Review of USAF-Supported Astronomical Research Letter Report (2004) / Chapter Skim
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Letter Report
Letter Report
Pages 1-9
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From page 1... ...
The NRC convened the Committee on Review of USAF-Supported Astronomical Research,1 which met at the Maui High Performance Computing Center on May 28-29, 2004,2 to conduct the review. The committee received information from the AMOS staff, led by Dr.
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In recognition of this potential, the AFOSR and NSF jointly fund a competitive research program aimed at construction of astronomical instrumentation for, and scientific observations with, the AMOS 3.67-meter telescope. The committee was asked to assess whether the research conducted to date has made optimum use of the unique aspects of the AMOS facility.
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More than 100 planets have now been discovered orbiting nearby stars, based on the use of indirect detection methods such as spectroscopy and transits at other facilities. The AFOSR/NSF research program has funded an ambitious instrumentation and observing project that will use the AEOS AO system to provide some of the first direct images of planets, brown dwarfs, and protoplanetary disks in orbit around bright nearby stars.
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In the area of stellar astronomy, AEOS has been used to search for faint stellar companions near massive early-type stars. In this field the high-order AO system operating in the visible band provides sensitivity over a much larger range in magnitude difference than has been possible with either speckle or interferometric techniques.
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From page 5... ...
Several of the early investigators have decided that the results they obtained during that period are not of publishable quality, and others are trying to correct the problem by applying extensive image deconvolution methods to their data to reconstruct the point-spread function. In more recent years, the AEOS staff has vigorously addressed these AO performance issues.
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A second potential cause of concern is the relatively low oversubscription rate for the AEOS astronomy research program. A high fraction of the proposals received in response to the solicitation were funded (and awarded telescope time)
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Continuation of the AEOS astronomy research program. As a result of its assessment, the committee regards the AMOS facility and AEOS on Haleakala as a valuable scientific resource for astronomical research, and it applauds the Air Force for making observing time and financial support available to the general astronomical community through the AFOSR/NSF grants program.
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From page 8... ...
This focus has led to the curious situation wherein a given principal investigator is effectively ineligible to compete for observing time to use his or her instrument once he/she has completed construction and commissioning of it. Although support for observing could be obtained from other NSF grants programs, the telescope time itself is awarded exclusively through the AEOS program.
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From page 9... ...
Summary The committee considers the 3.67-m Air Force telescope on Haleakala an important resource for astronomical research and believes that the provision of both telescope time and funding to enable visiting astronomers to use this facility is of great benefit to the astronomical community. It applauds the AFOSR for initiating the AEOS astronomy research program and strongly recommends its continuation.
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