NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY · 4.4 Central Facilities Operations .....40 National...

QUARTERLY SCIENTIFIC REPORT (2) FY 2016 1 January–31 March 2016

The figure in the foreground shows the combined science exposure map of NOAO's Mosaic 1, Mosaic 1.1, Mosaic 2, Mosaic 3, and Dark Energy Camera (DECam) instruments. The map was made by computing the total exposure time at each point on the sky of all science images taken with these cameras as of March 2016. It includes images taken through all filters but is restricted to only those images with individual exposure times 30 seconds or longer. DECam, with its 2.2 degree field of view, dominates the coverage in the Southern Hemisphere. The images in the background are cutouts of galaxies drawn from the DECam Legacy Survey (PIs Schlegel and Dey). (Image credit: Foreground: K. Olsen/NOAO/AURA/NSF; Background: Dustin Lang/U. Toronto.)

Submitted to the National Science Foundation

Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-1421197 Cooperative Agreement No. AST-1546092

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

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Contents

1 NOAO SOUTH ....................................................................................................................... 11.1 Associate Director’s Office ................................................................................ 11.2 Blanco Operations .............................................................................................. 31.3 SOAR Operations ............................................................................................... 81.4 Engineering and Technical Services .................................................................. 91.5 Facilities Operations ......................................................................................... 111.6 Computer Infrastructure Services ..................................................................... 13

2 KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY ................................................................... 152.1 Associate Director’s Office .............................................................................. 152.2 Mayall Operations ............................................................................................ 162.3 WIYN Operations ............................................................................................ 182.4 Kitt Peak Mountain Operations ........................................................................ 202.5 Kitt Peak Visitor Center ................................................................................... 21

3 NOAO SYSTEM SCIENCE AND DATA CENTER ........................................................ 233.1 Associate Director’s Office .............................................................................. 233.2 Telescope Allocation Committee ..................................................................... 243.3 US National Gemini Office .............................................................................. 253.4 Community Science Center .............................................................................. 263.5 Data Management Operations .......................................................................... 30

4 NOAO CORE ....................................................................................................................... 334.1 NOAO Director’s Office .................................................................................. 334.2 NOAO Core External Projects ......................................................................... 354.3 Education and Public Outreach ........................................................................ 354.4 Central Facilities Operations ............................................................................ 40

National Optical Astronomy Observatory Quarterly Scientific Report (2) FY 2016

(1 January 2016 – 31 March 2016)

Submitted to the National Science Foundation

Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-1421197

2 May 2016

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4.5 Computer Infrastructure Services .................................................................... 414.6 Infrastructure Program ..................................................................................... 42

5 OBSERVING PROGRAMS SEMESTER 2016A ............................................................. 445.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory ...................................................... 455.2 Kitt Peak National Observatory ....................................................................... 495.3 Gemini Observatory ......................................................................................... 515.4 Community Access to Private Telescopes ....................................................... 58

5.4.1 Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy ................................ 585.4.2 Australian Astronomical Observatory ................................................. 59

6 USAGE OF ARCHIVED DATA ......................................................................................... 60

7 GRANTS ................................................................................................................................ 61

8 NOAO SAFETY REPORT FOR Q2 .................................................................................. 628.1 North ................................................................................................................ 628.2 South ................................................................................................................ 62

NOAO SOUTH

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1 NOAO SOUTH

The NOAO South (NS) division is responsible for operations, mainte-nance, and development for all NOAO activities in Chile. For program management purposes, these activities are separated into the following subprograms:

• Associate Director’s Office

• Blanco Operations

• SOAR Operations

• Engineering and Technical Services

• Facilities Operations

• Computer Infrastructure Services

1.1 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR’S OFFICE

Program Highlights

The NOAO South Associate Director’s Office coordinates all activities of NOAO in Chile, includ-ing those on both Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón, together with the facilities and administration of the La Serena campus. It includes the associate director and deputy director for NOAO South, ad-ministrative support for the Associate Director’s Office and observatory operations in Chile, and the NOAO South safety officer.

In March the associate director (AD) traveled to Tucson to participate in the meeting of the AURA Observatory Council and gave a status update on NOAO-S. The AD also participated in a day-long planning meeting with the NOAO director, deputy director, and other associate directors.

Work on the architecture and engineering design study for a new La Serena headquarters build-ing continued this quarter with effort focused on the development of the bid package for renovation of the existing building so that execution of this activity can begin before the end of FY16. Changes were also made to the design of the data center to accommodate increased power and cooling re-quirements.

In February there was a major brush fire on the property adjacent to the AURA compound in La Serena, which required the combined action of four companies of the fire brigade and the Chilean forest service before being brought under control. Although there was no damage to observatory property, this event stimulated a thorough review and revision of fire control procedures by the NOAO-S safety officer. The safety officer also arranged coordination visits by local fire chiefs to both the La Serena compound and the mountain facilities and coordinated through the NOAO-S Fa-cilities Operations department work by contractors to replace the observatory fire hoses damaged during combating the fire and to clear underbrush on the property.

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Associate Director's Office

Blanco Operations

SOAR Operations

Engineering & Technical Services

Facilities Operations

Computer Infrastructure Services

NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2016 (2)

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Figure 1: Overview of the design for the new La Serena office building prepared by the Andes Ar-chitects group.

Status of FY16 Milestones

§ Develop NOAO-S content for the scientific quarterly and annual progress reports each quarter and deliver it to the NOAO Director’s Office for inclusion in each of these reports.

Status: The NOAO-S content for the Fiscal Year Annual Report for FY15 was completed and delivered to the NOAO Director’s Office in Q1. The Quarterly Scientific Report (1) was com-pleted and delivered to the NOAO Director’s Office in January. The NOAO-S content of the present report is also a deliverable for this milestone.

§ Develop the NOAO-S component of the Program Operations Plan for FY17, to be delivered to the NOAO Director’s Office by the end of Q3.

Status: Work has begun on the development of the FY17 staffing allocations and projected non-payroll expenses, including a prioritized list of proposed discretionary purchases, for each sub-division of the work breakdown schedule (WBS).

• During Q1 organize and carry out the review by an external panel of safety experts of workplace safety and procedures at all the facilities operated by NOAO-S, which shall include a walkthrough inspection of the Blanco, SOAR, and SMARTS telescopes, and the La Serena la-boratories and workshops.

Status: Completed in Q1.

§ During Q1 provide input on NOAO-S requirements to the architecture and engineering study for a possible joint LSST/AURA/NOAO headquarters building and participate in the evaluation of the resulting design proposal when it is delivered. If it is decided to proceed with a joint project, continue to provide input on requirements and feedback on design choices, as requested during the detailed design phase.

Status: The initial design study was completed in Q1 (see Figure 1), and a decision to proceed made. During Q2 effort has focused on preparing bid documents and a detailed execution plan for the refurbishment of the existing building so that work can begin before the end of FY16.

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Modifications were also made to the design of the data center to accommodate LSST increased power and cooling requirements.

1.2 BLANCO OPERATIONS

Program Highlights

Science

Observation of Cosmic Shear Demonstrated with Dark Energy Survey Science Verification Data (excerpt from March 2016 NOAO Newsletter article by Matthew R. Becker, Stan-ford/KIPAC/ SLAC for the Dark Energy Survey Collaboration)

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) has demonstrated its first cosmic shear measurements (Becker et al. 2015, arXiv:1507.05598; Bonnett et al. 2015, arXiv:1507.05909; Dark Energy Survey Collaboration 2015, arXiv:1507.05552; Jarvis et al. 2015, arXiv:1507.05603), working with Science Verification (SV) data taken before the start of the official DES survey. This five-band, five-year, five thousand square degree survey uses the new DECam instrument on the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope. It was created to constrain the nature of Dark Energy, with cosmic shear measurements playing a central role. The SV data, including 139 square degrees of imaging data, were taken to test survey opera-tions and to produce early science results with the new DECam instrument. While the resulting cos-mological measurements themselves are not currently state of the art, cosmic shear was detected at 9.7σ significance, and a full analysis of the cosmological implications of the measurement was com-pleted. No deviations from the current best model of our Universe, ΛCDM, were detected, and the measurements are consistent with the recent Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) results (Planck Collaboration 2015, arXiv:1502.01582). Looking forward, the lessons learned from the SV analysis will inform the ongoing analysis of DES data from Years 1 and 2. Cosmic shear was first detected by multiple groups in 2000, one of them using the Blanco tele-scope (Wittman et al. 2000, Natur, 405, 143). It is the subtle, spatially correlated shearing of the im-ages of galaxies caused by massive structures along the line-of-sight; this small deflection of the paths of photons from distant sources, an effect predicted from General Relativity, is called weak gravitational lensing. Since its initial detection, many groups have reported measurements at higher significance and have even used these signals to constrain the fundamental cosmological parameters that govern the formation and evolution of the Universe. Furthermore, cosmic shear is thought to be one of the best ways to probe the nature of Dark Energy and the accelerated cosmic expansion. The DES SV cosmic shear results were the result of the work of hundreds of people, ranging from the scientists and engineers who built and commissioned the DECam instrument to the teams that processed the data to the analysis groups who completed the key tasks needed to extract cosmic shear signals from the data. A diverse set of tools and techniques was needed to complete the analy-sis. The DES collaboration used high-performance computing resources from across the world to analyze the data and visually examined thousands of images to flag problems with the data reduction pipelines. The final, validated data products were recently released publicly for use by other scien-tists (http://des.ncsa.illinois.edu/releases/sva1). The DES SV cosmic shear measurements were performed with two different shear analysis pipelines, which were used to extract the shapes of the galaxies from the images. Furthermore, the analysis was blinded—the shear results were hidden from all members of the collaboration, includ-ing those performing the measurements—until all details of the analysis were finalized. The use of multiple shear pipelines and blind analysis helped ensure that the final results were unbiased. A key step that made the blinded analysis possible was the development of an extensive suite of null tests


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so that the collaboration could gauge when the analysis met the requirements for the accuracy of the measurements. The final result of this extensive analysis was a detection of cosmic shear at 9.7σ (Figure 2) and associated constraints on the cosmological parameters (Figure 3). The final cosmological constraints were marginalized over measurement and theoretical systematic errors. These systematic errors in-creased the fractional uncertainty in the final results by approximately 20%. The final results, as shown in Figure 3, are completely consistent with Planck CMB results (Planck Collaboration 2015) and the CFHTLenS survey results (Heymans et al. 2013, MNRAS, 432, 2433), another cosmic shear survey that finished before the DES SV results were reported. As the DES collaboration moves on to the analysis of the data from Years 1 and 2 of the survey, it is developing improved analysis methods to reduce the contribution of systematic errors to the fi-nal cosmological constraints. We also hope to include other observable signals from the survey along with the cosmic shear analysis to mitigate the theoretical systematic errors and increase the precision of the analysis. Overall, the largest boost in the precision of the analysis will come from the increased area of the survey. The SV dataset is less than 3% of the area and not quite at the full depth of the final survey. While the analysis of the full survey dataset will be quite challenging, the SV results are a positive indication that DES will be able to provide state-of-the-art constraints on the nature of Dark Energy.

Figure 2: Cosmic shear detections from the DES SV data. The points with error bars show the cosmic shear measurements. The solid grey regions show where data were excluded due to systematic errors. The black-solid, blue-dashed, and red-dotted lines show theoretical models based on the best-fit Planck cosmology and several dif-ferent prescriptions for the non-linear mat-ter power spectrum (Harnois-Déraps et al. 2015, MNRAS, 450, 1212; Heitmann et al. 2014, ApJ, 780, 111; Schaye et al. 2010, MNRAS, 402, 1536; Smith et al. 2003, MNRAS, 341, 1311; Takahashi et al. 2012, ApJ, 761, 152).

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Figure 3: Cosmological parameter constraints from the DES SV analysis, Planck CMB analysis (Planck Collaboration 2015, arXiv:1502.01582), and CFHTLenS analysis (Heymans et al. 2013, MNRAS, 432, 2433).

User Support and Instrumentation

A major operational activity at the Blanco 4-m telescope during the reporting period was support for the Dark Energy Survey (DES), as well as the use of DECam by the open-access community. DECam was scheduled for science use on 65.5 nights, with the equivalent of 25.5 nights going to DES and the remainder being used to carry out observations for twelve distinct community science programs. A further five nights, in February, were used to carry out scheduled maintenance on the DECam cryogenic system. This included the swap out of the liquid nitrogen circulation pump, an operation repeated every six to eight months, and the bi-annual replacement of the cold heads for the helium cryo-coolers, resulting in significantly improved cooling performance. Work was also done to address slow vacuum leaks in the cryolines, although further work, including replacement of two segments with an improved design, will still be required for the next maintenance period.

The reporting period also saw the final commissioning run, in January, and the first community science use, in March, of the Astronomical Research using the Cornell InfraRed Imaging Spectro-graph (ARCoIRIS). The three-night science run was highly successful, and the observers were able to leave the telescope with data that had been reduced using a version of the SpeXtools data reduc-tion pipeline customized for use with ARCoIRIS by K. Allers (Bucknell University). The COSMOS optical spectrograph was scheduled for 10 nights during Q2 to obtain data for four distinct science programs.


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Figure 4: Wide-field survey images completed through the end of season three. The goal for this stage of the survey was to obtain six tilings covering the survey footprint (grey shading) for each of the grizY filters. Images obtained during seasons one and two are shown in light-blue, while those added in Year 3 are shown in dark-blue. The survey is 20% behind the goal, mostly as a result of poor weather in season three.

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§ Support the third season of observations for the Dark Energy Survey (DES), which runs from mid-August 2015 through early February 2016.

Status: The equivalent of 108 nights on the Blanco telescope were allocated for the third season of DES. A very strong El Niño event has made this year’s weather the worst in CTIO’s history, hampering survey progress, although the somewhat better weather in Q2 allowed some lost ground to be recovered. Overall, 30% of the time scheduled for the DES third season was lost to poor weather: more than twice the weather loss in the first two seasons. As a result only 9565 survey-quality wide-field images were collected during season three, about 60% of the number obtained in each of Years 1 and 2. On the other hand, both the instrument and telescope have continued to perform reliably so that only 3.5% of scheduled DES time was lost to technical failures. By the end of the third season, survey-quality data had been obtained for 48% of the planned exposures (see Figure 4), leaving the survey 20% behind target, with most of this short-fall due to the poor weather this season.

§ Complete the commissioning of the Astronomical Research using the Cornell InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (ARCoIRIS) near-infrared spectrograph on the Blanco 4-m telescope during Q1. Fully document the instrument’s capabilities and performance and provide user manuals and da-ta reduction handbooks in time for the start of community use during the 2016A semester.

Status: Completed in Q1. Following a final commissioning run in January, a first science run by a community observer was successfully carried out in March.

§ Carry out monthly monitoring of the optical performance of the Blanco 4-m telescope at both prime and f/8 foci, to optimize the lookup tables used for figure control of the primary mirror in order to maintain the best possible delivered image quality.

Status: The f/8 image quality has been completely assessed using the IMAN image analyzer. The overall result for 80% encircled energy is d80=0.26 arcsec with focus and seeing removed. There are some parts of the sky where some improvement is possible through further tuning of the look-up tables. The DECam (PF) image quality is also good and seeing limited most of the time. The DES Donut Software developed at SLAC has been fully implemented on a computer at CTIO so that Donut reduction can be done in-house starting in Q3.

§ Complete the remediation and protection of asbestos containing fireproofing in the Blanco Tele-scope building during Q1.



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1.3 SOAR OPERATIONS

Program Highlights

Science

The REsolved Spectroscopy Of a Local VolumE (RESOLVE, http://resolve.astro.unc.edu) survey is a multi-year survey (PI: Sheila Kannappan) conducting a volume-limited census of galaxy stellar, gas, and dynamical mass as well as star formation and interactions for >1500 systems within >50,000 cubic Mpc of the nearby cosmic web. Observing time on SOAR has been supported by both the NOAO Survey TAC and the University of North Carolina. Additional data come from Arecibo, GBT (21-cm), Gemini, SALT, and the AAT (optical spectroscopy). Initial results for the survey, as well as a second survey (ECO), are now becoming available, with a special presentation given at the January 2016 AAS meeting. A description of the initial data releases can be found on the survey website, along with information on forthcoming releases (see also the March 2016 NOAO Newsletter).


During Q2, there were several noteworthy activities related to the SOAR instruments. First of all, the Goodman acquisition camera was put into general use; this reduces overheads and increases in-strument stability for most long-slit programs. In addition, there was substantial progress toward completing installation of the Goodman red camera, which will provide better red response (and similar response elsewhere, outside the UV) as an alternative to the existing camera.

Work also continues on re-commissioning the IFU spectrograph (SIFS), with a tentative target date for initial science verification of mid-July.

Planning is continuing for delivery, installation, and commissioning of the echelle spectrograph (STELES).

Finally, work on the upgrade to the SOAR telescope control system (TCS) is largely complete. The modified TCS needs to be fully tested with all the available instruments prior to putting it into routine operation; this testing phase was initiated in Q2. The upgraded TCS copies improvements made for the Blanco telescope and should provide more robust operation and more telemetry data for performance monitoring and troubleshooting. The switchover to the upgraded TCS should occur in Q4, if not sooner.


§ Install and commission the new red-optimized CCD camera for the Goodman spectrograph dur-ing Q1.

Status: Work on this project continued through Q2 due to difficulties at the manufacturer. As of the end of the quarter, all hardware had been installed, but system integration was not complete and the camera was not yet available for general use. Completion of this phase is now planned for May 2016 (Q3).

§ Replace the SOAR facility UPS with a modern unit, including an additional battery bank to in-crease hold time during Q1.


§ Replace the commercial Peltier-cooled CCD cameras used in the facility wavefront sensor and its associated acquisition camera with newer models from the same manufacturer during Q2.

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Status: In Q1, the optical design work was completed and a new field flattener lens was pro-cured. A new computer was ordered in Q2 but had to be returned to the manufacturer. The soft-ware for the new Apogee CCD has been implemented and fully tested. Assuming integration of all components proceeds without further problems, initial tests on the telescope should take place in Q4.

§ Redesign the control electronics for the dome shutter, during Q2, so that they can be relocated from their current position riding on the shutter to a stationary position on the building. Begin assembly of the new hardware during Q3, completing it in time for installation in November 2017 during the time the telescope is closed for recoating.

Status: Due to personnel changes, this project has been lowered in priority, and efforts for FY16 are now limited to completing documentation on this system.

§ During Q1 carry out coating tests in the Gemini sputtering plant to re-establish the optimum op-erating parameters for depositing aluminum in preparation for coating the SOAR primary mirror in November 2016. If SOAR procures a dedicated magnetron, design and fabricate mounting hardware to allow its installation in the coating plant.

Status: Work on this project continues. As of the end of Q2, the decision has been made to pro-vide duplicate hardware (outside the magnetron itself) for silver and aluminum coating so that cross-contamination will be minimized. Tests of the new hardware are planned for Q3.

1.4 ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES

Program Highlights

Final adjustment of the f/8 Cassegrain comparison lamps was completed in Q2 by the NOAO South Engineering and Technical Services (NS ETS) group in preparation for final commissioning and first science use of ARCoIRIS this quarter; the 10-arcminute diameter calibration spot was carefully centered on the COSMOS and ARCoIRIS field of view, and tests were performed to verify that the illumination provided by both the flat field and spectral calibration lamps was spatially uniform and of adequate brightness over the entire 0.3 to 2.5um wavelength range. An article describing the comparison lamp system and the test results was submitted and accepted for the 2016 SPIE Optics + Photonics conference (Points et al. 2016, “A New Cassegrain Calibration Lamp Unit for the Blanco Telescope”). The section of the ARCoIRIS instrument software that interacts with the Blanco tele-scope control system (TCS) to perform nodding and dithering operations was also fully debugged and tested during the commissioning run in January.

Significant progress was made on the upgrade of the Blanco f/8 mirror handler during the report-ing period, with advances made on both the control electronics and in mechanical fabrication of the rotational adjustment stage. Both should be completed during Q3 and tested during Q4.

Commissioning of the upgraded SOAR TCS began this quarter; the modified TCS needs to be fully tested with each of the available instruments prior to putting it into routine operation. This pro-cess will be completed and the switchover to the upgraded TCS should occur by Q4, if not sooner.

An article on the design, fabrication, and testing of the SAM ADC was submitted and accepted for the SPIE Optics + Photonics conference (Tighe et al. 2016, “An ADC for the SAM on the SOAR Telescope”). NS ETS staff members are also co-authors on another article on SAM operation (Tokovinin et al. 2016).

Two professional training courses were given to members of the NS ETS staff during the report-ing period: in January optical and opto-mechancial engineers from CTIO and Gemini attended a


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one-week course in the advanced use of Zemax optical design software given by a visiting instruc-tor; in March the NS ETS mechanical engineers received training in the ANSYS finite element analysis package, which has been selected to replace the Algor package used previously.

The recruitment of both an electronics engineer and an electronics technician was begun during Q2 in order to fill vacancies due to staff departures. We expect to fill both positions at the beginning of Q3.


• Complete refurbishment of the Blanco aluminizing tank and optimize its control parameters to ensure stable, reliable, and reproducible deposition of a good-quality coating in time to re-aluminize the Blanco primary mirror during calendar year 2017.

Status: The electrical cabling has been renewed, and all material for maintenance of the pumps has been purchased. The work schedule to replace the oil in the diffusion pump and carry out vacuum tests is under review, partly because a key member of staff has recently moved to Gemi-ni.

• Initiate replacement of the Blanco mirror lift. During Q1 complete the design trade study be-tween the approaches adopted at the Mayall telescope and AAO and start procurement of long-lead-time components. Detailed design will be completed during Q2, with procurement and fab-rication of the remaining components to be completed by the end of the year. Integration, instal-lation, and testing will be carried out at the beginning of FY17.

Status: The design trade study and preliminary design were completed in Q1, culminating in a preliminary design review in December. Procurement of the long-lead-time items—the lift actu-ators—was completed in Q2, with delivery expected around August 2016. In the meantime, work on the design fabrication and installation of the service platforms will continue.

• Build the new handling cart for the Blanco Cassegrain cage, the design of which is ready. Fabri-cation of parts will be carried out throughout the year as machine shop resources are available, with final assembly taking place during Q4.

Status: Engineering design and shop drawings are complete and material has been ordered. Parts fabrication in the machine shop will be carried out in Q3, followed by integration on the mountain in Q4 as planned.

• Upgrade the emergency brake mechanism for the Blanco dome shutter, building on similar work carried out at the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO). Design work will be completed in Q2, with implementation beginning in Q3 but expected to continue into FY17.

Status: No progress to report during Q2.

• During Q2 and Q3, upgrade the drive mechanism of the Blanco dome shutter following the similar work carried out at the Mayall telescope.


• Complete during Q3 the upgrade of the SOAR Telescope Control System (TCS) to the same standard as the recently upgraded TCS of the Blanco 4-m telescope.

Status: Work on the upgrade to the SOAR TCS is largely complete. The modified TCS needs to be fully tested with all the available instruments prior to putting it into routine operation; this testing phase was initiated in Q2 and will be completed in Q3 as planned.

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• Upgrade the control electronics for the primary mirror axial actuators in order to achieve faster correction of the mirror figure following retargeting of the telescope. Design and prototype de-velopment work will be carried out during Q1, procurement of parts and fabrication of the pro-duction hardware during Q2 and Q3, and integration in the telescope and testing during Q4.

Status: The conceptual design has been completed. Implementation will be carried out as a first task by the new electronics engineer recruited in Q2, as part of the process of knowledge trans-fer.

• Commission a design study of the opto-mechanical modifications required to allow ARCoIRIS to be deployed at the SOAR telescope. This is to be completed by the end of FY16 so that the changes can be implemented during FY17.

Status: Conversations continue with Cornell to ascertain their interest and availability to design and carry out the changes needed to the fore-optics internal to the instrument and to obtain an estimate of costs involved.

1.5 FACILITIES OPERATIONS

Program Highlights

The NOAO South Facilities Operations (NS FO) department is responsible for operations, mainte-nance, and long-term stewardship of physical infrastructure shared by the facilities hosted by AURA-Observatory (AURA-O) in Chile. This includes support buildings, housing, hotel and kitch-en facilities, and miscellaneous other facilities in La Serena and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón.

On 9 January 2016, a failure at the substation of the commercial power company CONAFE that supplies the El Totoral property resulted in a power surge that damaged the re-connector at the junc-tion between the commercial and AURA power lines, leaving both summits running on generator power. Rather than waiting for CONAFE to replace the burned-out re-connector, we proceeded im-mediately with phase 1 of the project to install our own re-connectors to protect the power lines and equipment. Commercial electric power was re-established on the morning of January 19.

Work to repair damage to the water system on Cerro Tololo caused by the earthquake of Sep-tember 2015 was begun in Q2. Refurbishment of the water tanks and piping at the summit, original-ly planned for FY17, was brought forward, and in Q2 the new piping system was designed and ma-terials purchased. Installation will be carried out in Q3. Other improvements to the water system, both on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón and in the water supply system from the well to the Tololo summit, included the renewal of the chlorination systems, implementation of telemetry to remotely monitor water levels, and functionality of pumps and replenishment of essential spares, such as pump motors. Work on all of these tasks started in Q2 and will be completed in Q3.


§ Improve the reliability of the electric power transmission infrastructure for both mountains by installing re-connectors (i) at the junction between the commercial power company and AURA lines, (ii) at the bifurcation of the lines to Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón, and (iii) on each summit. This improvement will be implemented in Q3 of FY16, pending funding by the pro-grams, with the priority being (i) and (iii).

Status: Because of the failure in the connection to commercial electricity described above, and to bring the observatories back on the grid as soon as possible, this project was moved forward. The re-connector at the junction between the commercial power and the AURA lines was pur-


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chased and installed in January 2016. In addition, two re-connectors were purchased to protect the lines to Cerro Pachón and Cerro Tololo, and they will be installed at the end of Q2 / begin-ning of Q3. The layout of the protection devices has been reconsidered by the recently hired electrical engineer. Instead of installing a total of five re-connectors, only three are required, at the entrance and at the bifurcation, i.e., the beginning of the lines to summits. At the summits a simpler and considerably cheaper protection device suffices, and this is what will now be in-stalled. With these changes the entire project can be completed within FY16.

§ Upgrade and certify heating facilities on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón to comply with Chilean regulations in Q1 of FY16 (requires agreement for funding by the other non-NOAO programs). This includes the heating facilities in the hotel, dorms, and offices on Cerro Tololo; heating fa-cilities of the Cerro Tololo houses is planned for FY17.

Status: No progress to report during Q2. This project will be postponed until the end of FY16 or possibly early FY17.

§ In preparation for the certification of the electric substations on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón, an improvement plan will be defined in Q2 of FY16, which will be implemented in Q3 (again, pending funding agreement by other programs).


§ Renovation of the kitchen on Cerro Tololo will take place during Q3 of FY16. The amplification of the kitchen on Cerro Pachón, to comply with Chilean regulations, will be designed in Q1 and implemented in Q2/Q3, if funding is available per agreement with other programs.

Status: A plan for the remodeling of the Cerro Tololo kitchen has been developed. Remodeling will be carried out by an external contractor in Q3 or Q4 of FY16. No progress to report during Q2 on the remodeling of the Cerro Pachón kitchen.

§ Remodel the La Serena machine shop to provide a covered, well-ventilated area for welding and painting and to provide a direct entrance to the shop superintendent’s office without passing through the machine shop proper, for safety reasons. This project will be carried out in two steps. The first step will be taken in Q3: once the plans for the LSST offices have sufficiently matured to understand the impact on the La Serena compound, the plans for remodeling of the machine shop will be finalized.


§ Define exits/entrances for the La Serena compound in Q2 of FY16. With the re-arrangement of the La Serena traffic flows (e.g., Av. Juan Cisternas will become one-way), it is necessary to re-define the entrance/exit of the compound at the Huanhuali/Cisternas gate. At the same time, a permanent solution for an entrance/exit at the east side of the compound needs to be defined, to ensure safe access while the access through the terrain of the University of La Serena remains closed. Implementation of these improvements will be pending funding by the other programs and/or AURA.


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1.6 COMPUTER INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES

Program Highlights

The NOAO South Computer Infrastructure Services (NS CISS) group provides information technol-ogy (IT) support for NOAO personnel and facilities in Chile and supports the backbone communica-tions and network infrastructure for all AURA-O facilities in Chile. NS CIS provides the network in-frastructure support necessary to maintain reliable connectivity between the mountaintops (Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón) and La Serena as well as between La Serena and the rest of the world.

The head of NS CIS participated in the “AURA Chile IT working group” that has been tasked by the directors of AURA-O, Gemini, LSST, and NOAO with exploring whether joint IT infrastruc-ture support services could be provided for all the programs in Chile by a single integrated group. The working group met several times during the reporting period to develop a census of each group’s IT support needs, assess the current manpower and non-labor costs of meeting those needs, and explore the feasibility of sharing some or all of the IT support functions across LSST, Gemini, and NOAO. The resulting report was delivered to the directorate in March.

During Q2, NS CISS participated in a number of planning meetings related to the new La Sere-na headquarters building and data center. A key objective is to minimize service interruptions for users and tenants during the refurbishment of the existing building and construction of the new addi-tions. To achieve this, NS CISS plans to run new CAT6 cables, in parallel with the existing wiring, connecting the various offices to network switches at a few strategic locations and then run 10 G fi-ber from theses switches, initially to the existing computer room and later to the new data center once its construction is complete.

It was at last possible to make progress on the project to improve the virtual machines at CTIO during the quarter following the inclusion of the 9P file system in the main-line Linux kernel distri-bution. In addition, a virtual server was deployed at SOAR that provides laser pointing and other important information to the telescope operator. This new virtual server runs LabView applications and uses the Gluster file system for some of its functions and thus serves as a prototype for key parts of the new virtual machine architecture.

The new computers for the REU students (which use leading-edge NVMe solid state disks) set up in Q1 proved to be trouble free and were used without problems by the students, who arrived in January. These machines serve as a model for future high-end staff workstations. Three ruggedized Raspberry Pi devices were deployed in La Serena to display Cerro Tololo and SOAR webcams, as well as display network information. These devices run 24/7 and have shown themselves to be reliable so far.


• Install the fiber optics cable interconnecting Cerro Pachón, Cerro Tololo, and La Serena and in-stall the network equipment required to implement a link with capacity of at least 1 Gb from the summits to base for each of the major programs (Gemini, SOAR, CTIO, LSST).

Status: Four 10 G–capable Cisco 6509 routers have been physically delivered to CISS and will be configured and installed during Q3. The installation of the fiber between La Serena and Cerro Pachón is ongoing and is expected to be finished in the August timeframe.

• Establish by the end of FY16 separate, independent sub-networks for each of the tenant tele-scopes on Cerro Tololo.

Status: Some progress has been made. Several tenants on Cerro Tololo are now using the inde-pendent subnets for wired connections. However, the scope of the project has increased to in-


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clude extending the “Public_AURA” Wi-Fi subnet to the mountain to isolate personal mobile devices from the internal CTIO network. There were some issues running the Wi-Fi, VoIP and data VLANS on this subnet, but the problem is now understood and should be solved by Q3.

• Install a wireless local area network controller and captive portal with 802.1x in Q1 for im-proved performance.


• Purchase and install in FY16 the Cisco Identity Services Engine to make the network more se-cure from personal mobile devices.

Status: No progress to report during Q2. However, the provision of a separate external Internet connection to personal mobile devices on Cerro Tololo by extending the “Public_AURA” Wi-Fi network makes the CTIO intranet on the mountain more secure in the interim until the Identity Services Engine can be deployed.

• Establish a network connection, in Q1, from Cerro Tololo to the water tower in the San Carlos valley to support remote monitoring of the pumping stations by the NOAO South Facilities Op-erations staff.

Status: The installation work by NS CISS was completed in Q1. Further progress is stalled pending completion of some electrical connections, underground conduits, and antenna support bases for the Ubiquity devices being used.

KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY

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2 KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY

The NOAO North (NN) division is responsible for the admin-istration, facilities, and information technology (IT) support for NOAO activities based in southern Arizona. For program man-agement purposes, these activities are separated into the follow-ing subprograms:


• Mayall Operations

• WIYN Operations

• Kitt Peak Mountain Operations

• Kitt Peak Visitor Center


Program Highlights

Q2 of FY16 saw a great deal of activity in the KPNO office. In early February the associate director (AD) and the safety manager hosted an external safety review on the mountain. The panel consisted of safety professionals from other observatories or government labs: C. Gessner (LSST, chair), M. White (LBNL), E. McHugh (FNAL), and J. Di Miceli (MMT). Accompanying the panel were the NOAO-S safety officer, the outgoing KPNO facilities supervisor, the incoming KPNO facilities su-pervisor, the NOAO-N safety manager, and the AD. NASA HQ selected the instrument team (and spectrometer design) for the Extreme Precision Doppler Spectrometer (EPDS) for the NN-EXPLORE program at WIYN. The AD’s office support-ed some of the activities during the Instrument Concept Study (ICS) phase leading up to the down-select. The AD and the WIYN telescope scientist traveled to each of the two ICS team homes (Penn State University and MIT) and once to NASA HQ as part of the ICS wrap-up. The Mayall z-band Legacy Survey (MzLS) was launched at the Mayall. Observations have been keeping pace with the schedule, although some time was lost to weather when multiple storm sys-tems moved through in April. Significant software advances were made by the MzLS team during Q2, resulting in improved observation planning and observing efficiency. Data products are of the quality anticipated. Preparations ramped up in Q2 for the Critical Decision 3 (CD-3) review for DESI, scheduled in May. Prior to the CD-3, a Lab Director’s review will be held at LBNL (late April). Presentations by NOAO scientific and safety staff were prepared and rehearsed in preparation for these reviews. The AD met with Tohono O’odham tribal leadership, Chairman Edward Manuel and Vice-Chairman Verlon José, at the end of March. There is mutual interest in working cooperatively to in-crease O’odham participation in observatory activities and in use of observatory facilities. The chairman’s office is currently planning to hold a staff meeting on Kitt Peak in the near future. The AD gave an invited talk, “Dark Sky Protection in Arizona,” at a UNESCO-sponsored con-ference, “The Right to Dark Skies,” in Mexico City in January. Interested parties in the state of So-nora, Mexico, expressed their desire to collaborate with KPNO on dark sky protection in the south-west US and northern Mexico. The AD testified at a hearing before the Senate Commerce and Workforce Development Committee in the Arizona Legislature against a bill that would expand the

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“allowed zone” for electronic billboards. The bill was defeated in committee (3-6) but is expected to return in similar form. The AD supported the NOAO mission at the winter AAS meeting in Kissimmee, Florida, in January and gave a talk on “News from Kitt Peak” at the NSF Pavilion.


• Provide KPNO content for the scientific quarterly and annual progress reports each quarter and deliver it to the NOAO Director’s Office for inclusion in each of these reports.

Status: The KPNO content for the Fiscal Year Annual Report for FY15 was completed and de-livered to the NOAO Director’s Office in Q1. The Quarterly Scientific Report (1) was completed and delivered to the NOAO Director’s Office in January. The KPNO content of the present re-port is also a deliverable for this milestone.

• Develop the KPNO component of the annual program plan for FY17, to be delivered to the NOAO Director’s Office by the end of Q3.

Status: Underway.

• During Q1 organize and carry out the review by an external panel of safety experts of workplace safety and procedures at all the facilities operated by KPNO, which shall include a walk-through inspection of the Mayall and WIYN telescopes and the mountain and Tucson laboratories and workshops.

Status: Completed. On-site safety review was held in February 2016. Final report was received in March and disseminated to mountain staff.

2.2 MAYALL OPERATIONS

Program Highlights

Science

Discovery of Eleven New Double Degenerate Systems with Extremely Low-Mass White Dwarfs Short period binary white dwarfs are of interest for our understanding of the final stages of stellar evolution and as sources of gravitational wave radiation. These intriguing systems are the proposed progenitors of transient events such as supernovae as well as exotic systems such as AM CVn and R Coronae Borealis stars. As gravitational wave sources, short period binary white dwarfs are also the only known verification binaries for the evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (eLISA). The ongoing survey of extremely low-mass white dwarfs (ELM WDs) has significantly increased the known population of merging white dwarfs in the Galaxy. The ELM survey recently reported the discovery of 11 new double degenerate systems in work carried out with the Kitt Peak Mayall 4-m telescope and the MMT (Gianninas et al. 2015, ApJ, 812, 167). Gravitational wave radiation will induce five of the systems to merge within a Hubble time. Four systems will undergo stable mass transfer and evolve into AM CVn systems. Three are poten-tial pulsating systems.


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After Quick Makeover, KPNO Camera Sees Redder Better

The Mosaic-3 camera, mounted on the 4-m Ma-yall, is on a two-year mission to image the sky in preparation for the Dark Energy Spectroscop-ic Instrument (DESI). Immediately prior to em-barking on its mission, it was rebuilt and up-graded with cutting-edge, red-sensitive charge-coupled devices (CCDs, top inset image) and new mechanical components (including the fo-cal plate; bottom inset image), and reinstalled on the Mayall in October 2015. The quick makeover was the work of a small collaboration of scientists and engineers at Berkeley Lab, Yale University, and NOAO. Mosaic-3 is cur-rently surveying the northern sky in the z-band (0.85–1 micron).

A New Pair of Lenses for the Mayall

Custom lenses, to be deployed as part of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument pro-ject, have been delivered to NOAO for antire-flection coating. The lenses, which weigh a quarter ton, will help us see the effect of dark energy on the expansion history of the uni-verse.


§ Commission the “Mosaic 3” dewar in the Mosaic instrument on the Mayall telescope during Q1 of FY16. Complete commissioning and be ready for MzLS science observations to begin by the end of Q1.

Status: Completed.

§ Complete the first half of the MzLS imaging survey for DESI target catalog development. Ob-serving for this survey will be conducted throughout Q2 and Q3 of FY16.

Status: Underway. MzLS observing is keeping pace with the schedule for Q2.

Figure 5. Star trails take shape around Kitt Peak Na-tional Observatory in this long-exposure image. (Im-age credit: T. Hurteau, Yale, P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF.)

Figure 6. The Mayall 4-m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Inset: NOAO staff are re-flected in the giant C4 lens. (Image credit: P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF; Inset: T. Mil-ler, LBL.)


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§ Install additional air and contact temperature sensors throughout the Mayall telescope chamber to provide detailed thermal logging required by DESI. Complete installation and testing by the end of Q1 of FY16. Status: Essentially completed. All sensors that can be placed with current access equipment have been installed and tested. A few sensors very high on the inside of the dome cannot be in-stalled until the internal dome flat field screen is enlarged during early DESI installation, when a rented boom lift will be available. Installing those sensors will take only a few hours.

§ Write, test, and deploy the DESI ICS-TCS software interface. Complete testing by the end of Q2 of FY16. This software is needed in advance of the ProtoDESI testing later in FY16.

Status: Completed. Interface successfully tested in January and ready for ProtoDESI.

§ Design, fabricate, test, and install new cable wrap hardware for the DESI fiber optic cables. De-sign will begin early in Q1 of FY16, and the work will continue throughout most of the year. In-stallation will take place immediately following the ProtoDESI testing campaign and be com-plete by the end of Q4.

Status: Underway. Initial tests yielded critical data for design, which is being revised by NOAO Engineering and Technical Services staff.

§ Install, test on-sky, and remove the ProtoDESI prime focus prototype unit. This activity will be carried out entirely in Q4 of FY16.

Status: Planning is complete for this test, to be done in August/September.

§ Complete facilities enhancements for DESI and other observing support activities, including modernization of the Mayall-wide “clean” power system, extension of the facility glycol cooling system into the Large Coudé Room, and renovation of the U-floor lounge area into a satellite control room. The activities will be carried out throughout the first three quarters of FY16 and will be complete by the end of Q3.

Status: In progress. U-floor control room annex is well advanced, and planning has proceeded for the other facility enhancements.

§ Replace the undersized and badly worn gearbox on the Mayall upper dome shutter with a properly rated unit to prevent catastrophic failure of the upper shutter drive system. Preparatory work will go on through the first two quarters of FY16, and the installation of the new unit will be completed early in Q4.

Status: Preparatory work is completed, with remaining work to be completed during summer shutdown.

2.3 WIYN OPERATIONS

Program Highlights

Science


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NASA Selects Team to Build a Planet-Finding Spectrometer for WIYN NASA has selected a Pennsylvania State University research group led by Dr. Suvrath Mahadevan to build a new, cutting-edge instrument for the WIYN 3.5-m telescope at KPNO. By measuring the subtle back-and-forth motion of stars that is induced by their orbiting companions, the new instru-ment, an extreme precision radial velocity spectrometer, will detect and characterize worlds beyond our solar system. The spectrometer, to be completed in 2019, is the centerpiece of a new partnership between NASA and NSF, the NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research program (NN-EXPLORE), which aims to advance exoplanet science and support NASA space astrophysics missions through the use of the NOAO share of the WIYN telescope. The name of the new instrument, NEID, is de-rived from a word meaning “to see” or “to discover/visualize” in the native language of the Tohono O’odham, on whose land KPNO is located. As an acronym, NEID is short for NN-EXPLORE Ex-oplanet Investigations with Doppler Spectroscopy. NEID will have a minimum velocity precision of better than 1 mph with a goal of 0.2 mph. The extreme precision results from numerous design factors including the extreme stability of the spec-trometer environment, image stabilization at the telescope, innovative fiber optic design, and state-of-the-art calibration and data reduction techniques. When NEID is completed, astronomers world-wide will have access to this state-of-the-art instrument.


The NASA GO program continued at WIYN, with observations of exoplanet host stars, potential host stars (newly identified M stars in nearby moving groups), and exoplanet atmospheres (Rayleigh scattering) carried out at WIYN in Q2. A new narrow-band filter (ll=980nm; dl=2.5nm) was ordered for the One Degree Imager (ODI). Along with the new u-band filter, this gives the imager excellent capability across the visible range of the spectrum.


§ Perform design studies of interfaces between the bent Cassegrain port of the WIYN telescope and optical fiber feeds to the proposed EPDS instruments (early Q2 deliverable; NASA fund-ing).

Status: Completed. Report was delivered to NASA HQ at end of January, as scheduled.

§ Report findings on the schedule, costs, and risks of the EPDS instrument designs in the ICS Re-ports that will be delivered by the Penn State and MIT design teams to JPL (mid-Q2 deliverable; NASA funding).

Status: Completed. Delivered at end of January, as scheduled.

§ Complete scope and cost studies, as directed by the WIYN Board, of the following telescope improvement projects: upgrading the telescope drives, applying high-efficiency mirror coatings to M1 and M2, and updating primary mirror control actuator boards (Q4; general operations and maintenance funding).

Status: Completed. Reported to WIYN Board in April 2016.


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2.4 KITT PEAK MOUNTAIN OPERATIONS

Program Highlights

The facilities staff continue their transition to the mountain infrastructure operations plan while con-tinuing to provide requested support to tenants and the Mayall and WIYN facilities. Adjustments are being made to current systems to enhance tracking of the various support efforts and ensure that per-use revenue recovery records are in place. The tenant FY17 Joint Use Fee (JUF) was finalized and billed to mountain tenants. New efforts were initiated to identify potential mountain data link con-nection options due to the upcoming Q4 expiration of the current five-year agreement. KP staff ef-forts have been ongoing to support problems encountered with the 2.1-m shutter, various telescope repair requests, and outside mirror aluminizing efforts. Staff efforts also continue on the project to convert the 4-m U-floor space into a new control room, and they provided support to the subcon-tracted re-roping of one of the main elevator support cables. Significant Tucson staff efforts in-volved finalizing agreements and obtaining approvals necessary to proceed with installation of a fi-ber optic line to the west ridge tenants. Other Tucson staff efforts were ongoing in obtaining vendor bids for painting the 4-m dome and upgrading of the UPS power system. Midway through the quar-ter, the long-term facilities supervisor retired, and the new facilities supervisor took over supervision of the mountain facilities staff.


§ Complete scope and cost estimates for mountain electrical power distribution upgrade project in Q2.

Status: There has been no activity during this period.

§ Perform design studies of facilities modifications at the WIYN telescope to provide suitable working environments for the proposed EPDS instruments (early Q2 deliverable; NASA fund-ing).

Status: During Q2, Tucson staff worked with WIYN personnel and the local engineering firm to address areas to help complete the design study and finalize their report. The final report was delivered to WIYN staff early in Q2 for final submission.

§ Complete design for Mayall U-floor control room layout in Q2 (joint milestone with Mayall Operations).

Status: The working drawings were completed with scientific staff input, and KP staff began the renovation. Most of the demolition efforts have been completed, and construction is ongoing for the renovation effort. Work will continue to be ongoing over Q3 and Q4, with partial completion planned to allow interim use in early August.

§ Work with our telephone service provider (TOUA) and West Ridge tenants to add new fiber to expand bandwidth to telescope facilities on the West Ridge.

Status: A contractor was identified to do the work, and with tenant approval, efforts were ongo-ing during Q2 to begin the project. Necessary approvals were obtained and agreements final-ized near the end of Q2 that allowed the contractor to begin some work and order the fiber. Completion of the project and activation of the data link is projected in Q3.


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2.5 KITT PEAK VISITOR CENTER

Program Highlights

Total participation in Kitt Peak Visitor Center programs was up by 935 people (+14%) com-pared to Q2 of FY15, with 7,454 people. The largest changes occurred in the General Public Tours and the Nightly Observing Program. Par-ticipation in the daytime Guided Tours was up by 458 people (+13%) compared to Q2 of FY15. The tours are led by an all-volunteer group of trained docents drawn from the local community. The Nightly Observing Program (NOP) wit-nessed an increase in attendance of 447 people, or almost 17% more than in Q2 of FY15. A higher number of clear skies helped with this growth, but a continuing staff shortage meant fewer programs were offered at full capacity, partially negating the benefit of the clear skies. The Overnight Telescope Observing Program (OTOP), our nightlong special observing pro-gram for advanced astronomy enthusiasts, served 16 guests, a substantial drop-off from Q2 of FY15, which hosted 40 participants. Although demand for this program is high, very few staff presently onboard are trained and/or available to meet the requests.

Attendance at a new program launched late last year, the Dark Sky Discovery (DSD) pro-gram, remained strong. This small group observ-ing program for intermediate-level astronomy enthusiasts and amateur astronomers attracted 73 par-ticipants. Six sessions of the Binocular Stargazing Program, offered at nearby Saguaro National Park West, provided personally guided tours of the night sky to 26 participants. Another bright spot was the Youth Group Overnight (YGO) program. One hundred and three students and their chaperones spent the night on Kitt Peak and participated in astronomy learning activities until the early hours of the morning.


§ Full rollout and implementation of the new Dark Sky Discovery program will occur in the fall of 2015. This new program spans the gap between the existing NOP and AOP programs. It is in-tended for guests with some knowledge of astronomy or familiarity with the night sky who are seeking a small-group, telescope-viewing, astronomy-learning experience. Whereas the NOP evenings serve 50 or more participants, the Dark Sky Discovery program will be capped at 8, al-lowing for more time at the telescope and much more interaction with staff.

Status: The program rollout was successfully completed in Q1. Demand for the program in Q2 has outstripped the number of nights available to offer the program.

Kitt Peak Visitor Center & Tours Summary of Participants (3 months ending 3/31/16)

Group/Program # of Participants

General public tours 3964

School groups, K-college 102

Special tours 26

VIP tours 15

Nightly Observing Program (NOP) 3155

Overnight Telescope Observing Program (OTOP) 16

Dark Sky Discovery (DSD) program 73

Youth Group Overnight (YGO) program 103

TOTAL 7454


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§ A new Visitor Center website will premiere. Although the initial go-live event will occur in Au-gust 2015, the full deployment of additional content and features will occur during FY16. The new website will be easier to navigate, provide completely updated content and other new fea-tures, and most importantly, will be dynamic, that is, fully viewable on devices of all sizes, from small smartphones to tablets to desktop computers. This development is essential as more search engines begin to exclude websites that are not fully dynamic.

Status: The new website is working well, free of technical errors. Visitors from the US are the dominant users, averaging about 65% of all views. The UK is second, followed by Canada, Germany, Australia, and France. Minor additions and modifications continue to be made peri-odically.

NOAO SYSTEM SCIENCE AND DATA CENTER

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3 NOAO SYSTEM SCIENCE AND DATA CENTER

The NOAO System Science and Data Center (NSSDC) op-erates a telescope time allocation process recognized nation-ally for its fairness and integrity for access to all NOAO-operated facilities and all facilities that offer open-access time via NOAO (e.g., Gemini, SMARTS). NSSDC supports users of non-NOAO facilities (with particular focus on Gem-ini) and connects the astronomical community to major ex-ternal development projects (e.g., LSST, TMT). NSSDC al-so provides a robust set of data archive and data processing services including desktop image processing systems sup-port (e.g., IRAF), data calibration pipelines for wide-field imagers (e.g., Mosaic 1.1, NEWFIRM, DECam), and data management (e.g., capture, validation, and archiving of all raw data produced by NOAO-operated facilities, all data products from NOAO-operated calibration pipelines, and all data products from NOAO Survey Programs). All data holdings are publicly available from the NOAO Science Archive following the designated proprietary period. With the advent of DECam, NSSDC has stepped up to a petascale (“Big Data”) level of data volume and complexity. For pro-gram management purposes, NSSDC activities are separated into the following subprograms:


• Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC)

• US National Gemini Office (USNGO)

• Community Science Center (CSC)

• Data Management Operations (DMO)


Program Highlights

Q2 of FY16 was the first full quarter at NOAO for A. Bolton, the new NSSDC Associate Director (AD) following a start date of 1 December 2015. The AD attended the January 2016 AAS meeting in Kissimmee, Florida, in his NOAO role and communicated NOAO’s new data-focused mission in conversations and networking with a diverse cross section of meeting participants. The AD also pre-sented the current status and future direction of NSSDC to the AURA Observatory Council in March 2016.

A major hiring initiative within NSSDC was concluded in Q2, with accepted offers for three da-ta scientists, one system administrator, one software engineer / web developer, and one postdoctoral associate.

NSSDC hosted one-week visits in Q2 by B. Weaver and J. Brownstein, the lead data-archive scientists of DESI and of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), respectively. These visits, and simi-lar visits in the future, are intended to strengthen the connection between NSSDC’s public data-service mission and the relevant expert knowledge base developed within major survey projects.

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The AD, the Community Science Center head, a NSSDC software system engineer, and the Da-ta Management Operations head visited the astronomy group at the National Center for Supercom-puting Applications (NCSA) at the end of March 2016. This visit provided NOAO and NCSA with the opportunity to describe their current activities, capabilities, and goals to each other and to estab-lish the foundations of inter-institutional partnership and collaboration in the context of serving data from the Dark Energy Survey and LSST to the astronomical community.


§ Coordinate and manage content for the quarterly reports and final annual report.

Status: Ongoing. The NSSDC content for the Fiscal Year Annual Report for FY15 was complet-ed and delivered to the NOAO Director’s Office in Q1. The Quarterly Scientific Report (1) was completed and delivered to the NOAO Director’s Office in January. The NSSDC content of the present report is also a deliverable for this milestone.

§ Be responsible for the NSSDC input to the Program Operations Plan for FY17.

Status: Initial discussion of priorities for the FY17 plan began in Q2. Major plan-development activity will occur in Q3. A key principle for FY17 will be the balancing and coordination of ac-tivities across all NSSDC programs, with the goals of 1) continuing, expanding, and improving user community support; 2) increasing robustness of systems and processes within NSSDC; and 3) increasing the sharing of skills and knowledge between NSSDC staff members.

3.2 TELESCOPE ALLOCATION COMMITTEE

Program Highlights

Semester 2016A was scheduled successfully for all telescopes, and observing began 1 February 2016 for approved 2016A programs. During Q2 of FY16, planning was underway for semester 2016B, with the Call for Proposals for 2016B released, as planned, 1 March 2016. The proposal deadline was 31 March 2016 and, as of the deadline, 287 new programs were submitted to NOAO for semester 2016B. This date was the same deadline for submission of Gemini Large/Long Pro-gram Letters of Intent and, as of the deadline, 20 letters were submitted to Gemini, which were then forwarded to NOAO for our planning of the Gemini Large/Long TAC panel, managed by NOAO on behalf of Gemini. Chairs and panelists for all nine panels (58 astronomers) are in place, with face-to-face TAC review meetings being planned for the last week of April and first week of May 2016. The Annual NOAO Survey Science Meeting will meet 26 April 2016 and the Gemini Large/Long Pro-gram TAC will meet 27–28 April (all at NOAO in Tucson). The regular NOAO TAC panels (3 Ex-tragalactic, 3 Galactic, 1 Solar System, and 1 NN-EXPLORE) will meet at NOAO in Tucson 2–6 May 2016.


§ Issue calls for proposals for regular programs (twice a year) and survey programs (once a year).

Status: The semester 2016B Call for Proposals was successfully released, as planned, 1 March 2016. After meeting with the NOAO director, it was decided not to issue an NOAO Survey call for FY16, due to current survey commitments.


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§ Convene Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC) panels twice a year to review the proposals and provide recommendations to the NOAO director.

Status: The nine TAC panels managed by NOAO for 2016B are set to convene at NOAO in Tuc-son 26–28 April 2016 and 2–6 May 2016.

§ Work with the federal and non-federal observatories to prioritize and schedule the approved proposals by 15 December 2015 for 2016A and 15 June 2016 for 2016B.

Status: All semester 2016A approved programs were scheduled successfully, with announce-ments of scheduling sent out to PIs on 15 December 2015. Planning is underway to ensure that all approved 2016B programs will be scheduled successfully by 15 June 2016.

3.3 US NATIONAL GEMINI OFFICE

Program Highlights

The US National Gemini Office (US NGO) group held its second mini-workshop at the January 2016 AAS meeting in Kissimmee, Florida. The workshop, entitled "NOAO Mini-Workshop on Adaptive Optics: From Planning Observations through Data Reductions," was held 6 January 2016. It featured three speakers, who covered practical information on all aspects of planning for, reduc-ing, and assessing AO data from a variety of instruments, applied to a range of science projects. The invited speakers and talk titles were Claire Max (University of California, Santa Cruz, and 2015 AAS Weber Award winner), “Adaptive Optics for Astronomers: The Basics,” http://ast.noao.edu/ sites/default/files/Max.pdf; Tim Davidge (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and Canadian NGO), “AO 101: Considerations for Designing AO Observing Programs of Resolved Stellar Sys-tems,” http://ast.noao.edu/sites/default/files/Davidge.pdf; and Franck Marchis (SETI Institute), “Processing and Data Analysis with AO Instruments: Challenges and Perspectives,” http://ast.noao.edu/sites/default/files/Marchis.pdf. In 2015 Gemini agreed to offer Phoenix as a visi-tor instrument at Gemini-S starting in semester 2016A. Phoenix was shipped to Chile on 4 February 2016 and arrived at Gemini-S on 16 February. NOAO staff K. Hinkle and D. Willmarth arrived on Cerro Pachón on 8 March to uncrate Phoenix. The crates appeared to be in good condition, and ac-celerometers packed in the crates also indicated that the equipment had had gentle handling in ship-ment. The NOAO staff were able to unpack Phoenix in a few days and, with the help of the Gemini staff, place Phoenix in its side-looking cradle for use at a Gemini ISS side-port. During the week of 14 March Phoenix was cold-tested. The refrigeration system functioned perfectly. The collimator was focused at cryogenic temperature, and spectral images of the hollow cathode were obtained. Some read-back issues with the motor control electronics were discovered and will be addressed in May prior to the installation of Phoenix on the telescope. An observing block with approved semes-ter 2016A time is scheduled for May 2016. US Gemini proposals submitted for semester 2016B re-quested 170 hours of time with Phoenix. These programs will be reviewed by the 2016B TAC.


§ Attend Gemini Operations Working Group (OpsWG) in-person and remote meetings, represent-ing the US partner, and participate in the joint Gemini/NGO meetings to discuss all operation is-sues.

Status: The semester 2016B OpsWG was held 17–18 February 2016. The US NGO Head represent-ed the US Gemini user community and presented the US report.


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§ Represent the US partner in the International Telescope Allocation Committee.

Status: The semester 2016B ITAC meeting will be held 1 June 2016, and the US NGO Head, along with another NOAO NGO member, are engaged in planning to participate in and repre-sent the US/NOAO Gemini user community and their approved observing programs.

§ Provide support (such as panel orientation materials and on-call support) to the Time Allocation Committee for Gemini. Also provide technical reviews of all highly ranked programs.

Status: The NGO provided support to the TAC in preparation for the semester 2016B Call for Proposals that was released on 1 March 2016. Planning is underway for NGO support of the upcoming semester 2016B TAC process, including requests from TAC panelists for specific in-formation on Gemini proposals.

§ Develop new cookbooks, data reduction examples, and informed Q&A to aid US Gemini ob-servers in reducing their data. Specific current packages were agreed upon with Gemini at the OpsWG semester meetings, and new packages will be discussed in February 2016 and August 2016 at these meetings.

Status: The US NGO produced a GMOS cookbook, which has been reviewed by a number of as-tronomers and is ready to be posted. Discussions are nearly final concerning where the cook-book will be posted and its exact format. The GMOS IFU FAQ document is under internal re-view.

3.4 COMMUNITY SCIENCE CENTER

Program Highlights

LSST Science Development

In collaboration with the University of Arizona (UA) Computer Science (CS) Department, NOAO scientists continued development of a prototype software infrastructure to characterize and distribute events discovered by time domain surveys. The Arizona-NOAO Temporal Analysis and Response to Events System (ANTARES) was funded with an award to the University of Arizona from the NSF in September 2013 (CISE AST-1344024). The grant includes funding for an astronomy post-doctoral position (paid through the UA CS, but resident at NOAO). In Q2, the astronomy team be-gan developing tools for characterizing light curves that are agnostic as to the cadence of the obser-vations. With the CS team, they designed a small computer cluster to be housed at the University of Arizona that will be used to test system operations in a realistic environment. Members of the as-tronomy and CS teams attended the LSST Joint Technical Meeting to discuss the interface between LSST alert generation and the broker, as well as how to incorporate LSST simulations of alerts into development and testing of ANTARES. The astronomy team also hired a second postdoc who will start working on the project 1 September 2016. NSSDC/CSC staff members continued to contribute to the LSST Observing Cadence white pa-per, to be submitted for publication in Q3. Data Lab The NSSDC Community Science Center (CSC) group continued work on the NOAO Data Lab pro-ject in Q2 of FY16. This project was started in FY15 and has a planned public release in summer 2017. Its purpose will be to help users efficiently explore, analyze, and make discoveries from the


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large datasets and catalogs being generated by NOAO’s wide-field instruments, with particular em-phasis on DECam-based catalogs and images. NOAO’s current DECam holdings include object frames totaling more than 360 TB of data (uncompressed floating point) covering nearly the entire sky, and these holdings will at least double in size over the next few years. The Data Lab concept is to allow users to query and filter the large catalogs associated with these datasets, access the pixels associated with catalog objects in an efficient way, coordinate work with collaborators on large da-tasets, and run custom workflows close to the large datasets themselves. Work in Q2 of FY16 focused on preparing for the first public demo of the project at the June 2016 AAS meeting. A detailed description of this demo was updated in Q2. The demo will be built around the discovery of faint dwarf galaxies in data from the DES, SMASH, and DECaLS surveys, including the identification of variable sources in such galaxies. In Q2, progress was made on the design of a data discovery tool, on implementing MyDB personal database functionality through the Table Access Protocol (TAP) service, on the Data Lab image access and cutout service, and on ex-ample science tools and workflows in support of the demo science case. The group continued testing and updating of the VOSpace virtual storage implementation that provides for efficient storage and analysis of catalog and pixel data and of the quick-look photometric reduction pipeline NIKE (which is based on SExtractor) for fast production of catalog data from DECam images, including individu-al chips as returned by the image access service. Datasets that were uploaded to the Data Lab TAP service in Q2 included the DECaLS DR2 release, the full initial catalog production from the SMASH survey, and the DES SVA1 tables. Lastly, work was completed in Q2 on the high-level Storage Manager service to be used as the primary astronomer interface to the virtual storage sys-tem. Offers for four Data Lab positions (three data scientists and one software engineer, two funded from NOAO no-cost extension funding) were made and accepted in Q2, with start dates ranging from late April 2016 to September 2016.

TMT Community Engagement

NOAO’s Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Liaison Office is responsible for carrying out many aspects of a cooperative agreement between NSF-AST and TMT. This cooperative agreement aims to en-gage the US astronomy community in planning for potential NSF investment and participation in the TMT project. AURA is an associate member of the TMT International Observatory, LLC (TIO), with representation on the TIO Governing Board and the TMT Science Advisory Committee (SAC). NOAO is charged with executing the responsibilities and participation activities of AURA in TMT. NOAO organizes a US TMT Science Working Group (SWG), consisting of astronomers spanning a range of scientific expertise, drawn from US non-TMT partner institutions. The SWG engages with others in the astronomical community about US participation in TMT and represents the US com-munity’s viewpoint to the TMT project, SAC, and Board. The SWG is preparing a US TMT Science Plan, which is one element of a US National TMT Participation Plan to be delivered to the NSF as the product of the NSF-TMT cooperative agreement. The NOAO TMT Liaison Office communi-cates to the community via the NOAO Newsletter and NOAO Currents e-newsletter, among other channels. In Q2 of FY16, M. Dickinson wrote TMT articles for NOAO Currents and for the March 2016 NOAO Newsletter. Dickinson chairs the US TMT SWG. In Q2 of FY16, the SWG focused on revisions to the draft report based on input received from TMT project staff and on incorporating information about re-cent changes and challenges to the project due to the complicated situation for TMT in Hawai’i. The SWG now expects to submit the draft report to NSF-AST early in Q3 of FY16. Dickinson also co-organized the annual TMT Open House event at AAS meeting #227, held in Kissimmee, Florida. The Open House was a 5:30 pm event held on 6 January, with an estimated attendance of more than 300 people. Fiona Harrison (Caltech) and Dickinson (NOAO) gave presentations on the project sta-


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tus and on US community engagement activities under the NSF-TMT cooperative agreement. A TMT Thermal IR Science and Instrumentation Workshop was also held at the AAS meeting. These events were advertised via NOAO Currents. Dickinson and US TMT SWG members J. Lotz (STScI) and I. Dell’Antonio (Brown) are AU-RA representatives to the TMT SAC, and Dickinson has chaired the TMT SAC since April 2014. Lotz rotated off the SAC during Q2 of FY16 and was replaced by K. Meech (University of Hawai’i, Manoa). Dickinson organized and chaired a meeting of the SAC held on 1–2 February 2016 in Pas-adena and attended the TIO Governing Board meeting (also in Pasadena) on 3–4 February. D. Silva (NOAO) and C. Pilachowski (Indiana) are AURA’s representatives on the TIO Board and also at-tended the February Board meeting. The annual TMT Science Forum conference is the primary opportunity for astronomers throughout the TMT partnership to meet face to face, and for US community astronomers to learn about TMT and to get involved in science planning. The next TMT Forum will be held in Kyoto, Ja-pan, 24–26 May 2016. Dr. T. Yamada (JAXA) is chair of the Scientific Organizing Committee, and Dickinson is co-chair. Meeting planning proceeded during Q2 of FY16, and NOAO advertised the meeting via the NOAO Newsletter and NOAO Currents and by direct e-mail to community mem-bers. The NSF provides travel support funding for US community members to attend the TMT Fo-rum, and the US TMT SWG received and evaluated requests for such funding during Q2. The TMT International Science Development Teams (ISDTs) are topical science groups that aid and advise the TMT project and that serve as a way to build an international community of scientists among the TMT partners. They were established partly in response to the NSF-TMT cooperative agreement as a channel for involving US astronomers in participating in TMT science planning, and Dickinson and T. Treu (UCLA) oversee the ISDT activities on behalf of the TMT SAC. The annual call for new ISDT membership applications had a deadline of 15 January 2016. This opportunity was promoted to the US community via NOAO Currents, the AAS Open House, and direct e-mail to potentially interested individuals. Some ISDT members will attend the TMT Forum in Kyoto and participate in discussions of TMT Science and future-generation instrumentation.


LSST Science Development

§ Expand database of astronomical knowledge to include several major all-sky catalogs and data-bases (2MASS, SDSS, HST Guide Star Catalog, ROSAT, VLA-FIRST, SWIRE, NED, IRSA, and Veron) as well as extending covered wavelength ranges for the ANTARES project (Q1–Q4).

Status: ROSAT, SDSS, NED, and the CHANDRA XSC were added in Q1. The ANTARES team awaits installation of new computer hardware to complete the implementation of all catalogs.

• By Q2, create a prototype touchstone1 consisting of a library of known variable sources/phenomena that will be used for feature comparison in ANTARES.

Status: The ANTARES team now has a prototype touchstone for variable objects that contains several hundred thousand examples.

§ Create tools to develop synthetic alert stream for ANTARES in Q1.

Status: The ANTARES team can generate synthetic alert streams directly from the touchstone.

1 The touchstone is a knowledge base of the attributes and relative frequencies of the occurrence of


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§ Develop multistage filtering algorithms for ANTARES.

Status: In progress.

Data Lab

§ Plan and schedule a workshop on tools for Big Data.

Status: The possible subject matter and format of the workshop were considered in Q1 and Q2. NOAO staff scientist T. Lauer returned from sabbatical leave in Q2 and has begun organiza-tional work for the workshop.

§ Complete work on prototypes of key software infrastructure components for the Data Lab, spe-cifically virtual storage, database storage and access, user authentication, and visualization ser-vices.

Status: A prototype virtual storage implementation (VOSpace) was completed in Q1 and tested in Q2, as was a prototype database and access mechanism. Prototype MyDB functionality was developed in Q2. A custom tool for finding overdensities of selected stellar populations was de-veloped in Q2 and used to develop an automated custom workflow to run on the full set of SMASH catalog data. Visualization services using TOPCAT and iPython notebooks were also further explored and demonstrated in Q2.

§ Review and report on at least three science interface models for the Data Lab, to inform the user interface design.

Status: Several science interface models were reviewed and a draft report was created in Q1. A preliminary data discovery tool was designed in Q2.

§ Recruit two software developer positions to support the Data Lab project. The goal is to have them on board by the end of Q1.

Status: One software developer was hired in Q2, with a start date in Q3. The other position was closed due to lack of applicants, with funding instead used to hire a data scientist to start in Q4.

§ Deliver prototype capabilities of Data Lab and execute a demonstration of same at the summer AAS meeting.

Status: Prototype virtual storage, database access, image access, and visualization capabilities were developed in Q2. The demo is on schedule for the summer AAS meeting.

TMT Community Engagement

§ Direct the US TMT SWG in producing its portion of the US National TMT Participation Plan for the NSF, which is the main deliverable of the NSF-TMT Cooperative Agreement.

Status: Dickinson continues to lead the activities of the US TMT SWG, which is revising and updating its draft of the US National TMT Participation Plan, to be delivered to NSF-AST in Q3 of FY16.


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§ Organize and attend quarterly TMT Science Advisory Committee (SAC) meetings, report on SAC2 activities to the TMT International Observatory Board of Governors, organize regular tel-econferences of the TMT SAC co-chairs, participate (remotely) in weekly TMT project meet-ings, and participate in weekly teleconferences with the TMT-NOAO community engagement group.

Status: Dickinson organized and ran a meeting of the TMT SAC in Pasadena 1–2 February 2016 and attended the TIO Board meeting in Pasadena 3–4 February. He held one telecon of the SAC co-chairs during this quarter and participated in the (approximately) weekly TMT pro-ject telecons and NSF-TMT community engagement telecons.

§ Participate in the organization of a TMT Open House event at the January 2016 American As-tronomical Society (AAS) meeting and in planning for a subsequent Open House in January 2017.

Status: The TMT Open House was held 6 January 2016 at the AAS meeting in Kissimmee, Flor-ida, and was advertised to the astronomical community via NOAO Currents. NOAO also pro-moted a TMT Thermal IR Science and Instrumentation Workshop at the AAS meeting.

§ Participate in the organization of the third annual TMT Science Forum, nominally to be held in summer 2016.

Status: The next TMT Forum will be in Kyoto, Japan, 24–26 May 2016. Dickinson is co-chair of the Scientific Organizing Committee, with T. Yamada (JAXA), and helped to form the Scientific Organizing Committee to organize meeting planning activities, the website, meeting registra-tion, and meeting advertising and to promote the meeting internationally and to the US commu-nity in particular.

3.5 DATA MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS

Program Highlights

Q2 of FY16 marks the second quarter of the newly organized Data Management Operations (DMO). Personnel have settled into their new roles and responsibilities within the new NSSDC structure. Two vacant positions were filled, including a systems administrator and a two-year, NCE-funded ar-chive programmer position. Bok 90Prime and Mosaic-3 instruments were successfully archived in Q1 with the Telescope Automatic Data Archiver (TADA) v1.0. Lessons learned from operations led to the development of TADA v2.0, which is currently in testing. TADA hardware will be installed in Q3/Q4 and imple-mented gradually in coordination with existing observing, data transfer, and pipeline reduction oper-ations. Upon stable implementation, TADA development priorities will shift to new remediation tools as required to support sustained operational efficiency and long-term curation tools to support the Science Archive. The NOAO Science Archive v2.5.1 was implemented in Q2, which represents a set of third-party software upgrades that were integrated in the last fiscal year. Archive usage was especially 2 M. Dickinson is currently chair of the TMT SAC, but it is anticipated that he will rotate out of that role sometime during FY16. Activities under this milestone will be considered completed when he steps down.


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high in Q2, serving out over 100 TB of data, which represents nearly a 10-fold increase compared to Q1. This spike in usage is partly due to improved logging capabilities but also indicates some users are engaged in bulk downloading of public DECam data. This activity underscores the need for im-proved programmatic interfaces to the Science Archive, capable of providing high throughput image access, which will be a priority for Science Archive development going forward.


§ Deploy the Telescope Automatic Data Archiving (TADA) system at CTIO, Cerro Pachón, Kitt Peak, and Tucson to replace the aging archive system components, iSTB and DCI.

Status: TADA v1.0 is in production for Mosaic-3 and Bok 90Prime instruments at Kitt Peak. Operational experience led to the development of TADA v2.0, which is currently in testing. TADA hardware systems are built and currently being burned-in for deployment in the June–July timeframe.

§ Improve preview image support and enhance programmatic interfaces to the NOAO Science Archive.

Status: Preview images are still in a prototype state. User activity and requests have shifted priorities to programmatic interfaces. The full scope of required programmatic interfaces has yet to be defined and will be coordinated with ongoing Data Lab development.

§ Support the Data Lab computer hardware and systems as required, including hardware and sys-tem upgrades.

Status: A Linux systems administrator has been hired and will begin work May 1. Initial tasks will be working with Data Lab staff to solicit hardware requirements and develop systems de-sign, for possible end-of-FY16 or early FY17 implementation, in coordination with Data Lab development.

§ Collect all Dark Energy Survey (DES) first- and second-year single-frame reduced images from the DES survey team. Reformat the images and augment their associated metadata, as necessary, and archive them in the NSA.

Status: Year 1 has been ingested and is accessible through both a general NOAO Science Ar-chive search and a customized “collection” interface. Year 2 delivery from the DES team has been delayed and will most likely occur in conjunction with Year 3.

§ Collect all DECaLS DR1 and DR2 reduced data products from the DECaLS team and archive them into the NSA.

Status: DR1 and DR2 are staged on the mass store. Changes were made to the Science Archive to accommodate new tile data products. Formal ingest of DR2 should occur in Q3.

§ Continue support for transport of DES-observed data to the DESDM group at NCSA and the ODI-observed data to the PPA group and Indiana University. Also, maintain a six-month revolv-ing store of ODI data in Tucson.

Status: This support is ongoing and successful.


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§ Deliver Mosaic z-Band Survey pipeline by end of Q1.

Status: The Mosaic-3 pipeline has been implemented, and data are being ingested into the Sci-ence Archive.

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4 NOAO CORE

4.1 NOAO DIRECTOR’S OFFICE

Program Highlights

The director conducted the annual NOAO Town Hall during the January AAS meeting, which included a short presenta-tion followed by a question-and-answer period. During the rest of the quarter, the director repeated his presentation to small-sized NOAO groups in Arizona and Chile.

The director attended the following meetings as a com-mittee and/or board member: AURA Management Committee for LSST (Jan.), LSST Corporation Board (monthly telecons), and TMT International Observatory (Feb.). The director also attended an AURA Board meeting in February. The director visited Chile during February for meetings with various NOAO South groups.

In coordination with AURA and NSF, an AURA Performance Evaluation and Measurement Plan for NOAO was further developed. With an AURA working group, a concept was developed for closer coordination between Gemini, LSST, and NOAO in the era of LSST operations.

A semi-annual meeting of the AURA Observatory Council (OC) was held in Tucson in March; both the director and deputy director presented aspects of the NOAO program to the OC. The NSF Program Officer attended and conveyed NSF guidance for how NOAO should respond to the 2015 NRC OIR System Optimization report.

The NOAO senior management team (director, deputy director, and three associate directors) held a one-day mini-retreat in Tucson to discuss strategic challenges and opportunities over the next 3–5 years.

The recruitment process continued for a new NOAO Program Manager, led by the deputy direc-tor. The finalist is expected to be in place during early Q3, in time to engage in program operation plan development for FY17.


Observatory Management

§ Develop a Program Operations Plan for FY17, to be delivered during Q1 of FY17.

Status: Preparatory work was conducted this quarter. The annual schedule for the program op-erations plan and budget development cycle for FY17 (known as WEBUD17) was released to senior managers. The Web-based budget tool (WEBUD) was opened for managers to begin de-veloping detailed budgets and work flow for their programs.

§ Deliver scientific quarterly and annual progress reports as required by NSF under the terms of its cooperative agreement with AURA for the management and operations of NOAO.

Status: 2016 Q1 report delivered on schedule.

§ Participate as required by AURA in reviews by NSF and other federal agencies of AURA activi-ties.

Status: No applicable activity this quarter.

NO

AO

Cor

e


NOAO Core External Projects

Education and Public Outreach

Central Facilities Operations

Computer Infrastructure Services


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§ Participate as required by NSF, DOE, and other federal agencies in planning and reporting meet-ings (e.g., the semi-annual NSF Program Review Panel meeting).

Status: No applicable activity this quarter.

§ Organize and complete the annual EPO Advisory Committee meeting by the end of Q1 of FY16.

Status: This milestone should have been specified for Q2; no progress in Q1. The EPO advisory committee (EPO AC) will be held in Q4 of FY16.

§ Organize and complete the annual NOAO Users Committee meeting by the end of Q3 of FY16.

Status: Meeting organization was initiated during Q2. Actual meeting is scheduled for 1–2 June 2016.

§ Complete recruitment of new Associate Director for NOAO System Science and Data Center (NSSDC) by end of Q1 of FY16.


Diversity Program Issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and ethics continue to be topics of concern and discussion in astronomy. The diversity advocate continues to be actively involved in productive discussion about these topics with a variety of NOAO community stakeholders.

§ Maintain through the diversity advocate a national presence on issues related to diversity and use this information and recognized best practices to inform diversity activities at NOAO.

Status: The diversity advocate continues work on revising the AAS Ethics Statement. Elements of this statement will be used to suggest future policy on citations and usage of NOAO archival data. The diversity advocate also attended the open forum presentations of the two finalists for the Univer-sity of Arizona's new vice provost for diversity & inclusion and chief diversity officer position.

§ Continue the diversity advocate’s work with the AURA HR group, as appropriate, to ensure that procedures and practices in hiring, promotion, tenure, workplace climate, etc., are aligned with diversity best practices.

Status: The diversity advocate continues work on revising the “Excellence and Diversity” talk on unconscious bias to be less focused on hiring and promotion committees. The goal of the revision is to produce a talk that is more appropriate and informational to all staff. The diversity advocate con-tinues the work with the Gemini diversity advocate to better include technical and mountain staff concerns, as well as those of additional minority groups.

§ Continue as needed the diversity advocate’s work to address, advocate for, and inform NOAO staff and management of concerns related to diversity.

Status: The diversity advocate is working with other TAC staff to update the study of PI proposal outcomes with respect to PI gender. Results for the additional seven semesters’ worth of data will be presented at the TAC meeting in May 2016.

§ Continue, in coordination with AURA, to work on broadening participation in the NSF science enterprise by engaging individuals, institutions, and geographical areas “that do not participate in NSF research programs at rates comparable to others” (quote from the Executive Summary of

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Broadening Participation at the National Science Foundation: A Framework for Action, August 2008).

Status: The diversity advocate was a primary organizer for diversity-related Committee on the Sta-tus of Minorities in Astronomy (CSMA) activities at the AAS meeting in January. These included the Meet & Greet event and a session announcing Inclusive Astronomy 2015 recommendations. The di-versity advocate continues to work remotely on research projects with and mentor students at How-ard University.

4.2 NOAO CORE EXTERNAL PROJECTS

Program Highlights

This program includes effort for engineering and technical work being done for LSST, TMT, and GMT as well as modest shop work for a variety of small jobs from UA and elsewhere. It is external-ly funded by those projects.


There are no milestones for this program.

4.3 EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OUTREACH

Program Highlights

The Education and Public Outreach (EPO) De-partment North and South held a retreat January 28, with EPO South attending via videoconfer-encing, to discuss priorities, internal and exter-nal project coordination, evaluation techniques, and future projects. One goal of the discussion was to examine how educational programs could build on the expertise of the entire department. Another theme was “visitor centers” and how the department can improve the visitor experi-ence on Kitt Peak and on Cerro Tololo. Bill Buckingham, manager of the Kitt Peak Visitor Center, attended the retreat. Other meetings were held to discuss future educational projects involving “Big Data.” Two meetings were held with the NOAO Data Lab development team to discuss how the EPO Department can contribute to this project. There were no press releases this quarter, but the department worked with writers creating articles on the observatory. For exam-ple, a feature article on DESI was written for the April 2016 issue of DesertLeaf magazine.

Public Outreach Information Requests, Inquiries, and Activities (3 months ending 3/31/16)

Type/Origin of Request Number Participants

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

-- 112

Nighttime programs and star parties 9 302

Programs for the Tohono O'odham Nation 4 625

Festival, fairs, and family events 3 380

Classroom programs 1 103

Podcasts / Google+ Hangouts 2 --

TOTAL 19 1522


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NOAO North Education and Outreach Dark Skies Education During Q2 of FY16, 75 Quality Lighting Teaching (QLT) Kits for the International Year of Light (IYL2015) were shipped to the members of four out of five partnering organizations (SPIE, OSA Foundation, IDA, and IAU). The project was funded by a grant from the IAU and a second grant from the Optical Society Foundation, with the project co-directed by C. Walker and S. Pompea. At the AAS meeting in January, Walker co-hosted the third annual splinter session on light pollution is-sues and solutions, this time with a focus on college campus observatories. A presentation was also given on the QLT Kit at the AAS NSF Pavilion. In January, as part of the IAU Cosmic Light Work-ing Group for IYL2015, Walker was invited to participate in the International Year of Light (IYL) closing ceremony in February in Mérida, Mexico. The QLT Kit was featured at the Cosmic Light booth at the ceremony. Three presentations on the QLT Kit were given in early March to people re-ceiving QLT Kits: one talk to regional nodes from the IAU’s Office of Astronomy for Development; one talk to teachers in Yerkes Observatory’s education program; and one talk to Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association members at their monthly meeting. In March, NOAO EPO students record-ed the six QLT Kit activities for six video tutorials being distributed to the members of partnering organizations. To accompany the video tutorials, Google+ Hangouts are planned for Q3 of FY16 to answer questions about the activities. Work has started with staff from NOAO South EPO to trans-late all the QLT Kit activities, posters, and supporting documents into Chilean Spanish. Walker con-tinued her work on dark skies mitigation as a director on the International Dark-Sky Association Board and an officer of the IAU Commission C.B7. EPO Undergraduate Mentoring and Outreach Program During Q2 of FY16, there was a local EPO event two days a week on average. The EPO students and staff supported five events for the Tohono O’odham Nation (a tent for two days at the Sells Ro-deo, two school star parties, and one career fair). Three additional local school star parties, a science fair, a STEM night, and a museum event were supported. Ten dark skies sessions on light pollution awareness with 50 elementary students each time were held at the Cooper Center for Environmental Learning. One of the most notable local events of Q2 was the annual Math Moves You event in col-laboration with Raytheon in which 200 high school students built Galileoscopes at the University of Arizona. The event was intended to inspire students to consider careers in science, technology, engi-neering, and math. EPO has hired three additional undergraduate students: M. Del Tigges, B. Tam-borsky, and T. Smith. One EPO student, Z. Watson, transferred to the National Solar Observatory. All students are performing well. Tohono O’odham Outreach Several events took place on the Tohono O’odham Nation. NOAO hosted a booth at the Sells Rodeo on January 29 and 30. Hundreds of members of the Tohono O’odham Nation viewed the Sun through solar telescopes and learned about Kitt Peak National Observatory. A star party was held at Baboquivari Middle School in Sells on February 5. Students and parents viewed the night sky, built bottle rockets, and made planispheres. NOAO staff had a booth at the San Xavier Career Fair on March 30. Students and community members learned about Kitt Peak National Observatory and what types of careers we offer. On March 30, a star party was held at Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) in partnership with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). Approximately 40 people attended. NOAO staff provided hands-on activities and tele-scopes for viewing astronomical objects.

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Colors of Nature Recruiting is underway for the Summer Academies for the NSF-funded “Project STEAM: Integrat-ing Art with Science to Build Science Identities among Girls” (“Colors of Nature”). Applications and teacher recommendations are being accepted for the Academy in Tucson and in Fairbanks, Alaska. Flyers have been distributed to schools in the greater Tucson area and on the Tohono O’odham Nation. Applications for the Tucson Summer Academy will close April 18. The Summer Academies will be held June 13–24 in Tucson and July 11–22 in Fairbanks. Each Academy will host 30 girls who will attend 5th–7th grade this fall. A workshop on the project was given at the annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association in Nashville. The project was also discussed at this meeting in a panel discussion on exemplary informal science education programs. The NOAO project Co-PI attended a PI/Co-PI meeting for NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning projects in the Washington, DC, area February 29–March 2. A poster on the Colors of Nature pro-ject was presented at this meeting. Teaching with Telescopes NOAO once again partnered with Raytheon and the University of Arizona MESA program for the Math Moves You program. On January 31, NOAO staff trained members of Raytheon’s Engineer-ing Leadership Development Program on how to build Galileoscopes and work with students. On February 2, approximately 200 students from Tucson high schools built Galileoscopes. After learn-ing to use their Galileoscopes, students can now pursue observational astronomy projects. Web Development The mobile device testing lab is working to understand how best to present NOAO web content on tablets and cell phone screens and to verify that content is well presented on the latest devices avail-able to the public. This project also ensures that NOAO educational products such as those used by the citizen-scientist participants of our Globe at Night sky brightness monitoring program can inter-act successfully with the website from mobile phones and tablets. The NOAO web developer has been working with the LSST project on a community-based study of needed US optical/infrared capabilities titled “Maximizing Science in the Era of LSST.” This study is funded by the Kavli Institute. The project website collected the responses of the com-munity to identify and assess quantitatively the resources needed to accomplish LSST-enabled sci-ence, based on community input, and presented them to the Survey Organizing Committee for anal-ysis and follow-up. Members of the community were invited to participate in a follow-up workshop to take place in early May, and a website was developed for registrations. NOAO South Education and Outreach In January, the last training for park rangers and people from the Punilla communities was held with El Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA, The Centffigurer for Advanced Studies of Arid Zones) and Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF, The National Forest Corporation). This collaboration project addresses the Parque Nacional Fray Jorge, which is a Starlight Reserve. The project has as its goal the development of a sustainable tourism model based on scientific knowledge. In March, all of the EPO South team plus the EPO program head participated in the Second Chile-US Astronomy Education and Outreach Summit, which took place in locations in La Serena, including CADIAS, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and the Gemini facilities. Figure 7 shows the participants following a night program at CTIO. Over 50 specialists in formal and infor-mal astronomy education participated in the event, including members of the EPO groups of US and Chilean scientific observatories, science centers, planetariums, tourist observatories, universities,


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and schools. This year, the Education and Out-reach Summit was more focused than in previ-ous years, with specific goals and objectives. One of these goals was to create a roadmap doc-ument that would not only summarize all of the EPO programs offered by the observatories but also provide guidance for future educational programming.


§ Work with the Tohono O’odham Nation to support astronomy education programs at the Tohono O’odham Community College, K-12 schools on the Tohono O’odham Nation, the

CTIO Visitor Center & Tours Summary of Participants (3 months ending 3/31/16)

Group/Program Participants

CADIAS Center 347

NOAO-S/out of CADIAS Outreach

1072

Tololo Guided Tours 1079

School Groups K-12 36

Special Tours 227

TOTAL 2761

Programs Sessions Participants Planetarium All-Day Sessions 1 227

Astronomy Education Workshops 2 145

Stargazing Events 3 350

Special Observatory Visits 1 38

Astronomy Talks and Presentations 3 270

Public Events 0 0

Astronomy Training 4 82

CADIAS Library -- 307

Tololo Visitor Center -- 1342

TOTAL 14 2761

Figure 7. Stargazing at CTIO for the Second Chile-US Astronomy Education and Outreach Summit, La Serena, Chile. (Image credit: D. Munizaga, NOAO/AURA/NSF.)

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Ha:San Preparatory and Leadership School in Tucson, and out-of-school educational opportuni-ties to provide five astronomy education events for this audience.

Status: Programs were held at multiple sites on the Tohono O’odham Nation, and EPO staff met with the administration of the Ha:San Preparatory and Leadership School to plan future programs.

§ Support the Teaching with Telescopes program in Arizona and Chile with teacher professional development on telescope and optics concepts, making use of Galileoscopes by executing at least three workshops.

Status: In progress. Planning efforts were conducted to support a Galileoscope program with the Nashville-based Center for STEM Education for Girls.

§ Conduct at least three professional development workshops and programs for formal and infor-mal science educators in coordination with professional organizations such as the National Sci-ence Teachers Association (NSTA), the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the Astronomi-cal Society of the Pacific (ASP), and the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

Status: On January 6, in the AAS Exhibit Hall, local middle and high school students visited the NOAO booth to explore our hands-on activity on polarized light, disguised as “tape” art. The activity was from EPO’s NSF-funded Hands-On-Optics program. Also at the AAS meeting in January, NOAO co-hosted the third annual splinter session on light pollution issues and solu-tions, this time with a focus on light pollution mitigation at university and college campuses. NOAO staff also gave a presentation at the AAS NSF Pavilion on the new IYL2015 Quality Lighting Teaching Kit.

§ Support the training of guides and provide support for astronomy programs for the public at the major municipal and tourist observatories in northern Chile by participating in or leading at least three events or activities at the tourist observatories.

Status: We are working with Observatorio Cruz del Sur on educational programs. We are also working with the tourist observatories as part of the Second Chile-US Astronomy Education and Outreach Summit program. The Astronomy Education Summit Roadmap document will provide further guidance on how we can meet the needs of the municipal and tourist observatories in Chile.

§ Support dark skies education programs in northern Chile with education partners such as the El Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA) by conducting at least three visits/events or activities.

Status: We are on schedule with our extensive program with CEAZA related to our Science & Tour-ism project for the Starlight Reserve at Parque Nacional Fray Jorge. We completed the training of park rangers and local communities on how to conduct night-based programs. We are planning a major event with the Punilla communities: a Familiarization Tour (FamTour) with tourist operators and government authorities to show the potential of the area for eco-tourism and astro-tourism. Plans are underway to translate into Chilean Spanish the newly disseminated IYL2015 Quality Lighting Teaching Kit for use in Chilean schools that partner with NOAO South EPO staff. To date, 85 partners in 24 countries have received the kit, and training is being planned via tutorial videos and Google+ Hangouts.

§ Maintain an active southern Arizona Project ASTRO teacher/scientist partnership program with professional development activities held at least twice a year.


40

Status: An ASTRO workshop is planned for delivery in Q3, and the Project ASTRO national site leaders meeting will be held May 19–21 in Tucson.

§ Design and deliver (with grant partners) a successful two-week Colors of Nature summer acad-emy for middle school girls during the summer of 2016 in Tucson, Arizona, and Fairbanks, Alaska.

Status: Planning is underway for the program in both locations. Recruiting is being done in Tucson, and the Tucson program is expected to be heavily oversubscribed.

4.4 CENTRAL FACILITIES OPERATIONS

Program Highlights

During the quarter, staff has been busy supporting the NOAO North division needs for the Kitt Peak and Tucson facilities. Efforts are ongoing to renovate numerous office spaces, and these efforts will continue into future quarters to accommodate division needs, changes in use, new hires, and various space demands. A project was initiated to renovate the main building corridors and upgrade the air-flow control and lighting levels, with those efforts continuing into Q3. Staff efforts are also focused on various maintenance projects, and a replacement systems technician was brought onboard to help address the video, telecommunication, and access control needs. Contracts were finalized during the quarter for installation of an alarm system in the logistics area, replacement of the main entry store-front, and upgrades to the building management system, with all work starting in Q3. Staff also provided support to the WIYN EPDS review submittal and finalized the tenant FY17 Joint Use Fee (JUF) and billing efforts. Oversight is ongoing for the renovation efforts on the 4-m U-floor control room and contracted west ridge fiber installation project. Documents were prepared to obtain bids for the repainting of the 4-m dome and upgrading of the 4-m UPS power system. Staff efforts also continue in identifying mountain data link connection options with the upcoming Q4 ex-piration of the current five-year agreement.


§ Continue with the program to upgrade and/or replace deteriorated or obsolete portions of the mechanical air distribution system and its associated heating/chilled water system piping and valves.

Status: Following repair of the main air-line system, a new air dryer has been temporarily in-stalled for interim use, and the permanent installation is scheduled for Q3. In addition, the on-going office and corridor renovation plans are providing access to the original building duct-work system and enabling minor repairs to them and the plenums.

§ Continue with ongoing programs to upgrade the plumbing and various restrooms and fixtures to improve water conservation efforts, interior finishes, and accessibility.

Status: A new in-line water filter was installed on the main water line supply to the rooftop of-fice area to address ongoing concerns. At the end of the quarter, staff began working with the water treatment vendor to identify possible chilled water line leaks through the use of dyes.

§ Replace and upgrade worn-out components for building access control system and update vide-oconferencing systems to enhance and improve multisite meetings.

NOAO CORE

41

Status: An access control unit was repaired during Q2, and a new video system monitor was in-stalled in one of the meeting rooms. The new systems technician continues to become familiar with the access control and video systems and their various programing requirements, with evaluations ongoing for updating needs. The new main entry storefront system work planned for Q3 will include installation of a new door with an access-controlled electric strike.

4.5 COMPUTER INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES

Program Highlights

The Computer Infrastructure Services (CIS) department is continuing the effort to link the NOAO Tucson network to the Internet 2 (academic Internet) via a 10 Gbps link. It is also continuing the ef-fort to increase the speed of the Tucson–Kitt Peak data connection beyond 1 Gbps and the project to pull fibers to the three west ridge observatories on Kitt Peak to properly incorporate them into the mountain network. Several crises were successfully overcome during Q2 of FY16. First, a broken fiber “by the side of the road” took down the Tucson–Kitt Peak data link for two days. Second, a hardware failure took down the gateway from the AURA-CAS network in Tucson to AURA headquarters in Wash-ington, DC. A temporary fix was soon installed, and a permanent, redundant system was installed later in the quarter. Third, a change in our upstream broke our AnyConnect VPN system (for indi-vidual users to remotely connect to our network) and our permanent VPN tunnel system (for perma-nent connections to “outlying” facilities for LSST and DKIST). Following a network reconfigura-tion, these systems were restored. Fourth, the firewall/gateway at the DKIST-Haleakala facility failed. CIS staff helped to remotely configure the replacement. Several infrastructure improvements were accomplished during Q2 of FY16. First, the Web fil-ter was improved to scan https:// connections for “bad” sites as well as http:// connections. Second, CIS-N staff helped to set up a local AnyConnect VPN service in the DKIST-Maui office to elimi-nate trans-Pacific jumps in using the Tucson AnyConnect system for Maui to Maui connections. Third, CIS-N staff helped the Tucson machine shop renovate the computer portion of the “large” Hurco system and restore it to operable condition. Fourth, CIS-N staff helped the Kitt Peak Visitor Center upgrade two downtown servers used for scheduling and databases. Finally, CIS-N is heavily involved in the first phase of the NOAO Tucson Main Building (west wing) renovation project and the associated renovation of offices for LSST staff. The networking in-frastructure in the area will be upgraded with new Ethernet switches with 10 Gbps-bit connections to the “backbone” Aspen Ethernet switch in the computer lab (which, in turn, was upgraded with addi-tional 10 Gbps Ethernet ports). As the ceiling areas of the hallways are being renovated, as many as possible of the old, non-plenum-rated cables are being removed.


§ Continue to incorporate systems into our Active Directory system to ensure password policy en-forcement (and for Windows systems, to ensure patch application). We estimate that 35 Win-dows systems—most of them part of an older Active Directory Domain that will be merged into the NOAO Tucson AD and the rest occasionally active Virtual machines—remain to be incorpo-rated. We also estimate that 60 Mac systems and 10 Linux systems remain to be incorporated.

Status: All Windows systems that we are aware of have been incorporated into the Active Direc-tory (AD). The former CFO AD has been shut off as all its members have been moved to the main AD. However, several machines have been moved from the NOAO AD into the LSST AD


42

as several employees have transferred. Efforts continue to incorporate Mac and Linux/Unix sys-tems. Current number of machines in the AD are 157 Windows Systems, 56 Mac systems, and 15 Linux/Unix systems.

§ Leverage the Single Sign-On (SSO) feature of our Active Directory system into new areas to simplify the computer experience for our users. We now have a SSO for email, remote login via VPN, “inside” network wireless access, and roaming wireless via eduroam. During FY16, we hope to extend SSO to email quarantine boxes and, in cooperation with AURA Corporate, to Ul-tipro, Web timesheets, and business applications such as Reqless and CASNet.

Status: Efforts continue. We have populated our Active Directory with AURA Employee ID numbers as this is used as the key in the SSO system. We will soon fire up a Virtual Machine to host the PingFederate software that will link to Ultipro and the AURA business applications.

§ Continue several projects to isolate networks (such as tenant networks on Kitt Peak and in Tuc-son) from each other and from the main NOAO network. “Internet facing” servers will be moved to “DMZ” networks.

Status: The machine ftp.noao.edu was put in a customized DMZ network. Lessons learned from this deployment will lead to several other machines being put in DMZ zones during FY16. Plans were made to incorporate and isolate networks to the three west ridge observatories once the west ridge fiber project is complete. Our AnyConnect VPN system was updated to isolate certain individual us-ers to portions of the NOAO Tucson / Kitt Peak network.

§ Investigate and select a scheme for documenting the NOAO Tucson and Kitt Peak networks and IT infrastructure. Initiate the documentation task.

Status: Research is in progress.

4.6 INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM

Program Highlights

Many of the infrastructure programs in the No Cost Extension program (NCE) ramped up signifi-cantly in Q2. Considerable progress has been made on the new building in La Serena: architectural plans were finalized; costs were distributed among NOAO, LSST, and AURA; and remodeling phase planning was begun. Bid work is moving ahead on Kitt Peak for Mayall dome painting (ex-pecting to chose contractor early in Q3) and the water tank refurbishment (bid package complete and to be released in early Q3). Three data scientists and the ANTARES postdoc have been hired and will start in Q4.


§ Hire two data scientists at the postdoc level for the NOAO Data Lab.

Status: Following an extensive search and committee selection process, three scientists were made offers and all three accepted. The third position was converted from an open developer slot. That need will be addressed by contract work instead. This milestone is now complete.

§ Hire an archive developer to assist in implementing new capability in the NSA and NSA inter-face.

NOAO CORE

43


§ Resurface or repaint the Mayall dome and the Blanco dome.

Status: Bid package released in Q2, and bids expected to be received in early Q3.

§ Refurbish two water tanks on Kitt Peak.

Status: Bid package has been assembled, and bids expected to be received in Q3.

§ Implement NOAO South building upgrade/refurbishment within plan for LSST building in La Serena.

Status: Architectural plans finalized in Q2 and agreement made between LSST, NOAO, and AURA on distribution of costs and layout. Bid packages for remodeling phase will go out in Q3, to be ready to begin on remodel phase in Q4.

§ Complete renovation and repair of Tololo power house.

Status: Tololo returned to commercial power on 19 January 2016, after repair and replacement of some of the electric equpment in the power house. Complete refurbishment of the power house is un-derway: a new generator, purchased in FY15, was installed and a new main 1MKVA transformer, to replace ther repaired transformer currenlty installed, is being fabricated. Further protection equipment will be purchased and installed in Q3.

§ Hire a senior electrical engineer to lead refurbishment program of CTIO power distribution.



44

5 OBSERVING PROGRAMS SEMESTER 2016A For semester 2016A, a total of 193 unique programs (standard and survey) were accepted for ob-serving at the NOAO telescopes and the System facilities granting open-access time through the NOAO TAC. The following table provides a statistical breakdown of the scheduled programs (as of 19 April 2016) and the nights allocated. (Programs are considered as “foreign” when the affiliation claimed by their PIs is a non-US institution.) The 2016A scheduled programs are listed in the sub-sections that follow.

Number of Scheduled 2016A Programs Number of Nights Granted for 2016A

US Foreign US Foreign

Observatory Regular Thesis Regular Thesis Totals Regular Thesis Regular Thesis Totals

CTIO 33 8 2 5 48 153.52 29.33 6.5 14.1 203.45

KPNO 21 6 0 0 48 96.5 30.5 0 0 127

Gemini 64 21 9 0 94 97.55 18.55 8.12 0 124.22

CHARA 1.6 0 3.1 0 4.7 4.7 0 0 0 4.7

AAT 2 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 0 5

Totals: 121.6 35 14.1 5 196.7 357.27 78.38 14.62 14.1 464.37

OBSERVING PROGRAMS SEMESTER 2016A

45

5.1 CERRO TOLOLO INTER-AMERICAN OBSERVATORY CTIO Telescopes: 2016A Approved US Programs (33) and US Theses (8)3 Telescope Nights

L. Allen (NOAO), D. Trilling (Northern Arizona U.), F. Valdes (NOAO), C. Fuentes (North-ern Arizona U.), E. Christensen (Lunar and Planetary Lab), M. Brown (California Institute of Technology), T. Axelrod (LSST), B. Burt (O) (Northern Arizona U.), A. Earle (U) (Siena College), D. James (CTIO), D. Herrera (O) (NOAO), S. Larson (Lunar and Planetary Lab): "The DECam NEO Survey"

CT-4m 10

K. Allers, J. Simon (U) (Bucknell U.), A. Kraus, T. Dupuy (U. of Texas, Austin), M. Dun-ham (SAO): "Completing the Census of the Nearest Star-Forming Region"

CT-4m 2

B. Barlow (High Point University), V. Schaffenroth (Universitat Innsbruck (University of Innsbruck)), M. Vuckovic (Universidad de Valparaiso), S. Kimeswenger (Universidad Catol-ica del Norte): "The EREBOS Project: Determining the Influence of Substellar Objects on Stellar Evolution"

SOAR 4

K. Bechtol (U. of Wisconsin, Madison), A. Drlica-Wagner (FNAL), R. Wechsler (Stanford U.), D. Nidever (U. of Michigan), K. Olsen (NOAO), B. Yanny (FNAL), E. Balbinot (Uni-versity of Surrey), S. Koposov (University of Cambridge), D. Tucker (FNAL), Y. Mao (G) (Stanford U.), R. Blum (NOAO), S. Allam (FNAL), D. James (NOAO), E. Neilsen (FNAL), K. Kuehn (Australian Astronomical Observatory), V. Belokurov (University of Cambridge), E. Bell (U. of Michigan), G. Besla (U. of Arizona), T. De Boer (University of Cambridge), M. Cioni (University of Hertfordshire), B. Conn (Gemini Observatory), C. Gallart (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias), C. Kaleida (CTIO), N. Martin (Max Planck Institut fur Astro-physik), R. MuñOz (Universidad de Chile), E. Olszewski (U. of Arizona), A. Saha (NOAO), G. Stringfellow (U. of Colorado), R. van der Marel (STScI), K. Vivas (CTIO), D. Zaritsky (U. of Arizona), A. Kunder (Universitat Potsdam), S. Majewski (U. of Virginia), D. Mar-tinez-Delgado (Universitat Heidelberg), A. Monachesi (Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik), M. Monelli, L. Monteagudo (G) (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias), N. Noel (University of Surrey): "Magellanic Satellites Survey: The Search for Hierarchical Structures within the Lo-cal Group"

CT-4m 6

B. Bowler (California Institute of Technology), S. Hinkley (University of Exeter), A. Kraus (U. of Texas, Austin): "Identifying New Intermediate-Mass Members of Young Moving Groups"

CT-1.5m-SVC

2

B. Cobb (George Washington University), C. Bailyn (Yale U.): "Optical/IR Follow-Up of Gamma-Ray Bursts from SMARTS"

CT-1.3m 1.4

A. Dey (NOAO), D. Schlegel (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory): "The DECam Leg-acy Survey North Galactic Pole Extension for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Survey"

CT-4m 7

C. Espaillat, S. Grant (G) (Boston U.), C. Briceno (CTIO), J. Hernandez (CIDA), N. Calvet (U. of Michigan): "Footprints of the Magnetosphere: the Star-Disk Connection in T Tauri Stars"

CT-1.3m 4.5

D. Finkbeiner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), E. Schlafly (UC Berkeley), G. Green (G) (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), A. Meisner (UC Berkeley), A. Lee (G) (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): "Mapping Dust in 3D with DECam: A Galactic Plane Survey"

CT-4m 8

R. Foley (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), A. Rest (STScI), D. Scolnic (U. of Chicago), Y. Pan (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), S. Jha (Rutgers U.), R. Hounsell (STScI): "The Next Generation Low-z Type Ia Supernova Sample for Cosmology"

SOAR 6

3 Key: (T) = Thesis Student; (G) = Graduate; (U) = Undergraduate; (O) = Other


46

CTIO Telescopes: 2016A Approved US Programs (33) and US Theses (8)3 Telescope Nights

L. French (Illinois Wesleyan U.), R. Stephens (O) (GMARS Center for Solar System Stud-ies), D. James (CTIO): "In Search of the Trojan Spin Barrier"

CT-4m 5

J. Grindlay (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), S. Gomez (G) (Harvard U.): "Identification of a CygX-1 Black Hole HMXB Progenitor"

CT-1.5m-SVC CT-1.3m

3

3

H. Hsieh (PSI), A. Thirouin (Lowell Observatory): "The (Slow?) Rotation Rate of Active As-teroid 311P/PANSTARRS"

SOAR 1

C. Kaleida, R. Students (U) (CTIO), J. Masiero (CalTech-JPL), F. Walter (SUNY), D. Kopac (Liverpool John Moores University), N. van der Bliek, D. James, S. Points (CTIO): "CTIO REU/PIA Student Observations: Targets of Opportunity"

CT-0.9m 2

T. Lee (Western Kentucky U.), R. Shaw, L. Stanghellini (NOAO): "Chemical Abundances of Compact Planetary Nebulae in the Galactic Disk"

SOAR 3

S. Malhotra (Arizona State U.), Z. Zheng (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), J. Rhoads (Arizona State U.), J. Wang (University of Science & Technology of China), A. Walker (CTIO), L. Infante (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), L. Jiang (Peking Uni-versity): "Lyman Alpha Galaxies at z ~ 7 with DECam"

CT-4m 3

J. McCleary (G), I. Dell'Antonio, P. Huwe (Brown U.): "The low-redshift end of the cluster mass substructure function"

CT-4m 4

N. Moskovitz (Lowell Observatory), D. Polishook (Weizmann Institute of Science), T. Mul-ler (Max Planck Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik): "Rotational Characterization of Hayabusa2 Mission Target Asteroid 1999 JU3"

SOAR 4

N. Moskovitz (Lowell Observatory), D. Trilling (Northern Arizona U.), C. Thomas (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), D. Polishook, F. DeMeo, R. Binzel (MIT), P. Abell (NASA Johnson Space Center), M. Person (MIT), M. Busch (CalTech-JPL), M. Willman (U. of Ha-waii), E. Christensen (Lunar and Planetary Lab), T. Endicott (U) (University of Massachu-setts, Boston), M. Hinkle (Northern Arizona U.), A. Thirouin (Lowell Observatory): "Mis-sion Accessible Near-Earth Objects Survey (MANOS)"

CT-1.3m 6

D. Nidever (U. of Michigan), K. Olsen (NOAO), G. Besla (Columbia U.), R. Gruendl (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), A. Saha (NOAO), C. Gallart (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canari-as), E. Olszewski (U. of Arizona), R. Munoz (Universidad de Chile), M. Monelli (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias), A. Kunder (CTIO), C. Kaleida (Arizona State U.), A. Walker (CTIO), G. Stringfellow (U. of Colorado), D. Zaritsky (U. of Arizona), R. van der Marel (STScI), R. Blum (NOAO), K. Vivas (Centro de Investigacion de Astronomia), Y. Chu (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), N. Martin, B. Conn, N. Noel (Max Planck Institut fur Astro-physik), S. Majewski (U. of Virginia), S. Jin (University of Groningen), H. Kim (G) (Arizona State U.), M. Cioni (University of Hertfordshire), E. Bell, A. Monachesi (U. of Michigan), T. De Boer (Kapteyn Astronomical Institute): "Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History - SMASH"

CT-4m 9.5

E. Olszewski (U. of Arizona), A. Saha (NOAO), T. Axelrod, J. Holberg (U. of Arizona), S. Points (CTIO), T. Matheson (NOAO), G. Narayan (U. of Arizona), C. Stubbs (Harvard U.), L. Camarota (G) (U. of Arizona): "Southern DA White Dwarf Calibration Standards"

SOAR 5

J. Provencal (U. of Delaware), D. Holdsworth, D. Kurtz (University of Central Lancashire), H. Shipman (U. of Delaware): "Asteroseismology of the Highest Amplitude Rapidly Oscillat-ing Ap Star"

CT-0.9m 6

A. Rest (STScI), F. Bianco (NYU), A. Clocchiatti (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), R. Foley (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), D. James, T. Matheson (CTIO), G. Narayan, K. Olsen (NOAO), S. Points (CTIO), J. Prieto (Universidad Diego Portales), R. Smith (CTIO), N. Smith (U. of Arizona), N. Suntzeff (Texas A&M U.), D. Welch (McMaster U.), A. Zente-no (NOAO): "Light Echoes of Galactic Explosions and Eruptions"

CT-4m 11


47


A. Rest (STScI), A. Clocchiatti (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), D. James (CTIO), S. Margheim (Gemini Observatory), T. Matheson (NOAO), D. Welch (McMaster U.), A. Zenteno (NOAO): "Photometric Time Series of Carinae's Great Eruption"

CT-4m 4

D. Schlegel (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), A. Dey (NOAO), D. Lang (Carnegie Mellon U.), P. Nugent (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), D. Eisenstein (Harvard U.), G. Rudnick (U. of Kansas), J. Moustakas (Siena College), A. Myers (U. of Wyoming), R. Wechsler (Stanford U.), S. Bailey (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), E. Bell (U. of Michigan), D. Bizyaev (New Mexico State U.), M. Blanton (NYU), A. Bolton (University of Utah), M. Brodwin (U. of Missouri, Kansas City), K. Bundy (University of Tokyo), R. Carl-berg (University of Toronto), F. Castander (U Barcelona), J. Comparat (Laboratoire d'Astro-physique de Marseille), K. Dawson (University of Utah), T. Dwelly (Max Planck Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik), T. Delubac (Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne), M. Dickinson (NOAO), P. Eisenhardt (CalTech-JPL), X. Fan (U. of Arizona), E. Fernandez (U Barcelona), D. Finkbeiner (Harvard U.), P. Fosalba (Institut de Ciencies de L'Espai), S. Foucaud (Nation-al Taiwan Normal University), J. Garcia-Bellido (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid), E. Gaztanaga (U Barcelona), M. Geha (Yale U.), A. Gonzalez (U. of Florida), O. Graur (Johns Hopkins U.), J. Guy (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), N. Hetherington (G) (Univer-sity of Toronto), K. Honsheid, E. Huff (Ohio State U.), Z. Ivezic (U. of Washington), G. Kauffmann (Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik), J. Kneib (Ecole Polytechnique de Lau-sanne), R. Kron (U. of Chicago), T. Lan (Johns Hopkins U.), M. Levi (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), B. Menard (Johns Hopkins U.), A. Merloni (Max Planck Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik), R. Miquel (U Barcelona), J. Mohr (Ludwig-Maximilian Universi-tat-Muchen), D. Monet (US Naval Observatory), K. Nandra (Max Planck Institut fuer extra-terrestrische Physik), J. Newman (U. of Pittsburgh), P. Norberg (University of Durham), B. Nord (FNAL), E. Ofek (Weizmann Institute of Science), C. Padilla (U Barcelona), N. Palan-que-Delabrouille (CEA), P. Predehl (Max Planck Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik), C. Prieto (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias), K. Reil (SLAC), C. Rockosi (UC Santa Cruz), E. Rozo (Stanford U.), N. Ross (Drexel U.), E. Rykoff (Stanford U.), M. Salvato (Max Planck Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik), E. Sanchez (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid), E. Schlafly (Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik), U. Seljak (UC Berkeley), A. Stanford (Law-rence Livermore National Laboratory), R. Thomas (Lawrence Berkeley National Laborato-ry), F. Valdes (NOAO), A. Walker (CTIO), M. White (UC Berkeley), G. Zhu (Johns Hopkins U.): "The DECam Legacy Survey of the SDSS Equatorial Sky"

CT-4m 13

S. Sheppard (Carnegie Institution of Washington), C. Trujillo (Gemini Observatory): "The Inner Oort Cloud Population"

CT-4m 3

S. Sonnett, A. Mainzer (CalTech-JPL), T. Grav (PSI), J. Bauer, J. Masiero, E. Kramer (Cal-Tech-JPL): "Confirming Binary Asteroid Candidates to Constrain the Dynamical Evolution of the Solar System"

SOAR 5

S. Sonnett, A. Mainzer (CalTech-JPL), T. Grav (PSI), J. Bauer, J. Masiero (CalTech-JPL), C. Nugent (IPAC), E. Kramer (CalTech-JPL): "Determining Orbits and Sizes of Near-Earth Ob-jects Discovered by NEOWISE"

CT-4m-TOO

G. Stringfellow (U. of Colorado): "Spectral Confirmation of New Galactic LBV and WN Stars Associated With Mid-IR Nebulae"

CT-1.3m 1.6

G. Stringfellow (U. of Colorado): "LBVs - Caught in the Act!" CT-1.5m-SVC CT-1.3m

3.06

0.96

C. Thomas, L. Lim (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), D. Trilling (Northern Arizona U.), N. Moskovitz (Lowell Observatory): "Search for a Differentiated Asteroid Family"

SOAR 2

A. Tokovinin (NOAO), B. Mason, W. Hartkopf (US Naval Observatory): "Dynamics of re-solved triple systems and ‘fast’ binaries"

SOAR 0.5


48


K. Vivas, A. Walker, D. James (CTIO), E. Balbinot (University of Surrey), J. Marshall (Tex-as A&M U.), A. Drlica-Wagner (FNAL), B. Santiago (UFRGS), J. Simon (Carnegie Ob-servatories): "Improving the Distance Determination to the New Dwarf Galaxies around the Milky Way"

SOAR 4

US Theses Programs (8)

J. Chatelain (T), T. Henry (Georgia State U.), L. French (Illinois Wesleyan U.), D. Trilling (Northern Arizona U.): "Photometric observations of the brightest Jupiter Greeks."

CT-0.9m 7

T. Esplin (T), K. Luhman, E. Miller (U) (Pennsylvania State U.): "Searching for the bottom of the IMF in Ophiuchus and RCrA"

CT-4m 5

S. Johnson (T), H. Chen (U. of Chicago), J. Mulchaey (Carnegie Observatories), J. Greene (Princeton U.): "The Circum-galactic Medium of obscured Active Galactic Nuclei hosts"

CT-4m 2

E. Mamajek, F. Moolekamp (T) (U. of Rochester), D. James (NOAO), K. Luhman (Pennsyl-vania State U.), S. Metchev (University of Western Ontario): "ARCoIRIS Survey of DECam Brown Dwarf Candidates in the Nearest OB Association"

CT-4m 1

B. Tofflemire (T), R. Mathieu (U. of Wisconsin, Madison), D. Ardila (Aerospace Corpora-tion): "Accretion in Pre-Main Sequence Binaries"

CT-1.3m 3.83

T. Treu, A. Agnello, D. Gilman (T) (UCLA), V. Motta (Universidad de Valparaiso), T. An-guita (Universidad Andres Bello), R. McMahon (University of Cambridge), C. Fassnacht, C. Rusu (UC Davis), F. Ostrovski (T) (University of Cambridge): "High-resolution imaging confirmation of gravitationally lensed quasars discovered in STRIDES"

SOAR 3

A. von der Linden, S. Allen, A. Wright (T), A. Mantz (Stanford U.), D. Applegate (Universi-tat Bonn), P. Kelly (UC Berkeley), G. Morris (Stanford U.): "Setting the Scale: Determining the Absolute Mass Normalization and Scaling Relations for Clusters at z~0.1"

CT-4m 6

A. von der Linden, S. Allen (Stanford U.), A. Mantz (U. of Chicago), A. Wright (T) (Stan-ford U.), D. Applegate (Universitat Bonn), P. Kelly (UC Berkeley), G. Morrison (Stanford U.), D. Rapetti (Dark Cosmology Center): "Weighing the f_ gas Giants"

CT-4m 1.5

CTIO Telescopes: 2016A Approved Foreign Programs (2) and Foreign Theses (5)

T. Deboer, V. Belokurov, S. Koposov, D. Erkal (University of Cambridge): "Mapping the star formation of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy and stream"

CT-4m 2.5

B. Riaz (Max Planck Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik), C. Briceno (CTIO), E. Whelan (University of Tuebingen), S. Heathcote (CTIO): "The lowest luminosity Externally Irradiat-ed HH Jets"

SOAR 4

Foreign Theses (5)

G. Castro (T) (UNAM), C. Roman-Zuniga, J. Downes (Instituto de Astronomia), C. Briceno (CTIO): "Toward a Complete Photometric Initial Mass Function of the 25 Orionis Group Down to Planetary Masses"

CT-4mCP 0.1

J. Cooke, C. Flynn, M. Murphy (Swinburne U.), E. Keane (SKA Organization, Jodrell Bank Observatory), T. Pritchard (Swinburne U.), S. Burke-Spolaor (NRAO), I. Andreoni (T), E. Petroff (G) (Swinburne U.), M. Caleb (G) (Australian National U.), S. Bernard (G) (U. of Melbourne), V. Morello (G), D. Vohl (G) (Swinburne U.): "Deeper, Wider, Faster: Optical counterparts to the fastest bursts in the sky"

CT-4m 3


49


C. Curtin (T), J. Cooke, T. Pritchard (Swinburne U.), S. Bernard (G) (U. of Melbourne), I. Andreoni (G) (Swinburne U.): "Enabling the discovery and real time study of the highest red-shift superluminous supernovae with u-SUDSS"

CT-4m 1

M. Niida (T), T. Nagao (Ehime University), H. Ikeda (NAOJ), M. Akiyama (Tohoku Univer-sity), K. Matsuoka (Kyoto University), Y. Toba, Y. Taniguchi, M. Kobayashi (Ehime Uni-versity), Y. Ueda (Kyoto University), T. Kawaguchi (Sapporo Medical University), T. Morokuma (University of Tokyo), Y. Matsuoka (NAOJ), Y. Terashima (Ehime University), M. Onoue (G) (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies): "Quasar Evolution in the Early Universe: Down-sizing or Up-sizing?" CT-4m 4

M. Sullivan (University of Southampton), P. Nugent (Lawrence Berkeley National Laborato-ry), D. Howell (Las Cumbres Observatory), B. Nichol (University of Portsmouth), J. Cooke (Swinburne U.), R. Smith (CTIO), P. Brown (Texas A&M U.), S. Smartt (Queen's U. Bel-fast), A. Gal-Yam (Weizmann Institute of Science), C. D'Andrea (University of Southamp-ton), B. Bassett (SAAO), K. Barbary (Argonne National Laboratory), A. Papadopoulos (G) (University of Portsmouth), L. Bildsten (UC Santa Barbara), M. Sako (U. of Pennsylvania), R. Quimby (IPMU), S. Gonzalez-Gaitain, F. BuróN (Universidad de Chile), C. Inserra (Queen's U. Belfast), P. Martini (Ohio State U.), M. Smith, R. Cartier, S. Prajs (T) (Universi-ty of Southampton): "SUDSS: Survey Using Decam for Superluminous Supernovae" CT-4m 6

5.2 KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY

KPNO Telescopes: 2016A Approved Programs for US Programs (21) and US Theses (6)

Telescope Nights

E. Bachelet, R. Street (Las Cumbres Observatory), Y. Tsapras (Zentrum fur Astronomie der Universitat Heidelberg), M. Hundertmark (Niels Bohr Institute): "Cool bound Neptunes and Free-Floating planets from K2/Campaign 9"

WIYN 10

T. Beatty, M. Zhao, K. Cartier (G) (Pennsylvania State U.): "A New Method to Measure the H-Ks Color of the Daysides of Hot Jupiters"

WIYN 1

P. Cauley, S. Redfield (Wesleyan U.), A. Jensen (University of Nebraska, Kearney), M. Endl (U. of Texas, Austin), T. Barman (U. of Arizona), W. Cochran (U. of Texas, Austin), D. Fischer (Yale U.): "Measuring pre-transit absorption around the hot planets GJ 436 b and KELT-3 b"

WIYN 4

K. Colon, T. Barclay (Bay Area Environmental Research Institute): "Characterizing K2 Ex-oplanet Candidates with High-Precision Near-Infrared Transit Photometry"

WIYN 6

J. Curtis (G) (Pennsylvania State U.), M. Giampapa (National Solar Observatory): "Contem-poraneous K2 and WIYN/Hydra measurements of stellar rotation and magnetic activity of 3 Gyr Sun-like stars in Ruprecht 147"

WIYNCP 4

J. Curtis (G) (Pennsylvania State U.), A. Mann, N. Gosnell (U. of Texas, Austin): "Member-ship of Ruprecht 147 to support the K2 Survey"

WIYNCP 5

R. Foley (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), A. Rest (STScI), D. Scolnic (U. of Chicago), Y. Pan (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), S. Jha (Rutgers U.), R. Hounsell (STScI): "The Next Generation Low-z Type Ia Supernova Sample for Cosmology"

KP-4m 4

M. Giampapa (National Solar Observatory), J. Hall (Lowell Observatory), B. Skiff (O) (): "Contemporaneous WIYN/Hydra and K2 Measurements of the Magnetic Properties of Sun-like Stars"

WIYN 2


50


Telescope Nights

J. Hartman, G. Bakos (Princeton U.): "Secondary Eclipse Observations of Hot Jupiters with WHIRC"

WIYN 3.5

S. Howell (NASA Ames Research Center), E. Horch (SCSU), M. Everett (NOAO), J. Teske (Carnegie Institution of Washington): "Validation, Radius Determination, and Host Star Bi-narity of K2 Exoplanets"

WIYN 4

J. Hughes (Rutgers U.), F. Menanteau (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), F. Barrientos, L. Infante (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile): "On the Trail of the Most Massive Galaxy Clusters in the Universe"

KP-4m 5

B. Ma (U. of Florida), J. Wang (California Institute of Technology), D. Fischer, T. Boyajian, J. Brewer (G) (Yale U.), N. Grieves (G), J. Ge (U. of Florida): "Confirming the Planet-Metallicity Correlation For Small Planets"

WIYN 7

B. Ma (U. of Florida), J. Wang (California Institute of Technology), J. Ge (U. of Florida), J. Xie (Nanjing University), N. Grieves (G) (U. of Florida): "A Multiplicity Survey of Solar-type Stars with Brown Dwarf Companions"

WIYN 2

A. Mann, N. Gosnell, W. Cochran, M. Endl (U. of Texas, Austin), J. Curtis (G) (Pennsylva-nia State U.), M. Johnson (G) (U. of Texas, Austin), E. Gaidos (U. of Hawaii): "Clusters with K2: systematics from membership and binarity"

WIYN 4.5

D. McCarthy (U. of Arizona), E. Hooper (U. of Wisconsin, Madison): "Advanced Teen As-tronomy Camp 2016"

KP-0.9m 5

R. McMillan (U. of Arizona), J. Larsen (US Naval Academy), J. Scotti (O), T. Bressi (O) (Lunar and Planetary Lab): "Early Followup Astrometry of Freshly Discovered High Priority Near-Earth Objects"

KP-4m 4


KP-4m 5

J. Rajagopal, W. Liu, S. Ridgway (NOAO): "Imaging MBCs and other comets to detect tran-sient activity."

WIYN 0.5

S. Redfield, P. Cauley (Wesleyan U.), A. Jensen (University of Nebraska, Kearney), M. Endl, W. Cochran (U. of Texas, Austin), T. Barman (U. of Arizona): "Rayleigh Scattering in Ex-oplanet Atmospheres"

WIYN 4

A. Rest (STScI), F. Bianco (NYU), A. Clocchiatti (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), R. Foley (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), D. James, T. Matheson (CTIO), G. Narayan, K. Olsen (NOAO), S. Points (CTIO), J. Prieto (Universidad Diego Portales), R. Smith (CTIO), N. Smith (U. of Arizona), N. Suntzeff (Texas A&M U.), D. Welch (McMaster U.), A. Zente-no (NOAO): "Light Echoes of Galactic Explosions and Eruptions"

KP-4m 2

C. Schambeau (G), Y. Fernandez (U. of Central Florida), L. Woodney (Cal State San Berna-dino), N. Samarasinha (PSI): "Investigating Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Activity Variability in High- Perihelion Jupiter Family Comets"

KP-0.9m 14

US Thesis Programs (6)

K. Hardegree-Ullman (T), M. Cushing (U. of Toledo), P. Muirhead (Boston U.): "Planet Oc-currence around Mid-M Dwarfs in the Kepler Field"

WIYN 5


51


Telescope Nights

L. Hirsch (T), G. Marcy (UC Berkeley), D. Ciardi, E. Furlan (NEXScI): "Planets in Binary Systems"

WIYN 3

K. Lee (Purdue U.), A. Dey (NOAO), A. Gonzalez (U. of Florida), K. Shi (T) (Purdue U.), B. Jannuzi (U. of Arizona), H. Inami (Observatoire de Lyon), N. Reddy (UC Riverside): "Wit-nessing the Earliest Stage of Cluster Formation at Z=3.78"

KP-4m 3.5

D. Nagasawa (T), J. Marshall (Texas A&M U.): "Metallicity of M-dwarf Exoplanet Hosts through F/G/K+M Common Proper Motion Binary Pair Analysis"

WIYN 6.5

V. Smith (NOAO), K. Cunha (U. of Arizona), C. Martinez (T) (Observatorio Nacional Bra-zil), J. Teske (Carnegie Institution of Washington), S. Howell (NASA Ames Research Cen-ter), S. Schuler (University of Tampa), L. Ghezzi (Observatorio Nacional Brazil): "Accurate Stellar Characterization for Kepler Extended Mission (K2) Exoplanet Host Stars"

WIYN 8.5

M. Wood-Vasey (U. of Pittsburgh), P. Garnavich (U. of Notre Dame), T. Matheson (NOAO), S. Jha (Rutgers U.), A. Rest (STScI), L. Allen (NOAO), A. Weyant (T) (U. of Pittsburgh), H. Marion (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), N. Jahan (G) (U. of Pittsburgh), B. Patel (G) (Rutgers U.): "Type Ia Supernovae in the Near-Infrared: A Three-Year Survey to-ward a One Percent Distance Measurement with WIYN+WHIRC"

WIYN 4

K. Hardegree-Ullman (T), M. Cushing (U. of Toledo), P. Muirhead (Boston U.): "Planet Oc-currence around Mid-M Dwarfs in the Kepler Field"

WIYN 5

L. Hirsch (T), G. Marcy (UC Berkeley), D. Ciardi, E. Furlan (NEXScI): "Planets in Binary Systems"

WIYN 3

5.3 GEMINI OBSERVATORY

Gemini Telescopes: 2016A Approved Programs for US Time (64) and Theses (21)4 Telescopes Nights

S. Ammons (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), C. Marois (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics), B. Macintosh (Stanford U.), Q. Konopacky (University of Toronto), B. Neichel (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille), D. Savransky (Cornell U.): "The Best Parallaxes and a Limit on the Giant Planet Occurrence Rate for Nearby T Dwarf Hosts"

GEM-SQ 0.42

R. Angeloni (Gemini Observatory), P. Pietrukowicz (Warsaw University Astronomical Ob-servatory), F. Di Mille (Carnegie Institution of Washington), A. Udalski (Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory): "Spectroscopic follow-up of puzzling OGLE sources: a new class of variable stars?"

GEM-SQ 0.5

J. Bary (Colgate U.), M. Petersen (U. Mass): "High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Orbitally-Modulated Accretion Activity in Pre-Main Sequence Binaries"

GEM-S-SVC

1.1

T. Beck (STScI), C. Dougados (CNRS UMI FCA): "Understanding protostellar jet launching in Herbig Stars"

GEM-NQ 0.25

B. Bowler (California Institute of Technology), A. Kraus (U. of Texas, Austin), S. Hinkley (University of Exeter), L. Hillenbrand (California Institute of Technology), G. Herczeg (Pe-king University), M. Liu (U. of Hawaii), M. Bryan, H. Knutson (California Institute of Tech-nology): "Spectroscopic Confirmation of the Planetary Companion ROXs12 b"

GEM-NQ 0.7

4 Key: (T) = Thesis Student; (G) = Graduate; (U) = Undergraduate; (O) = Other


52


T. Brandt (Institute for Advanced Study), L. Pueyo (STScI), D. Kushnir (Institute for Ad-vanced Study), E. Nesvold (Carnegie Institution of Washington): "Imaging the Only Known White Dwarf with a >8 Msun Progenitor"

GEM-SQ 0.15

C. Britt, T. Maccarone (Texas Technical University): "Spectroscopic evolution of a Black Hole X-ray Transient"

GEM-SQ 4.1

J. Carlin (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), A. Sheffield (LaGuardia Community College), K. Cunha (U. of Arizona), V. Smith (NOAO): "Recreating the chemical evolution of the Sag-ittarius dwarf spheroidal from its tidal debris"

GEM-N-SVC

3.76

R. Carrasco, P. Gomez (Gemini Observatory), T. Verdugo (Instituto de Astronomia), V. Mot-ta (Universidad de Valparaiso): "Studying the matter distribution in the bimodal lensing group SA78-SA790"

GEM-SQ 0.9

A. Cody, S. Howell (NASA Ames Research Center): "The effect of binarity on protoplane-tary disk dissipation and accretion"

GEM-S-SVC

3

D. Crnojevic, D. Sand (Texas Technical University), M. Rejkuba (ESO), G. Da Costa (Aus-tralian National U.), S. Pasetto (University College London), E. Grebel (Astronomisches Re-chen-Institute), N. Caldwell (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), P. Guhathakurta (University of California Observatories), A. Seth (University of Utah), J. Simon (Carnegie Observatories), J. Strader (Michigan State U.), E. Toloba (University of California Observa-tories): "Environment and the evolution at low-mass galactic scales: clues from the Cen A group"

GEM-SQ 2.21

T. Do (UCLA), J. Lu (U. of Hawaii), J. Simon (Carnegie Institution of Washington), A. Peter (Ohio State U.), M. Boylan-Kolchin (U. of Maryland): "Measuring the orbital history of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Hercules with GSAOI"

GEM-SQ 1.05

R. Dong, R. de Rosa, G. Duchene (UC Berkeley), M. Millar-Blanchaer (University of Toron-to), J. Graham, P. Kalas, E. Chiang (UC Berkeley), J. Hashimoto (Subaru Telescope), K. Fol-lette (Stanford U.), Z. Zhu (Princeton U.), E. Nielsen (SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center), B. Macintosh (Stanford U.): "Planet-drive spiral arms in SAO 206462: a direct test of dynamical model predictions"

GEM-SQ 0.25

M. Fang, J. Kim, I. Pascucci, A. Daniel (U. of Arizona): "Spectroscopic observations of faint young stars in Orion nebula cluster"

GEM-SQ

A. Gianninas (U. of Oklahoma), G. Fontaine (University of Montreal), M. Kilic (U. of Okla-homa), W. Brown (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): "Searching for Pulsations in Mixed Atmosphere Extremely Low-mass White Dwarfs"

GEM-NQ 0.2

M. Gladders (U. of Chicago): "Time delays for the sextuply-lensed quasar SDSS J2222+2745 from GMOS"

GEM-NQ 0.38

A. Gonzalez, Q. Li (G), T. DeMaio (G) (U. of Florida), D. Zaritsky, A. Zabludoff (U. of Ari-zona): "A Metallicity Determination for the Diffuse Emission around NGC 4874 in the Coma Cluster"

GEM-NQ 1.17

M. Graham (UC Berkeley), D. Sand (Texas Technical University), J. Parrent (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), D. Howell, S. Valenti (Las Cumbres Observatory), P. Mazzali (Liverpool John Moores University), I. Arcavi (Las Cumbres Observatory), S. Ku-mar (O) (UC Berkeley), C. McCully (Las Cumbres Observatory): "Understanding the Power Source in Type Ia Supernovae with Nebular Phase Spectroscopy"

GEM-SQ 2.39

J. Greene, K. Pardo, A. Goulding (Princeton U.), R. Somerville (Rutgers U.): "Black Holes in Dwarf Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift"

GEM-NQ 1.1

F. Hamann (U. of Florida), D. Rupke (Rhodes College), T. Tripp (U. Mass), S. Veilleux (U. of Maryland): "A Remarkable New Transient Outflow in the Quasar PG1411+442"

GEM-N-SVC

0.13


53


F. Hamann (U. of Florida), N. Zakamska, R. Alexandroff (Johns Hopkins U.), K. Denny (Ohio State U.), G. Liu (Johns Hopkins U.), I. Paris (Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste), N. Ross (University of Edinburgh): "Outflows & Feedback in Extremely Red Quasars"

GEM-NQ 3

R. Hargreaves, P. Bernath (Old Dominion University), K. Hinkle (NOAO), S. Kim (Kyunghee University), T. Geballe (Gemini Observatory): "Hydrocarbon emission in the po-lar regions of Jupiter"

GEM-S-SVC

1.67

T. Harrison (New Mexico State U.): "Quantification of the 13^C Abundance in the Second-ary Stars of Cataclysmic Variables"

GEM-NQ 0.18

T. Henry, J. Winters (O) (Georgia State U.), E. Horch (SCSU), D. Nusdeo (O) (Georgia State U.): "Searching for Companions to Nearby Stars on Solar System Scales"

GEM-S-SVC

2.5

K. Hinkle, R. Joyce (NOAO): "Imaging the Expanding Debris Cloud around Sakurai's Ob-ject"

GEM-NQ 0.1

E. Horch (SCSU), W. van Altena, P. Demarque (Yale U.): "Towards a True Population II Mass-Luminosity Relation"

GEM-S-SVC

0.53

S. Howell (NASA Ames Research Center), E. Horch (SCSU), J. Teske (Carnegie Institution of Washington), J. Winters (Georgia State U.), M. Everett (NOAO), D. Ciardi (NEXScI): "Validation, Radius Determination, and Host Star Binarity of K2 Exoplanets"

GEM-S-SVC

5

H. Hsieh (PSI): "Main-Belt Comet Activity and Nucleus Characterization" GEM-NQ 0.2

H. Hsieh (PSI): "Main-Belt Comet Activity and Nucleus Characterization" GEM-SQ 0.7

S. Jha (Rutgers U.), R. Foley (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), C. McCully (Las Cumbres Observatory): "Spectroscopy of Type Iax Supernovae"

GEM-NQ 0.199

M. Kilic (U. of Oklahoma), A. Corsico (U. Nacional de la Plata), J. Hermes (University of Warwick), W. Brown (SAO): "A Benchmark Pulsating White Dwarf Companion to PSR J1738+0333"

GEM-SQ 0.9

M. Kilic (U. of Oklahoma), W. Brown (SAO), B. Curd (O), A. Gianninas (U. of Oklahoma): "The Shortest Period Binary White Dwarfs in SDSS DR10"

GEM-NQ 2.245

M. Kilic (U. of Oklahoma), W. Brown (SAO), B. Curd (O), A. Gianninas (U. of Oklahoma): "The Shortest Period Binary White Dwarfs in SDSS DR10"

GEM-SQ 0.32

M. Knight (Lowell Observatory), C. Snodgrass (Open U.), B. Conn (Gemini Observatory): "Multi-scale investigation of the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Combined Gemini and Rosetta study of activity"

GEM-NQ 1.02

A. Kraus (U. of Texas, Austin), L. Cieza (Universidad Diego Portales), D. Lafreniere (Uni-versity of Montreal), M. Ireland (Australian National U.), A. Sivaramakrishnan, M. Perrin (STScI), A. Greenbaum (Johns Hopkins U.), P. Tuthill (U. of Sydney), J. Lloyd (Cornell U.), S. Lacour (Observatoire de Paris), J. Patience (Arizona State U.), A. Cheetham (U. of Syd-ney), A. Rizzuto (U. of Texas, Austin), J. Carpenter (California Institute of Technology), L. Pueyo (STScI), D. Principe (Universidad Diego Portales), S. Casassus (Universidad de Chile), A. Zurlo (Universidad Diego Portales), S. Hinkley (University of Exeter): "The Planetary Systems of Young Massive Stars"

GEM-SQ 1.74

S. Leggett (Gemini Observatory), P. Tremblin (Centre d'etude de Saclay France), D. Saumon (LANL), M. Marley (NASA Ames Research Center), C. Morley (UC Santa Cruz), D. Amundsen (University of Exeter), I. Baraffe, G. Chabrier (ENS): "Near-Infrared Imaging of our 250K Neighbor"

GEM-NQ 2.4

E. Levesque (U. of Washington), P. Massey (Lowell Observatory), G. Meynet (Geneva Ob-servatory): "Red Supergiants in the Extremely Metal Poor Sextans Galaxies: Local Analogs of Massive Stars in the Early Universe"

GEM-N 2


54


E. Levesque, B. Binder, B. Williams (U. of Washington), A. Kong (NTHU), P. Plucinsky, T. Gaetz (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), E. Skillman (U. of Minnesota): "Rap-id Spectroscopy of SN 2010da: Observing a Neutron Star + Luminous Blue Variable Binary in Outburst"

GEM-SQ 0.3

D. Lin (U. of New Hampshire), J. Strader (Michigan State U.), A. Romanowsky (San Jose State U.), J. Irwin (University of Alabama), J. Homan (MIT), N. Webb, O. Godet, D. Barret (Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie), P. Duc (CEA): "Measuring the Dis-tance to an Intermediate-mass Black Hole with Gemini"

GEM-SQ 0.39

G. Liu, N. Arav (Virginia Polytechnic Institute): "IFU mapping of the most energetic BALQSO outflows"

GEM-NQ 0.72

X. Liu, Y. Shen (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign): "Hunting for Massive Binary Black Holes with Continued Quasar Spectroscopic Monitoring"

GEM-NQ 1.2

J. Mauerhan (UC Berkeley), N. Smith (U. of Arizona): "GeMS narrowband imaging of the massive star factory Sagittarius B"

GEM-SQ 0.42

B. McCollum (Catholic U. of America), S. Ryder (Australian Astronomical Observatory), F. Bruhweiler (Catholic U. of America), L. Rottler (California Institute of Technology), S. Laine (IPAC): "Identifying the Progenitor Star for a New Red Transient"

GEM-SQ 0.34

T. Meshkat (CalTech-JPL), D. Mawet (California Institute of Technology), K. Stapelfeldt (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), S. Hinkley (University of Exeter), D. Padgett (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), I. Baraffe (University of Exeter), T. Barman (U. of Arizona), G. Chabrier (University of Exeter), E. Choquet (STScI), J. Wang, R. Jensen-Clem (G) (Cali-fornia Institute of Technology), M. McElwain (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), F. Mo-rales (CalTech-JPL), M. Perrin (STScI): "Occurrence of giant planets in the dustiest new WISE debris disk systems"

GEM-SQ 0.6


GEM-NQ 4.5


GEM-SQ 0.65

T. Oka (U. of Chicago), T. Geballe (Gemini Observatory), M. Goto (Max Planck Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik), N. Indriolo (U. of Michigan): "Probing the Galactic Center's Mo-lecular Gas using H3+ and CO"

GEM-S-SVC

4.26

G. Pavlov (Pennsylvania State U.), Y. Shibanov, A. Danilenko, D. Zyuzin (Ioffe Institute): "Confirming the nature of the knot near pulsar B1951+32"

GEM-NQ 0.22

A. Rest (STScI), F. Bianco (NYU), R. Chornock (Ohio U.), A. Clocchiatti (Pontificia Uni-versidad Catolica de Chile), D. James (CTIO), S. Margheim (Gemini Observatory), T. Matheson (NOAO), J. Prieto (Universidad Diego Portales), R. Smith (CTIO), N. Smith (U. of Arizona), N. Walborn (STScI), D. Welch (McMaster U.), A. Zenteno (CTIO), J. Andrews (U. of Arizona): "Spectrophotometric Time Series of Eta Carinae’s Great Eruption"

GEM-SQ 2.26


55


A. Rettura (IPAC), A. Stanford (UC Davis), M. Brodwin (U. of Missouri, Kansas City), A. Gonzalez (U. of Florida), D. Stern (CalTech-JPL), M. Ashby (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), J. Bartlett (CalTech-JPL), L. Bleem (Argonne National Laboratory), S. Mei (Paris Observatory), D. Nair (U. of Missouri, Kansas City), P. Rosati (Universita di Fer-rara), K. Tyler (U. of Missouri, Kansas City): "The Gemini survey of the most distant galaxy clusters in the ~100deg2 Spitzer-SPT Deep Field"

GEM-SQ 1.3

S. Salim (Indiana U.), J. Lee (STScI): "Metallicity calibrations for high-redshift galaxies" GEM-NQ 3.1

D. Sand (Texas Technical University), S. Valenti (UC Davis), A. Barth (UC Irvine), T. Treu (UCLA), K. Horne (St. Andrews University), L. Raganit (O), L. Diaz (G) (Texas Technical University), P. Williams (G) (UCLA), E. Colmenero, S. Crawford (South African Large Tel-escope), T. Boroson (Las Cumbres Observatory): "The first high quality Mg II reverberation lag measurement"

GEM-NQ 1.1

D. Sand (Texas Technical University), S. Valenti (UC Davis), A. Barth (UC Irvine), T. Treu (UCLA), K. Horne (St. Andrews University), L. Raganit (O), L. Diaz (G) (Texas Technical University), P. Williams (G) (UCLA), E. Colmenero, S. Crawford (South African Large Tel-escope), T. Boroson (Las Cumbres Observatory): "The first high quality Mg II reverberation lag measurement"

GEM-SQ 2.22

K. Schlaufman (Carnegie Observatories), A. Casey (University of Cambridge), T. Beers, V. Placco (U. of Notre Dame): "An All-Sky Search for the Brightest Metal-poor Stars"

GEM-NQ 7.94

K. Schlaufman (Carnegie Observatories), A. Casey (University of Cambridge), T. Beers, V. Placco (U. of Notre Dame): "An All-Sky Search for the Brightest Metal-poor Stars"

GEM-SQ 7.4

A. Seth (University of Utah), N. Neumayer (Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik), M. den Brok (University of Utah), I. Georgiev (Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik), R. Mason (Gemini Observatory), T. Boeker (European Space Agency), J. Greene (Princeton U.): "A GNIRS Survery of the Nearest Nuclear Star Clusters"

GEM-NQ 1.31

S. Sheppard (Carnegie Institution of Washington), C. Trujillo (Gemini Observatory): "The Inner Oort Cloud Population"

GEM-SQ 0.2

J. Simpson, A. Cotera (SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center), S. Ramirez (IPAC), K. Sellgren (Ohio State U.), D. An (EWHA Woman's University): "Characterizing the Candi-date Planetary Nebulae in the Galactic Center with Gemini GNIRS"

GEM-NQ 0.1

N. Smith (U. of Arizona): "[Fe II] Kinematics of Galactic Luminous Blue Variables" GEM-S-SVC

2

M. Strauss (Princeton U.), Y. Matsuoka (NAOJ), N. Asami (O) (University of Tokyo), S. Foucaud (n/a), T. Goto (NTHU), Y. Harikane (G) (University of Tokyo), H. Ikeda, M. Imanishi (NAOJ), K. Iwasawa (Universitat de Barcelona), N. Kashikawa (NAOJ), T. Kawa-guchi (Sapporo Medical University), T. Minezaki, T. Morokuma (University of Tokyo), T. Nagao (Ehime University), Y. Ono (University of Tokyo), M. Onoue (G) (Sokendai), M. Ou-chi (University of Tokyo), P. Price (Princeton U.), H. Sameshima (Kyoto Sangyo Universi-ty), M. Tanaka (NAOJ), J. Tang (G) (ASIAA), Y. Toba (Ehime University): "Spectroscopic identification of new low-luminosity quasars at z > 6"

GEM-SQ 2.79

S. Valenti (UC Davis), A. Jerkstrand (Queen's U. Belfast), D. Howell (Las Cumbres Obser-vatory), D. Sand (Texas Technical University), I. Arcavi (Las Cumbres Observatory), M. Graham (UC Berkeley), C. McCully, G. Hosseinzadeh (G) (Las Cumbres Observatory): "Nebular observations of SNe type II"

GEM-NQ 0.46

S. Valenti (UC Davis), A. Jerkstrand (Queen's U. Belfast), D. Howell (Las Cumbres Obser-vatory), D. Sand (Texas Technical University), I. Arcavi (Las Cumbres Observatory), M. Graham (UC Berkeley), C. McCully, G. Hosseinzadeh (G) (Las Cumbres Observatory): "Nebular observations of SNe type II"

GEM-SQ 0.69


56


S. van Velzen (Johns Hopkins U.), A. Rest (STScI), T. Weevers (Radboud University Nij-megen), P. Jonker (SRON), S. Hodgkin (University of Cambridge): "Reverberation mapping of stellar tidal disruption flares"

GEM-NQ 0.62

B. Willman (U. of Arizona), D. Sand (Texas Technical University), J. Hargis (Haverford College), D. Crnojevic (Texas Technical University), J. Strader (Michigan State U.), K. Spekkens (Royal Military College of Canada), A. Peter (Ohio State U.), R. Lupton (Princeton U.), A. Romanowsky (San Jose State U.), J. Brodie (UC Santa Cruz), D. Forbes (Swinburne U.), P. Price (Princeton U.), E. Kirby (California Institute of Technology), E. Bell (U. of Michigan): "The Stellar Halos and Dwarf Satellites of LMC-mass Analogs"

GEM-N 2

Thesis Programs (21)

R. Carrasco (Gemini Observatory), C. Conselice, C. Mundy (G), J. Ownsworth (T) (Univer-sity of Nottingham), K. Duncan (Leiden Observatory): "Investigating galaxy structure and mass assembly at z>3 with GeMS/GSAOI"

GEM-SQ 2

D. Defrere (U. of Arizona), O. Absil (Universite de Liege), V. Christiaens (Universidad de Chile), V. Coud� du Foresto (Observatoire de Paris), O. Guyon, P. Hinz (U. of Arizona), J. Lebreton (California Institute of Technology), B. Norris, P. Tuthill (Sydney Institute for As-tronomy), N. Jovanovic (NAOJ), G. Schworer (T) (Observatoire de Paris): "The first image of an exozodiacal dust disk"

GEM-N 1

K. de Kleer (T), I. de Pater (UC Berkeley): "Linking Io's Volcanic Activity to Plasma Torus Variability"

GEM-NQ 2

K. de Kleer (T), I. de Pater (UC Berkeley): "Observing Io's volcanoes in eclipse: Eruption temperatures and SO gas content"

GEM-NQ 0.3

M. den Brok, A. Seth (University of Utah), S. Mieske (ESO), R. van den Bosch (Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik), M. Koleva (University of Ghent), R. Pechetti (T) (University of Utah), J. Strader (Michigan State U.), G. van de Ven (Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik): "Massive black holes in small galaxies"

GEM-NQ 0.95

T. Esplin (T), K. Luhman, E. Miller (O) (Pennsylvania State U.): "Searching for the bottom of the IMF in Ophiuchus and RCrA"

GEM-NQ 0.27

T. Esplin (T), K. Luhman, E. Miller (O) (Pennsylvania State U.): "Searching for the bottom of the IMF in Ophiuchus and RCrA"

GEM-SQ 0.32

B. Frye (U. of Arizona), N. Nesvadba (Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale), G. Walth (U. of Arizona), R. Canameras (T) (Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale): "Spectroscopic redshifts of the lenses producing the brightest high-z sources in the Planck all-sky survey"

GEM-NQ 1

P. Garnavich, J. Wiggins (T) (U. of Notre Dame): "Return to the Heart of Darkness: An Un-biased Survey of Void Galaxies"

GEM-NQ 1.3

A. Ghez, L. Meyer (UCLA), J. Lu (U. of Hawaii), T. Do (University of Toronto), S. Yelda (UCLA), B. Ellerbroek (Thirty Meter Telescope), M. Morris, E. Becklin (UCLA), M. van Dam (Flat Wavefronts), M. Schoeck (Thirty Meter Telescope), G. Witzel, B. Sitarski (T), A. Boehle (T) (UCLA): "Using MCAO to Enable Unique Test of General Relativity at the Ga-lactic Center"

GEM-SQ 0.72

A. Greenbaum (T) (Johns Hopkins U.), K. Follette (Stanford U.), P. Tuthill (U. of Sydney), A. Sivaramakrishnan, L. Pueyo (STScI), F. Rantakyro (Gemini Observatory), J. Rameau (University of Montreal), P. Hibon (Gemini Observatory), A. Burrows (Princeton U.), G. Duchene (UC Berkeley), J. Chilcote (University of Toronto): "Probing the inner regions of HD142527 and HD100546"

GEM-SQ 0.45


57


F. Hamann, C. Chen (T) (U. of Florida), L. Simon (Ripon College): "Feedback vs Cold Moe Accretion: Accurate Velocities for Complex Infall/Outflow Gas Near Redshift 3 Quasars"

GEM-NQ 0.17

K. Krafton (T), G. Clayton (T) (Louisiana State U.), J. Andrews (U. of Arizona), A. Bevan, M. Barlow (University College London), B. Sugerman (Goucher College), M. Meixner (STScI), M. Matsuura (University College London), D. Welch (McMaster U.), R. Wesson (ESO), M. Otsuka (Subaru Telescope), I. De Looze (University College London): "Late-Time Dust Formation in Core-Collapse Supernovae"

GEM-NQ 1.04

S. Liss (T), K. Johnson, S. Stierwalt (U. of Virginia), G. Besla (U. of Arizona), N. Kalli-vayalil (U. of Virginia), D. Patton (Trent University), G. Privon (Universidad de Concep-cion): "Star Clusters in Interacting Dwarf Galaxies"

GEM-NQ 1.16

G. Liu (Virginia Polytechnic Institute), N. Zakamska, R. Alexandroff (T) (Johns Hopkins U.), F. Hamann (U. of Florida), I. Paris (Universidad de Chile), N. Ross (University of Edin-burgh), M. Strauss, J. Greene (Princeton U.), C. Villforth (U. of St. Andrews): "Signposts of Quasar Feedback in the High-Redshift Universe"

GEM-NQ 1.5

B. Montet (T) (California Institute of Technology), B. Bowler (U. of Texas, Austin), L. Hil-lenbrand (California Institute of Technology), A. Kraus (U. of Texas, Austin), M. Liu (U. of Hawaii), E. Shkolnik (Arizona State U.): "Fundamental Parameters of Young M Dwarfs"

GEM-S-SVC

0.73

T. Liu (T), S. Gezari (U. of Maryland): "Spectroscopic Follow-Up of Variability Selected Binary Supermassive Black Hole Candidates"

GEM-SQ 0.16

D. Piskorz (T), H. Knutson, H. Ngo (G) (California Institute of Technology--Division of Ge-ological and Planetary Science): "Imaging Friends of Hot Jupiters"

GEM-S-SVC

0.08

A. Rajan (T), J. Patience (Arizona State U.), J. Bulger (Subaru Telescope), C. Marois (Her-zberg Institute of Astrophysics), D. Saumon (LANL), M. Marley (NASA Ames Research Center), B. Macintosh (Stanford U.), J. Graham (UC Berkeley), M. Johnson-Groh (Universi-ty of Victoria), R. de Rosa (UC Berkeley): "Characterizing the Atmosphere of the Lowest-mass Directly Imaged Planet 51 Eri b"

GEM-N-PRE

1

G. Sardane (T), D. Turnshek, S. Rao (U. of Pittsburgh): "Mapping cool, metal-rich gas around z < 0.08 galaxies"

GEM-NQ 0.4

G. Tremblay (Yale U.), B. Rothberg (Large Binocular Telescope Observatory), B. Husemann (ESO), G. Busch (T), A. Eckart (I. Physikal Institut, University of Cologne), T. Urrutia (Leibniz-Institut fuer Astrophysik), J. Scharwaechter (Observatoire de Paris), D. Krajnovic (Leibniz-Institut fuer Astrophysik): "A Multi-Wavelength Approach to AGN Feedback and Star- Formation"

GEM-NQ 2

Foreign Programs (9)

C. Abia (University of Granada), K. Cunha (U. of Arizona), V. Smith (NOAO): "Extragalac-tic AGB carbon stars as probes to test the origin of fluorine in the universe."

GEM-S-SVC

2.03

A. Bahramian (G), C. Heinke (University of Alberta), T. Maccarone (Texas Technical Uni-versity), B. Tetarenko (G) (University of Alberta), N. Degenaar (University of Cambridge), R. Wijnands (University of Amsterdam), R. Gazer (G), G. Sivakoff (University of Alberta), R. Kaur (Suffolk University): "Determining the nature of donor stars in sub-luminous transi-ent X-ray binaries"

GEM-SQ 0.76

A. Chies Santos (UFRGS), J. Blakeslee (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics), J. Greene (Princeton U.), C. Ma (UC Berkeley), A. Cortesi (IAGUSP), N. McConnell (Herzberg Insti-tute of Astrophysics), M. Cantiello (INAF/Teramo), E. Zanatta (G) (UFRGS): "Probing As-sembly Histories of MASSIVE Survey Galaxies from their Globular Cluster Colors"

GEM-NQ 0.6


58


G. Herczeg (Peking University), B. Bowler (California Institute of Technology), A. Kraus (U. of Texas, Austin), Z. Zhu (Princeton U.), M. Ireland (Australian National U.), L. Hillen-brand (California Institute of Technology), S. Andrews (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for As-trophysics): "Accretion and the formation of very low mass objects"

GEM-NQ 1.78

G. Herczeg (Peking University), B. Bowler (California Institute of Technology), A. Kraus (U. of Texas, Austin), Z. Zhu (Princeton U.), M. Ireland (Australian National U.), L. Hillen-brand (California Institute of Technology), S. Andrews (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for As-trophysics): "Accretion and the formation of very low mass objects"

GEM-SQ 0.52

A. Kong (NTHU): "A Spectroscopic Study of the Black Hole Binary MAXI J1659-152 in Quiescence"

GEM-SQ 0.23

F. Mirabel (Instituto de Astronomia y Fisica del Espacio (IAFE)), T. Geballe (Gemini Obser-vatory), L. Rodriguez (Centro de Radioastronomia, Mexico), S. Chaty (Universite Paris Di-derot): "Star Formation Triggered by Microquasar Jets"

GEM-NQ 0.1

L. Origlia (INAF - Bologna Observatory), F. Ferraro, B. Lanzoni, E. Dalessandro, A. Mucci-arelli (Universita di Bologna), D. Massari, G. Fiorentino (INAF - Bologna Observatory): "MIRA Stars as Probes of the Star Formation History of the Complex Stellar System Terzan 5"

GEM-S-SVC

0.6

5.4 COMMUNITY ACCESS TO PRIVATE TELESCOPES

5.4.1 Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy CHARA Telescope: 2016A Approved US Programs (1) Telescope Nights

A. Cody (NASA Ames Research Center), M. Ireland (Australian National U.), G. Schaefer (Georgia State U.), R. Millan-Gabet (California Institute of Technology): "Time domain in-terferometry of a variable young star: Revealing the inner disk"

CHARA 1.6

CHARA Telescope: 2016A Approved Foreign Programs (3) Telescope Nights

S. Albrecht (O) (Aarhus University, DK): "Orientation of stellar spin-axes: A new method to probe star and planet formation"

CHARA 0.5

C. Hummel (O), K. Shabun (O) (ESO), U. Munari (O) (INAF): "An interferometric calibra-tion of fundamental parameters of double-lined eclipsing binaries"

CHARA 0.6

M. Kishimoto (Kyoto Sangyo University), R. Antonucci (UC Santa Barbara), S. Hoenig (University of Southampton), F. Millour (Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur), K. Tristram (ESO), G. Weigelt (Max Planck Institut fur Radioastronomie): "Scrutinizing AGN thermal emission at the highest spatial resolution"

CHARA 2


59

5.4.2 Australian Astronomical Observatory Anglo-Autralian Telescope: 2016A Approved US Programs (1) Telescope Nights

A. Cody (NASA Ames Research Center), M. Ireland (Australian National U.), G. Schaefer (Georgia State U.), R. Millan-Gabet (California Institute of Technology): "Time domain in-terferometry of a variable young star: Revealing the inner disk"

AAT 1.6

Anglo-Autralian Telescope: 2016A Approved Foreign Programs (3) Telescope Nights

S. Albrecht (O) (Aarhus University, DK): "Orientation of stellar spin-axes: A new method to probe star and planet formation"

AAT 0.5

C. Hummel (O), K. Shabun (O) (ESO), U. Munari (O) (INAF): "An interferometric calibra-tion of fundamental parameters of double-lined eclipsing binaries"

AAT 0.6

M. Kishimoto (Kyoto Sangyo University), R. Antonucci (UC Santa Barbara), S. Hoenig (University of Southampton), F. Millour (Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur), K. Tristram (ESO), G. Weigelt (Max Planck Institut fur Radioastronomie): "Scrutinizing AGN thermal emission at the highest spatial resolution"

AAT 2


60

6 USAGE OF ARCHIVED DATA

The NOAO Science Archive (http://archive.noao.edu) provides principal investigators (PIs) access to their raw data and pipeline-reduced data originating from NOAO’s Chilean (CTIO + SOAR) and Arizona (KPNO + WIYN) telescopes and instruments. A search portal interface enables data dis-covery and retrieval for images ranging from 2004 to present. After the requisite proprietary period (usually 18 months), data become accessible to the general public. In addition, the NOAO Survey Archive (http://archive.noao.edu/survey-historic/) provides specific access to high-level science products from the NOAO Surveys Program. The tables below illustrate access to and usage of the NOAO Science Archive and Survey Ar-chive for Q1 and Q2 of FY16. The table on the left shows the total data download volume in giga-bytes, the number of files retrieved, and the number of unique visitors who downloaded archive data through the ftp site. The table on the right shows the website visitor activity, which represents users searching, browsing, and visualizing data online.

NOAO Archive Download Activity (ftp)

NOAO Archive Website Activity

Retrieved Files Unique Bandwidth Pages Unique Date (GB) Retrieved Visitors Date (GB) Viewed Visitors

Q1 FY16 10913 93822 181 Q1 FY16 389 55169 5345

Q2 FY16 106831 607383 214 Q2 FY16 212 243955 5897

Total 117744 701205 Total 601 299124

GRANTS RECEIVED IN Q2

61

7 GRANTS

No grants from non-NSF agencies were received by NOAO staff during Q2 of FY16.


62

8 NOAO SAFETY REPORT FOR Q2

8.1 NORTH During Q2 of FY16 various safety activities occurred on Kitt Peak and at the Tucson offices. They are as follows: Kitt Peak

• There were no personnel accidents in Q2 of FY16. • We have a new facilities supervisor for Kitt Peak. • The Kitt Peak Visitor Center elevator cabling replacement was completed. • General cleanup of the mountain is being performed safely. • The safety audit for the 4-m and WIYN telescopes was held 1–3 February 2016. No major

issues were found. The principal recommendations were providing more communication overall on safety issues and concerns and developing safety policies and procedures for Kitt Peak.

• Fall-protection training took place on Kitt Peak for both Tucson and Kitt Peak staff. • CPR/AED training was held on both Kitt Peak and at the Tucson location for interested par-

ties. This training will continue to be offered on a regular basis. • We are providing training on our fast attack vehicle to help prevent a fire from spreading on

Kitt Peak. This training will be ongoing throughout the fire season. • Respirator fit testing is being completed for both Tucson and Kitt Peak staff.

Tucson

• Monthly contact was maintained with M. White, LBNL/DESI safety manager, regarding DESI.

• Asbestos training for operators and supervisors has been completed by Central Facilities Operations staff.

• The CAD design leader has been assisting the safety manager on procedure and job hazard analysis (JHA) training and writing for safety, engineering, electrical engineer, and mainte-nance staff to prepare for DESI requirements.

• DESI conference calls in preparation for Critical Decision 3 are ongoing.

8.2 SOUTH During Q2 of FY16, the following safety activities occurred at NOAO South:

• There were two reportable accidents during the quarter:

o On 29 February 2016 a major brush fire on the adjacent property threatened to spread to the AURA compound in La Serena. The combined action of four companies of the fire brigade and the Chilean forest service was required to bring the fire under control. No AURA staff were hurt (two fireman were overcome by smoke), and there was no dam-age to AURA property or equipment.

o On 27 March 2016 one of the cooks in the kitchen on Cerro Tololo was burned on his right forearm when hot oil splashed from the frying pan he was using. He was taken to

NOAO SAFETY REPORT FOR Q2

63

the ACHS clinic in La Serena where he received medical attention, covered by work ac-cident insurance. He was put on a medical leave for 10 days.

• In February the NOAO-S safety officer traveled to Tucson to participate in the safety audit of the 4-m and WIYN telescopes on Kitt Peak.

• The safety officer prepared the documentation required for and participated in the formal onsite inspection by the local authorities (SEC) required for certification of the diesel fuel tank at SOAR.

• The safety officer coordinated the collection and safe disposal of toxic waste, including the final batch of materials contaminated with asbestos removed from the Blanco 4-m telescope.

• During January the safety officer gave workplace safety training to several new hires; summer replacement staff; students participating in the REU, PIA, and summer work experience pro-grams; and contractors’ staff. The safety officer also coordinated the pre-employment health tests for these staff as required.

• The safety officer continued to participate in several regular meetings related to safety: o Monthly meetings with the representatives of the service provider for the mountain

emergency medical service, ESACHS, to coordinate the work of the paramedics. The safety officer also directly supervised the nurse stationed on Cerro Tololo, who is an NOAO South employee.

o Regular meetings of the Comité Paritario de Higiene y Seguridad (Chilean workers safety committee), monthly safety coordination meetings with other AURA program safety officers, and the quarterly meeting of the NOAO Safety Council

o Weekly coordination meetings for construction work on the LSST site and a special se-ries of meetings

• The safety officer carried out regular inspections of work and supervised the safety aspects of larger maintenance tasks and engineering shutdowns at the telescopes by observatory staff and work carried out by external contractors.

• The safety officer procured and distributed protective clothing and safety equipment to employ-ees as required and organized the process and procured supplies for the vaccination of staff against influenza, to be carried out in April.

• The safety officer began a course of conversational English at the ICEN institute in La Serena in March and will write subsequent safety reports in English.

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