MAJOR SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTATION

APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES
FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS / GENERAL
TRUST / DONOR/SPONSOR DESIGNATED / GOV’T GRANTS
& CONTRACTS
FTE / $000 / FTE / $000 / FTE / $000 / FTE / $000
FY2004 ACTUAL / 0 / 4,624 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
FY2005 ESTIMATE / 0 / 3,944 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
FY2006 ESTIMATE / 0 / 3,944 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0

Strategic Goal: STRENGTHENED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective

Performance / FY2005 / FY2006 / Change
Objective / FTE / $000 / FTE / $000 / FTE / $000
Strengthened Scientific Research:
Conduct focused scientific research programs that are recognized nationally and internationally / 0 / 3,944 / 0 / 3,944 / 0 / 0
Total / 0 / 3,944 / 0 / 3,944 / 0 / 0

Background and Context

Smithsonian science is engaged in research and discovery focused on the origin and evolution of the universe, the formation and evolution of Earth and similar planets, the discovery and understanding of biological diversity, and the study of human diversity and cultural change. The fundamental role for federal appropriations is to provide the basic scientific infrastructure that enables staff to conduct research, compete for external grants and funding, publish in peer-reviewed journals, and inform the public about the latest scientific discoveries in an exciting and compelling manner.

To meet the goal of Strengthened Scientific Research, the Smithsonian has traditionally used its no-year funding from the Major Scientific Instrumentation (MSI) line item to develop large-scale instrumentation projects that enable scientists working at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) to remain at the forefront of astronomy and astrophysics. Currently funded through this line item are two SAO projects: the Submillimeter Telescope Array (SMA), located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the converted Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) at SAO’s Fred L. Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona. Because of the magnitude of the costs and the time required to fabricate major new instruments and to reconfigure existing ones, the Institution requests that funding for these projects be available until expended.

The Institution is not seeking additional programmatic funding for FY2006 for this line item.

Means and Strategy

Submillimeter Telescope Array

The SMA, a collaborative project of SAO and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan, is comprised of eight 20-foot-diameter antennas located on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, that function as one giant telescope. The SMA is now capable of combining the light from all eight of its telescopes simultaneously at two different frequencies and full bandwidth, simulating the resolving power of a much larger telescope. Notable among the results in FY2003 was the publication of the first paper in a refereed journal, which described the temporal variability of the radio source that surrounds the black hole in the center of our galaxy. Another focus of research has been the study of the distribution of molecular gas in nearby spiral galaxies. While optical images trace the stars in the galaxies, the SMA image highlights the molecular clouds where new stars are being born.

FY2006 base resources will be used to continue work on additional sets of receivers for the SMA, to enable us to move closer to completion of the complement of six sets per telescope. These receivers are necessary to allow observations with the SMA at key frequencies and to allow polarization measurements, both of which provide critical information on properties of the low-temperature universe. In addition, the resources will be used to incorporate two nearby telescopes, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) telescope, into the array, which will significantly enhance the sensitivity, resolution, and imaging speed of the array.

Converted MMT

The original MMT, a joint project of SAO and the University of Arizona dedicated in 1979, was composed of six identical 1.8-meter telescopes in a single altitude-azimuth (naval-gun type) mount. The original multiple-mirror design provided a state-of-the-art solution to the technological limitation in casting large mirrors at that time. Following advances in mirror-casting technology developed by the University of Arizona, SAO replaced the six smaller mirrors of the original MMT with a single mirror 6.5 meters in diameter in the 1990s, thus more than doubling the light-gathering capability and increasing its field of view some 400 times.

The full power of the converted MMT’s wide-field optics became available for scientific research in late FY2003. The first three new instruments were brought into operation at the MMT to use this power: Hectospec (a moderate-resolution optical spectrograph fed by 300 optical fibers), Hectochelle (a high-resolution optical spectrograph fed by Hectospec’s fibers), and Megacam (a powerful wide-field camera). Approximately 25,000 spectra of galaxies and stars were obtained with Hectospec and Hectochelle by the end of FY2004. The first scientific paper based on these data has been submitted for publication; others are in preparation. MMT observers have responded to the scientific opportunities these instruments provide by preparing a large number of exciting observing proposals.

FY2006 base resources will be used to continue the development of two key instruments for the converted MMT: Binospec and MMT-Magellan Infrared Spectrometer (MMIRS). Binospec is a wide-field optical spectrograph that will allow scientists to study how galaxies have evolved over 75 percent of the universe’s lifetime. MMIRS is a powerful infrared camera and spectrograph that will allow scientists to penetrate the obscuring dust that veils star-forming regions in our own galaxy and distant galaxies. Understanding how stars form throughout time and space is a main goal of modern astrophysics, which is the key to understanding our origins.

Strategic Goals and FY2006 Annual Performance Goals

Strengthened Scientific Research

Conduct focused scientific research programs that are recognized nationally and internationally ($3,944,000)

Theme: The Origin and Nature of the Universe

·  For SAO’s SMA, the performance will be pushed to 0.35mm (900 GHz), the very edge of the atmospheric window accessible from the ground. This will provide exquisite spatial resolution for the first time at this wavelength, an improvement by up to a factor of a thousand over existing instruments. The SMA will be used to examine forming planets in nearby stellar systems, biologically important organic molecules in the atmospheres of planets and moons in our own solar system, such as Saturn and Titan, and also the earliest generations of galaxies

·  For SAO’s MMT, construction of Binospec, the two-channel–imaging, faint object spectrograph for the 6.5-m MMT, will commence. Binospec will be a powerful tool for attacking several of the fundamental questions in astrophysics and physics, including the nature of Dark Energy through observations of high-redshift supernovae, the formation of the chemical elements by tracing their evolution from early stars and galaxies, and the evolution of galaxies over 75 percent of the universe’s lifetime.

·  For SAO’s MMT, design of MMIRS will be completed achieving a level sufficient to conduct the Critical Design Review. MMIRS is a wide-field, near-infrared imager and multiobject spectrograph that will allow scientists to probe deeply into regions of star and planet formation in the Milky Way, nearby galaxies, and distant galaxies to study the formation of stars throughout space and time.

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