1. 1 NOAO – National Optical Astronomy Observatory Overview for the AST Committee of Visitors February 2011 Jeff Pier, Program Officer

2. 2 Cooperative Agreement(s) Cooperative Agreements are the governing instruments between NSF and Managing Organizations The current NOAO Cooperative agreement (with AURA) became effective on Oct 1, 2009 Expires March 31, 2014 Per National Science Board policy, a competition will be held for the Management of NOAO after the current CA expires There are some continuing budgetary actions under old CA NOAO’s CA serves as a conduit for LSST Design & Development funding

3. 3 NOAO Management Organization AURA - Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Not for profit corporation with headquarters in DC; headquarters staff of 9, 3 additional staff in Chile AURA President William Smith reports to AURA Board of Directors Representatives from the 44 AURA member institutions meet annually to elect Board, Councils, and offer advice. NOAO Director reports independently to AURA President AURA receives advice from a community-based NOAO Council Observatory Council – meets twice annually NOAO Director receives advice from community- based Users Committee (meets annually) and a Visiting Committee (roughly every 3 years)

4. 4 NSF Management of NOAO Program Managers 2006-2009: Tom Barnes 2009-present: Jeff Pier Governing documents, committees, reports Cooperative Agreement (2009) Program Review Panel– meets twice annually Annual Program Plans Annual Long Range Plans (5 year look ahead) Quarterly Reports: programmatic and financial Annual Reports PO attendance at AURA’s Council meetings & NOAO Users committees Weekly conversations with Director and AURA President

5. 5 NSF Budget Management Funding flows through Cooperative Support Agreements (CSAs) under the CA Individual CSAs keep the budgets and management of different programs distinct CSA-1: NOAO CSA-2: Inter-Agency Transfers CSA-3: LSST (pass through) … etc for REU programs, ReSTAR, TSIP, LSST Coordination with other program officers necessary for some CSAs NOAO funding actions are typically administered on a quarterly basis.

6. 6 NOAO Budgets FY2008  2010 Base Budget (O&M, Development, EPO) FY08: $24.6M FY09: $26.6M+$5.6M (ARRA - Infrastructure) FY10: $27.5M Other NSF funding to NOAO over the three years TSIP $12M ($4M each year) ReSTAR $6.9M ($3.0M in FY09, $3.9M in FY10) NOAO’s total operating budget is approximately twice the NSF base budget due to TSIP &ReSTAR plus reimbursed services for observatory and administrative support provided to Gemini, NSO, NRAO, and numerous tenant activities on both KPNO & CTIO

7. 7 Some NOAO Metrics FY08 FY09 FY10 Observing Programs 420 482 499 U.S. Institutions represented 151 163 155 U.S. Researchers involved 894 997 1085 PhD Thesis Observers 82 85 95 Other graduate student Observers 72 64 81 Publications based on NOAO facilities or Archives 346 373 401

8. 8 Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) Located 56 miles from Tucson; elevation 6875 ft. Leased from theTohono O’odham Nation; 19 Optical and 2 radio telescopes; 8 tenant observatories

9. 9 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 43 road miles from La Serena, Chile; elevation 7260 ft 16 telescopes + 8 tenant observatories

10. NOAO Partnerships 10 WIYN 3.5-m Telescope on KPNO. NOAO is a 40% partner with Wisconsin, Indiana, and Yale SOAR 4.1-m Telescope on Cerro Pachon, NOAO is a 30% partner with Michigan State, North Carolina, and Brazil SMARTS – Four small telescopes on CTIO. NOAO is a 25% partner with numerous U.S. institutions

11. The SYSTEM of U.S. OIR Ground-Based Telescopes 11 NOAO Coordinates the ensemble of all Federal and non- Federal observatories - “The System” – the World leader in research, education, and public outreach GTC (via Florida) Keck (1 & 2) LBT SALT (via U.S. partners) Hobby-Eberly Gemini (North, South Magellan (Baade, Clay) MMT Palomar (Hale) SOAR NOAO (Mayall, Blanco) DCT (Lowell, 2012?) AEOS WIYN ARC Shane IRTF

12. 12 NOAO and Gemini NOAO Gemini Science Center: NOAO Gemini Science Center: A Division of NOAO A Division of NOAO NGSC is the gateway for US astronomers to the two 8.1-m Gemini Observatory telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii & Cerro Pachon Chile NGSC is the gateway for US astronomers to the two 8.1-m Gemini Observatory telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii & Cerro Pachon Chile Provides support to U.S. Observers during all phases (proposal preparation, observing, and data reduction) Provides support to U.S. Observers during all phases (proposal preparation, observing, and data reduction) NOAN and Gemini – the future NOAN and Gemini – the future Astro2010 recommended a consolidation of management of NOAO and Gemini Astro2010 recommended a consolidation of management of NOAO and Gemini

13. 13 NOAO and LSST NOAO is a founding member of the LSST Corporation NOAO is a founding member of the LSST Corporation NOAO has played a major role in developing the LSST telescope, site, and base and summit facilities NOAO has played a major role in developing the LSST telescope, site, and base and summit facilities Will continue to be heavily involved in construction of these components Will continue to be heavily involved in construction of these components NOAO’s role in operations is not yet defined but may be significant NOAO’s role in operations is not yet defined but may be significant

14. 14 Under Development DECam –Dark Energy Camera -3 square degree fov; Camera built by DOE/FNAL, dedicated Blanco telescope time for Survey -Delivery later this year, DES begins in ’12 BigBOSS – Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Proposal from LBL/DOE for a 5,000 fiber spectrograph for Mayall for DE science Five year survey beginning in ~4 years? ODI – One Degree Imager on WIYN -64 Orthogonal Transfer array CCDs -Was the hope to fill a wide-field imaging need in the north (ReSTAR) -Problems with the detectors have put this project on hold while reviews/studies progress

15. 15 Public Affairs and Education Office NOAO Public Affairs and Education Office Scaled back in FY09 due to tight budget Research Based Science Education for high school science teachers was dropped Research Based Science Education for high school science teachers was dropped REU at KPNO and CTIO, ~6 students each from U.S. plus Chilean students @ CTIO REU at KPNO and CTIO, ~6 students each from U.S. plus Chilean students @ CTIO Heavy involvement/leadership in IYA 2009 Heavy involvement/leadership in IYA 2009 Galileoscope Galileoscope White House Star Party White House Star Party Tohono O’odham Outreach very active Tohono O’odham Outreach very active KPNO Visitors’ Center KPNO Visitors’ Center Estimated 60,000 / yr. Estimated 60,000 / yr. CADIAS astronomy outreach center near La Serena CADIAS astronomy outreach center near La Serena 2010 KPNO REU students Press releases website: http://www.noao.edu/news/ http://www.noao.edu/news/ Image website: http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery

16. 16 NOAO BACK UP SLIDES

17. 17 Program Review Panel Responsibilities Determine and track quantitative metrics for NOAO performance in various categories, Evaluate the Annual Program Plan for NOAO, Evaluate the Long Range Plan for NOAO, Report and critically assess the Observatory’s needs, Report annually on all NOAO activities that can be defined as partnerships with the community, Report annually on all NOAO activities that enhance diversity, both in NOAO staff and in users of NOAO telescopes, and Report annually on NOAO education and public outreach activities.

18. 18 Program Review Panel Current Membership P. McCarthy (Carnegie Observatories) – Chair E. Barton (U.C. Irvine) T. Beers (Michigan State U.) K. Bjorkman (U. Toledo H. Morrison (Case Western Reserve U.) C. Telesco (Univ. Florida)

19. 19 KPNO Tenants Calypso Observatory – private 1.2m MDM Observatory Michigan, Dartmouth, Ohio State, Columbia, Ohio U - 1.3m Robotically Controlled Telescope (RCT) Observatory Planetary Science Institute, Western Kentucky U, South Carolina State, Villanova, Fayetteville State U – 1.3m SARA - Southeastern Assoc. for Research in Astronomy Many universities – 0.9m Univ. of Arizona – 2.3m, 12m radio dish VLBA Telescope – 25m Warner & Swasey – Burrell Schmidt 0.6m Wisconsin H-alpha Mapper (WHAM) Observatory – 0.6m WYIN 0.9m Telescope

20. 20 CTIO Tenants Curtis-Schmidt Telescope (U. Michigan) – 0.6-m Schmidt SSI Airglow – Scientific Solutions Inc private airglow monitor GONG - NSO’s Global Oscillation Network Group LCOGT – Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network PROMPT - Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescopes (U. North Carolina) - 6 x 0.4m ALO – Andes LIDAR Observatory (U. Illinois) WHAM – Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (U. Wisconsin) SARA - Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy – 0.9-m

21. 21 Telescope Subscription Rates 2008A2008B2009A2009B2010A2010B Gemini N3.261.842.202.554.263.35 Gemini S2.091.551.911.931.851.91 Blanco1.481.502.951.332.00 2.86 SOAR0.941.481.163.272.671.95 SMARTS1.331.351.341.121.161.25 Mayall4.053.214.641.401.241.56 WIYN2.001.381.911.792.741.56 2.1m1.101.121.431.561.301.68 0.9m2.251.002.171.253.23--- TSIP2.842.714.463.663.783.54

22. 22 Community Access (“Open Skies”) Telescope Shares Gemini N 50% Gemini S50% Mayall80% WIYN30% 2.1m100% 0.9m40% Blanco80% SOAR30% SMARTS25%

23. Instrumentation AST CoV 2011 NOAO Managed Programs: (1) Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP) Funding to develop new instrumentation, upgrade existing instruments for telescopes operated by non-federally-funded U.S. observatories with telescopes of 3-10m aperture. “System Access” mechanism for direct exchange of telescope time for use by the community in exchange for operations funding. Proposals are solicited annually and are competitively reviewed. Review panel recommendations forwarded to AST for approval Awards made to Keck MMT LBT Magellan WIYN (ODI) Funding Levels: $32M over the past 9 years (FY02  FY10) ($4M per year every year except that FY05 & FY06 were funded at $2M/yr)

24. NOAO Managed Programs (2): Renewing Small Telescopes for Astronomical Research (ReSTAR) Funding for 2  5 meter telescope instrumentation (new or upgrades) in exchange for community access in response to the ReSTAR Report Funding for 2  5 meter telescope instrumentation (new or upgrades) in exchange for community access in response to the ReSTAR Report Can also fund direct exchange of telescope time Can also fund direct exchange of telescope time First of three 3-phase proposals submitted FY08 First of three 3-phase proposals submitted FY08 Each phase is for 3 years at approximately $10M Each phase is for 3 years at approximately $10M Year 1 of Phase 1 awarded $3M (KOSMOS, Mosaic and Hydra upgrades, Hale telescope spectroscopic time) Year 1 of Phase 1 awarded $3M (KOSMOS, Mosaic and Hydra upgrades, Hale telescope spectroscopic time) Year 2 awarded $3.9M (COSMOS and TripleSpec) Year 2 awarded $3.9M (COSMOS and TripleSpec) Phase 2 solicitation released in December – inviting institutions to propose to partner with NOAO to develop/enhance capabilities that. 1Sixteen proposals received. Phase 2 solicitation released in December – inviting institutions to propose to partner with NOAO to develop/enhance capabilities that. 1Sixteen proposals received. Are responsive to the ReSTAR report Are responsive to the ReSTAR report Balance System capabilities Balance System capabilities AST Program Officer works closely with NOAO for both programs including attending the panel reviews and advising on funding decisions.