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Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Status and Plans

National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Status and Plans. Alistair Walker Tucson, AZ 12 October, 2004. Telescope & Instrument Status - I. BLANCO M1 aluminized July 2004 M1 lateral supports repaired, maintenance of M1 active supports

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Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Status and Plans

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  1. National Optical Astronomy Observatory Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Status and Plans Alistair Walker Tucson, AZ 12 October, 2004

  2. Telescope & Instrument Status - I BLANCO • M1 aluminized July 2004 • M1 lateral supports repaired, maintenance of M1 active supports • M1 position adjusted - now (before correction) astigmatism is constant over the sky. This is a MAJOR advance • PF corrector overhaul • Few resources available for any “improvements”, candidates are • Characterize environmental control system • Drives servo tuning • Telescope Control System replacement & other “DECam infrastructure” SOAR • Integration & commissioning phase; Optical Imager, OSIRIS, Goodman Sp. • LL CCDs, initial tests show need for O2 soak, another bad foundry run experience • M1 lateral support problem - remake necessary, ongoing new FEA studies • 2005A “shared risk” science at 25-40% level, 2005B “regular operations” SMARTS • 0.9m, 1.3m, 1.5m in full-time operation • 1.0m started operations April 2004 • NOAO users get 25 of the time in 2004 A&B (27% in 2005A&B, in exchange for paying FY03 AOSS supplement) • Near 50% service on 0.9m, 1.0m, 1.5m, 100% queue on 1.3m

  3. Telescope & Instrument Status - II OTHER COMMUNITY FACILITIES • GONG • PROMPT • UNC, PI Dan Reichart • 6 x 0.5m telescopes, GRB rapid-response, triggers ToO at SOAR • Significant education component • Status - MOA signed (5 years); ground-breaking September 2004 • SCHMIDT • NASA debris (geosynchronous orbit) program - Pat Seitzer (U. Mich) • BOCHUM Hexapod • FEROS (high-throughput fiber fed Echelle) clone funded • MOA approved by all parties, in signing phase • Ground-breaking in a couple of months? • SMARTS II? • SWARTHMORE ALL-SKY EMISSION LINE SURVEY • SITE TESTING FOR THE TMT

  4. Telescope & Instrument Status - III BLANCO INSTRUMENTS • MOSAIC II (2004A 30%, 2004B 46% as scheduled) • Faulty CCD successfully replaced • SM/Essence programs observe from la Serena, MOSOCS • ISPI (2004A 34%, 2004B 18% as scheduled) • Three times as popular in 2004 cf 2003 • Easy to use, last bugs being swatted • HYDRA (2004A 17%, 2004B 16% as scheduled) • Not much change in use pattern • RC SPEC (2004A 12%, 2004B 16% as scheduled) • Air Schmidt + Loral 3K • Lower use than in the past • ECHELLE SPEC (2004A 6%, 2004B 5% as scheduled) • Long cameras (Tek 2K CCD) • Steady decline in use ISPI

  5. Telescope & Instrument Status - IV SMARTS INSTRUMENTS • 1.5m. Mostly Cass Spectrograph with Loral 1K CCD, but large block of U. Montreal IR Imager CPAPIR (AMNH) time in 2005A, 2005B. Instrument arrives early January, • 1.3m. ANDICAM (OSU). Dual CCD/IR Imager Q-scheduled. Only 3/4 of the IR array works • 1.0m CCD Imager (OSU). Small 512 CCD, to be replaced with 4K CCD. Schedule for the latter uncertain (November?), awaiting processing at U of Arizona (Mike Lesser) • 0.9m CCD Imager (CTIO). New TCS (March 2005) • NOAO (and consortium members) get • Good range of telescopes & instruments • Service observing option, synoptic-optimized queue on 1.3m • National Observatory level of support & reliability • Consortium members additionally get • Student education (SUNY, GSU, Delaware students doing observing too) • Science projects of scale Resulting in happy customers • SMARTS SCIENCE -- San Diego AAS, Thursday January 13

  6. Telescope & Instrument Status - V OPERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS • TELOPS group split between Blanco & SOAR, two members -> SMARTS • Aging and complex instrumentation • Blanco down time for all reasons around 4% -- TOO HIGH!! Should be 2.5% The difference is 5.5 nights/year • Scientific staff multiplexed, effectively 1 FTE Blanco, 0.5 FTE SOAR, 0.l FTE SMALLS • Need to support multiple new instruments on SOAR for NOAO users (Optical Imager, OSIRIS, Goodman spectrograph, IFU Spectrograph, Spartan IR camera, Phoenix shared with Gemini). Later, SAM (SOAR AO) and STELES. • Available US public time in Chile has changed from (2001) 325 4m and 750 small telescope nights per year to (2006) 100 6-8m nights, 435 4m nights and 325 small telescope nights per year (factor 2.2 increase in night x area) • NEAR TERM ACTIONS • Careful prioritization of tasks • Aided by tools such as GNATS trouble-reporting database software in-use, utilize to identify persistent offenders • Simplify instrument complement to Mosaic, Hydra, ISPI. RC Spec only in 2005A, single blocked run.

  7. THE FUTURE BLANCO • MOSAIC, ISPI, HYDRA • NEWFIRM (2007->) [7 x area coverage of ISPI] • DARK ENERGY CAMERA (2009->) (DES 2009-2014) [A = 38 cf MOSAIC = 4.5, LSST=302] • Need UC support... Closing the Blanco to pay for high-priority NSF-Astronomy programs is “on the menu” SOAR • First generation instruments enhanced with SOAR Adaptive Optics (SAM) and SOAR Telescope Echelle Spectrograph (STELES) in 2006 SMARTS II • SMARTS ends Feb 1 2006. • Discussions about SMARTS II are beginning (January AAS meeting)

  8. THE FUTURE - 4K x 4K NEWFIRM • Shared between KPNO and CTIO • Status: On Mayall for testing late 2005 • Mayall/Blanco sharing TBD. Strawman would be to come south in mid 2007 for 9 months? • UC question: please advise on Mayall/Blanco scheduling cadence (discussed in more detail by Richard. • NEWFIRM clone?

  9. THE FUTURE - 22Kx22K Dark Energy Camera • Proposal received from Fermilab led consortium (UIUC, U Chicago, UCB/LBNL) in response to AO • Reviewed by SAGENAP, Temple Review, BIRP • Study Dark Energy using four complementary techniques: • Cluster counts & clustering • Weak lensing • Galaxy clustering\ • SNe Ia distances Two multiband surveys: 5000 deg2g, r, i, z 40 deg2 repeat (SNe) • 3 sq. deg. Field camera • New corrector • Data pipelines, archives • Survey See “Community Science”; in UC additional papers WWW site: https://plone3.fnal.gov/DES/Plone/the-project

  10. Dark Energy Camera Community Science - Examples • SOLAR SYSTEM • Kuiper Belt searches • STELLAR SCIENCE • Proper motion surveys of galactic open clusters • Cool white dwarfs • Globular cluster tidal streams • Variable stars (e.g. CV’s in the galactic plane) • Space astronomy follow-ups • EXTRAGALACTIC SCIENCE • External stellar populations • Microlensing towards the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy • Dwarf galaxy searches in nearby galaxy groups • Intra-cluster light • Photometric surveys of the high redshift universe • DES LEGACY ARCHIVE SCIENCE • Strong lensing in galaxy clusters • QSO survey to z ~ 6

  11. Dark Energy Camera - this year Letter of Intent (Feb 15), Proposal (July 15) received by NOAO. Reviewed by Blanco Instrumentation Review Panel (BIRP), recommendation to proceed. BIRP recommendations: • Deliverables are the Camera, Reduction Pipelines, Survey • An external oversight committee should be constituted (AURA,URA) • The F/8 secondary should not be displaced • Daytime filter changing should be possible • NOAO should supplement the filter set • There should be an integrated E/PO plan • There should be adequate NOAO resources to enable community science • There should be a formal acceptance plan, and performance metrics

  12. Dark Energy Camera - this year • Management Structure in place; Full WBS exists • Project director - John Peoples (Fermilab) • Instrument manager - Brenna Flaugher (Fermilab) • Data manager - Joe Mohr (UIUC) • Management Committee (one member from each partner) • Reference Instrument Design Prepared to allow schedule & costing • Optics and CCDs are the most Challenging tasks • CCDs: Preproduction run: FY05, Production run: FY06 and FY07 • Optics: Order glass in FY06, Figuring/polishing in FY07 • Deliver March 2009 • LBNL Physics Review (as received Oct 10) • DES CCDs are seen as essential in enhancing LNBL CCD expertise • Valuable production experience relevant to SNAP • Recommended to proceed, and to increase number of phase B wafers from 2 to 6

  13. Data Mgmt Development Plan • Close collaboration between • Univ. of Illinois & NCSA (LEADER: Joe Mohr) • NOAO Data Products Program • Fermilab • Univ. of Chicago • Solution • Merge DES needs with NOAO DPP program plans • Focus DES resources on DES-specific needs • Produce ONE Archive, ONE Pipeline, ONE data management system overall • Initial Activities • WG formation (archives, automatic/grid processing,pipelines) • LSST synergy, NOAO activities, Essence/DM pipelines etc.

  14. Dark Energy Camera - the next year • SAGENAP recommended a Dark Energy Roadmap be prepared (DES proposal to NOAO outlined this) • DECam appearing on this roadmap will likely gate DOE funding beyond the present R&D funding lines (Critical Decision 0) • NSF plead they have no money. ATI grant funding may be restricted to funding some of the Data Management, this part of the project is at the university partners rather than Fermilab and is high leveraged • Attract another partner to close the funding gap. This is being actively pursued • Continue Design and Development of the Camera, the Data Management, plan Blanco infrastructure improvements • Prepare MOU between Fermilab and NOAO

  15. Some specific issues for the UC1. Time scheduling for the DES • Time split is 60% NOAO, 30% DES, 10% Chile • Time split is “nights available for observing”, i.e. after engineering nights removed. • A strawman schedule envisages the DES starting in September and finishing at the end of February. Jan-Feb nights would be split, with DES first half. • SM/Essence take 10 nights/month for 3 months for 5 years, by comparison • Remember - Archived survey data is community data!

  16. 2. Filters • 4 installed at a time, in cartridges • DES uses SDSS g,r,i,z • Daytime change operation • Cost $100,000 each • Smart cartridge? • Less use of UBVRI in favor of ugriz? • Suggest DDO51, [OIII], [SII], Y (1 micron), H set • Investment of > $500K in filters needed to support community science

  17. 3. Impact of no ADC DES requirement 0.4 arcsec FWHM (= D80 of 0.64 arcsec) g r i z LMC, SMC limits Survey limit

  18. 4. CCD QE and Read noise To get redshifts of ~1 we spend ~50% of survey time in z-band. LBNL CCDs are much more efficient in the z band than the current devices in Mosaic II Read noise for a recently finished DALSA 2k x 4k 250 kHz → 7e-

  19. 5. Memorandum of Understanding Improvements to Telescope and environment • New Telescope Control System (Clone of SOAR LabView system?) • Finish the thermal environmental study, optimize the Environment Control System. • Study whether other (major) changes in the thermal environment are warranted • Investigate the drives & servo system, specifically to improve the time to traverse 1-3 degrees. Instrument Project • Deliverables, Schedule Data management Project • Deliverables Schedule

  20. 5. Final thoughts • A long-term (2014+) role for the Blanco could be as part of a network of telescopes following up on LSST discoveries (assuming Decadal Survey endorsement). SMARTS-like operation is envisaged. • For the years 2009-2014 the DES should produce a compelling science result; provides a flagship archive for NOAO to curate, and is a stepping stone to LSST technically, operationally, and scientifically. • The alternative is not business as usual, but almost certain closure. In the near-term, UC advice on surveys/non-survey split, run length, instrumentation, operations modes for the Blanco telescope would be invaluable. • Over the next five years SOAR must succeed. Success = being thought of as “slightly stunted member of the 6-8 m club", achieved by demonstrating equivalent performance in niches like the blue-UV, visible light AO, etc. • SMARTS has proven very successful, and a model that can be grown (to include larger telescopes, but preferably not too many more consortium members) • CTIO is ideally sited for being the operations center for US public-private facilities, and a site for independent facilities and experiments.

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