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

   

PHASE 1

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT  

Submitted to the National Science Foundation, September 25, 2015

Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0936648 Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0809409

NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

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Project Summary This program funded a community-wide effort to develop a more capable and robust “system” of astronomical facilities. Any astronomer is able to use those facilities through peer-reviewed proposals for observing time, submitted in response to twice-annual calls for proposals. These system improvements were in direct response to the recommendations of the NSF Senior Review, and the specific items in the proposal are based on the findings of the ReSTAR committee (Renewing Small Telescopes for Astronomical Research). The work funded under this award provided for the construction of two new instruments: COSMOS and TripleSpec4, both built for the Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. COSMOS, the “Cerro Tololo Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph” is a very efficient, modern instrument that records the spectra (light intensity over a range of specific light wavelengths) of faint stars and galaxies in the visible-light regime (colors of light that are visible to the human eye). COSMOS is twice as sensitive as the old instrument it replaced, allowing astronomers to record information about the chemical composition and velocities of movement of solar system objects, stars, and galaxies that were impossible to observe before, because they were too faint. In addition, COSMOS is able to record spectra of many objects at once over a modest field of view, allowing survey programs to record spectra of multiple objects much more efficiently. As its name suggests, COSMOS was built in partnership with The Ohio State University. TripleSpec4 records the spectrum of one faint object at a time, but does so in the infrared region of the spectrum, using colors of light that are invisible to the human eye because they are “too red.” TripleSpec4 thus gives astronomers throughout the United States a tool that previously was not widely available, allowing them to study the prevalence of particular molecules in cooler stars or in the atmospheres of planets, or to study the amount and composition of dust surrounding newborn stars, where planets may be forming. TripleSpec4 was built in partnership with Cornell University with assistance from faculty at the University of Virginia. Intellectual Merit Telescopes in the aperture range 2–5 meters are able to carry out a broad array of high-priority science, provided they are equipped with modern, competitive instruments. The modes in which they are used include large surveys, stand-alone programs that require only a few nights of observing, support for observations to be carried out with larger telescopes, technology development, and education and training. Telescopes of this size excel when one of the required capabilities is field of view or the ability to monitor objects over long periods of time. Some important example programs, drawn from the ReSTAR study, are wide-field imaging to discover Kuiper Belt Objects, high-precision photometric and radial velocity monitoring to identify and study exoplanetary systems, narrow-band optical and near-IR imaging to study star-forming regions, high-dispersion spectroscopy to measure stellar abundances, time-resolved spectroscopy of systems containing compact objects, imaging and spectroscopy of stellar populations in the outer parts of galaxies, and large-scale multicolor imaging surveys to provide constraints on the nature of dark energy. Broader Impacts This proposal will strengthen the infrastructure of and provide increased access to the system of astronomical facilities that is used most often and most effectively for the education and training of students, both directly and indirectly. Public-access small to mid-size telescopes are the facilities used most frequently by the many astronomers at predominantly undergraduate colleges and universities, who do not have access to private observatories. These facilities not only provide access for projects in which these educators can involve students, integrating research and teaching, but also help to keep these educators active in research themselves. COSMOS and TripleSpec4 both involved students directly through dedicated internship programs, helping to train the next generation of instrumentalists—astronomers with the knowledge and experience to build a new instrument. Students not only helped in

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the instrument development at their partner institutions but also spent time at NOAO to help commission their instrument and obtain science-quality data with it. Images

 

The Cerro Tololo Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph (COSMOS) fully assembled in the coudé lab of the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope in Chile. Image credit: J. Elias/NOAO/AURA/NSF

COSMOS installed on the Blanco 4-m telescope for its first commissioning run in April 2014. Image credit: J. Elias/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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The near-infrared spectrograph TripleSpec4 mounted on the Cassegrain focus of the Blanco 4-m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Image credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF

On 29 April 2015, TripleSpec4 was installed at the Cassegrain focus of the Blanco 4-m telescope on Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Shown are front, David James, Project Scientist; middle, Everett Schlawin, graduate student; and back, Chuck Henderson, mechanical engineer. Image credit: Terry Herter/Cornell University

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Dr. David James, Associate Astronomer, TripleSpec4 Project Scientist, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), in front of TripleSpec4 near-infrared spectrograph mounted on the Blanco 4-m telescope at CTIO. Image credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF

The Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Image credit: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab