NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

Quarterly Report (3) FY 2006 April 1 – June 30, 2006

Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Scientific Program Order No. 1, Article 5-C

Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0132798, Article VI

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

The "Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education" program, now in its 11th year at NOAO, brought 16 high school teachers from around the country to Kitt Peak to observe. They learned to operate instruments on the 2.1M, the coude feed, the solar telescope and the WIYN 0.9M, and will return to their classes with data and projects generated during their 12 day workshop.

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Submitted to the National Science Foundation

Pursuant to Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0132798 July 14, 2006

CONTENTS

1 PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH (PAEO) Media and Public Information.......................................................................................1 Public Outreach................................................................................................................2 Educational Outreach......................................................................................................3 Other Educational Outreach Activities.........................................................................6

2 TUCSON AND KITT PEAK SITE SAFETY REPORT OSHA Recordable Occupational Injuries and Illnesses .............................................8 Safety and Health .............................................................................................................8 Fire Protection and Prevention......................................................................................9 Environmental..................................................................................................................9 Insurance.........................................................................................................................10 Security............................................................................................................................10

Quarterly updates on scientific, operational, and programmatic activities, including telescope subscription rates, are published separately in the quarterly NOAO Newsletter (See: http://www.noao.edu/news_rep.html )

NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY QUARTERLY REPORT (3) FY 2006

(April 1, 2006 – June 30, 2006)

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1 PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH (PAEO)

Media and Public Information

• NOAO and Gemini jointly prepared a press release and related visuals for two speakers at a June 5 press briefing in Calgary at the 208th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Knut Olsen of NOAO and Tim Davidge of Canada’s Herzberg Institute for Astrophysics presented findings on stars at the core and central region of M31 that took advantage of Gemini’s high spatial resolution and adaptive optics capabilities. The news was covered by Space.com and NewScientist.com.

• The NOAO exhibit booth at the June 2006 AAS meeting consisted of colorful posters on the latest news from the NOAO Gemini Science Center, the CTIO Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, and the critical impact of NOAO observing time on successful astronomy and physics graduate student theses over the past decade.

• An image of cometary globule CG4 from the Blanco 4-meter telescope by Travis Rector and Tim Abbott was turned into a handout postcard with text in English and Spanish.

• A new quarterly electronic newsletter on the Thirty Meter Telescope project, edited and designed by NOAO public affairs (D. Isbell and M. Newhouse), debuted in late June. A press release drafted by NOAO regarding the positive outcome of the TMT Conceptual Design Review was covered by Le Figaro, El Mercurio, the Pasadena Star-News, and Physics World.

• University of Arizona/NASA Space Grant Intern Shiva Kiani completed her work with PAEO on materials and plans for the 50th anniversary of Kitt Peak in 2008 with a presentation of a poster on the Mayall telescope and an audio podcast interview about it at the annual Space Grant conference.

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Press Releases Issued Last Quarter

• “Gemini Probes the Center of Andromeda Galaxy with Unprecedented Clarity”

• “Thirty Meter Telescope Passes Conceptual Design Review”

• “Cerro Pachón Chosen for LSST”

• “GLOBE at Night Reaches More Than 18,000 Participants on Six Continents”

Public Outreach

• A third site for the Kitt Peak Nightly Observing program was established this quarter with the debut of a new 16-inch telescope in the refurbished Roll-Off Roof building near the Burrell Schmidt telescope.

• Meanwhile, three new solar refractors donated by Meade/Coronado Telescopes (a 70-mm Calcium-K telescope and 60-mm H-alpha telescope for live images on the Web, and a 90-mm H-alpha telescope for eyepiece viewing by the public to be led by a docent) were installed in the old Razdow dome as part of efforts to expand sky-viewing opportunities for daytime visitors at Kitt Peak.

• Staff participated in the Elderhostel program for two days through the University of Arizona, involving a classroom presentation and a tour of Kitt Peak.

• A successful program highlighting the opposition of Jupiter was conducted at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center on May 20. A presentation was given by Dr. Adam Showman of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory/University of Arizona.

• The Stars and Music program, featuring members of the Tucson Girls Chorus, drew a crowd of approximately 40 to Kitt Peak on June 3 for an hour of music and an hour of star gazing through small telescopes in the picnic area.

Public Affairs and Educational Outreach Information Requests & Inquiries

(3 months ending 7/31/06)

Type/Origin of Request Number

Information requests/inquiries about astronomy/science (phone calls, e-mails, and walk-ins/requests for posters, bookmarks, brochures, etc.

750

Requests and inquiries for use of NOAO images

350

Total 1,100

PAEO Kitt Peak Visitor Center

Summary of Visitors (3 months ending 7/31/06)

Group/Program # of Visitors

General public tours 2,485

School groups K-12 316

Special tours 34

Nightly Obs. Program 1,962

Advanced Obs. Program 74

Total Visitors 4,871

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• Kitt Peak hosted the 2006 Laurel Clark Earth Camp, a collaboration of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and the University of Arizona’s College of Science, on June 16 for a tour of the observatory and participation in the Nightly Observing Program.

• Staff attended the Pima County Educator Fair on June 21 to promote NOAO’s educational resources.

• Staff conducted an astronomy day camp in conjunction with the Arizona Youth University for 14 students from grades 7-10, who enjoyed hands on activities and the Nightly Observing Program at Kitt Peak.

• A new historical display was installed in the Kitt Peak 2.1-meter telescope public lobby depicting the construction of the facility in the early 1960s.

Public Outreach Department Receives an Award

• The NOAO Public Outreach department was recently given an award for its outreach efforts on Kitt Peak. This award, dubbed the “Outreach Oscars,” was given by the Astronomy Outreach Network in appreciation for the high quality public programs offered on Kitt Peak. Thanks go out to department manager, Rich Fedele and all the staff on the mountain that make the program shine! The award will be displayed in the Kitt Peak Visitor Center.

Educational Outreach

Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education (TLRBSE)

• The TLRBSE program for 2006 concluded its on-line course in April. Sixteen teachers have completed a semester of work covering both astronomy content and mentoring of junior teachers and have begun their directed research projects in one of four different areas: solar physics, variable star spectra, novae searches in M31 and identification of AGN’s from spectroscopy. Their summer workshop from June 15-26 included 4 nights on Kitt Peak. While in Tucson, they heard talks covering the different research projects, explored issues related to mentoring and leadership, and visited the UA Mirror Lab and Flandrau planetarium.

• The Web site for TLRBSE has been revised and now includes much of the background material, as well as the data, necessary for teachers and their students to begin an astronomy research project. Currently the site includes both the novae project and the variable star spectroscopy project, but the other projects, and a new one on open cluster color magnitude diagrams, are

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expected to be on line by the beginning of the new school year (see www.noao.edu/outreach/tlrbse/research.html).

• Steven Pompea, Connie Walker and Katy Garmany of the PAEO TLRBSE staff attended the Nation Science Teacher’s Association meeting April 5-8 in Anaheim, California, and met with the 2005 TLRBSE cadre teachers and their learning colleagues. There were also five TLRBSE related sessions at the meeting, attended by 30-40 people: Blazing Sunspots - Their Lives and Times: A Solar Research Activity (Presenters: Jeff Lockwood, Pompea, Walker), Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education: Teachers’ Astronomy Workshop at Kitt Peak National Observatory (Garmany); Telling It Like It Is: Teachers Sharing Astronomy Research Experiences From the Classroom (Lockwood, Pompea, Travis Rector); Using Astronomical Images and Data in the Classroom: Teacher Success Stories (Garmany, and TLRBSE teachers Jeff Adkins and Chris Martin); and, Teachers, Students, and the Spitzer Space Telescope (Pompea and three TLRBSE/Spitzer teachers).

• The Astronomical Society of the Pacific awarded its annual Thomas J. Brennan Award, for excellence in the teaching of astronomy in grades 9-12 to Thomas Morin of Belmont High School in Belmont, New Hampshire, who is a TLRBSE teacher from 2003.

Astronomy from the Ground Up (AFGU)

• Twenty-two outreach staff members from the western United States were hosted by NOAO and Kitt Peak from April 19-21 as attendees of the first face-to-face workshop for the “Astronomy from the Ground Up” (AFGU) project. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) is partnered with NOAO and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) in this NSF-funded informal science education project.

• The three major themes of the workshop were “How Big? How Far?” “Change in the Universe,” and “Light and Color.” Participants received kits in each theme area to assist in the implementation of activities. The participants will work together for the next few years to form a community of practice, thus sharing ideas, techniques, activities, and event plans.

• The workshop featured time on Kitt Peak, where participants received a broad variety of hands-on experiences. These included training in binoculars and solar projection (led by ASP President Dennis Schatz of the Pacific Science Center) and optics education information from the NOAO-SPIE-OSA “Hands-On Optics” program (presented by Connie Walker and Rob Sparks of NOAO educational outreach). The AFGU experience also included tours of the major telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory, and use of the 20-inch telescope at the Visitor Center Observatory to star gaze at night.

• "I found the workshop to be extremely beneficial," said Teri Eastburn, public education coordinator at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. "It provided a wealth of ideas and materials for me to share with astronomy teachers, students, and NCAR visitors in general, immediately."

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Project ASTRO/Family ASTRO/ASTRO Chile

• A special student-to-student ASTRO-Chile videoconference between NOAO North and South in Tucson and La Serena was held on 12 May 2006. The videoconference was a two-way exchange on the results of a prototype project that uses comparative remote-sensing data of the geographical region occupied by each city as a tool for a bilingual (mostly Spanish!) science education.

• A half-dozen schools with about 200 students in Chile participated over the months of February, March and April. About 50 of those students attended from the AURA-Gemini conference room in La Serena on May 12. There have been five teachers with almost as many students in Tucson. Twenty-six students attended the videoconference in the Tucson main conference room, with all but one of their five presentations given in Spanish.

• The remote sensing activity allowed students to become acquainted with the geography and geology of their own areas by viewing and analyzing maps of the city from Landsat satellites. After becoming comfortable with the general activity, the Tucson students analyzed an image of La Serena and the students from Chile analyzed an image of Tucson. This creative activity was designed by NOAO astronomer and instrument engineer Ron Probst, with guidance and testing led by Connie Walker and Hugo Ochoa in PAEO.

Hands-On Optics (HOO)

• Hands-On Optics (an NSF sponsored project with NOAO, SPIE, and the Optical Society of America as partners) continued with testing of Module 5 with 70 students at Valencia Middle School in Tucson and an invited talk at the regional meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers in Flagstaff. In addition, the program was expanded at NOAO initiative with production and distribution of mini-HOO kits to the attendees at the first “Astronomy from the Ground Up” workshop [see above], and new venues for local HOO activity at the Boys & Girls Club of South Tucson and the Tohono O’odham Nation’s new club in Sells.

• Efforts to find a vendor for the long-term production of the HOO kits developed at NOAO neared a resolution, with negotiations proceeding well with the leading responder to an earlier Request for Proposal. If completed successfully, kits for Modules 4-6 will be produced late this summer by the vendor for distribution in the fall to teachers and

NOAO educational outreach staff conducted several informal science education activities from the NOAO-SPIE-OSA Hands-On Optics program at the new Boys & Girls Club in Sells, AZ (on the Tohono O'odham reservation) during June and July 2006.

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science center educators in California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, and Maryland.

Other Educational Outreach Activities

GLOBE at Night

• More than 18,000 citizen-scientists in 96 countries submitted 4,591 observations of the darkness of their local night skies during the 10-day GLOBE at Night event in March 2006. PAEO staff presented a poster on these impressive results of the GLOBE at Night program at the June 2006 AAS meeting.

• GLOBE at Night is a collaboration between The GLOBE Program, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, Arizona, Centro de Apoyo a la Didactica de la Astronomia (CADIAS) in Chile funded partly by NOAO and Gemini, Windows to the Universe, and Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI). A special thanks goes to Connie Walker and Steve Pompea.

LSST

• On May 6, a group of five teachers and a Tucson Unified School District science administrator met on Kitt Peak for a night of searching for asteroids as part of a project being developed in

A map of GLOBE at Night observations reported by the general public in North America; the lighter the dot, the brighter the observed local night sky.

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support of the LSST educational outreach effort. Three members of the PAEO staff and two members of the Kitt Peak Nightly Observing Program docent staff organized and led the evening. The teachers were given a short presentation about the program and introduced to some techniques for imaging asteroids. They then used the 16-inch telescope in the new Roll-Off Roof facility to take some images of asteroids and go through the first stages of data analysis. The teachers will be participating in the testing of the associated new curricular material this fall.

Investigating Astronomy

• Steven Croft and Steve Pompea completed an in-depth internal critique of the first three draft modules of the “Investigating Astronomy” high school astronomy curriculum, an NSF instructional materials development project led by TERC with NOAO and the ASP.

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2 TUCSON AND KITT PEAK SITE SAFETY REPORT

OSHA Recordable Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

• A Kitt Peak employee was involved in a minor traffic accident with the Sells shuttle vehicle and a third party while traveling down highway 386. No injuries occurred and information has been submitted to the insurance company.

• Kitt Peak Emergency Medical Technicians responded to three separate medical incidents this June; all were non-work related. All persons were treated at St Mary’s Hospital and released.

• A Kitt Peak employee suffered an electrical shock while operating the control paddle for the 4-m mirror lift on June 19. The employee resumed work after the shock. It was found that the cable was defective and it was replaced.

Safety and Health

• PAEO’s Jack Kennedy EMT has been conducting First Aid, CPR, and AED classes this quarter in Tucson. To date, forty-one Tucson employees have completed the class.

• CFO’s Olando Gary and Chuck Gessner helped the GONG technicians with electrical wiring and grounding code compliance for the two shelter structures that were built at the Tucson GONG farm. The spare shelter has been modified, and GONG technicians modified the Learmonth shelter after it arrived in Australia.

• All GONG shelters were fitted with new portable first aid kits. Each kit has an inventory checklist that will be used by the technicians during visits. Members of the GONG staff have been charge with determining the types of local medical services that are available, the local procedures for obtaining those services, and documenting the information.

• Fire code recommendations were provided to CAS staff related to window covering. Fabric window covering must meet strict National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) classifications, and most blind and drapery manufacturers do not have this classification.

• NSO-FTS staff were consulted on the proper methods for handling and disposing of unwanted chemicals and proper procedures for the application of floor painting.

• A draft document was completed that addresses Pandemic Flu strategies for AURA and NOAO at the request of George Curran.

• A workstation ergonomics assessment was completed for a Tucson employee.

• Jim Phillips completed the Asbestos Annual Operations and Maintenance Refresher course on April 25.

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• Jack Kennedy and Hal Halbedel completed the Arizona Department of Health Services 24 hour EMT Basic Refresher Training Program this quarter.

• Fred Wortman completed his Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Grade 1 Water Treatment Plant Operator and Water Distribution System Operator certification.

• Dawn Clemons completed her Asbestos Contractor/Supervisor Refresher certification.

• Chuck Gessner was the proud recipient of the 2006 AURA-NOAO service award presented to him by Dr. William Smith and Dr. Jeremy Mould at the June 1 Observatories Council meeting.

• A Risk Management Report was presented to the Management Committee on June 28. Topics included a decrease in OSHA reportable events, NOAO-NSO Contingency Planning, ATST Hazardous Materials Management Plan and other risk management activities.

• A risk management review was done and comments were given on the proposed NOAO Cyber Security Policy second revision draft.

• Chuck Gessner helped Tucson CFO with safety, engineering, and management concerns related to a contractor charged with painting the 4-m louvers.

• A study was made to determine oxygen levels during the manual carbon dioxide mirror cleaning at Kitt Peak. Results of the tests show that there is little or no reduction in oxygen during this procedure.

• Risk Management comments were made for the design of the LSST mirror cleaning area.

Fire Protection and Prevention

• Fire sprinkler systems were inspected in Tucson in April.

• Kitt Peak fire alarm systems were inspected in June.

Environmental

• A draft Hazardous Material Management Program for ATST was prepared at the request of Jeff Barr and Charlie Fein at KCE, to provide more detail for the EIS on what procedures ATST expects to implement on this issue.

• Hazardous materials stored in the Tucson service yard were inventoried for removal in July.

• 144 fluorescent light bulbs were recycled this quarter.

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Insurance

• The 2006-2007 AURA insurance renewal kick off meeting was held on June 16 with George Curran, Marsh representatives, and Chuck Gessner in attendance.

• During the quarter, advisement was provided for property insurance for STScI, liability related to a visiting astronomers at Kitt Peak, liability insurance for a NSO and NCAR jointly owned camera, travel insurance coverage for Gemini and STScI NOAO private car liability, workers compensation questions at STScI, employer’s liability coverage for STScI, D and O coverage, LSST insurance premiums, LSST certificates of insurance and others. Most of these topics will be included in the Insurance Frequently Asked Questions document that will be made available in the future. To date, there are twenty-six case scenarios.

Security

• A new alarm code for the La Quinta building security alarm system was programmed.