University
of Hawaii
Institute for Astronomy
Annual Report 2001–2002
This report
covers the
period from
1 October
2001 through
30 September
2002, and
was compiled
in October
2002.
1 INTRODUCTION
The Institute
for Astronomy
(IfA) is
the astronomical
research
organization
of the University
of Hawaii
(UH). Its
headquarters
is located
in Honolulu
on the island
of Oahu near
the University
of Hawaii
at Manoa,
the main
UH campus.
It also maintains
offices in
Waiakoa on
the island
of Maui,
and in Hilo
on the island
of Hawaii.
The IfA is
responsible
for administering
and maintaining
the infrastructure
for the Haleakala
High Altitude
Observatory
Site on Maui
and for Mauna
Kea Observatories
(MKO) on
Hawaii.
More information
is available
at the
Institute's
World
Wide Web
site: www.ifa.hawaii.edu.
2 STAFF
The scientific
staff during
this report
period
consisted
of Joshua
E. Barnes,
Ann M.
Boesgaard,
Fabio Bresolin,
Schelte
J. Bus,
Kenneth
C. Chambers,
Paul H.
Coleman,
Antoinette
Songaila
Cowie,
Lennox
L. Cowie,
Harald
Ebeling,
Christ
Ftaclas,
Donald
N. B.
Hall, James
N. Heasley,
J. Patrick
Henry, George
H. Herbig
(emeritus),
Klaus-Werner
Hodapp, Esther
M. Hu, David
C. Jewitt,
Robert D.
Joseph, Nick
Kaiser, Rolf-Peter
Kudritzki
(Director),
Jeffrey R.
Kuhn, Barry
J. LaBonte,
Jing Li,
Haosheng
Lin, Gerard
A. Luppino,
Eugene A.
Magnier,
Eduardo L.
Martín,
Robert A.
McLaren,
Karen J.
Meech, Roberto
H. Méndez,
Donald L.
Mickey, Tobias
C. Owen,
Andrew J.
Pickles,
John T. Rayner,
Bo Reipurth,
David B.
Sanders,
Theodore
Simon, Alan
Stockton,
István
Szapudi,
David J.
Tholen, Alan
T. Tokunaga,
John L. Tonry,
R. Brent
Tully, Richard
J. Wainscoat,
Jonathan
P. Williams,
and Gareth
Wynn-Williams.
Postdoctoral
fellows
included Hervé Aussel
(James Clerk Maxwell
Fellow), Pierre Baudoz,
Yanga R. Fernández,
Michael Liu (Parrent
Fellow), Andisheh Mahdavi
(Chandra Fellow), Jana
Pittichová (NATO-NSF
Postdoctoral Fellow),
and
Norbert Przybilla.
Three students, Robert
Whiteley, Robert Thornton,
and George Bendo, completed
requirements for the
Ph.D. degree. The other
graduate students during
the report period were
Sean Andrews, James Armstrong,
Elizabeth Barrett, Brian
Barris, James Bauer,
Sandrine Bottinelli,
Peter Capak, Michael
Connelley, Michael Cushing,
Scott Dahm, David Donovan,
Henry Hsieh, Catherine
Ishida, Yuko Kakazu,
Dale Kocevski, Sebastien
Lefranc, Elizabeth McGrath,
Megan Novicki, Maria
Pereira, Daniel Potter,
Barry Rothberg, Scott
Sheppard, Brian Stalder,
Wei-Hao Wang, Kathryn
Whitman, and Mark Willman.
For more information
about the graduate program,
see www.ifa.hawaii.edu/gradprog.
Visiting colleagues included
Amy Barger, Olivier Guyon,
Fred Lo, Sebastien Matte,
and
Ralph Timmermeester.
2.1 New
Faculty
Visiting Astronomer Reipurth
arrived in December 2001
on a three-year appointment.
He studies star formation
and molecular clouds.
He has initiated the
Center for Star and Planet
Formation while at IfA.
Coleman, Ftaclas, and
Méndez joined
the staff in January
2002. Coleman's research
interests are primarily
the large-scale structure
of the universe. He also
is an advocate for fractal
mathematical methods
in the analysis of astronomical
objects. Ftaclas is interested
in instrumentation, extrasolar
planets, and brown dwarfs.
Méndez is primarily
interested in planetary
nebulae. Williams joined
the staff in September
2002. He studies the
molecular interstellar
medium and star-forming
regions using millimeter-
and submillimeter-wavelength
telescopes.
2.2 Honors
and Awards Received
Dr. François Roddier,
former head of the IfA
Adaptive Optics Group,
received the 2002 Maria
and Eric Muhlmann Award
of the Astronomical Society
of the Pacific. This
award honors scientists
who have made important
discoveries based on
their work in developing
new instruments and techniques.
Graduate student Brian
Barris won the 2001 Helen
Jones Farrar/ARCS Scholarship
for his work on the extragalactic
distance scale and the
properties of high-z
supernovae.
3 MAUNA
KEA OBSERVATORIES
The telescopes in operation
during the report period
were the UH 2.2-m and
0.6-m telescopes; the
3-m NASA Infrared Telescope
Facility (IRTF), operated
by the UH under a contract
with NASA; the 3.6-m
Canada-France-Hawaii
Telescope (CFHT), operated
by the Canada-France-Hawaii
Telescope Corporation
on behalf of the National
Research Council of Canada,
the Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique
of France, and UH; the
3.8-m United Kingdom
Infrared Telescope (UKIRT),
operated in Hawaii by
the Joint Astronomy Centre
(JAC) based in Hilo on
behalf of the Particle
Physics and Astronomy
Research Council of the
United Kingdom; the 15-m
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
(JCMT), a submillimeter
telescope operated by
the JAC on behalf of
the United Kingdom, Canada,
and the Netherlands;
the 10.4-m Caltech Submillimeter
Observatory (CSO), operated
by the California Institute
of Technology for the
National Science Foundation
(NSF); the Hawaii antenna
of the Very Long Baseline
Array (VLBA), operated
by the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory
(NRAO); the 10-m Keck
I and Keck II telescopes
of the W. M. Keck Observatory,
which is operated by
the California Association
for Research in Astronomy
for the use of astronomers
from the California Institute
of Technology, the University
of California system,
NASA, and UH; the 8.3-m
Subaru Telescope, operated
by the National Astronomical
Observatory of Japan
(NAOJ); and the 8.1-m
Gemini North Telescope,
built by an international
partnership and managed
by the Association of
Universities for Research
in Astronomy. At the
Submillimeter Array (SMA),
installation and commissioning
of the eight 6-m antennas
continued. The SMA is
a collaborative project
of the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory and the Institute
of Astronomy and Astrophysics
of the Academia Sinica
of Taiwan.
4 HALEAKALA
OBSERVATORIES
4.1 Mees
Solar Observatory
Mees Solar Observatory
supports IfA solar scientists
in data acquisition by
running diverse observational
programs with its telescope
cluster. The observatory
regularly co-observes
with the
satellites Solar and
Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO ), Transition
Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE ),
and Reuven Ramaty
High Energy Solar Spectroscopic
Imager (RHESSI ).
It also participates
in special satellite
and ground-based observatory
campaigns. The observatory's
complement of instruments
includes the Imaging
Vector Magnetograph (IVM),
Haleakala Stokes Polarimeter,
Mees CCD Imaging Spectrograph
(MCCD), Mees White Light
Telescope, and Coronal
Limb Imagers.
4.2 Solar-C
The Solar-C instrument
is a 0.5-m off-axis coronagraphic
reflecting telescope
adjacent to the Mees
Solar Observatory. This
instrument (1) allows
coronal observations
that have not been realized,
even from space, (2)
develops technology that
IfA scientists believe
will be used for future
satellite observations,
and (3) supports several
long-term coronal observing
platforms that extend
intermittent coronal
space observations. Unlike
most telescopes, light
strikes the Solar-C mirrors
off axis, at an angle
to their surfaces. No
light is blocked, reflected,
scattered, or diffracted
by the mirrors or their
support structure aside
from the superpolished
optical surfaces.
4.3 LURE
Observatory
LURE is a satellite laser
ranging (SLR) observatory.
LURE utilizes a high-powered
pulsed laser to obtain
distance measurements
to satellites in Earth
orbit. LURE is funded
by the Space Geodesy
Networks and Sensor Calibration
Office of NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center.
The missions of the target
satellites include monitoring
of Earth resources and
climate parameters, measurements
of ocean levels and temperatures,
plate tectonics, and
the improvement of the
Global Positioning System
(GPS), as well as special
missions related to the
physics of tethered satellite
systems. LURE is capable
of providing data 21
hours per day, 7 days
per week. It routinely
ranks in the top 5 of
the 39 ILRS (International
Laser Ranging Service)
satellite ranging stations
in both quality and quantity
of
data.
Haleakala Observatories
is under contract to
the Air Force Research
Laboratories to conduct
a research program known
as the AEOS Haleakala
Atmospheric Characterization
(AHAC). This program
supports the U.S. Air
Force Advanced Electro-Optical
System (AEOS) Telescope
on Haleakala by providing
comprehensive atmospheric
characterization and
timely prediction of
inclement weather conditions
at the observatory site.
The instrument suite
that supports these site
measurements includes
a daytime/nighttime optical
seeing monitor and a
network of remote meteorological
systems linked by radio
modems. The optical seeing
monitor captures star
image data at high frame
rates and uses a differential
image motion technique
to allow the computation
of seeing statistics
over intervals of a few
seconds. Data from the
remote meteorology stations
are processed using an
artificial intelligence
program to generate locally
specific predictions
of adverse weather events
on a time horizon of
30 minutes. For more
information, see the
Web site at
banana.ifa.hawaii.edu.
4.5 MAGNUM
Telescope Project
The 2-m Multicolor Active
Galactic Nuclei Monitoring
(MAGNUM) Telescope is
dedicated to studying
the variation of light
from active galactic
nuclei (AGNs). The project
is a collaboration between
the University of Tokyo
and UH. The main scientific
objective of MAGNUM is
to measure distances
to AGNs and quasars up
to z=1. The telescope
is designed to be operated
remotely and to conduct
observations autonomously.
For more information,
see merope.
mtk.nao.ac.jp/ ~ yuki/magnum hp/index.htm.
4.6 Faulkes
Telescope
See Sec. 7.2.
5 INSTRUMENTATION
Both the visible and
the infrared arms of
the AEOS spectrometer
are now working. The
main focus for the remaining
work on the spectrometer
is on control software
and
the user interface.
Work continued on the
85-actuator curvature-sensing
adaptive optics system
H¯ok¯upa`a-85
under Dr. Christ Ftaclas,
who assumed direction
of the project in January
2002. A new design for
the optical layout features
all-reflective wavefront
sensing optics, and the
instrument design is
now much more compact
than the previous design
was. The instrument is
scheduled to be completed
in the first half of
2003 and will become
a user instrument on
the Gemini South Telescope.
Instrumentation work
at Mees and Solar-C during
the past year included
a filter wheel with improved
blocking filters that
was installed in the
IVM, and an upgrade to
the MCCD camera and data
system that will permit
both faster cadence and
increased field of view
for observations of solar
flare spectra.
A near-infrared spectropolarimeter
is being built by Lin
for installation on the
Solar-C telescope. It
is intended for studies
of magnetic fields in
the solar photosphere
and corona.
A mid-infrared spectrograph,
also for use at Solar-C,
is being fabricated.
It will be used primarily
for coronal line searches
in the 2- to 5-mm
wavelength range.
The IfA Solar Group is
an active participant
in planning for a new
4-m solar telescope called
the Advanced Technology
Solar Telescope (ATST).
The National Solar Observatory
is the PI institution.
UH scientists are working
on two instrumentation
efforts: construction
of a set of Sky Brightness
Monitors to be installed
as part of the site survey
instrument suite at each
of the six candidate
sites and a conceptual
design for a near-infrared
spectropolarimeter. The
latter is intended as
an early facility instrument
for the ATST.
6 Pan-STARRS
IfA has been awarded
a $3.4 million grant
by the Air Force Research
Laboratories to design
a new observatory to
survey the entire sky
and detect very faint
objects. The Panoramic
Survey Telescope and
Rapid Response System
(Pan-STARRS) is currently
conceived of as an array
of small telescopes,
and sites on Mauna Kea
and Haleakala are being
considered. Planned to
become operational in
2006, Pan-STARRS will
be more powerful for
survey work than all
existing telescopes combined.
Kaiser is the principal
investigator.
A major goal of the project
is to identify and track
asteroids that might
collide with Earth. Pan-STARRS
will also detect large
numbers of objects in
the outer solar system,
inventory stars in the
Galaxy, and probe the
structure and content
of its disk and halo.
It should also detect
many planets in orbits
around other stars. Roughly
one-third of the observing
time will be devoted
to ultra-deep imaging
of a number of selected
fields. This will allow
detection of galaxies,
quasars, and stars to
very faint magnitudes.
One key application of
these data will be mapping
the distribution of dark
matter in the Universe
through the gravitational
lensing effect. Such
a dark-mass inventory
will be invaluable for
testing theoretical models
for the formation of
structure in the Universe.
Each of the telescopes
will be equipped with
a state-of-the-art electronic
camera with 109 pixels.
The use of small telescopes
has the advantage of
low cost, rapid construction,
diversity of operational
modes, a simple optical
design, and a low environmental
impact. The system will
be able to scan approximately
one-tenth of the sky
in a single night.
Pan-STARRS will be the
first survey telescope
to use sensitive electronic
CCD detectors to image
the entire visible sky
at optical wavelengths.
The IfA is collaborating
with Lincoln Laboratories
of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
(MIT) to develop the
advanced CCDs. The system
will be able to take
images at a rate of 1
to 2 per minute.
Once operational, Pan-STARRS
will generate huge quantities
of data. To process these,
IfA astronomers are collaborating
with the Maui High Performance
Computer Center (MHPCC)
and with Science Applications
International Corporation
(SAIC), a leader in the
field of massive databases.
The huge database generated
by Pan-STARRS will be
made available over the
National Virtual Observatory
so that others may use
it for education and
research.
7 OUTREACH
Heasley continued to
serve as outreach coordinator.
Monthly star charts and
a quarterly newsletter
continued to be sent
to members of the Friends
of Hawaii Astronomy and
other interested parties.
An open house for the
general public was held
at the Manoa facility
on 6 October 2001. It
included lectures, tours,
and displays. IfA faculty
and staff also participated
in AstroDay 2K2 on 20
April in Hilo. Other
outreach activities included
public lectures and star
parties.
7.1 TOPS
Teacher Enhancement
Program
The summer of 2002 marked
the fourth year of support
under a five-year the
National Science Foundation
(NSF) grant for the TOPS
(Toward Other Planetary
Systems) teacher enhancement
program. The workshops
are three weeks of intensive
astronomy training for
teachers and high school
students.
This year 25 teachers
and 19 students participated
in the workshop. One
of the TOPS participants
this year, Melissa Lamberton,
was a prize recipient
of the Discovery Channel
Young Scientist Challenge
(DYSC), which is associated
with science fairs around
the nation, and occurs
each fall in Washington,
D.C. She was one of 4,000
middle school entrants
in grades 5-8 selected
by their science fair
directors to enter their
science projects in the
DYSC.
The teachers and students
participated in a wide
variety of hands-on activities
ranging from archaeoastronomy
to grinding telescope
mirrors. They also engaged
in observing projects
that use small telescopes,
including simple visual
observations of the moon,
planets, and nebulae,
and sophisticated variable
star observations using
a CCD camera, photometer,
and spectrographs. One
of the highlights of
the workshop was a tour
of Mauna Kea. TOPS also
benefited from a core
of volunteers from the
Bishop Museum (Honolulu)
and the Hawaiian Astronomical
Society.
TOPS integrates the humanities
with astronomy to make
the science interesting
to a wider audience.
Participants worked under
the direction of Clive
Ruggles, an archaeoastronomer
from University of Leicester,
UK. They surveyed ancient
heiau (sacred sites)
to determine their astronomical
significance. Chief Joseph
Chasing Horse, an internationally
known Native American
cultural consultant,
and Richard Shope, the
education and public
outreach coordinator
of the Outer Planets/Solar
Probe project at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
presented talks and workshops
on Lakota astronomy.
Nainoa Thompson, president
of the Polynesian Voyaging
Society, lectured on
canoe voyages from Hawaii
to Tahiti and Rapa Nui
(Easter Island).
Support for the TOPS
workshops also comes
from private donations
and in-kind support from
NASA. For the third year
in a row, a staff member
from the Astrobiology
Institute at NASA Ames
Research Center worked,
at NASA's expense, with
the TOPS teachers and
students. The NASA IRTF
also
provided support.
Another long-standing
supporter of TOPS is
Janet Mattei, the director
of the Amateur Association
of Variable Star Observers
(AAVSO). She spends two
weeks each summer with
the TOPS teachers and
students to lecture on
variable stars, to introduce
them to the Hands On
Astrophysics exercises
AAVSO has developed,
and to assist with observing
projects. This year,
30 TOPS participants
and staff gave presentations
at the AAVSO conference
in Kona, Hawaii that
followed the TOPS program.
Additional information
about TOPS is available
at www
.ifa.hawaii.edu/tops.
7.2 Faulkes
Telescope
The IfA and the Faulkes
Telescope Corporation
are collaborating to
locate a 2-m telescope
facility at the University's
Haleakala High Altitude
Observatory site on Maui.
The Dill Faulkes Educational
Trust of the United Kingdom
(UK) is financing the
telescope, which will
be named in honor of
Dr. Martin "Dill" Faulkes,
the British scientist
and software developer
who founded the trust.
The ceremonial blessing
and groundbreaking for
the Faulkes Telescope
took place on 2 November
2001. By the end of the
report period, the foundation
had been laid, and the
enclosure for the telescope
had arrived on Haleakala.
The telescope itself
is scheduled to arrive
in December 2002, and
plans call for the telescope
to be operational in
2003.
The Faulkes Telescope
will be the largest professional
grade telescope in the
world dedicated to education
and public outreach.
The project will draw
on young people's interest
in astronomy to teach
them what science is.
It will offer students
in the UK and Hawaii
hands-on research experience.
Students will conduct
research projects under
the mentoring of their
teachers and professional
astronomers. In Hawaii,
access to the telescope
will be available to
public and private schools
and to the science programs
of the UH system and
other local colleges.
It will be operated remotely
from control centers
in the
UK and on Maui.
The first instrument
to be installed will
be a state-of-the-art
CCD camera. Later, funds
will be sought to add
an infrared camera to
allow operation of the
telescope during daylight
hours. A spectrograph
is also under consideration
as a future instrument.
Heasley continues as
the IfA project scientist
for Faulkes Telescope
Project.
7.3 Research
Experiences for Undergraduates
and Teachers
Two outreach programs,
Research Experiences
for Undergraduates (REU)
and Research Experiences
for Teachers (RET), continued
for a second year. The
REU program is supported
by a five-year grant
from NSF, which also
provided supplementary
funds for the RET program.
Heasley is the principal
investigator, and Meech
is the
co-investigator.
Six REU students spent
10-12 weeks in the summer
as full-time research
assistants under the
supervision of a faculty
mentor. The participating
students were Jennifer
Beard (Virginia Tech),
Elizabeth Fernandez (New
Mexico Institute of Mining
and Technology), Matthew
Graham (Oklahoma State),
Alaina Henry (University
of Rochester), Collete
Salyk (MIT), and Tiffany
Titus (Illinois Institute
of Technology). The students
received travel money
and a stipend to cover
living expenses. This
year the students were
mentored by Barger, Boesgaard,
Kuhn, Reipurth, Tholen,
and Wainscoat.
The two teachers in the
RET program, Jean Hamai
and Clyde Kobashigawa,
were both former participants
in the TOPS Teacher Enhancement
workshops. They worked
with Heasley on the analysis
of Hubble Space Telescope observations
of globular clusters
and on developing robust
numerical techniques
to detect faint asteroids
in digital images. The
purpose of this program
is to develop a core
of local teachers with
experience in research
projects who will be
able to serve as resource
teachers for those using
the Faulkes Telescope.
The REU and RET programs
received additional support
from Sun Microsystems,
which loaned the IfA
a Sunray server and eight
workstation displays
for
participants' use.
8 SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
Listed below are the
major areas of research
at the IfA, followed
by the names of those
active in that area (some
names are listed more
than once). Further information
about research activities
can be found at www.ifa.hawaii.edu/research,
on the home pages of
individual faculty members
(accessible through www.ifa.hawaii.edu/
faculty), and in
the list of publications
(see Sec. 9). See
Sec. 5 for more
information about instrumentation
projects.
Galactic and extragalactic
astronomy: Aussel,
Bresolin, Chambers, Coleman,
Cowie, Ebeling, Henry,
Hu, Joseph, Kaiser, Kudritzki,
Luppino, Mahdavi, Pickles,
Sanders, Songaila, Stockton,
Tonry,
Tully, and
Wainscoat.
Star formation and
interstellar matter: Aussel,
Ftaclas, Hodapp, Liu,
Magnier,
Martín,
Méndez, Rayner,
Reipurth, Tokunaga, and
Wynn-Williams.
Stellar astronomy: Boesgaard,
Bresolin, Heasley, Herbig,
Przybilla, Simon, and
Williams.
Solar system astronomy: Bus,
Fernández, Jewitt,
Meech,
Owen,
Pittichová, and
Tholen.
Solar physics: Kuhn,
LaBonte, Li, Lin, and
Mickey.
Theoretical studies: Barnes,
Kaiser, and
Szapudi.
Instrumentation: Baudoz,
Ftaclas, Hall, Hodapp,
Luppino, Mickey, Rayner,
Stockton, Tokunaga, and
Tonry.
