QUARTERLY SCIENTIFIC REPORT (1) FY 2015 1 October–31 December 2014 This image of HCG 07 shows galaxies undergoing a burst of star formation. A team, which includes NOAO staff scientist Dr. David James, obtained spectacular images of some Compact Galaxy Groups with the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4-m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Image credit: Dane Kleiner/Australian Astronomical Observatory Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0950945, Article 3-A Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0809409 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 NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY
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QUARTERLY SCIENTIFIC REPORT (1) FY 2015
1 October–31 December 2014
This image of HCG 07 shows galaxies undergoing a burst of star formation. A team, which includes NOAO staff scientist Dr. David James, obtained spectacular images of some Compact Galaxy Groups with the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4-m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.
Image credit: Dane Kleiner/Australian Astronomical Observatory
Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0950945, Article 3-A
Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0809409
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
Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0950945
30 January 2015
NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2015 (1)
ii
6 NOAO SAFETY REPORT FOR Q1 ................................................................................. 41
6.1 North ................................................................................................................ 41
6.2 South ................................................................................................................ 41
1
1 NOAO DIVISIONS
1.1 NOAO SOUTH
The NOAO South (NS) division is responsible for
operations, maintenance, and development for all
NOAO activities in Chile. For program manage-
ment purposes, these activities are separated into
the following subprograms:
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
NOAO South Engineering & Technical
Services
NOAO South Central Facilities Opera-
tions
NOAO South Computer Infrastructure Services
1.1.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
Program Highlights
Science
Two recent publications based on data obtained at CTIO provide complementary insights into the
Carina Dwarf Spheroidal galaxy. This dwarf satellite of the Milky Way is thought to have under-
gone episodic star formation, with short bursts of star formation separated by long pauses, creating
populations of old (>8 Gyrs), intermediate (2–8 Gyrs), and young (<2 Gyrs) stars, as evidenced by
the existence of multiple Main-Sequence-Turn-Offs in its color magnitude diagram (CMD).
Brendan McMonigal (University of Sydney) and colleagues (McMonegal et al. 2014, MNRAS,
444, 3139) used the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4-m telescope to study the spatial
distribution of these three different age populations and to search for evidence that the Carina dwarf
has suffered tidal interactions. They obtained deep optical (g and r band) photometry over a 12-deg2
region around the Carina dwarf spheroidal, with complete coverage out to 1 deg, and partial cover-
age extending out to 2.6 deg, a much wider region than covered in previous work. They then applied
a Poisson-based matched filter analysis to statistically identify members of each of the three main
stellar populations (old, intermediate, and young) in the resulting CMDs. The relative numbers of
stars in the three populations found in this way are consistent with previous work, with the interme-
diate age population dominating. By studying the spatial distributions of these populations (Figure 1,
left) they confirm previous measurements of the tidal radius, elipticity and position angle, and radial
stellar density profile of the Carina dwarf. They also confirm the previously identified radial age
gradient, with the young population more compact, the older more diffuse, and find that the direc-
tion of the major axis of the stellar distribution progressively migrates with age. However, at vari-
ance with previous work, they find little evidence for tidal debris around Carina. Instead, they find a
stellar population with an age ~10 Gyr present over a wider area around the Carina dwarf (Figure 1,
right), at a distance of 46±2 kpc, which they deduce to be part of the halo of the Large Magellanic
Cloud (LMC) at an angular separation of over 20 degrees. They argue that the previously detected
tidal features in the old population of Carina are likely artifacts due to confusion in the CMD with
this LMC population. The absence of tidal debris suggests that past tidal interactions have not signif-
NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2015 (1)
2
icantly influenced the Carina dwarf, a result that challenges tidal interaction models for Carina that
predict the occurrence of prominent tidal tails.
T.J.L. DeBoer (University of
Cambridge) and colleagues (DeBoer
et al. 2014, A&A, 572, A10) inves-
tigated the star formation and chem-
ical evolution history of the Carina
dwarf, quantifying the duration and
strength of the old and intermediate
age bursts of star formation. To do
this, they obtained accurately cali-
brated optical photometry (B and V
band) with the Mosaic-II camera on
the Blanco 4-m telescope, complete-
ly covering the region within the
0.48-deg tidal radius of Carina and
extending to 1.6 deg along its major
axis (the survey footprint is marked
in green in Figure 1 above). They
also derived the metallicity distribu-
tion function (MDF, the proportion
of stars in a population with a given
metallicity) for more than 300 indi-
vidual Red Giant Branch stars in the
inner parts of Carina from spectra
Figure 1: (Left) Stellar density maps derived using matched filter analysis of the CMD for the Carina dwarf. The map in the top left-hand corner shows the full population, the other panels show stars selected as members of the young, intermediate age, and old populations. (Right) Stellar density maps for the LMC population using two different selection regions in the CMD. The right-hand map used a selection box chosen to minimize confusion with Carina stars, the map on the left used a more inclusive selection at the expense of some contamination from Carina populations. The lowest contour in all maps is at two times the background RMS contamination lev-el as measured within the red circles. The blue polygons mark the DECam field of view used for the study, the red ellipses mark the tidal extent of Carina (McMonegal et al. 2014, MNRAS, 444, 3139).
Figure 2: Star formation history (left) and chemical evolution history (right) for the Carina dwarf. The bottom row is for the whole popu-lation within the tidal radius (0.48 deg), the other rows show the data subdivided into annuli with extents indicated in each panel (DeBoer et al. 2014, A&A, 572, A10).
NOAO DIVISIONS
3
obtained with FLAMES on the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The star formation history was then
determined by simultaneously fitting the observed CMD and MDF to a grid of synthetic CMDs and
MDFs calculated for different star formation histories and initial metallicities. The resulting detailed
star formation history (Figure 2) is bimodal showing two main episodes of star formation at old (>8
Gyr) and intermediate (2−8 Gyr) ages, both enriching stars starting from low metallicities
([Fe/H] < −2 dex) material, with the intermediate age episode responsible for 60±9 percent of the to-
tal number of stars formed. From the spectroscopic data, they find a tight age-metallicity relation
spanning ≈6 Gyr during the older burst with steadily declining α-element abundances and a possible
α-element “knee” at [Fe/H] ≈ −2.5 dex. Conversely, for the intermediate age burst, the age-
metallicity relation is more complex starting from low metallicity, with a much more rapid decline
in α-element abundances starting from [Fe/H] = −1.8 dex and [Mg/Fe] ≈ 0.4 dex and declining to
Mg-poor values ([Mg/Fe] ≤ −0.5 dex). This suggests that the two episodes of star formation formed
from gas with different initial abundance patterns, inconsistent with simple chemical evolution in an
isolated system.
Instrumentation/Management
During the first quarter of FY15,
CTIO’s efforts were focused on im-
provements to the Blanco 4-m and
SOAR 4.1-m telescopes; supporting
the second observing season of the
Dark Energy Survey (DES), as well as
the use of DECam by the open-access
community; completing the commis-
sioning of the CTIO Ohio State Multi-
Object Spectrograph (COSMOS); and
preparing for the arrival of the
TripleSpec4 (TS4) near-infrared spec-
trograph.
The second DES season began on
15 August 2014 and will end on 15
February 2015. The current reporting
period corresponds to the most intense
activity with nearly 80% of the observ-
ing nights on the Blanco telescope
dedicated to DES. During the first
quarter (Q1) of FY15, 82% of the
10,284 collected wide-field images
were judged to be of survey quality;
for the month of December, 95% of all
images taken were of survey quality.
Comparing the second season so far to
the first, the DES team notes both a
significant improvement in the deliv-
ered image quality and an increase in
the shutter open fraction (a measure of
observing efficiency), attributable to
the improvements to the telescope and
its thermal environment that were car-
Figure 3: Status of the DES. The survey goal for seasons one and two was to cover the survey footprint with up to four expo-sures (“tilings”) in all filters. The light blue indicates tiles ob-served during the 105-night first season. The dark blue shows tiles observed during the 87 equivalent full nights observed dur-ing the second season up to 31 January 2014; the red are tiles observed on that night. The grey background marks the areas DES plans to cover in the second season, but which have not yet been addressed. The plan for season two only includes three tilings of the central section of the footprint, the fourth be-ing left for season three. (Image credit: “Dark Energy Survey Operations Report December 2014,” by Thomas Diehl.)
NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2015 (1)
4
ried out during FY14. The Blanco telescope and DECam have proven to be a very reliable and ro-
bust system, with only 4.5 hours of observing time (less than 1%) being lost to technical problems of
any kind during this reporting period.
Despite the focus on DES this quarter, observations were carried out for seven distinct commu-
nity science programs during the remaining 15 nights of science time.
A six-night engineering run in October was used to complete the commissioning of COSMOS at
the ƒ/8 focus of the Blanco 4-m telescope and test the proper functioning of supporting hardware
that included a new fine drive mechanism for the instrument rotator, improved control software for
the guide probe, and brighter calibration lamps. A second five-night engineering run in December
was used to carry out the regular bi-annual maintenance of the DECam cooling system, which in-
cludes replacement of the liquid nitrogen circulation pump. Data also was taken during these two
engineering runs to refine the look-up tables used to control the active optics system of the telescope
both for ƒ/8 and prime focus operation.
Fabrication and assembly of the instrument at Cornell has gone slightly slower than planned so
that delivery of TripleSpec4 to Chile will now occur in March 2015. The work carried out in Chile,
to test and characterize the detectors and their control electronics, was completed this quarter, and
the completed detector packages will be shipped back to the US in January 2015 for integration with
the instrument. Several NOAO South staff will travel to Cornell in February to participate in the fi-
nal integration of the instrument and witness the pre-ship acceptance test. The mechanical design for
the interface and handling cart needed to mount TripleSpec4 at the ƒ/8 focus of Blanco was com-
pleted and mechanical fabrication begun during this reporting period (see Figure 4).
Status of FY15 Milestones
Develop a program of regular preventative maintenance for the Blanco 4-m telescope and its
key, supporting infrastructure, and implement it starting in Q2 of FY15.
Status: During the reporting period a framework for scheduling and tracking periodic mainte-
nance activities was implemented within the JIRA issue reporting and tracking system in use at
the Blanco telescope. JIRA is being used now to schedule optics maintenance, including weekly
cleaning with CO2 snow and quarterly washing of the primary mirror. A file system check of the
large-capacity disk farm used by DECam, which takes several hours to complete, is also pro-
grammed at monthly intervals. Programming of regular maintenance of the key mechanical sys-
tems of the telescope and dome, the components of the HVAC (heating, ventilating, air condi-
Figure 4: (Left) Design drawing showing TripleSpec4 and its telescope interface (grey struc-ture at the top) mounted on their handling cart. (Right) Components of the interface structure during fabrication in the La Serena machine shop.
NOAO DIVISIONS
5
tioning) system for the building, and the backup generator and other equipment in the power-
house will be added starting in the second quarter (Q2) of FY15.
Refurbish or replace the secondary backup generator, secondary frequency converter, and asso-
ciated transfer switches in the Cerro Tololo powerhouse to ensure robust operation of this criti-
cal equipment for the next decade. Planning and prioritization will be carried out in Q1 of FY15
with procurement starting in Q2 as funding permits.
Status: Quotes were obtained for a new secondary generator and secondary frequency conver-
tor, which proved to be quite expensive. The existing equipment was evaluated, and quotes for
refurbishment of the existing hardware by an external contractor were requested. Once these
are received, a decision will be made on how to proceed.
Support the second season of observations for the Dark Energy Survey (DES), which runs from
mid-August 2014 through early February 2015. Hold a workshop in March 2015 to promote the
effective use by the community of the images collected during the first DES season.
Status: Observations for the second season began on 15 August 2014 and have gone very
smoothly thus far. During this reporting period, 10,284 wide-field images were collected with
82% of those images judged to be of survey quality. As a result of improvements to the telescope
that were completed in FY14, delivered image quality and observing efficiency are measurably
better than they were for the first season, and remarkably little time has been lost to technical
problems. The second “DECam Community Science Workshop” will be held in Tucson, Arizo-
na, from 11–13 March 2015. This workshop will bring together those with experience in obtain-
ing, reducing, and analyzing DECam data—both from DES and the community—with those who
would like to use DECam to take their own data or do science with publicly available DES and
community images from the NOAO Science Archive. The workshop also will showcase early sci-
ence results obtained with DECam. All organizational details are in place, the fourteen invited
speakers are confirmed, and a growing number of participants have registered with many plan-
ning to give contributed talks or poster presentations.
Prepare for the delivery of the TripleSpec4 (TS4) near-infrared spectrograph, in January 2015,
and commission it on the Blanco 4-m telescope during Q3 and Q4 of FY15.
Status: Fabrication and assembly of the instrument at Cornell has gone slightly slower than
planned so that delivery of TripleSpec4 to Chile will not occur until March 2015. Supporting
work on the detector systems in Chile was completed during this reporting period and these sys-
tems are ready for integration with the instrument. The plan for pre- and post-ship acceptance
of the instrument was written this quarter. Several NOAO South staff will travel to Cornell in
February 2015 to participate in the final stage of integration and witness the pre-ship ac-
ceptance test. The mechanical design for the interface and handling cart needed to mount the
instrument on the telescope was completed this quarter and work was begun on their fabrication
in the La Serena machine shop (see Figure 4). Despite the slight delay, all remains on track for
a first commissioning run at the telescope, which is scheduled for April 2015.
Develop during Q1 of FY15 conceptual designs and resource estimates for the steps needed to
increase observing efficiency at the SOAR telescope, including improvement of the guide star
selection software, addition of an acquisition camera to the Goodman Spectrograph, and imple-
mentation of closed-loop control of focus and astigmatism, and propose them to the SOAR
board for funding. It is anticipated that, given a favorable funding decision, one or two of these
measures can be implemented during FY15, the others being carried over to FY16.
NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2015 (1)
6
Status: The telescope and guider pointing models were updated with a considerable reduction
in observing overheads. A design for an acquisition camera for the Goodman spectrograph was
reviewed, procurement and fabrication were begun, and implementation is expected for
Q2/early Q3 (third quarter of FY15). An algorithm was developed for more efficient focus and
astigmatism control; implementation of the algorithm at both foci requires additional engineer-
ing work and may not be completed until late in the fiscal year. Experience with the algorithm
should be acquired before trying to develop a fully closed-loop implementation, which is likely
to be expensive. Finally, user documentation to help guide observers in reducing overheads
while observing is in the process of being updated.
To strengthen post-run scientific support of users of the SOAR telescope, carry out a survey dur-
ing Q1 of FY15 of previous users of NOAO time to determine what factors have limited their
ability to publish quickly, and use this as the basis for planning and prioritization of improve-
ments to be implemented during the remainder of the year.
Status: No progress during this period.
Implement succession plans for key staff who will transition fully or on a shared basis to LSST.
Recruitment to replace the transitioning staff will take place in Q1 of FY15 with cross training
and knowledge transfer occurring over the remainder of the year.
Status: Four staff members transitioned fully to the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Project
Office (LSSTPO) at the start of FY15. One of these positions will not be replaced. Recruitment
for a new head of Facilities is underway; the CTIO deputy director is serving in this role in the
interim. The head of the computer applications group and the SOAR site manger/mechanical
engineer were replaced through internal reorganization. A similar process of internal recruit-
ment is planned to replace the head of NOAO South Computer Infrastructure Services when he
transitions later in the year. Discussions continued with LSSTPO concerning additional staff
who may transition on a full or part-time basis, as construction activity ramps up, in order to al-
low timely recruitment of additional staff and ensure critical knowledge is retained.
Host the third annual La Serena School for Data Science during one week in August 2015 in
collaboration with AURA, LSST, and Chilean institutional partners.
Status: No activity was planned for this period.
1.1.2 NOAO South Engineering & Technical Services
Program Highlights
During this reporting period, the NOAO South Engineering & Technical Services (NS ETS) group
provided engineering and technical support for science operations of the CTIO telescopes, helping
with problem diagnosis and resolution and with regular maintenance of the optical, mechanical,
electronic, and software systems of the telescopes and instruments. NN ETS staff also participated in
projects to upgrade the performance of the telescopes and to install and test new instrumentation.
Implementation of the active optics upgrade for the Blanco telescope was completed at the be-
ginning of Q1. Subsequently, NS ETS worked closely with DES to obtain and analyze wavefront
data in order to refine the look-up tables used to control the primary mirror supports and the Hexa-
pod and Blanco M1 in order to optimize the DECam image quality. This work, together with the
work to control the telescope thermal environment completed in FY14, resulted in a measurable im-
provement in the delivered image quality obtained during the second season of DES as compared to
the first. During this same monthly engineering process, the Telescope Pointing also was improved.
NOAO DIVISIONS
7
The improved hardware for ƒ/8 operation of Blanco (secondary mirror control and Cassegrain
rotator and other instrument support infrastructure) has been operating reliably and meeting re-
quirements for COSMOS and the Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI). Further, mainly electronic, up-
grade work on three (out of nine) ƒ/8 subsystems will be completed during FY15 in order to ensure
robust operation and to simplify maintenance. Improvements to the mechanisms and control elec-
tronics of the ƒ/8 handler used in installing the secondary mirror were completed and tested during
Q1; a mechanism to allow the fine angular positioning of the secondary mirror was designed during
Q1 and will be fabricated in Q2.
In October 2015, one of the reduction gearboxes for the Blanco dome azimuth drive suffered a
mechanical failure. These units are old and are suffering increased wear and tear as a result of the
more frequent retargeting of the dome required by DES survey operations. Replacement gears were
fabricated by a local contractor and used to refurbish the failed drive, while the dome continued to
operate using only two of its three motors. Then a spare gearbox was made by refurbishing an old
unit obtained from the Mayall telescope, and this spare was substituted to allow refurbishment of the
other two boxes. With the immediate emergency resolved, a design study was begun for a modern
drive system using variable frequency controlled motors similar to that used for the SOAR Dome,
which should be implemented by no later than FY16.
NS ETS contributed to fabrication of the TripleSpec4 near-infrared spectrometer during Q1.
Characterization and optimization of the detectors and associated control electronics for TS4 was
completed. The mechanical design of the interface box needed to mount this instrument at the ƒ/8
focus of Blanco was completed, and the mechanical fabrication was begun.
NS ETS worked on various improvement projects for the SOAR telescope during Q1. The
SOAR Telescope Control System (TCS) upgrade made steady progress and is now about 30% com-
plete. The opto-mechanics of the SOAR Tip-Tilt guiders were checked and calibrated, which led to
an improvement in the efficiency of guide star acquisition. An acquisition camera was designed for
the Goodman spectrograph and will be ready for fabrication during Q2.
Progress was made on several improvements to basic laboratory infrastructure. Laboratory in-
strumentation and hardware purchased using FY14 funds was received. These included a
monochromator for use in optical transmission and detector quantum efficiency measurements, a
larger capacity ultrasonic cleaning bath, and a new surface mount soldering station. Minor building
modifications and upgrades for the Electronics Lab & Detector Clean Room were designed and
quotes obtained that will allow work to begin in Q2, and a similar process for the extension of the
Mechanical Instrument Shop is ongoing.
Status of FY15 Milestones
Complete the Blanco telescope primary mirror active optics improvement project in Q1 of
FY15.
Status: Completed. The new, high-precision pressure controllers for the 33 pneumatic actuators
(air bags) that support the primary mirror were installed during the last quarter of FY14, and
the system was brought on line in time for the start of the DES second season. Finishing touches
such as repackaging of the control electronics and assembly and test of spare modules were
completed during Q1 as well. Collection of wavefront data to refine the look-up tables used for
open-loop control of the optics will continue in engineering time throughout FY15 as will the
tuning and testing of closed-loop control algorithms.
Refurbish the Blanco aluminizing tank in Q3 of FY15 and optimize its control parameters (work
to be completed in Q1 of FY16) to ensure stable, reliable, and reproducible deposition of a
NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2015 (1)
8
good-quality coating in time to re-aluminize the Blanco primary mirror during calendar year
2016.
Status: Activities during this reporting period included a thorough walk-through inspection of
the coating plant to take stock of its current condition and a step-by-step review of past operat-
ing procedures, both carried out with the help of the retired plant engineer. In addition, the op-
tical and mechanical engineers were invited to witness the coating of the primary mirror of the
Magellan Baade telescope, obtaining insight concerning this modern evaporation chamber,
which is, conceptually, very similar to the Blanco plant. This compliments the information ob-
tained during a visit in FY14 to witness coating of the primary mirror of the Mayall telescope on
Kitt Peak. All the information is now in hand to begin planning the modification of the Blanco
plant during Q2.
Repair the Blanco mirror elevator in Q4 of FY15 following the similar work being carried out at
the Mayall telescope during FY14.
Status: No progress during this period.
Build the new handling cart for the Blanco Cassegrain cage in Q2 of FY15, the design of which
was completed in FY14.
Status: No progress during this period.
Complete during Q1 of FY15 the evaluation and costing of improvements to the drive mecha-
nism and emergency brake for the Blanco dome shutter, building on similar work being carried
out at the Mayall telescope and Anglo-Australian Telescope. Implementation will begin in Q2 of
FY15 but is expected to continue into FY16 depending on the design finally adopted.
Status: No progress was made during this quarter because the required resources had to be di-
rected to the emergency repair of the dome azimuth drive discussed above.
Complete upgrading the SOAR Telescope Control System (TCS) to the same standard as the re-
cently upgraded TCS of the Blanco 4-m telescope in Q4 of FY15.
Status: Steady progress was made as planned during Q1 on this project, on which work began
in the last quarter of FY14. Both the main telescope control application and pointing kernel
were about 30% complete, while the operators interface was 20% complete at the end of Q1.
Work on the remaining component, the telemetry database, is not scheduled to start until Q3.
1.1.3 NOAO South Facilities Operations
Program Highlights
The NOAO South Facilities Operations (NS FO) group is responsible for operations, maintenance,
and long-term stewardship of the physical infrastructure shared by the facilities hosted by AURA
Observatory (AURA-O) in Chile. This includes support buildings, housing, and miscellaneous other
facilities in La Serena and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón.
NS FO started FY15 with the implementation of a Web-based system to record and invoice utili-
ties to AURA-O tenants. This system was developed by AURA-CAS, and tested during the last
quarter of FY14. As part of this improvement project, utility meters will be installed at all tenant fa-
cilities during FY15.
NOAO DIVISIONS
9
Status of FY15 Milestones
Improve the reliability of the electric power transmission infrastructure for both mountains by
installing contacts/connectors at the junction between the commercial power company and AURA
lines, at the bifurcation of the lines to Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón, and on each summit in
Q2 of FY15.
Status: This project was approved by the Advisory Committee, representing the AURA tenants,
as a contingency project, and will be carried out in the fourth quarter (Q4) of FY15 if funds are
available. In parallel, the option to rent the equipment from the electricity company CONAFE is
being explored.
Provide separate utility metering in Q3 of FY15 for all tenants on Cerro Tololo, and implement
a Web-based database for utility consumption to improve the accuracy of billing to users.
Status: The plans for placing additional electricity and water meters were developed and the
materials were ordered. The electricity meters will be installed during Q2, followed by the in-
stallation of the water meters. The Web-based database noted under Program Highlights above
was implemented and in full use as of the beginning of FY15.
Complete repairs to the roof of the La Serena office building in Q1 of FY15, addressing the roof
sections over the Engineering & Technical Services and SOAR offices.
Status: A formal quote for the repair of the roof of the La Serena office building, the section
over NS ETS offices, was received and approved. Actual repairs will start during Q2 of FY15.
Install a new heating and air conditioning system for the La Serena offices and laboratories in
Q2 of FY15.
Status: No progress during this period.
Remodel the La Serena machine shop in Q4 of FY15 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.
Status: No progress during this period.
Support the ramp-up in LSST construction activity on Cerro Pachón, incrementing the capabili-
ties of the Facilities Operations group as needed by the end of Q4 of FY15 in order to meet in-
creased demand for the group’s services and the need for more frequent road maintenance.
Status: No progress during this period.
1.1.4 NOAO South Computer Infrastructure Services
Program Highlights
The NOAO South Computer Infrastructure Services (NS CIS) group provides information technolo-
gy (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 microwave connection from the mountain to La Serena continued to perform solidly during
Q1 with better than 99% up time, most of the down time being due to a single failure. The reliability
NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2015 (1)
10
of the commercial link to the US has significantly improved following the implementation of two al-
ternate paths: one up the east coast and the other up the west coast of South America.
However, Q1 saw a significant increase in traffic, which is becoming a concern. During Q1, the
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) telescope began operation and already is
transmitting data at close to their full 100-Mbs allocation. The Brazilian telescope, T80, also is com-
plete and expected to begin generating similarly large volumes of data soon. This additional traffic,
on top of that from the older tenants, is beginning to saturate the capacity of the existing link from
Cerro Tololo to La Serena, which has had a perceptible impact on performance. In response, a
Ubiquity microwave link is being installed to increase the backbone bandwidth, with completion
scheduled for February 2015. The final bandwidth that can be achieved with this new system is un-
clear as Chilean telecommunication regulations force the reduction of the transmit power at the
5 Ghz range by 50% as compared to the US. Nevertheless, it is anticipated that this additional
bandwidth will cover the needs until installation of the new fiber-based network infrastructure that is
being funded by LSSTPO becomes operational during 2016.
Due to a sudden increase in the volume of international calls, NOAO South’s telecom provider
blocked all outgoing long-distance traffic in October. Considerable effort was expended in trying to
understand the nature and origin of this fraudulent traffic. It was eventually traced to an older Voice
over Internet Protocol (VoIP) device running an old version of the operating system (OS), which
permitted a security breach. As a result, all of the older units were replaced with new ones with the
upgraded OS. This appears to have solved the problem of fraudulent long-distance calls. Fortunate-
ly, the telecom company has been very cooperative, and NOAO South has incurred no unnecessary
bills.
During Q1, NS CIS staff worked with the CTIO DECam support staff and the developers of the
Survey Image System Process Integration (SISPI) software to define and execute a spares plan for
the DECam computer system to improve the ability to respond to machine or system failures. Sever-
al spare machines were purchased and configured so they can be used to quickly replace ANY fail-
ing element within the system of DECam computers. NS CIS also purchased components for and as-
sembled three new computers as part of the SOAR TCS upgrade project.
The final components required for implementation of the NOAO South mail server on virtual
machines were purchased and are ready for deployment in Q2.
Status of FY15 Milestones
Complete the installation of a 10-Gb network segment in La Serena for virtual machines. The
required transceivers will be purchased in Q1 of FY15 and installed in Q2 of FY15.
Status: There were some problems obtaining the correct cables, and there were compatibility
issues between the Brocade and the 10 Gb network interface cards. The correct cables were fi-
nally delivered in December, so that installation can proceed in Q2 as planned.
Establish by the end of FY15 separate, independent sub-networks for each of the tenant tele-
scopes on Cerro Tololo.
Status: This project made progress during Q1, but at a slower pace than planned. This was due
in part to the departure of a network engineer with the consequent delay while a replacement
was brought up to speed and obtained the experience and knowledge needed to carry out the
work. In addition, the arrival of several new tenants during the quarter meant that priority had
to be given to establishing new network connections rather than reconfiguring the existing ones.
NOAO DIVISIONS
11
Improve the wireless network in La Serena to enable visitors and staff to gain access in a more
consistent manner by installing a wireless local area network controller and captive portal with
802.1x in Q1 of FY15).
Status: A Cisco wireless LAN controller (WLC) device was purchased and installed. Enough
access points have been purchased to populate the La Serena offices. Implementation for Win-
dows users was held up because Microsoft omitted a standard protocol package in the Windows
8+ operating system, but implementation was completed for users of all other operating sys-
tems.
Purchase and install in Q1 of FY15 the Cisco Identity Services Engine to make the network
more secure from personal mobile devices.
Status: No progress during this period.
Establish a network connection in Q3 of FY15 from Cerro Tololo to the water tower in the San
Carlos valley to support remote monitoring of the pumping stations by the NOAO South Facili-
ties Operations staff.
Status: No progress during this period.
Transfer management responsibility for NS CIS from the current head of program to another
member of the group in Q1 of FY15 to allow the former to focus on support of the LSST net-
work and AURA network backbone.
Status: Execution of this personnel action was postponed to Q2 of FY15.
1.2 NOAO NORTH
The NOAO North (NN) division is responsible for
the administration, facilities, and information tech-
nology (IT) support for NOAO activities based in
southern Arizona. For program management pur-
poses, these activities are separated into the follow-
ing subprograms:
Kitt Peak National Observatory
NOAO North Engineering & Technical
Services
NOAO North Central Facilities Operations
NOAO North Computer Infrastructure Services
NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2015 (1)
12
1.2.1 Kitt Peak National Observatory
Program Highlights
Science
Early results from the first scheduled science observations with the new Kitt Peak Ohio State Multi-
Object Spectrograph (KOSMOS) were presented at the AAS meeting in Seattle in January 2015. Al-
ec Hirschauer and John Salzer of Indiana University used KOSMOS to study the faint end of the
Luminosity-Metallicity Relation for low-luminosity, star-forming dwarf galaxies. Using KOSMOS
spectra obtained in September 2014 on the Mayall 4-m telescope, Hirschauer and Salzer derived
metallicities for a dozen faint galaxies by measuring the oxygen abundance ([O III] 4363) of asso-
ciated point-like emission-line sources selected from the ALFALFA H survey. Sample KOSMOS
spectra for four of these so-called H “Dots” are shown in Figure 5. The inserts show the
[O III] 4363 line used to derive abundances.
Figure 5: Sample KOSMOS data from Mayall 4-m telescope for four Hα “dots” selected from the ALFALFA Hα survey. The “Dots” are point-like emission-line sources for which the oxygen abun-
dance ([O III] 4363) was measured. (Image credit: Alec Hirschauer and John Salzer, Indiana Uni-versity.)
NOAO DIVISIONS
13
In Figure 6, the R-band Luminosity-
Metallicity (L-Z) relation diagram is
shown for the H Dots (red), in compari-
son with L-Z for higher luminosity star
forming galaxies from the KPNO Interna-
tional Spectroscopic Survey (KISS)
(blue). The dashed line is fit to the KISS
data, while the solid line represents the
L-Z relation fit from Berg et al. (2012),
converted to R-band luminosities. The
new KOSMOS data, obtained as part of
Hirschauer’s PhD thesis, populates the
low-luminosity end of the L-Z relation
and provides an important contribution to
the understanding of dwarf galaxies.
Management
NOAO Astronomers and KPNO scientific
and technical personnel continued to pre-
pare for installation of the Dark Energy
Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) on the
Mayall 4-m telescope. These scientists
meet regularly to discuss the DESI pro-
ject. Installation planning is well advanced. The immediate focus is on preparing for the DESI Criti-
cal Decision 2 (CD-2), currently planned for late summer 2015. A pre-CD-2 review of the NOAO
work breakdown structure for DESI is being planned for sometime in the March–April timeframe
and will be held in Tucson.
A new joint initiative between NSF, NASA, and NOAO for exoplanet science (NN-EXPLORE)
at the WIYN 3.5-m telescope was announced in November. Two KPNO scientists and an engineer
are working with NASA on the Announcement of Opportunity for a high precision Doppler spec-
trometer, to be deployed at WIYN in 2018 and used to follow up transiting exoplanet systems dis-
covered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Starting in observing semester 2015B,
exoplanet researchers will have the opportunity to participate in a NASA-sponsored Guest Observer
program on WIYN, using existing instrumentation.
After an extensive nation-wide search, a new manager for the Kitt Peak Visitor Center was hired
and started in January. William “Bill” Buckingham has more than 25 years of experience at science
centers throughout the country. He will be attending the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) re-
treat in late January.
Kitt Peak Visitor Center
The table below summarizes the number of visitors who participated in paid groups/programs at Kitt
Peak during this quarter. Compared to the same period last year, there was an overall increase of
43% in total participants. Both general tours and the Nightly Observing Program saw significant in-
creases, while the number of visiting school groups was down. Both VIP tours and the Advanced
Observing Program were about the same as for the same period a year ago. The biggest increases
(over 200% each) came in the number of people attending the classes/workshops and general public
there were other follow-up activities related to the preschool student project of University Santo
Tomás and the “Sustainable Neighborhood” project with the Environmental Ministry.
In November 2014, the team participated in the creation of the Annual AURA Award for as-
tronomy education named after Padre Picetti, with the first award presented to Father Juan Bautista
Picetti in recognition of his more than 50 years of science education (see Figure 9). The award was
created by AURA in Chile to recognize the contributions of individuals or institutions to formal and
informal science education in Chile. AURA Head of Mission in Chile Chris Smith represented
AURA at the award presentation held at CTIO in La Serena.
The NOAO South EPO team traveled to Santiago in
November to participate in the International Fair of Tour-
ism. NOAO was invited by SERNATUR, the local gov-
ernment tourism authority.
In December 2014, the team participated in the third
version of the teacher’s seminar “Habla Educador,” orga-
nized by the Environmental and Education Ministries
with the support of CTIO and its partner CEAZA (the
Center for Advanced Studies in Arid Zones). In summary,
a total of 41 different educational events were performed
by the EPO South staff during the first quarter of FY15.
Media Releases
The AAS requested that NOAO participate in a press con-
ference at the January AAS meeting to talk about research
work done on the Blanco 4-m telescope at CTIO.
During this reporting period, NOAO had one press release:
Release No. NOAO 14-08, 18 December 2014: NOAO: “Compact Galaxy Groups Reveal
Details of Their Close Encounters,” http://www.noao.edu/news/2014/pr1408.php
Additional items were featured on the NOAO homepage, including the TMT dedication and the
2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for dark matter, for which a significant amount of
the science was done at the Blanco telescope at CTIO.
CTIO Visitor Center & Tours Summary of Participants
(3 months ending 12/31/14)
Group/Program # of Participants
CADIAS Center 602
CADIAS Outreach 2,392
Tololo Guided Tours 465
School Groups K-12 507
Special Tours 148
TOTAL 4,114
Figure 9: (Left panel: left to right) Stephen Pompea (head of EPO), Malcolm Smith (former head of AURA-O), Father Juan Bautista Picetti, Kadur Flores-Murillo (CTIO Visitors Center), and R. Chris Smith (head of AURA-O) after the awarding of the first AURA Picetti Education Prize to Padre Juan Picetti. (Right panel) Malcolm Smith (right) congratulates Padre Juan Picetti (left) for his dedication to astronomy education in Chile. (Images credit: D. Munizaga/NOAO/AURA/NSF.)