRET Counterparts”

KP-4m 2

5. D. Figer (Rochester Institute of Technology), T. Tyson (UC Davis), K. Gilmore (SLAC): “The First Astronomical Use of Silicon PIN Detectors”

KP-2.1m 6.5

6. A. Fruchter (STScI), J. Rhoads (Arizona State U.), D. Reichart (U. of North Carolina), J. Graham (G) (Johns Hopkins U.), A. Rest (CTIO), A. Levan (University of Hertfordshire), J. Castro Ceron (G) (University of Copenhagen), M. Merrill (NOAO), D. Bersier (Liverpool Johns Moores University), N. Tanvir (University of Hertfordshire), J. Hjorth (University of Copenhagen), A. Fuentes (G) (Arizona State U.): “Rapid Observations and Fundamental Studies of GRB Afterglows”

KP-4m-TOOKP-2.1m-TOOWIYN-TOO

7. A. Gonzalez (U. of Florida), D. Stern, M. Brodwin (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. Stanford (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), P. Eisenhardt (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. Dey (NOAO), J. Mohr, J. Song (G) (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign): “Galaxy Cluster Velocity Dispersions for Clusters in the IRAC Shallow Survey”

KP-4m 6

8. C. Grillmair (SSC), O. Dionatos (G) (Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma), D. Geisler (Universidad de Concepcion), K. Johnston (Wesleyan U.), S. Majewski, R. Patterson (U. of Virginia), D. Spergel, S. Tremaine (Princeton U.): “Fishing in Tidal Streams”

WIYN 5

9. L. Haberzettl, G. Williger, J. Lauroesch (U. of Louisville), O. Kuhn (Steward Observatory), M. Graham (California Institute of Technology): “Probing Large-scale Galaxy Sheets at z = 0.8”

KP-2.1m 15

10. H. Harris (US Naval Observatory), A. Henden (AAVSO), C. Dahn, J. Pier (US Naval Observatory): “Spectra to Support Accurate Parallaxes”

WIYN 3

11. J. Holberg (Steward Observatory), S. Howell (NOAO), E. Sion (Villanova U.): “Exoplanet Tracker Observations of Sirius-Like Systems”

KP-2.1m 4

12. S. Howell (NOAO), D. Ciardi, G. Van Belle (Michaelson Science Center): “The Search Continues for Extra-Solar Planets in a Sample of Metal Rich K stars”

KP-2.1m 7

13. D. Hunter (Lowell Observatory), B. Elmegreen (IBM), E. Anderson (Northern Arizona U.): “Star Formation at the Stellar Edges of Dwarf Galaxies”

KP-2.1m 7.5

14. J. Kenney (Yale U.), G. Jacoby (WIYN), H. Crowl, T. Tal (G) (Yale U.): “Galaxy Interactions in Subcluster Mergers: H(alpha) Filaments Surrounding the Virgo Elliptical M86”

KP-4m 3

15. K. Lewis, R. Mushotzky (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center): “Spectroscopy of XMM Slew Survey Sources”

KP-4m 3

16. S. Majewski, C. Drown (U), R. Munoz (G), R. Patterson (U. of Virginia), C. Palma (Pennsylvania State U.), M. Siegel (U. of Texas, Austin): “Proof of Tidal Tails from the Ursa Minor dSph Galaxy?”

KP-4m 4


U.S. Programs: Kitt Peak National Observatory – Non-Thesis (27) Telescope Nights

17. R. Marzke (San Francisco State U.), M. Hudson (University of Waterloo): “The Faint End of the Galaxy Luminosity Function: Efficient Photometric Selection of Faint Spectroscopic Targets in the Coma Cluster”

KP-4m 4

18. S. McGaugh (U. of Maryland), J. Schombert (U. of Oregon): “Galaxy Populations in Clusters at z=1.7” KP-4m 4

19. B. McNamara, T. Harrison, J. Bornak (G), D. Hoffman (G) (New Mexico State U.): “The Origin of the IR Variability in GX17+2 and GX5-1”

KP-2.1m 6.5

20. C. Olkin, L. Young (Southwest Research Institute): “Characterizing Pluto’s Atmosphere with Observations of the March 8, 2007 Stellar Occultation”

WIYN 1

21. J. Parker (Southwest Research Institute), B. Gladman (University of British Columbia), J. Kavelaars (National Research Council of Canada), J. Petit (Observatoire de Besancon), L. Jones (U. of Washington), A. Bieryla (O) (Southwest Research Institute): “The Kuiper Belt Legacy Project”

KP-2.1m 6

22. I. Platais (Johns Hopkins U.), S. Djorgovski (California Institute of Technology), A. Fey (US Naval Observatory), Z. Ivezic (U. of Washington), K. Mighell (NOAO), A. Rest (CTIO), R. Wyse (Johns Hopkins U.), N. Zacharias (US Naval Observatory): “Deep Astrometric Standards (DAS)”

KP-4m 6

23. J. Simon (California Institute of Technology), A. Bolatto (UC Berkeley), K. Spekkens (Rutgers U.): “Cusps vs. Cores - The Distribution of Dwarf Galaxy Density Profile Slopes”

WIYN 7

24. T. Thuan (O) (U. of Virginia), Y. Izotov (O) (Main Astronomical Observatory), P. Papaderos (O) (Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia): “Deep Imaging of Probable Nearby Young Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey”

KP-2.1m 5

25. S. Veilleux, R. Swaters (U. of Maryland), D. Andersen (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics), M. Verheijen (University of Groningen), M. Bershady, K. Westfall (U. of Wisconsin Madison): “The Distribution of Mass in Spiral Galaxies”

KP-2.1m 14

26. S. Veilleux, D. Kim (U. of Maryland): “R-band Imaging of the SDSS DR3 Red and Blue QSOs” WIYN 3

27. L. Wasserman, M. Buie, R. Millis (Lowell Observatory), D. Trilling (Steward Observatory), J. Elliot (MIT), K. Meech (U. of Hawaii), S. Kern, A. Gulbis, E. Adams (G) (MIT): “Dynamical Structure of the Kuiper Belt”

KP-4m 2

KPNO U.S. Thesis Programs (21) Telescope Nights

1. C. Churchill, J. Evans (T) (New Mexico State U.), M. Murphy (University of Cambridge), A. Widhalm (G) (New Mexico State U.): “Complete Quasar-Field Galaxy Imaging Program”

KP-4m 4

2. K. Chynoweth (T), R. Knop, R. Gibbons (Vanderbilt U.): “Exploring the Merger/Starburst/AGN Connection in Nearby Infrared-Luminous Galaxies”

WIYN 5

3. A. Connolly (U. of Pittsburgh), K. Chambers, I. Szapudi (U. of Hawaii), A. Hopkins, S. Schmidt (T) (U. of Pittsburgh), E. McGrath (G) (U. of Hawaii), R. Scranton (U. of Pittsburgh), J. Bryant (U. of Sydney), B. Jain (U. of Pennsylvania): “A Census of the High Redshift Radio Universe”

KP-4m 12

4. R. De Naray (T), S. McGaugh (U. of Maryland), E. De Blok (Research School for Astronomy and Astrophysics), A. Bosma (OAMP): “A Study of the Dark Matter Halos of Dwarf and LSB Galaxies”

KP-2.1m WIYN

6.5 4

5. M. Edwards (T), S. Eikenberry, D. Clark (G), N. Raines (U. of Florida): “Probing the Extent and Membership of Cl 1806-20”

KP-4m 4.5

6. J. Ge, J. van Eyken (T), S. Mahadevan (G), S. Fleming (T), P. Guo (T), J. Crepp (T), M. Galvez (U. of Florida): “Radial Velocity Follow-ups of Planet Candidates with the KPNO ET Instrument”

KP-2.1m 17.5

7. K. Herrmann (T), R. Ciardullo (Pennsylvania State U.): “The Planetary Nebula System of M94” WIYN 3

8. P. Hidalgo (T), F. Hamann (U. of Florida), D. Nestor (University of Cambridge), J. Shields (Ohio U.): “High Velocity Outflows in Quasars”

KP-2.1m 6.5

9. T. Huard (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), M. Dunham (T) (U. of Texas, Austin), P. Myers (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), N. Evans, II (U. of Texas, Austin), T. Bourke (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), L. Crews (University of Tennessee, Martin), D. Murphy (Carnegie Institution of Washington): “Characterization of VeLLOs Embedded in Isolated Cores”

KP-4m 5.5

10. C. Kobulnicky, D. Kiminki (T) (U. of Wyoming), C. Fryer (LANL): “Defining the Distribution of Orbital Separations Among Massive Binaries”

WIYN 6


KPNO U.S. Thesis Programs (21) Telescope Nights

11. X. Koenig (T), L. Allen, J. Hora, L. Chavarria (G) (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “Mapping the Young Stellar Content of the W5 Star Forming Region”

KP-2.1m 3

12. D. Lucero (T), L. Young (New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology), M. Bershady (U. of Wisconsin Eau Claire): “Angular Momentum and the Origin of the Cold Gas in Elliptical Galaxies”

WIYN 3

13. C. Ly (T), M. Malkan (UCLA), K. Shimasaku (University of Tokyo), N. Kashikawa (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), M. Yoshida (G), K. Motohara (University of Tokyo), H. Furusawa (Subaru Telescope): “MOSAIC U-band Imaging of the Subaru Deep Field”

KP-4m 2

14. S. Meidt (T), R. Rand (U. of New Mexico): “Spiral Pattern Speeds Using the Tremaine-Weinberg Method”

WIYN 3

15. J. Miller (T), S. Majewski (U. of Virginia), V. Smith (NOAO), R. Rood (U. of Virginia), K. Cunha (NOAO), R. Patterson (U. of Virginia), D. Bizyaev (NOAO): “Testing the Planet Absorption Paradigm for Rapidly Rotating K Giant Stars”

KP-4m 4

16. A. Myers, R. Brunner, W. Dukes (T) (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), G. Richards (Drexel U.), D. York (U. of Chicago), D. Schneider (Pennsylvania State U.): “Constraining the Masses of Quasar Host Halos with ~60 Binary Systems”

KP-4m 2

17. M. Prescott (T) (Steward Observatory), A. Dey, N. Reddy (NOAO): “A Low-Redshift (z<2) Search for Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies”

KP-4m 5.5

18. M. Reed (Missouri State University), M. Vuckovic (T) (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), J. Eggen (U) (Missouri State University): “Mode identification, seismological modelling, and the evolution of the unique sdO pulsator J160043.6+074802.9”

KP-2.1m 6.5

19. C. Reynolds, L. Winter (T) (U. of Maryland), K. Lewis, R. Mushotzky (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), S. Veilleux (U. of Maryland): “Optical Spectral Analysis of the SWIFT BAT-detected AGNs”

KP-2.1m 7.5

20. L. Wei (T), S. Vogel (U. of Maryland), S. Kannappan (U. of Texas, Austin), A. Baker (Rutgers U.): “Mergers and Disk Evolution in Red- and Blue-Sequence Early-Type Galaxies”

KP-4m 5

21. Y. Yang (T), A. Zabludoff, R. Dave, D. Eisenstein (Steward Observatory): “How Do Galaxies Get Their Baryons?”

KP-4m 4


Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

For the six months ending March 31, 2007, a total of 65 U.S. scientific programs were awarded time on CTIO telescopes, including 15 (23%) graduate thesis programs. Telescope(s) scheduled and number of nights awarded are specified in the following tables. (Key: CT = Curtis-Schmidt, TOO = Target of Opportunity program, G = Graduate Student, O = Other, T = Thesis Student, U = Undergraduate Student)

U.S. Programs: Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory – Non-Thesis (50) Telescope Nights

1. P. Allen (Pennsylvania State U.): “Wide Ultracool Companions to Spectroscopic Binaries: Testing Star Formation Simulations”

CT-4m 4

2. R. Blum (NOAO), A. Damineli (IAGUSP), P. Conti (U. of Colorado), A. Moises (G) (IAGUSP), E. Figueredo (Open U.): “The Incredible Shrinking Milky Way”

SOAR 4

3. M. Briley (NSF), G. Smith, S. Martell (G) (UC Santa Cruz): “The Homogeneity of Light Elements in the Sagittarius Dwarf Globular Clusters Terzan 7 and Arp 2”

CT-4m 4

4. J. Brodie (UC Santa Cruz), J. Cenarro, M. Beasley (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias), J. Strader (G) (UC Santa Barbara), N. Cardiel (Centro de Investigacion de Astronomia): “K Band Integrated Spectroscopy of Galactic Globular Clusters”

SOAR 4

5. C. Buchanan, J. Noel-Storr (Rochester Institute of Technology), J. Gallimore (Bucknell U.), C. O’Dea, A. Robinson, S. Baum, D. Axon (Rochester Institute of Technology), M. Elitzur (U. of Kentucky), M. Elvis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “The Optical and Infrared Emission from Seyfert Galaxies: Towards a comprehensive understanding”

CT-4m 2

6. B. Carney (U. of North Carolina), D. Martinez-Delgado (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias), J. Simmerer (U. of North Carolina), J. Laird (Bowling Green State U.), D. Latham (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), D. Yong (Australian National U.): “[Fe/H] and [(alpha)/Fe] abundances of the Canis Major galaxy”

CT-4m 3

7. D. Christlein (Yale U.), A. Zabludoff (Steward Observatory), L. Infante (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), F. Salgado (G) (Universidad de Chile): “The Extremely Faint Population of Galaxies in Groups and Clusters”

CT-4m 3

8. A. Crotts (Columbia U.): “The Echo from Supernova 1987A” CT-0.9m-SVC 5

9. E. Egami (Steward Observatory), P. Marshall (UC Santa Barbara), P. Mazzotta (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), A. Evrard (U. of Michigan Dearborn), J. Carlstrom (U. of Chicago), G. Smith (University of Birmingham), J. Kneib (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille), A. Finoguenov (Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik), T. Futamase (Tohoku University), J. Taylor (University of Waterloo): “The Local Cluster Substructure Survey (LoCuSS): Exploring K-band light as a probe of cluster mass and substructure”

CT-4m 3

10. I. Evans (SAO), A. Koratkar (GEST), S. Neff (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center): “Jet/ISM Interactions: A Case Study of Centaurus A”

CT-4m 2

11. P. Frinchaboy (U. of Wisconsin Madison), W. Kunkel (LCO), M. Skrutskie (U. of Virginia), R. Benjamin (University of Wisconsin, Whitewater), E. Churchwell (U. of Wisconsin Madison), R. Munoz (G), S. Majewski (U. of Virginia): “Mapping the Dynamics of the Milky Way with 2MASS and GLIMPSE: Stellar Tracers of the Galactic Bar”

SOAR CT-4m

2 6

12. P. Frinchaboy (U. of Wisconsin Madison), M. Skrutskie (U. of Virginia), R. Mathieu (U. of Wisconsin Madison), A. Sarajedini (U. of Florida), S. Majewski (U. of Virginia), A. Grocholski (G) (U. of Florida): “Exploring the Luminosity Function for Prototypical Open Clusters”

CT-1.5m-SVC 3

13. A. Fruchter (STScI), J. Rhoads (Arizona State U.), D. Reichart (U. of North Carolina), J. Graham (G) (Johns Hopkins U.), A. Rest (CTIO), A. Levan (University of Hertfordshire), J. Castro Ceron (G) (University of Copenhagen), M. Merrill (NOAO), D. Bersier (Liverpool Johns Moores University), N. Tanvir (University of Hertfordshire), J. Hjorth (University of Copenhagen), A. Fuentes (G) (Arizona State U.): “Rapid Observations and Fundamental Studies of GRB Afterglows”

SOAR-TOO CT-4m-TOO

14. J. Fulbright (Johns Hopkins U.), R. Rich (UCLA): “Composition for a Large Sample of K Giants in the Galactic Bulge Plaut Field”

CT-4m 6

15. J. Gizis, B. Riaz (G), J. Shaw (G) (U. of Delaware): “Parallaxes of Three Young Brown Dwarfs and a Planet”

CT-0.9m-SVC 0.5



16. J. Grindlay, P. Zhao, S. Laycock, M. Van Den Berg, J. Hong, X. Koenig (G) (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), H. Cohn, P. Lugger (Indiana U.): “ChaMPlane II: Optical spectra and IR imaging identification of ChaMPlane X-ray sources”

CT-4m 11

17. J. Grindlay, P. Zhao, S. Laycock (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “Galactic Bulge Latitude Survey-2”

CT-4m 5.5

18. M. Hanson (U. of Cincinnati), P. Massey, B. Skiff (O) (Lowell Observatory): “Uncovering massive eclipsing binaries in Westerlund 1”

CT-1.3m 2.5

19. J. Harvin, J. Gizis (U. of Delaware): “Photometric Variation of Two Brown Dwarfs in the TW Hya Association”

CT-1.0m 14

20. M. Holman (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), J. Winn (MIT): “The Transit Light Curve (TLC) Project: Long-term Monitoring of Transiting Extrasolar Planets”

CT-0.9m-SVC 3

21. M. Holman (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), J. Winn (MIT), D. Charbonneau (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “WASP-1b: A Direct Glimpse into the Atmosphere of a Hot Jupiter”

SOAR 3

22. S. Kafka (CTIO), R. Honeycutt (Indiana U.): “A Spectroscopic Survey for Winds in Cataclysmic Variables”

CT-4m 5

23. S. Kafka (CTIO), E. Mason (ESO), C. Tappert (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), R. Honeycutt (Indiana U.), S. Howell (NOAO): “Monitoring VY Scl low states in Cataclysmic Variables”

CT-1.3m 11

24. S. Kafka (CTIO), C. Deliyannis (Indiana U.), R. Smith (NOAO), N. van der Bliek, R. Students (U) (CTIO): “CTIO REU/PIA: Students Exploring Open Clusters”

CT-1.0m 7

25. J. Kirkpatrick (IPAC), D. Looper (G) (U. of Hawaii): “The Sun’s Dark Neighbors: Searching for Brown Dwarfs Cooler than T8”

SOAR 1

26. A. Landolt, J. Clem (Louisiana State U.): “Faint UBVRI Photometric Standard Star Fields” CT-1.0m 24

27. H. Landt (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), H. Bignall (Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe), P. Padovani (ESO), E. Perlman (U. of Maryland): “Redshifts for a Complete Sample of BL Lacertae Objects”

CT-4m 1

28. K. Lewis, R. Mushotzky (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center): “Spectroscopy of XMM Slew Survey Sources”

CT-4m 3

29. P. Massey (Lowell Observatory), N. Morrell (LCO), K. Eastwood (Northern Arizona U.), D. Gies (Georgia State U.), L. Penny (College of Charleston): “The Masses of the Most Massive Stars: Resolving the “Mass Discrepancy” with Eclipsing Binaries”

CT-1.5m-SVCCT-1.0m-SVC

1.47

30. B. McNamara, T. Harrison, J. Bornak (G), D. Hoffman (G) (New Mexico State U.): “The Origin of the IR Variability in GX17+2 and GX5-1”

CT-1.3m 0.9

31. M. McSwain (Yale U.): “The Comings and Goings of Be Stars” CT-4m 4

32. K. Meech (U. of Hawaii), Y. Fernandez (University of Central Florida), J. Pittichova, D. Harrington (G) (U. of Hawaii): “Coordinated Spitzer Comet Nucleus Observations”

SOAR 1

33. C. Miller (CTIO), S. Stanford (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), M. West (U. of Hawaii), K. Sabirli (G) (Carnegie Mellon U.), K. Romer (University of Sussex), R. Nichol (University of Portsmouth), P. Viana (Universidade do Porto), M. Davidson (G) (University of Edinburgh), C. Collins, M. Hilton (Liverpool Johns Moores University), S. Kay (University of Oxford), A. Liddle (University of Sussex), R. Mann (University of Edinburgh), N. Mehrtens (G) (University of Sussex): “Optical Follow-up of the XMM Cluster Survey: The XCS-NOAO Survey”

CT-4m 7

34. J. Najita, S. Strom (NOAO), J. Carr (Naval Research Laboratory), D. Hollenbach, U. Gorti (NASA Ames Research Center), I. Pascucci (Steward Observatory), L. Keller (Ithaca College), D. Watson (U. of Rochester): “Warm Gas in Transitional Disks”

CT-4m 1

35. D. Norman (NOAO), D. Loomba (U. of New Mexico), D. Wittman (UC Davis): “Do Quasars Form in Massive Dark Matter Halos? Cont.”

CT-4m 3

36. J. Orosz (San Diego State U.), J. McClintock, D. Steeghs, R. Narayan (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “Measuring the Mass and Spin of the Stellar Black Hole LMC X-1”

CT-1.3m 3

37. R. de Propris (CTIO), M. West (Gemini Observatory): “Ultra-compact Dwarfs in Low Density Environments: a Test for their Origin”

CT-4m 1



38. A. Rest (CTIO), R. Smith (NOAO), N. Suntzeff (Texas A&M U.), D. Welch (McMaster U.), C. Stubbs (Harvard U.), K. Olsen (NOAO), M. Bergmann (Gemini Observatory), A. Clocchiatti, D. Minnite, L. Morelli (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), K. Cook (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), J. Prieto (G) (Ohio State U.), A. Becker (FNAL), A. Garg (G) (Harvard U.), M. Huber (G), S. Nikolaev (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), G. Damke (Universidad de La Serena): “Echoes of Historical Supernovae in the Milky Way Galaxy”

CT-4m 4

39. A. Saha (NOAO), E. Olszewski (Steward Observatory), R. Smith (CTIO), A. Subramaniam (Indian Institute of Astrophysics), A. Dolphin (Steward Observatory), N. Suntzeff (Texas A&M U.), A. Rest (CTIO), P. Seitzer (U. of Michigan), J. Harris (Steward Observatory), D. Minniti (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), K. Cook (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), K. Olsen (CTIO), P. Knezek (WIYN): “The Outer Limits Survey: Stellar Populations at the Extremities of the Magellanic Clouds”

CT-0.9m-PRE 3

40. D. Schleicher (Lowell Observatory): “Imaging of Gas Jets in Comet 2P/Encke after Perihelion” CT-0.9m-SVC 2.6

41. S. Sheppard (Carnegie Institution of Washington), J. Elliot, S. Kern, A. Gulbis, C. Zuluaga (G) (MIT): “Precise Astrometry for Predicting Kuiper Belt Object Occultations”

CT-0.9m-SVC 5

42. S. Sheppard (Carnegie Institution of Washington), C. Trujillo (Gemini Observatory): “A Survey for Neptune Trojans”

SOAR CT-4m

1 3

43. J. Sokoloski, S. Kenyon (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), C. Hedrick (U) (U. of Nebraska): “The Outbursts of Symbiotic Binary Stars”

CT-1.3m 1.75

44. K. Spekkens, T. Williams, J. Sellwood (Rutgers U.): “Cold Dark Matter and the Structure of Nearby Spiral Galaxies”

CT-0.9m-SVC 2

45. J. Strader (G), M. Bolte (UC Santa Cruz): “Extremely Metal-poor Stars in the Galactic Bulge” CT-1.0m 4

46. M. Sun (O), M. Donahue (O) (Michigan State U.), C. Jones (O) (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “Spectroscopy of a nearby starburst galaxy with a long X-ray tail”

CT-1.5m-SVC 0.48

47. S. Vennes (Florida Institute of Technology), A. Kawka (Astronomicky Ustav): “Disk versus Galactic halo membership of high proper-motion white dwarfs”

CT-4m 6

48. L. Wasserman, M. Buie, R. Millis (Lowell Observatory), D. Trilling (Steward Observatory), J. Elliot (MIT), K. Meech (U. of Hawaii), S. Kern, A. Gulbis, E. Adams (G) (MIT): “Dynamical Structure of the Kuiper Belt”

CT-4m 2

49. A. Whiting (CTIO), K. Davidson (U. of Minnesota), D. DePoy (Ohio State U.), R. Humphreys (U. of Minnesota), N. Smith (U. of Colorado), N. Suntzeff (CTIO): “Photometric Monitoring of Eta Carinae”

CT-1.3m 0.8

50. P. Winkler (Middlebury College), K. Long (STScI), P. Student (U) (Middlebury College): “Cas A’s Older, Bigger Cousin: G292.0+1.8”

SOAR 2

CTIO U.S. Thesis Programs (15) Telescope Nights

1. J. Baldwin, E. Pellegrini (T) (Michigan State U.), G. Ferland (U. of Kentucky): “The Structure of Nearby Giant Star-Forming Regions”

CT-4m 2

2. T. Beers (Michigan State U.), S. Schuler (NOAO), T. Sivarani (Michigan State U.), S. Rossi (IAGUSP), B. Marsteller (T) (Michigan State U.): “Near-IR SOAR/OSIRIS Spectroscopy of Carbon Enhanced Metal-Poor Stars”

SOAR 6

3. B. Biller (T), L. Close (Steward Observatory): “Completion of the First Direct Distance Determination for a Planetary Mass Object”

CT-1.3m 10.1

4. T. Boyajian (T) (Georgia State U.), M. McSwain (Yale U.), D. Gies (Georgia State U.): “A Spectroscopic Search for Quiet X-ray Binaries Among Runaway O-stars”

CT-1.5m-SVC 7

5. C. Churchill, J. Evans (T) (New Mexico State U.), M. Murphy (University of Cambridge), A. Widhalm (G) (New Mexico State U.): “Complete Quasar-Field Galaxy Imaging Program”

CT-4m 2

6. L. Cieza (T) (U. of Texas, Austin), B. Merin, I. Oliveira (G) (Leiden Observatory), P. Harvey, N. Evans (U. of Texas, Austin), K. Pontoppidan (California Institute of Technology): “Optical spectroscopy of new young stellar objects identified with Spitzer”

CT-4m 4

7. C. Deliyannis (Indiana U.), B. Anthony-Twarog, B. Twarog (U. of Kansas), K. Croxall (T) (Indiana U.): “Spectroscopic Analysis of NGC 6253: The Most Metal-Rich Open Cluster Cluster?”

CT-4m 5


CTIO U.S. Thesis Programs (15) Telescope Nights

8. T. Huard (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), M. Dunham (T) (U. of Texas, Austin), P. Myers (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), N. Evans, II (U. of Texas, Austin), T. Bourke (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), L. Crews (University of Tennessee, Martin), D. Murphy (Carnegie Institution of Washington): “Characterization of VeLLOs Embedded in Isolated Cores”

CT-4m 5

9. J. Huchra (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), L. Macri (NOAO), K. Masters (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), T. Jarrett (CalTech-JPL), A. Crook (T) (MIT): “Mapping the Nearby Universe: The 2MASS Redshift Survey”

CT-1.5m-SVC 12

10. E. Jeffery (T), C. Sneden, T. von Hippel, D. Winget (U. of Texas, Austin): “Determining Metallicities of Open Clusters”

CT-4m 2

11. E. Jeffery (T), T. von Hippel, D. Winget (U. of Texas, Austin): “Photometry of Open Clusters” CT-1.0m 8

12. E. Martin, R. Tata (T), R. Deshpande (G), N. Phan-Bao (University of Central Florida), T. Forveille (CFHT): “Infrared parallaxes for T/Y dwarfs from CFHTLS and UKIDSS”

CT-4m 4

13. J. Mauerhan (T), M. Morris (UCLA), M. Muno (California Institute of Technology): “Infrared Spectroscopy of Massive X-ray Stars in the Galactic Center”

SOAR 3

14. C. Peters (T), J. Thorstensen (Dartmouth College): “Proper Motions of Southern Cataclysmic Variable Stars”

CT-0.9m-SVC 1

15. R. Smith (NOAO), C. Stubbs, G. Narayan (T) (Harvard U.), S. Burke (SLAC), T. Axelrod (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope), E. Olszewski (Steward Observatory), A. Saha, C. Claver (NOAO): “Characterizing Atmospheric Absorption for Precision Photometry”

CT-1.5m-SVC 6


Community Access to the Private Telescopes

Under the Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP), access to the telescopes of the major private observatories currently includes: the two Keck telescopes, the HET, the MMT, and the Magellan telescopes. However, not every one of these telescopes is available to the public in every semester, and only about a dozen nights are available on each telescope in any given semester. Time was awarded on the HET, MMT and Magellan telescopes under the Facilities Instrumentation Program (FIP) and on the two Keck telescopes under TSIP. (Key: G = Graduate Student, O = Other, T = Thesis Student, U = Undergraduate Student)

Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) – McDonald Obs

U.S. Programs: HET – Non-Thesis (4) Telescope Nights

1. P. McCullough, C. Burke, J. Valenti (STScI), C. Johns-Krull (Rice U.), K. Janes (Boston U.): “Finding Additional XO Planets, Transiting Hot Jupiters”

HET 3

2. D. Meyer (Northwestern U.), J. Lauroesch (U. of Louisville): “The Nearest Cold Diffuse Interstellar Clouds”

HET 0.5

3. S. Schuler (NOAO), J. King (Clemson U.): “High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Exoplanetary Hosts: Accretion & 6Li”

HET 1.1

4. V. Woolf (U. of Nebraska), G. Wallerstein (U. of Washington), S. Lepine (American Museum of Natural History): “Extreme subdwarf M star metallicity calibration”

HET 1

HET U.S. Thesis Programs (1) Telescope Nights

1. S. Mahadevan (G), J. Ge, J. van Eyken (T), S. Kane, S. Fleming (T) (U. of Florida), G. Henry (Tennessee State U.): “Precision radial velocity followup of candidates showing velocity variability in the Sloan ET wide field survey”

HET 3

Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT)

U.S. Programs: MMT – Non-Thesis (3) Telescope Nights

1. C. Deliyannis (Indiana U.), A. Szentgyorgyi (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “How Normal is the Solar Li Depletion?: Comparison to M67”

MMT 2

2. A. Hornschemeier (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), B. Mobasher (STScI), N. Trentham (IoA, Cambridge), R. Tully (U. of Hawaii), D. Carter (Liverpool Johns Moores University), R. Marzke (San Francisco State U.), T. Bridges (Queen’s University), N. Miller (Johns Hopkins U.), M. Hudson (University of Waterloo), L. Jenkins (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), R. Smith (University of Durham), R. Guzman, A. Matkovic (U. of Florida), N. Caldwell (Smithsonian Institution), J. Lucey (University of Durham): “Expanding the Spectroscopic Completeness of the Coma Cluster with Hectospec”

MMT 4

3. D. Stern (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), C. Kochanek (Ohio State U.), M. Brodwin (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), M. Brown (Princeton U.), R. Cool (G) (Steward Observatory), A. Dey (NOAO), P. Eisenhardt (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. Gonzalez (U. of Florida), V. Gorjian (California Institute of Technology), B. Jannuzi (NOAO): “A Complete Sample of Mid-IR Selected AGN”

MMT-TBD 3

MMT U.S. Thesis Programs (1) Telescope Nights

1. H. Jacobson (T), C. Pilachowski (Indiana U.), E. Friel (NSF), A. Szentgyorgyi (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “Study of open clusters in the apparent abundance transition zone Rgc ~10 kpc”

MMT 1.5


W.M. Keck Observatory Telescopes

U.S. Programs: Keck Telescopes – Non-Thesis (5) Telescope Nights

1. J. Bechtold (Steward Observatory), B. Jannuzi (NOAO): “The IGM and the Distribution of Galaxies at z~1”

Keck-II 1

2. A. Cole, E. Skillman (U. of Minnesota), J. Gallagher (U. of Wisconsin Madison), M. Irwin (University of Cambridge), A. Saha (NOAO), E. Tolstoy (Kapteyn Astronomical Institute): “Metallicity Distribution of Red Giants in the Unique Local Group Galaxy Leo A”

Keck-II 1

3. A. Shapley (Princeton U.), A. Coil (Steward Observatory): “Chemical Abundances in Star-forming Galaxies at z~1.0-1.5”

Keck-II 2

4. B. Wakker (U. of Wisconsin Madison), D. York (U. of Chicago), T. Beers (Michigan State U.), R. Wilhelm (Texas Technical University), J. Barentine (G) (U. of Texas, Austin), J. Howk (U. of Notre Dame), P. Richter (Universitat Bonn): “Distances to High-velocity Clouds”

Keck-I 1

5. J. Winn (MIT), J. Johnson (G) (UC Berkeley): “Measurement of Spin-Orbit Alignment for Two New Exoplanets”

Keck-I 2

Magellan Telescopes

U.S. Programs: Magellan – Non-Thesis (1) Telescope Nights

1. A. Crotts (Columbia U.), B. Sugerman (STScI), S. Lawrence (Hofstra University), S. Heathcote (SOAR), N. Suntzeff (Texas A&M U.): “The Formation of Supernova Remnant 1987A”

Magellan-II 1

Magellan U.S. Thesis Programs (2) Telescope Nights

1. J. Meiring (T), V. Kulkarni (U. of South Carolina), J. Lauroesch (U. of Louisville), C. P’Eroux (ESO), P. Khare (Utkal University), A. Crotts (Columbia U.): “Are Sub-Damped Lyman-(alpha) Absorbers Reservoirs of the “Missing Metals”?”

Magellan-II 2

2. G. Ruchti (T), J. Fulbright, R. Wyse (Johns Hopkins U.): “Elemental Abundances of Metal-Poor Thick Disk RAVE Stars”

Magellan-II 2

24

4 SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM ORDERS AND AMENDMENTS

SPO # 3 AST-0243875 KPNO Research Experience for Under-Graduates (REU)

Activities and Findings:

No activities are to be reported for the KPNO REU this quarter.

SPO # 5 AST-0335461 Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP)


Following an uncertain beginning to FY07, the Telescope System Instrumentation Program received good news that it would be funded in 2007 at roughly $4M. This level would allow about $2M to be committed to new projects after taking care of commitments to on-going projects. A call for proposals was issued in March with letters of intent due May 11 and full proposals by August 31, 2007 (please refer to http://www.noao.edu/system/tsip/ for details). An independent review committee will be assembled to review the proposals and make allocation recommendations in fall of 2007.

Apart from putting the new solicitation together, the TSIP group (R. Blum and M. Trueblood) have been participating in monthly meetings (usually by telecon) with the four active TSIP projects: the MOSFIRE near infrared multi-object spectrometer for Keck, the IMACS detector upgrade for Magellan, the optical multi-object spectrometer MODS for LBT, and the One Degree Imager for WIYN. Blum and Trueblood are traveling to UCLA for a MOSFIRE detailed design review in April 2007. MOSFIRE is being built for Keck by Ian McLean and his group at UCLA and in collaboration with C. Steidel (CIT) and with project manager Sean Adkins (Keck).

SPO # 6 AST-0336888 Adaptive Optics Development Program (AODP)


Below is an update of the current sub-awards provided through SPO # 6:

• Sub-Award # C33001T, “A Noiseless Imaging Detector for AO with Kilohertz Frame Rates.” Official end-date of award was March 31, 2007, but progress has been slow in having constructed an optical vacuum tube to hold the detector. Much of that activity has been done in-house. A no-cost extension was requested and was granted to complete the testing of the device. Approximately $130,000 remains to complete the activity.

• Sub-Award # C33002T, “Development of the Next Generation Optical Detectors for Wavefront Sensing.” CARA has requested a 1-year no-cost extension to the effort. They have continued to work with the Center for Adaptive Optics and the TMT to finalize an optimized design of the CCD chip for testing. Progress has been delayed primarily due to schedule problems with Lincoln Labs.

http://www.noao.edu/system/tsip/

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM ORDERS AND AMENDMENTS 25

• Sub-Award # C33003T, “Pulsed Fiber Laser for Guide Stars.” LLNL has been waiting for delivery of a replacement amplifier so they can continue the effort. No recent work has been completed. They are expecting to re-start the effort with the arrival of the amp.

• Sub-Award # C33004T, “Development of Large Deformable Mirrors Based on Dense Actuation of Nano-Laminate Membranes.” All AODP funds have been expended. Further effort is being paid for by funds from Center for Adaptive Optics. We are waiting for the final close-out report.

• Sub-Award # C33005T, “Compact Modular Scalable Versatile LGS Architecture for 8–100-m Telescopes.” LMCTI has been waiting for delivery of replacement waveguide power amplifiers, so no progress has been made on the higher power levels desired. Meanwhile, they have begun testing of the delivery fiber. They have tested it with low power cw (2.5 W) at 589 nm and have achieved about 40% efficiency. They are continuing optimization of the coupling and the beam.

• Sub-Award # C33006T, tOSC effort was completed last year.

SPO # 7 AST-0432601 Support for Conferences, Symposia, Workshops and Other Meetings

Please refer to the Research and Education Activities section of this report for the above SPO.

SPO # 8 AST-0353843 CTIO Research Experience for Under-Graduates (REU)

Participants

Six undergraduate students from the U.S. selected from 18 qualified applicants from U.S. institutions, participated in the 2007 REU program at CTIO (see Table 1 below). Announcements were sent to over 800 college and university science and mathematics departments and career placement offices in the U.S. and Puerto Rico (announcements were sent to a total of over 900 addressees, providing some overlap to allow for mailings to, for example, department chairs and undergraduate advisors at the same institutions). This included mailings targeted to institutions serving the Hispanic community through the mailing list of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). Promotional mailing for the 2007 program was accomplished in August 2006 as planned.

Promotional activities for the upcoming 2008 program are on track for the summer meeting of the American Astronomical Society (June 2007, Hawaii) and will be mailed to U.S. institutions by a mid-July 2007 date. The program was also advertised in the NOAO newsletter and on the CTIO REU program Web site.


In addition to the six NSF-supported U.S. participants, the 2007 CTIO summer student program also included two Chilean participants as a part of CTIO’s Practica de Investigación en Astronomía (PIA) program (see Table 2.

All Chilean astronomy students participated fully in the REU program activities (both scientific and recreational) during their stay.

Mentor Selection

Each student pursued a research project guided by a staff astronomer as a mentor. The REU Site Director solicited volunteers from the CTIO and Gemini scientific staff, looking for people who would be willing to invest the time to work with a student and who had projects that could be completed during the time the students were in Chile. As in previous years, there were enough

Table 1 2007 CTIO REU Participants

Student Institution Mentors Project

Rachel Anderson University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

Stella Kafka (CTIO) & Armin Rest (CTIO)

“The Variables of ESSENCE”

Cassy Davison Norfolk State University Etienne Artigau (Gemini) “Cool companions to nearby stars”

Stephanie Golmon Principia College Stella Kafka (CTIO) “Studying variables in old open star clusters”

Daniel Harsono U. of California Los Angeles Roberto de Propris (CTIO) “The z-band Luminosity Function of Cluster Galaxies at z=0.32”

Scott Henderson Lewis & Clark College Bryan Miller (Gemini) “Ages and Metallicities of the Nuclei of Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies”

Aisha Mahmoud U. of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez Armin Rest (CTIO) “Search for light echoes in the LMC”

Table 2 2007 CTIO PIA Participants

Student Institution Mentors Project

Claudia Araya Ponticia Universidad Católica de Chile

Nicole van der Bliek (CTIO) & Bernadette Rogers (Gemini)

“Determining the binarity of Herbig Ae/Be objects”

Rodrigo Hinojosa Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta

Sean Points & Chris Smith (CTIO)

“Assessing the Flux-Calibration of the Magellanic Cloud Emission Line Survey”


volunteers and projects. This year, three of the mentors (Drs. B.Miller, B.Rogers and E.Artigau) came from the Gemini staff.

Science Program

An essential component of the CTIO REU program is the opportunity students have for interaction, not only with the scientific staff of the observatory, but also with the flow of visiting astronomers who pass through on their way to use the telescopes. The generally informal atmosphere at CTIO provides a climate that promotes these interactions, which take place naturally during afternoon “tea-time,” an informal staff meeting and journal club, three days a week, at regular scientific colloquia, and in the public computer area that the students share with visiting astronomers. Informal meetings with various CTIO staff members and visiting astronomers while one or another group of students was on the mountain, typically resulted in an on-the-spot introduction to an instrument or research specialty.

Research Projects

The primary focus of the students while in Chile was to work on their individual research projects, supervised by their respective scientific advisors and the REU Site Director. Based on the backgrounds of the students and the suite of available projects proposed by the scientific staff, the students were each assigned to a project and advisor that was well-matched to their individual experience levels and research interests. The students wrote abstracts of their projects, and at the end of the program, wrote scientific papers on their projects (precursors to future publications).

All of the students were encouraged to work independently, and to develop the skills and expertise that enabled them to make judgments about the future direction and scope of their projects. Students who lacked research experience were given more direct guidance when necessary.

The REU Site Director was available to any of the students who had procedural, administrative, or scientific questions. At the end of the program, a 2-day mini-symposium was organized, entitled “The Universe as seen by the Students,” during which the students presented their work in 15–20-minute talks. The workshop, attended by the CTIO, Gemini and Las Campañas scientific staff and visitors, took place at the AURA auditorium in La Serena, Chile.

The REU and PIA students will present their work in poster form at the 209 meeting of the American Astronomical Society, to be held in Austin, Texas, the second week of January 2008.

A final report will be submitted next quarter.

SPO # 9 AST-0551161 Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Project (LSST)


The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) design and development (D&D) activity is supported by the National Science Foundation under Scientific Program Order No. 9 (AST-0551161) through Cooperative Agreement AST-0132798. Portions of this work are supported


by the Department of Energy under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515 with the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, contract DE-AC02-98CH10886 with Brookhaven National Laboratory, and contract W-7405-ENG-48 with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Additional funding comes from private donations, grants to universities, and in-kind support at Department of Energy laboratories and other LSSTC Institutional Members.

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBER LIST JAN07 (Alphabetized) 20 members as of 1/3/07 Brookhaven National Laboratory <http://www.bnl.gov/world/Default.asp>California Institute of Technology Columbia University Google, Inc. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics <http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/>Johns Hopkins University <http://www.jhu.edu/>Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology – Stanford University Las Cumbres Observatory Inc. <http://addmtc.com/lco/>Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory <http://www.llnl.gov/>National Optical Astronomy Observatory <http://www.noao.edu/lsst/>Princeton University Research Corporation <http://www.rescorp.org/>Stanford Linear Accelerator Center <http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/kipac/dkg/lsst_template/default.htm>The Pennsylvania State University <http://www.astro.psu.edu/main/>The University of Arizona University of California at Davis <http://www.physics.ucdavis.edu/>University of California at Irvine University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign <http://cosmology.uiuc.edu/DarkEnergy/LSST.html>University of Pennsylvania <http://www.upenn.edu/>University of Washington <http://www.astro.washington.edu/>

During this quarter, the LSSTC successfully completed and submitted a construction proposal to the NSF MREFC program and submitted their annual project report. The annual report can be found at https://www.lsstcorp.org/.

With the assistance of NOAO, LSSTC engaged an accounting firm to perform its annual financial audit, which will be completed this spring.

NOAO distributed the FY06 funding through Amendment No. 1 to LSSTC sub-award C44017L and was executed in the amount of $4,157,415. This amendment extends the period of the award to September 30, 2007, and it will be amended further to 2008 upon extension of the AURA cooperative agreement.

SPO # 10 AST-0443999 Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope Project (GSMT)


In response to the Senior Review recommendations, the AURA NIO office is undergoing a transition to the new GSMT office. NOAO began this transition as of January 1, 2007. As a part of the transition, the obligations and operations required under SPO #10 are under review for changes to reflect AURA/NOAO’s new responsibilities. The GSMT Program Office (GSMTPO) will promote the development of both TMT and GMT at a pace that recognizes the timescales of both federal and private budget processes. The GSMTPO is currently restructuring its existing relationships with

http://www.bnl.gov/world/Default.asp

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/

http://www.jhu.edu/

http://addmtc.com/lco/

http://www.llnl.gov/

http://www.noao.edu/lsst/

http://www.rescorp.org/

http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/kipac/dkg/lsst_template/default.htm

http://www.astro.psu.edu/main/

http://www.physics.ucdavis.edu/

http://cosmology.uiuc.edu/DarkEnergy/LSST.html

http://www.upenn.edu/

http://www.astro.washington.edu/

https://www.lsstcorp.org/


GMT and TMT, withdrawing from direct partnership, addressing any previous support imbalances, and establishing symmetric interfaces with both projects.

An update on the two current GSMT projects funded through this SPO follows:

TMT Update: TMT has now successfully completed both its conceptual design review and construction cost review. Qualified glass and mirror polishing suppliers submitted cost estimates, which were used as inputs to our cost review. The project is now in the process of optimizing its glass and polished mirror specifications to achieve the best performance at the best price. As part of its procurement plan, recent discussions were held in Europe with glass and polishing suppliers. Similar meetings are scheduled to occur in the U.S. in the coming weeks. Following the completion of its glass and mirror specifications, TMT will prepare RFPs for the initial complement of pre-production glass and polished mirrors. We expect to begin to incur costs for purchase and polishing of glass in the relatively near future.

As of September 2006, AURA contributed to TMT $3,920,594 in direct in-kind, and $3,041,424 in non-direct in-kind contributions.

NOAO drafted the amendment to distribute the rest of the FY06 funding to Celtco. During this quarter, the corporation underwent a name change to TMT Corporation. The amendment is currently under review by their legal staff.

GMT Update: Activity in the subject quarter was limited to negotiation of a contract with the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory (SOML) for development of metrology and verification methods for the off-axis primary mirror segments. SOML is also fabricating the GMT mirror segments. The contract for the metrology and verification methods was under review at the University of Arizona as of the end of the subject quarter. FY06 funding was provided to GMT during the prior quarter.

Documents

NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY › dir › q_rep › q2-07.pdf · 2007-04-27 · NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY Quarterly Report (2) FY 2007 January 1 – March 31,