Winter Solstice 2004

Transcription

Winter Solstice 2004
Solstice d'hiver 2004 Winter Solstice
A publication of CASCA
Une publication de la Casca
Special Issue
Celebrating 25
years of Science
at CFHT
Potential
Astronomical
Sites in the
Canadian Arctic
Events at NRC's
HIA (2004 Sept.Dec.) / Du neuf à
l'IHA du CNRC
(sept.-déc. 2004)
Legacy Survey
Plans for the
JCMT
Towards a
National Science
Data Archive
Gemini News
An ALMA Update
Reports
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NO. 123
ISSN 0715-474
TOC
On the
Cover
A montage of stunning CFHT
images. For more images visit
the CFHT web site at this link.
(return to front cover)
CASCA
Soap Box
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Features
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From the Editor
From the President
The Scientific Impact of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope by
Dennis Crabtree (NRC-HIA) and Liz Bryson (CFHT)
QSO imaging with the CFHT by John Hutchings, HIA
« The seeing at the CFHT is very good. » by René Racine
25 years of spectacular discoveries with the CFHT coudé
spectrographs - it was all in the detail by Gordon A.H. Walker
Towards a National Science Data Archive by Elizabeth Griffin and
David Schade
Reports
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CTAC report for Gemini & CFHT for semester 2005a / Rapport du
CATC de Gémini & TCFH pour le semestre 2005a
JCMT CTAG Semester Report 2005a / Rapport Semestriel du
GATC du TJCM 2005a
Coalition for Canadian Astronomy - Report on Recent Activities by
Gretchen Harris
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TOC
News
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An Alma Update by Chris Wilson
Events at NRC's HIA (2004 Sept.-Dec.) / Du neuf à l'IHA du CNRC
(sept.-déc. 2004) by Jacques P. Vallée
Potential Astronomical Sites in the Canadian Arctic by Ray
Carlberg
Gemini Observatory Update/Mise à jour sur l’observatoire Gemini
by Dennis Crabtree
Legacy Survey Plans for the JCMT by Doug Johnstone
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LOT/TMT secures first C$10M by Ray Carlberg
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Briefly
Noted
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2005 Whistler Workshop on Planetary Sciences
June 5-10, 2005 by Doug Johnstone
In the
Classroom
get PDF version of this issue
go to past issues of E-Cassiopeia...
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Soap Box
E-Cass Soap Box
From the editor
President's report
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editor's note
A special Christmas Season thanks to all of the many
contributors to the Winter Solstice 2004 issue of E-Cassiopeia! I
received a generous response from many of you. It is also a
pleasure to devote the current issue to a reflection on 25 years
of science done at CFHT. The articles provide insights into not
only the importance of the work done at CFHT but also remind
us of the science that remains to be done at this great site.
So, as the term comes to an end and, hopefully you find a
chance to relax with family and friends take a few moments to
sip and eggnog (or nogg of your choice!) and peruse the Winter
Solstice issue of E-Cass.
Merry Christmas!
Brian Martin ([email protected])
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President's Report
From the President ...
As the Winter Solstice approaches, the
English-language version of the Mid-Term
Review Committee (MTRC) Report has
appeared on the CASCA Web site, where
it will be joined by the French-language
version once it is translated and readied for
printing. I encourage all CASCA members
to read with care this Report, which
documents accomplishments to date
towards implementing the Long Range
Plan (LRP). We owe Ernie Seaquist,
Chairman, and his committee - Hugh
Couchman, Gretchen Harris, Vicki Kaspi,
George Mitchell, and Harvey Richer - deep
gratitude for their Report, whose potential
impact on our collective futures cannot be
underestimated. CASCA is grateful to
Greg Fahlman (NRC-HIA) and Kate Wilson
(NSERC) for their critical financial support
of our MTR initiative.
The MTRC’s careful analysis is already
guiding the Coalition for Canadian
Astronomy in their quest for the funding
required to complete the next seven years
of LRP activities. As reported elsewhere in
this issue, the Coalition, led by Co-chairs
Gretchen Harris (CASCA), Pekka Sinervo
(ACURA) and Michael Joliffe (AMEC), held
a series of meetings in November and
December with decision makers in Ottawa,
with more to come in the New Year. The
Coalition will soon be approaching
individual CASCA members to secure the
support of your MPs for their campaign.
At the Board’s 4 December meeting in
Toronto we reviewed Society activities
Le solstice d’hiver approchant, la version
anglaise du rapport du Comité d’examen
mi-mandat (CEMM) a été affiché sur le site
Web de la Société canadienne
d’astronomie (CASCA), où l’on y publiera
la version française une fois qu’elle aura
été traduite et préparée pour l’impression.
J’encourage tous les membres de la
CASCA à lire soigneusement ce rapport,
qui documente les progrès faits jusqu’à
présent dans la mise en oeuvre du plan à
long terme (PLT). Nous sommes très
reconnaissants envers Ernie Seaquist,
président, et son comité - Hugh
Couchman, Gretchen Harris, Vicki Kaspi,
George Mitchell, et Harvey Richer – pour
leur rapport, dont l’impact potentiel sur
notre avenir collectif ne peut être sousestimé. La CASCA est reconnaissante
envers Greg Fahlman (IHA-CNRC) et Kate
Wilson (CRSNG) pour leur soutien
financier crucial de notre initiative à l’égard
du rapport mi-mandat.
L’analyse très soignée du CEMM sert déjà
de guide pour la Coalition pour
l’astronomie au Canada dans sa recherche
du financement nécessaire pour compléter
les activités du PLT pendant les sept
prochaines années. Comme on le
mentionne ailleurs dans ce numéro, la
Coalition, dirigée par Gretchen Harris
(CASCA), Pekka Sinervo (ACURA) et
Michael Joliffe (AMEC), avait organisé une
série de réunions en novembre et
décembre avec des décideurs à Ottawa, et
d’autres réunions auront lieu dans la
nouvelle année. La Coalition s’adressera
prochainement aux membres individuels
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President's Report
since Winnipeg. We heard of the exciting
plans for CASCA 2005 in Montreal, which
promises to be a rich meeting, both
scientifically and culturally. We held indepth discussions with Ernie about the
MTRC’s Report, its publication and its
implementation. As well, we explored with
John Percy how to sustain financially the
strong initiatives of the Education and
Outreach Committee, whose grant funding
expires towards the end of 2005.
Indeed, throughout much of our December
meeting, discussion focused on the
increasing pressure arising from
meritorious CASCA activities on our
modest finances. Supporting the Coalition
and MTRC activities is placing significant
demands on CASCA reserves. The value
of our prizes and awards is being eroded
by inflation. The workload in our office has
increased to the point where the Board
decided to compensate Roslyn Hanes for
the hours she actually works on our behalf
(closer to 0.4 FTE than the 0.2 FTE in her
contract) to prepare the Directory, improve
and update our Web site, collect dues and
chase down those of us who are tardy in
paying them, etc. We anticipate
presenting a case to the membership next
Spring for a dues increase that more
accurately reflects current realities.
In response to comments from members,
the Board is making efforts to facilitate the
rotation of members into Society positions
by developing written duties, expectations
and procedures. To that end we have
been for some time documenting the tasks
of the Board positions, and are initiating an
effort with our committees to capture brief,
clear terms of reference supplemented by
a summary of the mechanics of each
de la CASCA pour obtenir l’appui de leur
campagne par votre député fédéral.
Nous avons examiné les activités de la
Société depuis Winnipeg lors de la réunion
du Conseil le 4 décembre dernier, à
Toronto. Nous avons pris connaissance de
plans excitants pour CASCA 2005, à
Montréal, une réunion qui promet d’être
enrichissante, tant sur le plan scientifique
que sur le plan culturel. Nous avons
discuté en profondeur du rapport du
CEMM, sa publication et sa mise en œuvre
avec Ernie. De plus, nous avons discuté,
avec John Percy, des façons de soutenir
financièrement les bonnes initiatives du
Comité d’éducation et de diffusion, dont les
subventions prennent fin vers la fin de
2005.
Pendant une grande partie de notre
réunion de décembre, les discussions
portaient principalement sur la pression
grandissante que nos activités méritoires
de la CASCA ont sur nos finances
modestes. Le soutien de la Coalition et des
activités du CEMM demande beaucoup de
réserves de la CASCA. La valeur de nos
prix et récompenses est érodée par
l’inflation. La charge de travail dans notre
bureau a augmenté au point où le Conseil
a décidé de rémunérer Roslyn Hanes pour
les heures qu’elle travaille pour nous (plus
près de 0,4 temps plein, que de 0,2 temps
plein, comme le mentionne son contrat)
pour préparer le répertoire, améliorer et
mettre à jour notre site Web, percevoir les
droits et courir après ceux de nous qui les
remettent en retard, etc. Nous prévoyons
demander aux membres au printemps
d’imposer une augmentation des droits qui
reflète mieux les réalités que nous vivons.
President's Report
committee’s operation.
We also began exploring whether the time
might be right to consider some evolution
of our operations. The LRP’s success
arises from its clear focus on the
complementary observational and
theoretical tools required to answer
fundamental science questions, while
some of our committee structures and
activities tend to be wavelength and/or
technique orientated. Is CASCA’s basic
committee structure appropriate to future
needs? (Indeed, does the community
require all the committees we have when
those associated with CSA, NRC, NSERC,
and our international facilities are
included?) Is it perhaps time to rethink our
organization in anticipation of the next LRP
launch in late 2008? We are encouraging
our committees to consider such
questions, and invite your thoughts, as
well.
With best wishes to you and your families
for the holidays and in 2005!
Pour répondre aux commentaires de
certains membres, le Conseil tente de
faciliter la rotation des membres dans les
postes de la Société en élaborant des
tâches, des attentes et des méthodes
écrites pour les postes. À cette fin, nous
documentons depuis un certain temps les
tâches rattachées aux postes du Conseil,
et nous avons mis sur pied un projet, en
collaboration avec nos comités, pour saisir
un cadre de référence court et clair, ainsi
qu’un résumé de la dynamique du
fonctionnement de chacun des comités.
Nous avons également commencé à
étudier la possibilité de modifier nos
opérations. Notre plan à long terme réussit
parce qu’il se concentre clairement sur les
outils d’observation et les outils théoriques
complémentaires nécessaires pour
répondre à des questions scientifiques
fondamentales, tandis que quelques-unes
des structures et activités des comités ont
tendance à porter sur les longueurs
d’ondes et les techniques. La structure de
base des comités de la CASCA répondelle à ses besoins futurs? (La communauté
a-t-elle besoin de tous nos comités quand
ceux liés à la ASC, au CNRC, au CRSNG
et à nos installations internationales sont
inclus?) Est-ce le temps de repenser notre
organisation en fonction du lancement du
prochain PLT vers la fin de 2008? Nous
encourageons nos comités à examiner ces
questions, et nous vous invitons d’ailleurs
à nous faire part de vos idées à leur sujet.
J’aimerais profiter de cette occasion pour
souhaiter de joyeuses fêtes à vous et à
vos familles.
President's Report
Jim Hesser
features
Feature Articles
The Scientific Impact of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope by Dennis Crabtree (NRC-HIA)
and Liz Bryson (CFHT)
QSO imaging with the CFHT by John Hutchings, HIA
« The seeing at the CFHT is very good. » by René Racine
25 years of spectacular discoveries with the CFHT coudé spectrographs - it was all in the detail
by Gordon A.H. Walker
Towards a National Science Data Archive by Elizabeth Griffin and David Schade
file:///C|/kings/public_html/astro/ecass/issues/2004-ws/features/feature.html [12/21/2004 10:03:40 PM]
The Scientific Impact of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
The Scientific Impact of the Canada-FranceHawaii Telescope
Dennis Crabtree (NRC-HIA) and Liz Bryson (CFHT)
Introduction
The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope has had a tremendous positive effect on the Canadian
astronomical community since its inception 25 years ago. The telescope has also had a
remarkable scientific impact over these past 25 years. These two ‘impacts’ are of course
linked. In this article we will summarize the productivity and impact of the CFHT as measured
by paper and citation counts.
First, a few words about the use of citations as a measure of scientific impact. Citations are a
measure of the relevance of a particular paper and not necessarily a measure of the quality of
that paper. Citations are not a perfect measure of impact but they are the best quantitative
measure that is available. Measuring the scientific impact of major facilities, or of a whole
nation, is very important. The stature of Canadian astronomy was documented in the Long
Range Plan for Astronomy in part by the use of bibliometric studies, i.e., the use of citations.
Methodology
One of us (Liz) tracks the publications based upon CFHT data. Papers are identified from many
sources such the paper’s authors, scanning the journals and observing proposals. To be
included as a “CFHT” paper the following criterion must be met:
“A paper must include results based on observational data obtained at
CFHT or based on archival data retrieved from the CFHT archive."
The bibliographic information is loaded into a Microsoft Access database. This database also
stores publication data for several other major telescopes. We use the NASA Astrophysical
Data System (ADS) for several aspects of this work. Once the papers are in the database
custom software within the database accesses the ADS to:
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Verify the bibliographic information
Retrieve the full author list and complete title
Retrieve the number of citations
Data from the publication database is retrieved into Excel for further analysis. Further details
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can be found in Crabtree and Bryson (2001).
In this paper we will use the terms productivity and impact. Productivity is measured by the
number of papers while impact is measured by the number of citations. Comparing the impact
of papers of different ages is difficult as the citations count for a paper naturally increases as it
ages. We use a metric we call RelativeToAJ to avoid this problem. RelativeToAJ is the ratio
of the number of citations for a paper to the average citations per paper published in AJ for the
same year. Thus the impact of a paper with a RelativeToAJ index of 1.0 is equal to that of the
average AJ paper of the same year.
Twenty-Five Years of CFHT Papers
The very first CFHT paper was published by Sidney van den Bergh in 1980 (van den Bergh
1980). The paper consisted of one paragraph and one ‘Plate’. The abstract: “A 3.6-m plate
taken in excellent seeing shows that NGC 3928 is not an E0 or S0 galaxy but a miniature spiral
galaxy”; foreshadows what was to one of CFHT’s greatest strengths – it’s image quality. This
paper has received 16 citations, the most recent in 2003, and for the curious it is only the last
citation that is a self citation.
Here are a few interesting pieces of trivia about certain CFHT papers:
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In one ApJ paper an (over-)eager editor changed the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
to the California-France-Hawaii Telescope in the abstract (Davidge and Harris 1985)
The “shortest title award” goes to Stevenson, McCall and Welch (1993) with a title of only
4 characters (Ar/S – be careful how you pronounce that).. Interestingly this equals the
number of citations to the paper.
The “longest title award” goes to Emsellem et al. (1994) with a title of 195 characters,
almost as long as the complete first paper by van den Bergh.
The “largest number of authors” award goes to Foing et al. (1994) with a staggering 21
authors.
The average number of authors on a CFHT paper is now 6, up from about 3 in the early
1980s.
A somewhat sobering piece of information for those operating new telescopes is that it took
CFHT 10 years to reach a steady plateau in terms of paper production (see figure below). From
this chart it appears as if CFHT’s “Golden Years” were from 1990 – 2000 when the paper
production was over 60 papers per year.
In fact, this 10-year timescale may be quite normal for the productivity of telescopes to develop.
This is shown in the following graph which shows the number of papers per telescope a
function of age for CFHT, Keck, the VLT, Gemini, Subaru and VLA.
In terms of personal productivity two individuals stand well above other CFHT authors. For
many years John Hutchings was CFHT’s most prolific author. He has now slipped to second
place behind Tim Davidge. Tim has 44 first author papers based on CFHT data with John close
behind at 43. Jean-Luc Nieto is third with 16 papers while Anne Boesgaard, David Crampton,
John Kormendy, Olivier Le Fevre, and Harvey Richer all have 14 CFHT papers.
We have also looked at the productivity of CFHT instruments. Identifying the instrument(s) used
in CFHT papers is a daunting task. We identified over 50 different instruments, or instrument
types (e.g. speckle), that have been used at CFHT. The most productive instrument has been
direct CCD imaging with contributions to 270 papers. Note this does not include papers using
HRCam, UH8K or CFH12K as we identified as unique instruments. The second most
productive instrument has been the original coude spectrograph CF8. A graph showing the
productivity of the top instruments is shown below.
It is interesting that “Plates” (direct imaging with photographic plates) is the 4th most productive
instrument even though the last paper using plate material was published in 1995 (yes that
late!)
CFHT’s Scientific Impact
What has been CFHT’s scientific impact over the past 25 years? CFHT’s total impact, as
measured by RelativeToAJ is shown as a function of year in the figure below. The total impact
is the sum of the impact factors for all papers published in a given year. CFHT’s total impact
more or less rose steadily to a peak in the mid-1990s and has been declining since then. Recall
that RelativeToAJ is a measure of impact that is independent of the age of the papers included.
If we look at the impact per paper as shown in the following figure we see that the average
impact of a CFHT paper has averaged slightly above that of the average AJ paper over its
history. There are some significant “bumps” that we suggest can be identified with certain
instrumentation. Namely, we suggest that the increase in average impact centered on 1987 is
due to the introduction of CCD imaging at CFHT in late 1983. The second “bump” in 1995
and1996 is likely due to a number of MOS papers specifically the CFRS and CNOC papers.
The total and average impact by instrument, for the most productive instruments, is
summarized in the following figure. For each instrument the number of papers produced in
indicated by the blue line while the purple line represents the total impact. The average impact
per paper is the number. Less than half of the most productive instruments have average
impacts greater than one. These are: CCD imaging, CF8, MOS, Plates, CFH12K, UH8K, and
SIS.
The following table lists the number of papers, average impact per paper and total impact for
each instrument (class) identified.
Instrument
Papers
Average Impact Total Impact
CCD
271
1.35
365.61
CF8
148
1.11
164.58
MOS
120
1.75
210.06
Plates
68
1.02
69.68
FTS
67
0.71
47.43
HRCAM
56
1.03
57.59
CFH12K
55
1.60
88.16
PUEO
40
0.91
36.38
Herzberg
37
0.89
33.09
Gecko
33
0.72
23.83
Speckle
24
0.81
19.33
Redeye
23
0.62
14.20
UH8K
23
1.89
43.51
GRENS
22
0.72
15.84
SIS
22
1.07
23.62
FP
18
0.62
11.12
TIGER
17
0.70
11.95
EC
16
0.49
7.86
?
15
1.61
24.14
CIRCUS
13
0.34
4.48
PCD
12
0.40
4.81
UHTI
12
2.27
27.27
MARLIN
9
1.28
11.53
MONICA
9
0.86
7.75
UHAO
9
1.18
10.62
CAMIRAS
8
0.32
2.55
Other
8
0.64
5.14
WET
8
0.88
7.02
NICMOS3
7
2.53
17.68
SILFID
7
0.30
2.10
CIGALE
6
1.06
6.35
LAPOUNE
6
0.79
4.75
OASIS
6
0.78
4.67
PUMA
6
0.75
4.50
HIFI
5
1.29
6.45
MOCAM
5
0.73
3.64
PALILA
5
0.74
3.68
RVS
5
0.99
4.97
UHFOS
5
2.27
11.33
ARGUS
4
0.36
1.46
InSb
4
1.83
7.32
Bolometer
3
0.99
2.97
C10
3
0.05
0.16
CASSHAWEC
3
1.28
3.83
CFHTIR
3
0.53
1.59
Garrison
3
0.33
0.98
GriF
3
0.35
1.05
MUSICOS
3
0.61
1.82
Solar
3
0.38
1.14
Submm
3
1.24
3.73
UVPRIME
3
0.23
0.69
SPI
2
0.41
0.81
BEAR
1
1.33
1.33
FOCAS
1
1.00
1.00
Genoble-Lyon
1
0.63
0.63
ISOCAM
1
0.46
0.46
Another common measure used in bibliometric studies is the concept of high impact papers.
For example, this can be the top 125 cited papers of each year (Benn and Sanchez 2001). We
call any paper that has a RelativeToAJ index of more than five as a high impact paper. CFHT
has produced 33 high impact papers in its history. MOS leads the way with 7 such papers. This
is followed by CCD with 6, CFH12K with 4 and CF8 with 3. Simon Lilly is the author of 5 CFHT
high impact papers.
Finally, we would like to refer to the very beginning of the process that creates a CFHT paper –
the Time Allocation Committee (TAC). Since there are proposals for more time than is available
the TAC process ranks the received proposals in order of scientific merit and top third or so
(depending on the subscription rate) actually get on the telescope. So how well does the TAC
ranking of the proposal match with the scientific impact of the resultant paper?
To look at this question we identified CFHT papers that were based upon observations
between semesters 1996B and 1999B. These are the semesters for which we have the TAC
rankings for each CFHT program that made it to the telescope. In the following figure a lower
number indicates a higher TAC ranking, i.e. higher ranked proposals are to the left.
While at first glance this looks like a scatter diagram, there is some indication that the TAC
process works in the way you want it to work – higher ranked proposals have higher impact
papers. This is shown in the figure below where the data has been binned.
The TAC ranking is more important now that we are in the era of queue scheduling In classical
scheduling the TAC decided who was on the telescope and who wasn’t. After that the weather
plays a significant role.
References
Benn, C.R. and Sanchez, S.F. 2001, PASP, 113, 385
Crabtree, D.R and Bryson, E.P. 2001, JRASC, 95, 259
Davidge, T.J. and Harris, W.E. 1995, ApJ, 445, 211
Emsellem, E., Monnet, G., Bacon, R., Nieto, J.-L. 1994 A&A, 285, 739
Foing, B.H., et al. 1994 A&A, 292, 543
Stevenson, C.C., McCall, M.L. and Welch, D.W. ApJ, 408, 460
van den Bergh, S. 1980, PASP, 92, 409
QSO imaging with the CFHT
John Hutchings, HIA
The CFHT became famous for excellent image quality long before other large telescopes paid
much attention to achieving sub-arcsecond imaging as a regular expectation. As a result, it was
natural to consider QSO imaging as a program in which the CFHT should produce unique
results, from its earliest days of operation. This did indeed turn out to be an important scientific
niche, which was exploited extensively by myself and a number of colleagues over many years.
In particular, I would mention working with Bruce Campbell, David Crampton, and Susan Neff.
The earliest observations were taken on photographic plates in the prime focus cage.
Exposures were 2-3 hours long, so that the nights could be spent entirely in the cage
(depending on endurance) guiding on 4 fields literally by hand – moving the camera by keeping
the guide star on a crosswire. This would yield images of maybe 0.7” FWHM on a good night,
but the quality would not be known until after dawn in the darkroom (before the one-person rule
was enforced!). By means of a good eyepiece it was usually possible to see that the QSO was
fuzzy, compared with nearby stars. The large plates generally contained only one QSO, but we
did have a lot of stars to use for PSFs!
A later development was an image tube of more suitably-sized field, that allowed us to obtain
plates of similar depth in about 15 minutes. This helped enormously in expanding the sample,
but at the price of some image degradation by the `chicken-wire’ pattern of the image tube fibre
optics. Plus a lot more time in the darkroom. Data reduction was done by scanning the plates
with the PDS, producing digital images of limited dynamic range but enabling us to do stacked
PSF removal, and then some quantitative measures on the images.
The earliest samples were QSOs of redshifts up to about 0.3, which were relatively simple to
resolve and measure. In 1983, our sample of 45 were featured in a full Nature article (vol 303,
p584), and in 1984 we published a sample of 78 QSOs (ApJ 280, 41), and had some fairly
interesting statistical conclusions - the subject of many talks and conferences. It was clear that
QSOs are indeed located at the centres of galaxies, with no real exceptions. Investigations
elsewhere, with poorer image quality were much less definitive, and also led to claims that radiolouds live in ellipticals while radio-quiet QSOs are in spirals, based more on extrapolation from
radio galaxies than unambiguous evidence. Indeed, we found that the majority of host galaxies
do not have such simple morphology, and many show clear evidence of tidal disturbances and
distortions, leading to the suggestion that tidal events are a common way to trigger QSO activity
in a galaxy. A few good cases of off-nuclear spectroscopy showed that star-formation is active
in those QSO host galaxies, and hence the scenario that the observed blue colours indicate
that this is common. We obtained radio maps from the VLA to investigate the relationship
between radio and optical properties, and later related the host galaxy images to the midfile:///C|/kings/public_html/astro/ecass/issues/2004-ws/features/hutchings/QSO.html (1 of 4) [12/21/2004 10:03:43 PM]
infrared fluxes from IRAS (e.g. AJ 101, 434, 1991). These investigations further elaborated the
AGN connections with tidal triggers and host morphology changes.
Fig 1. Photographically resolved low z QSO in two colours. ~20” FOV
In due course, CCDs became the default detectors, but the early ones were small, noisy, and
had serious cosmetic flaws, although their sensitivity and linear response more than
compensated for these. The subsequent rapid evolution of CCD detectors left us with a wide
range of data quality that made it hard to put together uniform samples. But the power of CCDs
allowed us to move to fainter and more distant QSOs - out to z=0.6, and even higher for a few
objects. The final step of technical development was image improvement, starting with the tip-tilt
corrected HRCam, which improved FWHM by about 0.2” (see AJ 104, 1, 1992), and allowed the
most detailed views yet of the host morphologies. Finally, we had the first CFHT AO system
(PUEO), which produced images close to 0.1’ resolution under the best conditions (e.g. AJ 117,
1109, 1999). The necessary higher pixel sampling now began to extend the observation times
back to the several hours we first needed on the photographic plates!
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Fig 2. HR Camera 10”FOV image of z=0.21 QSO
In the midst of this, HST became operational, and I was able to use early GTO time to point it at
QSOs. John Bahcall decided HST was his telescope of choice for QSO imaging, and went for a
number of the objects we had previously observed with CFHT. This led to his dramatic
announcement that QSOs were unresolved and `naked’, which took some time and more
careful data processing to convert to the now-famous HST QSO images, and resolution of this
apparent contradiction. From my work using both telescopes, I knew the drawbacks of each,
and tried to make this clear, sometimes in the face of the awesome HST publicity machine. HST
has excellent and uniform resolution, but has small aperture and low throughput, and a very
complex and varying PSF. CFHT has much more effective area, enabling it to detect faint outer
parts of the host galaxies that contain many of the signatures of distortion and tidal
disturbances, but has poorer resolution, and image quality that changes from night to night.
PUEO allowed images better than HST, but only for objects with bright nuclei or nearby stars for
good image correction.
Nowadays, we can resolve and study QSO hosts with redshifts up to ~5 with Gemini-Altair, and
HST’s new cameras, but samples are small and the signals very weak. The thrust of current
work is at higher redshifts, where we hope to see how galaxies and their central black holes
form and co-evolve, and other statistical changes with cosmic time. CFHT is no longer central
to the new work, but for much of its life it was the prime facility for the understanding of QSOs,
their host galaxies, and what triggers them.
The Image Quality Obsession
« The seeing at the CFHT is very good. »
René Racine
Directeur du TCFH, 1980-1984.
1- Motivation
Thus, with the title quote, did I begin my invited talk on “Seeing at Mauna Kea and at the CFHT”
at the 1984 ESO Colloquium on Very Large Telescopes, their Instrumentation and Programs.
(Yes! a 3.6-m was then a Very Large Telescope). Re-reading the abstract below, I can still feel
the immense satisfaction we all had at CFHT for having finally reached the sub-arc second
domain, and our excitement at the perspective of still better things to come.
The astronomical seeing at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna
Kea is evaluated. The telescope has an average FWHM of 0.90 arcsec, and a
mean image spread of 0.6 arcsec appears achievable given further efforts to
minimize turbulence inside and around the dome and the optomechanical
imperfections of the instrument. Natural Mauna Kea seeing would then offer
images with less than 0.4 arcsec resolution on 25 percent of the nights,
corresponding to a Fried parameter of more than 30 cm at 500 nm. Removal of
rapid image wander due to the varying mean tilt of the wave-front would
produce images with a resolution of 0.2 arcsec.
“Propaganda!” shouted from the front row a vocal Mount Graham advocate. For sub-arc second
seeing was unheard of in those days. Even the regretted Chairman of the CFHT Board
privately advised me at the time “de ne pas dire de telles sottises”.
Comme les pionniers C, F et H du Télescope Canada-France-Hawai’i, je suis de ceux qui
croient que la puissance d’un télescope se mesure d’abord par le rapport de son diamètre D à
celui ω des images qu’il donne. C’est pourquoi ils choisirent un site à 4 200 m, au milieu du
Pacifique, loin de la France et du Canada. Et durent convaincre ceux qui craignaient les effets
de l’altitude et les impacts financiers et logistiques. Mais qu’on puisse faire mieux que la
seconde d’arc en moyenne avec un 3.6-m, peu osaient alors y croire. J’ai grandi au David
Dunlap Observatory où « good seeing » était ~3”. Et aux monts Wilson et Palomar où on frôlait
rarement « seeing 5 » ou ~1”, la moyenne étant plutôt ~1.5”. Au Chili, Campanas et Tololo
m’avaient souvent fait entrevoir ~1” mais au foyer du télescope de 60 cm du UTSO, les
« gros » n’y arrivant pas. Le sérieux mal de tête qui marqua ma première visite au Mauna Kea
en 1974 inspira la conviction qu’avec si peu d’atmosphère au sommet des performances
spectaculaires y étaient possibles. Et l’équipe des premières années du CFH en eu tôt ras-lebol de se faire rappeler, comme un collègue de Caltech me disait encore lors du lancement de
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IRAS en janvier 1983, que 3,6 m était « rather small, Monsieur le Directeur » face au 200-inch
(5,08•m) de Palomar. La table était mise : si D ne nous faisait pas « les plus gros », D/ω nous
fera les meilleurs.
2- Petit historique
Les premiers mois de fonctionnement régulier du télescope, début 1980, montrèrent
rapidement qu’il y avait loin de la coupe aux lèvres. La qualité d’image, qu’on relevait avec un
zèle quasi religieux, était guère meilleure sinon pire qu’ailleurs ! On se rendit rapidement
compte que le seeing était dans la coupole. Le premier indice fut le « day crew effect » :
meilleures images en fin de semaine, congé de l’équipe. Les grands luminaires de la salle du
télescope restaient éteints, personne n’y soudait ni chauffait la salle pour « y mieux travailler »
et les portes des escaliers venant des espaces chauffés du 4e demeuraient fermées. "
Discipline, discipline ! devint le mot d’ordre, auquel on se plia, parfois en grognant. La chasse
aux chaufferettes, aux huiles tièdes des paliers hydrauliques, à l’opto-mécanique encore
imparfaite du télescope, etc. du se poursuivre pendant 5 ans avant de pouvoir clamer faire
mieux que la seconde d’arc en moyenne en toute saison. Et on savait que mieux encore était
possible.
L’évolution historique de la qualité d’image produite par le TCFH est illustrée par le graphique
suivant. Les points sont les moyennes trimestrielles. La ligne oscillante rouge est un modèle
contenant des perturbations thermiques locales qui s’atténuent sur une échelle de temps de
5,5 ans et ayant, à 1980.0, un « fond » de 1,0” et une variation annuelle atteignant 1,6” aux
premiers trimestres…lorsqu’il fait plus froid dehors ! Les données, dont la dispersion en
seconde d’arc par rapport au modèle est de 12% pour 1980-90, indiquent que ces
perturbations sont demeurées importantes au moins jusqu’en 1987.
La valeur asymptotique du modèle est 0,70” (bande R, zenith). Or on sait que l’optique du
télescope contribue ~0,35”. Puisque aberrations instrumentales résiduelles, petites erreurs de
foyer et de guidage, etc. doivent aussi étaler un peu les images, on peut conclure que le seeing
naturel intrinsèque au site du TCFH est inférieur à 0,60”. Une étude détaillée des corrélations
entre la qualité d’image et les différences de température au TCFH (Racine et al. 1991) l’estime
à 0.43 ±0.05”.
Les données sur le seeing au TCFH deviennent plus difficiles à glaner après ~1992. Elles sont
parfois mentionnées dans les Rapports d’activité, ou à l’occasion de réunions du SAC traitant
de tentatives d’amélioration – refroidissement du primaire par exemple – mais m’ont échappé
au cours des cinq dernières années du XX siècle. Avec la venue d’Elixir, une base de données
accumulées en temps réel à été mise en route. Les archives sont disponibles à
http://cfht.hawaii.edu/Instruments/Elixir/seeing/home.html mais sont très fragmentaires. À en
juger par ce qu’on y trouve, le seeing au site du TCFH s’est détérioré au début du XXI siècle.
Dommage.
3- Impacts
Les performances du TCFH en qualité d’image ont eu des impacts psychologiques,
technologiques et scientifiques importants.
Première à faire si bien, l’équipe technique CFH en retirait une fierté énorme et bien méritée.
« The best telescope on or around the Earth ! » s’exclama un technicien d’observation lors
d’une nuit de 0,3-0,4” quelques semaines après le lancement du HST. Un peu gros peut-être,
mais révélateur de l’esprit qui régnait dans l’équipe. Et nous avons tous clamé dans nos
demandes de temps que notre projet exigeait une qualité d’image que seul le TCFH pouvait
offrir. Toujours de bonne guerre, bien sur, mais souvent exact.
Une fois les doutes de la communauté surmontés, suite à la parution des premiers articles CFH
faisant état de résultats remarquables, la course aux « sub-arc second images » s’ouvrit.
L’expérience CFH, et les leçons qu’on y avait apprises, avaient convaincu la « compétition »
que la partie était jouable et guidaient les efforts pour la gagner. La clé étant, à l’évidence,
l’élimination du seeing local, accompagnée de réglages optiques hautement peaufinés, le NTT
de l’ESO avec l’optique active de Ray Wilson et son bâtiment abondamment ventilé – deux
outils manquant au TCFH ! – prenait la tête du peloton côté technologique. Au UKIRT, au
Mayall du KPNO et au Blanco de Tololo on perça de larges ouvertures dans les coupoles pour
que l’air de la nuit vienne rafraîchir salles et structures des télescopes. On fit de même plus
récemment à Mégantic et autres télescopes de moindre envergure. Et les nouveaux géants,
VLT, Subaru, Gemini, ont tous optique active et bâtiments ventilés. La contribution du TCFH à
cette révolution aura été de montrer, de façon éclatante, les bénéfices possibles même si sa
propre conception, d’une autre époque, ne lui permettait de les atteindre que difficilement. Il
demeure que les 4 200 m du Mauna Kea lui sont un avantage certain. A ce jour, que je sache,
la qualité d’image obtenue au TCFH au début des années 1990 n’est dépassée, au sol, que
par celle de son voisin Subaru.
Avec des images meilleures que la seconde d’arc, la possibilité de faire encore mieux par des
artifices simples, tel un guidage rapide, devenait intéressante. D’où naquit HRCam, la
« camera haute résolution » (McClure et al. 1989) rendue possible grâce à la collaboration du
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO). HRCam fut le tout premier système d’optique
adaptative (OA) moderne à voir les étoiles. OA modeste, ne compensant que deux modes, les
basculements en X et Y, mais source de grand apprentissage. On compris bien vite, par
exemple, que HRCam corrigeait autant les oscillations du télescope que les basculements
atmosphériques. Entre sa mise en service en 1987 et sa retraite en 1994 avec la venue de
MOS-SIS qu’on jugeait équivalent, HRCam permit une qualité d’image moyenne de 0,52” avec
des pointes vers 0.25”. (Ces statistiques ne sont pas incluses dans la Figure plus haut). Les
utilisateurs de HRCam publièrent une centaine d’articles sur les planètes, les amas globulaires
locaux et extragalactiques, les populations stellaires des galaxies voisines, la structure des
cœurs galactiques, des lentilles gravitationnelles et des quasars…et sur les leçons pratiques
apprises de son usage. Le projet permit aussi de développer et de faire valoir l’expertise
canadienne en OA, le DAO se voyant ensuite confié la réalisation de PUE’O, un « vrai »
système OA mis en service au TCFH en 1996, et plus tard celle du système OA Altair pour
Gemini.
Réflexions
L’amélioration de la qualité d’image fut une réelle obsession au TCFH dès son inauguration.
Elle a marqué toute son histoire. Les performances atteintes ont été sources de fierté pour
l’équipe et d’excellente scientifique pour les utilisateurs. Elles ont permis le rendement
exceptionnel de tous les instruments dont le télescope a été équipé. Et elles ont contribué à
motiver une révolution dans la perception de ce qui est possible au sol et dans la mise en
oeuvre des moyens pour y arriver.
L’optique adaptative est capable de corriger les aberrations atmosphériques, le seeing local et
les imperfections opto-mécaniques des télescopes contemporains. La tentation pourrait être
grande de faire fi de toutes ces précautions qui ont valu au TCFH sa réputation de chef de file
et de s’en remettre à l’OA pour nettoyer les dégâts qu’une telle incurie engendrerait. « Et
pourquoi pas ? » demandait justement quelqu’un suite à ma présentation à Garching en 1984.
Je n’ai su alors que répondre qu’il me semblait préférable de régler les problèmes à la source
lorsque c’est possible. Je comprends mieux aujourd’hui qu’un système OA bénéficie aussi, et
plus que tout autre instrument, de conditions excellentes au départ. Les leçons apprises grâce
au TCFH demeureront précieuses tant qu’il y aura des télescopes sur Terre.
Références
McClure, R. D., Grundman, W. A., Fletcher, M. J., et al. 1989, An Image Stabilizing HighResolution Camera for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, PASP, 101, 1156-1165
Racine, R., Salmon, D., Cowley, D., & Sovka, J. 1991, Mirror, Dome and Natural Seeing at the
CFHT, PASP, 103, 1020
25 years of spectacular discoveries with the CFHT
25 years of spectacular discoveries with the CFHT coudé spectrographs - it was all in the detail
Gordon A.H. Walker
INTRODUCTION
A coudé laboratory was considered `de rigeur'l by all three partners when planning the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). The University of Hawaii 2.2-m telescope,
completed in 1969, has an enormous coudé spectrograph classically aligned with the telescope polar axis. In France, Fehrenbach had developed a series of superb
spectrographs at the coudé focus of the 1.8-m at l'Observatoire de Haute-Provence while, at the DAO, Victoria, Harvey Richardson had introduced remarkable improvements in
the transmission of the McKellar spectrograph on the 1.2-m telescope with grating mosaics, small coudé mirrors with high reflectivity, and a novel pupil slicer.
It is truly a challenge to inject sufficient starlight from a large telescope into a high dispersion spectrograph. As long as seeing defines the image size and not the telescope
diffraction pattern, the linear dimension of the star image increases with the telescope and so therefore must the scale of the spectrograph. Choice of a site, such as Mauna Kea,
with good seeing helps and the production of large, quality, reflection gratings with fine groove spacing made large scale spectrographs feasible. For bright stars, the introduction
of image slicing led to a major improvement in transmission.
In order to access the whole sky, a triple, 5-mirror transfer system was adopted to feed a horizontal spectrograph in a laboratory in the hollow support cylinder below the
telescope. A second coudé laboratory, one floor below, has never been used as such. The mirrors were all highly reflecting for one of three complementary spectral regions.
THE f/8 SPECTROGRAPH
An exact replica of the DAO f/8 spectrograph was one of the first instruments ready after the inauguration of
the telescope in 1979 thanks very much to the efforts of enthusiasts like Bruce Campbell and Carol Christian,
then staff astronomers. Although designed for use with photographic plates these were quickly superseded
by signal generating detectors of high quantum efficiency such as the Reticon and then the CCD. The
nominal resolution was 40,000 or 7.5 km s-1 and it was not decommissioned until 1995 . In the intervening 15
years it produced some quite remarkable science of which I can only touch on a sample in this review.
In all of these results, it was the careful attention to detail when extracting the optimum information from the
spectra which paid off with such spectacular discoveries.
Lithium
Francois and Monique Spite (A&A, 1982 115, 357) deduced a baryonic density of the Universe from their detection the 6707Å 7Li resonance line in a number of halo dwarf and old
disk stars. Together with existing density values for primordial Helium and Hydrogen, they concluded that the Universe could not be closed by such nucleons. For this work they
were awarded the Muhlman Prize in 1984.
In 1999, Roger Cayrel with the Spites and others (A&A, 343, 923) detected 6Li in the spectrum of the metal poor star HD84937 at a resolution ~100,000 with a S/N~1000 per
resolution element with the f/4 Gecko on CFHT.
Still with Li, Ann Boesgaard and Tripicco (1986 ApJ 302L, 49) discovered a narrow range of effective temperature in members of the Hyades where Li is dramatically depleted
suggesting a significant change in physical conditions which destroys fragile Li by transport to deeper stellar layers.
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Extra-solar Planets
From the outset, Bruce Campbell vigorously pursued a program begun at the DAO with Gordon Walker and Stephenson
Yang to look for the small perturbations in radial velocity induced by planetary companions around solar-type stars. The
accelerations were expected to be just a few m s-1 per year. The concept was simple - light from the star was passed
through an absorption cell before the spectrograph slit thereby imposing a comb of fiducial absorption lines against which
the Doppler motion of the stellar lines could be measured. The expected displacements corresponded to less than a
thousandth of a pixel.
Careful calibration was essential. The experiment was also dangerous since our chosen gas was HF! The program was
pursued for twelve years and, arguably, produced the first planetary detection around a solar type star, γ γCephei although at the time, we suggested that stellar rotation more likely caused the variation. The combined monitoring by
ourselves and colleagues at the University of Texas eventually demonstrated the presence of the planet in a 2.48 y orbit
with Msini = 1.7 MJ (Hatzes et al., 2003 ApJ 599, 1383). There was similar confirmation for a planet around another of our
program stars, ε Eri (2000 ApJ 544L, 145).
The imposed fiducial technique (mostly using I2 vapour) has been adopted by most other planet hunters and some 120 extra-solar planets have been detected to date. In the
picture the shows the coudé comes vertically down through a focal ratio converting lens to the fifth diagonal mirror and then passes horizontally through the 90 cm HF absorption
cell which is heated to 100 C. The gas handling equipment is on the right.
Doppler Imaging
John Landstreet and his group (1989 ApJ, 384, 876L) were able to model the magnetic field geometry of Babcock's star (HD215441) and the distribution over one hemisphere of
the elements Si, Ti, Cr, and Fe from nine spectra spaced around the star's rotation cycle. They estimated both the inclination of the magnetic field axis to the star's rotation axis
and the inclination of the rotation axis to the line of sight. The progression of Zeeman splitting seen above in the Silicon lines could be reproduced by an axisymmetric
superposition of dipole, quadrupole, and octupole fields with polar strengths of +67, -55, and +30 kG, respectively. A remarkable achievement.
Wolf-Rayet stars
Tony Moffat, Laurent Drissen, Robert Lamontagne, and Carmelle Robert (1988 ApJ 334, 1038) detected narrow emission bumps superimposed on the broad smooth background
wind profile of the 5411Å He II line of the WR star HD191765. The bumps accelerated from the stellar surface in unison with the wind, on a time scale of hours and seem to
correspond to blobs being ejected from the surface. The left hand figure shows the spectral series and the mean absolute deviation of individual profiles from the mean which
highlights the wavelengths of greatest activity. The right hand figure shows the residuals from the mean profile allowing one to track the acceleration of each blob.
f/4 GECKO
The f/4 échellette spectrograph, Gecko, was commissioned in 1994. It has a resolution of 120,000 or 2.5 km s-1 and, although restricted to single orders, its roughly 60Å
panchromatic coverage, very high throughput and the stability of the CAFÉ fibre feed installed in 2000 have made it a most powerful instrument for the study of interstellar lines
and sharp-lined stars.
Interstellar OH
Paul Felenbok and Evelyne Roueff (1996 ApJ 465L, 57) benefiting from the low ozone extinction on Mauna Kea and the high UV sensitivity of Gecko, recorded five
transitions of OH near 3072.0, 3078.4, and 3081.7 Å toward ζ Per and HD 27778. They also detected lines at 3072.9 Å which they ascribed to Ti II in two different
clouds.
Interstellar C3
John Maier, Nick Lakin, Gordon Walker, David Bohlender (2001 ApJ 553, 267) identified the spectrum of the carbon chain, C3 toward ζ Ophiuchi, 20 Aquilae, and ζ
Persei through detection of the origin band near 4052 Å. They were able to resolve individual rotational lines up to J=30, which allowed the rotational-level column
densities and temperature distributions to be determined.
More Doppler imaging
John Rice and Klaus Strassmeier (1998 A&A 336, 972) generated a Doppler image of the surface of the young K2V star LQ Hya (vsini = 25 km s-1) based on Gecko
spectra taken in 1995 . The Doppler image shows a pattern of dark spots concentrated in the equatorial region either as a continuous wide band of features only ~ 600 K
cooler than photospheric or perhaps a double band symmetrically located either side of the equator as on the Sun. They only found a weak polar spot , whereas one
normally expects to see a pronounced polar dark spot in such a young star and which is significantly less massive than the Sun.
Raman-scattered He II 6545 Å
Lee and his colleagues from Korea (2003 ApJ 598, 553) demonstrated with the symbiotic star V1016 Cyg, how to measure the covering factor of the neutral scattering
egion around the giant stellar component with respect to the hot emission region around its white dwarf companion by isolating Raman-scattered He II 6545Å. They
unblended it from the [N II ] 6548Å emission line taking the [N II ] 6584Å line as a template for the 6548Å line. The dashed line is the [N II ] 6584Å line translated to the
location of [N II ] 6548Å . The dotted line is a single Gaussian fit to the residual Raman-scattered He II 6545 Å feature. The peak value, f0 = 1.0 × 103, and the width, 6.4
times that of He II 6527Å and 6560Å, are exactly what are expected from incoherent Raman scattering.
Planet induced chromospheric activity
Evgenya Shkolnik and her colleagues (2005 ApJ in press) monitored the Ca II H&K reversals of eight solar-type stars (including the Sun) for three years. Six of the stars have
Jupiter-mass companions with orbital periods of a few days. Two stars, HD179949 and ν And displayed periodic chromospheric activity synchronised to the planetary orbital
period in each case for two out of the three years. All of the planets almost certainly lie within the Alfvén radius of the star and the differential between the rates of planetary
revolution and stellar rotation may well provide free energy for heating. In a larger sample of stars which included observation with UVES on VLT, there is a clear correlation
between general chromospheric activity and the minimum mass of the companion planet (Msini) except for τBoo, the one case of apparent synchronous rotation.
Porb = 4.6 d
THE FUTURE
These are but a handful of the many highly successful programs with the CFHT coudé and I have, naturally, tended towards those with which I was familiar or best understand.
The coudé astronomers have come from all of the countries associated with CFHT and, by and large, they are a modest group. The results have been marked by great attention
to proper calibration and careful reduction. While Gecko may continue to be used - its small multiplex gain puts it at a disadvantage and the future almost certainly lies with
ESPaDOnS with its échelle format and ability to perform simultaneous polarimetry. We can expect even more exciting results while CFHT remains in place.
Gordon A.H. Walker, 1234 Hewlett Place, Victoria, BC, V8S 4P7 [email protected]
Towards a National Science Data Archive
A Report on the National Consultation
on an Archive for Scientific and Research Data
Ottawa, November 22--23 2004.
Elizabeth Griffin and David Schade
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, HIA, Victoria
Canadian Astronomical Data Centre, HIA, Victoria, BC
One month ago the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa (previously the National Library
of Canada) hosted an extraordinary meeting of 60--70 high-level researchers, directors,
presidents and managers of projects ranging from lexicography to oceanography, and
representing organizations both nation-wide and individual concerns from coast to coast.
Convened under the auspices of CODATA Canada, the meeting examined the need, the will
and the feasibility to create and operate a comprehensive national archive of scientific and
science-related data. Delegates heard from the Government Advisor for Science, from the
sponsoring organizations (NSERC, the National Research Council, the Canadian Institute for
Health Research and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation), with in-depth presentations by
the SSHRC, Genome Canada and Industry Canada as well as from representatives within
academia.
The Consultative Process
Support for the tabled endeavour was unequivocal and enthusiastic, but the presentations
merely set the scene for the work which the delegates were then to carry out. The Forum was
seeking as input a consensus vision of a national data archive; the delegates were divided
among 8 tables and set were posed questions, from dawn till beyond dusk, that required
answers in various forms and in fairly short order. In formulating their recommendations for
what would need to be achieved, the resources required and the time-scales involved, the
delegates first designed their consensus vision for 10--15 years hence. They then worked
backwards through the steps necessary to arrive there, and lastly -- and most importantly of all -they identified the barriers that would need to be overcome at all junctures.
The Canadian Situation
If intentions could be as easily translated into deeds, then this initiative should have no
problem in getting launched, though the most practical ways of proceeding were not necessarily
agreed on by everyone, nor was the vision of a National Science Data Archive equally clear in
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everyone's mind. Funding for the project, and initially for pilot projects to prepare convincing
proofs of concept, was clearly a key barrier. But Canada is not without strong precedents in a
number of areas already; oceanographic science is measuring and sharing worldwide profiles
of local oceanic temperatures and salinity; the power of data accessibility is beginning to make
itself felt in genomics and health research, while the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre in
Victoria is already a dynamic tool in astronomical research and the supporting pillar of the
Canadian Virtual Observatory. The rescue of heritage (historic) data, not only in astronomy but
in earth sciences, bio-informatics and even in linguistics is also a topic that needs to be
addressed under this project with sensitivity and resoluteness.
The Vision
The vision of a national data archive of data for scientific research can be likened to a 3-D
letter `X'. The widespread feet of the symbol depict the many disparate but linkable facets of
data and knowledge whose research could fall under the umbrella of "scientific". Where they
are drawn together in the centre represents the channelling of that information through a central
clearing house (the Science Data Archive). Once there, it can be accessed, used, re-used,
shared, copied, distributed and federated for and by an immense realm of new or existing
research projects, increasing the value within individual disciplines in a manner not previously
experienced, and enriching very substantially the potential for Canadian (and thence
international) collaborations. Even so, selection is an important element in the design: whether
to include all data, warts and all, and whether to incorporate within the same data-base the
facts derived subjectively from a given set of data (with the risk of thereby compromising the
objectivity of the original observations).
Getting Started
Just how all this could be achieved is still a matter for further debate. Experience indicates
that a sensible way forward is to encourage and promote (and that means fund) relevant
projects that are already in progress or in an advanced state of design, and to build a
superstructure around just those projects as a first step, enhancing their commonalities and
pursuing an agreed common goal. Here, however, is where theory and practice part company;
while the Forum was required to form the vision first and then enumerate the necessary
formative stages, in practice we need to assess what knowledge and experience in these fields
we already have (some are already mentioned above), discuss the nuts and bolts among all
likely (and even unlikely) partners, and begin studying the feasibility of merging interdisciplinary
archives, with very careful consideration of all the possible barriers along the way. Some of
those barriers are obvious; delegates repeatedly emphasized the need for trans-disciplinary
agreements on meta-data and quality control, and warned of the risks if uniformity was not
ensured.
Free access to data was also felt to be indispensable. Even though some organizations
such as Statistics Canada currently charged for some of their data, the pure sciences -- mainly
in academia, and in astronomy in particular -- are so accustomed to operating within policies of
free access that it would create insurmountable problems, especially for collaborations, if
retroactive cost recovery were to be instigated. The concept of free access is likely to present
an initial challenge to medical data on grounds of privacy, and to some chemical or
pharmaceutical data on commercial grounds, so extra work will be required in those quarters
before we are all on the same level and ready to run trial projects. However, to judge from the
mood of the meeting the extra pain will be well worth it. Everyone has so much to gain from a
National Science Data Archive for Canada.
brief
Briefly Noted
LOT/TMT secures first C$10M
June 5-10, 2005
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LOT
LOT/TMT secures first C$10M
Ontario approved its $2M match to the CFI award of $4M at the close of Friday, December 17.
A proposal is before BCKDF for a second $2M with a decision expected in the next few
months. In the meantime ACURA and HIA will use internally available funds to guarantee the
entire match so that the funds can begin to flow into the project. With the Canadian funds, the
TMT project now has about US$45M in hand, which is sufficient to undertake work up to
conceptual design and cost review, in the summer of 2006.
Construction proposals will be prepared at that time, with a proposed construction start in 2008
and first light in 2014, about nine years from now. With ALMA, JWST and other new facilities
coming online around that time (such as TPF-C, the coronagraphic terrestrial planet finder)
TMT will reap a rich harvest of scientific results.
The full entry fee for the detailed design phase is C$25M, with a critical deadline for the
remaining $15M of Canadian funds in April of
2005. The Canadian partnership has both a major interest and a major responsibility to ensure
the success of this effort. We are the sole international partner at this time.
We are currently working on detailed planning with TMT of our contributions to design work for
the enclosure, adaptive optics,
instruments, software and other aspects of the telescope and observatory. There will be a flood
of requests for proposals and work packages from TMT in the next few months. We'll be sure to
widely publicize these and to help organize responses.
Prof. R. Carlberg
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics 60 St. George Street,
Toronto, ON M5S 3H8 Canada
416-978-2198 fax: 416-946-7287 cell: 647-886-5991
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First Announcement
June 5-10, 2005 in Whistler, British Columbia
An intense 5-day introduction to planetary sciences, intended for finishing undergraduate and
beginning graduate students in astronomy, atmospheric sciences, geology, geophysics, or
physics. Extended mini-courses will be given over 6 days by a small number of speakers.
Some participation by professionals will be possible.
For more information, see:
www.astro.ubc.ca/wwps05 or contact [email protected], after Jan. 10/2005. The first
application deadline will be Feb. 28/2005.
file:///C|/kings/public_html/astro/ecass/issues/2004-ws/brief/gladmann/gladman.htm [12/21/2004 10:05:23 PM]
news
News
An Alma Update by Chris Wilson
Events at NRC's HIA (2004 Sept.-Dec.) / Du neuf à l'IHA du CNRC (sept.-déc. 2004) by
Jacques P. Vallée
Potential Astronomical Sites in the Canadian Arctic by Ray Carlberg
Gemini Observatory Update/Mise à jour sur l’observatoire Gemini by Dennis Crabtree
Legacy Survey Plans for the JCMT by Doug Johnstone
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ALMA Update
ALMA Update
1 Recent news
The ALMA Project continues to be heavily occupied with issues relating to the antenna contract, which has
not yet been signed. Antenna costs are a large fraction of the ALMA budget and so it is critical to get this
right. In addition, the ALMA Board has decided to re-open the search for an ALMA Project Scientist. This is
the one remaining position to be filled at the Joint ALMA Office Construction is well underway in Chile, with a
temporary but liveable building already constructed at the Operations Support Facility at an elevation of
about 11000 feet (see picture).
Figure 1: Temporary facilty at the Operations Support Facility - click to enlarge image.
In the area of outreach, there will be an ALMA Town Hall meeting at the AAS meeting in San Diego in
January and I encourage anyone who is at the AAS meeting to consider attending. The nascent North
American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) has set up a web site at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/ which has
lots of interesting information and links, including links to the Canadian ALMA page at HIA and the page run
by the Canadian ALMA Science Steering Committee at Lethbridge.
2 ALMA Science Advisory Committee
The ALMA Science Advisory Committee met September 27-28, 2004 in Charlottesville, Virginia. The main
focus of the meeting was on five charges from the ALMA Board. The ASAC was asked to: (1) recommend
science-based criteria that could be used by the project in preparing tradeoff studies should the budgetary
situation require them; (2) consider recommendations on how to facilitate joint projects between scientists
from the different ALMA partners, large proposals, and legacy projects; (3) advise the Science IPT on which
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ALMA Update
projects are the most challenging from a calibration point of view; (4) consider how the choice of projects for
demonstration science might be made and how the broader ALMA community could be involved; and (5)
consider the draft plans for science verification. The ASAC is still waiting for a response from the Board to
our report, so I will have to summarize the main conclusions of the report in my next update.
3 ALMA Developments in Canada
3.1 Band 3 Receiver Development
The Band 3 receiver team is passing a significant milestone right now. The first deliverable Band 3 cartridge
(cartridge #1) is being assembled at HIA Victoria. Exacting quality assurance procedures are being followed
at each assembly step. Each component was required to be fully qualified individually before the final
assembly. Once completed, cartridge #1 will go through an exhaustive series of acceptance tests at HIA
before its scheduled shipment to the North American Front End Integration Centre at NRAO in April 2005.
Progress has also continued on the cartridge test set, which was commissioned during the Fall in manual
mode using the prototype Band 3 cartridge (see the two accompanying pictures).
As well, the
mixer test set
is in the
process of
being
commissioned.
Negotiations
between HIA
and NRAO on
the Band 3
Statement of
Work have
successfully
dealt with all
outstanding
issues, and we
expect it to be
signed in the
very near
future. This
signing will
formally
conclude the
requirements
of the Band 3
Preliminary
Design
Review.
Figure 2: Band 3 cartridge - click on images for closeup.
HIA is now working closely with a Canadian company in the production of the low noise cryogenic IF
amplifiers needed for the eight pre-production cartridges. A recent development is the expression of interest
by the Japanese ALMA project in buying these IF amplifiers from Canada. This is a perhaps rare instance of
Japan coming to Canadian industry for high-tech assistance.
ALMA Update
On a personal note, the Band 3 Project Manager, Keith Yeung, has been away on medical leave since the
summer, and in his temporary absence, Stephane Claude has ably doubled up as Project Engineer and
Project Manager. We all wish Keith a full and quick recovery.
For more information on the ALMA Band 3 receiver project contact Doug Johnstone (Project Scientist [email protected]) or Stephane Claude (Acting Project Manager [email protected]).
3.2 Software
Chris Wilson was heavily involved in organizing and participating in the second test of the ALMA Pipeline
software. James di Francesco and Brenda Matthews (HIA) and Debra Shepherd (NRAO) were the other
testers involved. The test focused on evaluating the heuristics (or logic) used to flag bad data for calibrators.
The test used spectral line data sets from the VLA and Plateau de Bure and did not include any imaging or
calibration steps. The actual testing is completed and Chris is in the process of finalizing the report. She also
attended the meeting of the ALMA Science Software Requirements committee in October.
David Fugate and Gary Li (University of Calgary) and Raymond Rusk (HIA-DRAO) attended the ALMA
Computing All-Hands meeting held Dec 6-9, 2004. The meeting began with a software release 2.0
integration demo and discussion on the morning of Dec 6 at ESO in Garching, Germany and then moved to
the Palace Hotel in Merano, Italy for the remainder of the week.
Major discussion items for the Offline group to which Gary and Raymond belong included the Alma Science
Data Model, the Data Capture process and Release 2.1 deliverables. The Alma Common Software (ACS)
group to which David belongs gave several demonstrations and presentations and provided individual
support to software developers attending the meeting. There was extensive discussion of features to be
included in ACS 4.0. David stayed on at ESO in Garching after the All-Hands Meeting for an additional week
of consultation with co-workers in the ACS group.
In conjunction with the All-Hands Meeting, there were two other meetings that touched upon areas of
Canadian participation in ALMA software development. The first was a pre-meeting session on science
pipeline heuristics and second was a post-meeting NGAST/Archive review. Chris Wilson participated in the
heuristics meeting via video.
Chris Wilson [email protected]
Canadian ALMA Project Scientist
(with input from Stephane Claude, Jim Hesser, Doug Johstone, and Raymond Rusk)
File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.40.
On 18 Dec 2004, 11:57.
E-Cass - 2004 Dec. - NRC HIA Happenings - Du neuf a l'IHA du CNRC
Events at NRC's HIA (2004 Sept.-Dec.)
edited by:
Du neuf à l'IHA du CNRC (sept.-déc.
2004)
édité par:
Dr. Jacques P. Vallée
This Fall, Ken Tapping travelled far and wide to protect astronomical
frequencies in the infrared (above 3000 GHz; below 100 micrometers)
and in the radio (above 10 MHz; below 30 meters), in order to meet with
spectrum managers, atmospheric environment advisors, satellite
downlink providers, electricity power distributors, space broadcasters,
and the likes.
Cet automne, Ken Tapping a voyagé en plusieurs endroits pour
protéger les fréquences astronomiques dans l'infrarouge (> 3000 GHz,
<100 micromètres) et en radio (>10 MHz, <30 mètres), dans le but de
parlementer avec les agents du spectre, les aviseurs en environnement
atmosphérique, les fournisseurs de liens satellites-terre, les distributeurs
d'énergie électrique, les émetteurs TV en orbite, etc.
On 24 November, a major milestone has been reached: the ACSIS
spectrometer left HIA in Penticton, bound for Seattle, then Honolulu,
then Hilo, then the Mauna Kea summit. The JCMT will thus received a
long-awaited year-end present!
Le 24 novembre, un important jalon fut atteint: notre spectromètre
ACSIS est sorti de l'enceinte de l'IHA à Penticton, en route pour Seattle,
Honolulu, Hilo, et le sommet du Mauna Kea. Tout un cadeau de fin
d'année, tant attendu au TJCM!
In September, NRC HIA proceeded with the public release of the
Gemini Science Archive (interfaces & catalogues). This was the fruit of
one year of development by the CADC working group headed by
Séverin Gaudet.
En septembre, l'IHA du CNRC a mis à la disposition du public les
Archives scientifiques de Gémini (interfaces & catalogues). C'était le
fruit d'une année de développement par le groupe de travail du CCDA
dirigé par Séverin Gaudet.
In 2004, HIA's Canadian Astronomy Data Centre delivered each month
on average 1.6 Terabytes of CFHT Legacy Survey data to users over
the internet. Congratulations to Luc Simard, CFHT Archive scientist,
and to the team members. The previous record was set in 2002 with 1
Terabytes per year, achieved after 15 years of operations!
En 2004, le Centre canadien de données astronomiques a délivré
chaque mois environ 1.6 térabytes de données du Relevé du Leg TCFH
aux utilisateurs sur la toile. Félicitations à Luc Simard, Scientifique des
archives TCFH, et à son équipe. L'ancien record établi en 2002 était de
1 Terabytes par année, après 15 ans d'opérations!
NRC HIA held an Open House and Trade Show at DRAO in Penticton,
spearheaded by Tom Landecker. The Large Adaptive Reflector surface
was a crowd pleaser. The unadvertised event attracted 1400 people on
Saturday Sept. 25. NRC is now emblazoned on bedroom walls of young
kids throughout the Okanagan.
L'IHA du CNRC a tenu une journée 'porte ouverte' avec exposition
commerciale à l'OFRA de Penticton, dirigée par Tom Landecker. La
faveur du public fut la surface du Grand Réflecteur Adaptable. Sans
aucune annonce payée, 1400 personnes sont venues ce samedi 25
septembre. Le CNRC est affiché sur les murs de chambres à coucher
de beaucoup d'enfants dans l'Okanagan.
FOCUS magazine published in September a lengthy public overview of Le magazine FOCUS a publié en septembre un exposé sur les travaux
the scientific work done at HIA in Victoria by Stéphanie Côté & Luc
scientifiques de Stéphanie Côté & Luc Simard à l'IHA de Victoria, et
Simard, and of their "human passion for discovery".
sur leur propre "passion de découvrir".
On the 2nd of October, HIA's Centre of the Universe [CU] held an
Open House in Victoria, and the guest speaker, Gordon Walker (UBC),
spoke eloquently on "The first 25 wonderful years of the CFHT", which
was followed by a birthday cake in honour of the positive impact the
CFHT has had on Canadian astronomy. On Oct. 16, the CU hosted
Jaymie Matthews (UBC) who gave a public lecture on "Small
telescope, big questions: the story of Canada's first space telescope and
the role of the RASC".
Le 2 octobre, le Centre de l'Univers [CU] de l'IHA a eu une journée
'porte ouverte' à Victoria, et le conférencier principal, Gordon Walker
(UBC), a parlé éloquemment sur "Les fabuleux premiers 25 ans du
TCFH". Ceci fut suivi d'un gateau d'anniversaire pour honorer l'impact
positif du TCFH sur l'astronomie canadienne. Le 16 du mois, Jaymie
Matthews (UBC) a donné un discours public au CU sur le thème "Small
telescope, big questions: the story of Canada's first space telescope and
the role of the RASC".
In October, Canada Post issued a special commemorative stamp
honouring Gerhard Herzberg as the Father of Molecular Spectroscopy.
En octobre, Postes Canada a émis un timbre commémoratif spécial
pour honorer Gerhard Herzberg comme le Père de la Spectroscopie
moléculaire.
Jason Fiege finished his 3-year term at HIA, working in submillimeter
polarimetry, and accepted a position at the University of Manitoba in
Winnipeg. Linda Sparke returned to the University of Wisconsin, after
spending a 4-month sabbatical at HIA. After 2 years working with the
instrument group at HIA in Victoria, on projects in optical astronomy
such as VLOT, TMT, and WFOS, Denis Laurin returned to the
Canadian Space Agency as a scientist in the newly restructured Space
Science group in St-Hubert.
Jason Fiege a terminé un terme de 3 ans à l'IHA où il a travaillé en
polarimétrie sousmillimétrique, et il a accepté une position à l'Université
du Manitoba à Winnipeg. Linda Sparke est retournée à l'University of
Wisconsin, après une sabbatique de 4 mois à l'IHA. Après 2 ans de
travail dans le groupe des instruments à l'IHA de Victoria, sur des
projets en astronomie optique comme VLOT, TMT & WFOS, Denis
Laurin est retourné à l'Agence spatiale canadienne en tant que
Scientifique dans le groupe nouvellement restructuré des Sciences
spatiales à St-Hubert.
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E-Cass - 2004 Dec. - NRC HIA Happenings - Du neuf a l'IHA du CNRC
In December, Dmitry Monin joined the HIA DAO staff, in support of the En décembre, l'OFA de l'IHA a recruté Dmitry Monin pour le soutien
1.8m and 1.2m optical telescopes in Victoria. Dmitry held a PDF at
de ses télescopes optiques de 1.8m et 1.2m à Victoria. Dmitry avait une
Université de Moncton before coming here. His areas of expertise
position postdoctorale à l'Université de Moncton avant de venir
include magnetic fields in stars.
s'installer ici. Ses travaux antérieurs incluent les champs magnétiques
dans les étoiles.
NRC web contains a FAQ section on Astronomy, dealing with
questions about Sunrise/sunset, leap year, reporting of meteorites and
UFOs, and the well known Time clock.
La toile du CNRC contient une section sur l'astronomie dans sa Foire
aux questions, touchant les levées et couchers du soleil, les années
bissextiles, comment faire un rapport sur les météorites et les OVNIS, et
aussi la fameuse Horloge.
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Potential Astronomical Sites in the Canadian Arctic
Potential Astronomical Sites in the
Canadian Arctic
Ray Carlberg
The Canadian high Arctic, in particular Ellesmere Island, has a number of
mountain ranges that potentially offer some of the best astronomical sites
in the world. The extreme cold of the arctic winter (the mean winter
temperature at Alert, near sea level, is about minus 35C) is the key new
quantity. However, in common with other superb sites there are fairly high
coastal mountains, a desert (less precipitation than the Sahara) with the
bonus of fairly moderate wind speeds. Together these all suggest
potentially very good observing conditions. That is, the astronomical
image quality may be very good above the inevitable ground layer of
turbulence and the thermal and water vapour backgrounds are very low. It
also turns out that there is very little radio interference in the high Arctic,
so the interest is not exclusively for optical or infrared astronomy. Site
testing at Dome C (elevation 3500m, -76 latitude) has found that it may be
a very good site, far superior to the South Pole itself. Ellesmere north of
+80 latitude may be equal or superior. The Ellesmere mountains at 2000+
meters are not quite as high as the Antarctic, but they offer considerable
numbers of peaks that are not glaciated which will be important for any
eventual observatory.
Satellite imaging has been used to establish that the winter clear sky
fraction, about 60% at selected peaks, is comparable to similar measures
in northern Chile and Hawaii. Weather records are kept for Alert and
Eureka, but there are no measurements of the astronomical properties of
the atmosphere at mountain sites. Accordingly a group of Canadian
astronomers, collaborating with an astronomer at ESO (Ivanescu) and the
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TMT project (Travouillon, who was part of the Dome C team) have
proposed that we undertake a program of site testing to establish the
qualities of high Arctic sites in a program of modern site testing that will
put the Ellesmere sites on the same basis as a number of Chilean and
Mauna Kea, Hawaii sites. The Dome C group has experience with winter
hardening sophisticated modern site testing devices.
The high arctic is a daunting environment. Recall the soldiers from Alert
who went on a two hour summer hike and were rescued when the sudden
blizzard broke a few days later. However, the basic infrastructure to
support the minimal logistical needs of research groups working in the
north is in place and the world famous Ken Borek Air operates a year
round charter air service in the north. The groups need to be selfsustaining in all senses should the weather degrade or polar bears
become too interested. Looking to the future, many of the most attractive
sites are close to the coast so that if construction ever was to take place, it
would be possible to bring in large equipment. There are also a number of
docks in place, as remnants of oil exploration programs. So, although
difficult and doubtless expensive, Ellesmere is a feasible location for a
sophisticated science facility.
How would site testing work? The first step is to use maps and satellite
imaging to select a set of reasonable sites for more detailed examination.
We hope to go up next summer to select two or three sites to be
intensively monitored with remote equipment. The equipment can be
powered over the winter and have a computerized datalogger. Normally
these download via satellite phone, but all are sites are north of Eureka
(+80), the most northerly place where even large dish antennae satellite
communication with geostationary satellites can be made to work.
At this time we have no idea how this proposed program of research will
work out in this particular round of applications. However, it appears
sufficiently scientifically promising and in the interests of Canada that
Arctic site testing should be pursued to establish the value and feasibility
for anyone to establish an observatory in the high Arctic.
Venturesome ideas for what eventually could go in the high arctic cover
the full gamut from sub-mm telescopes (as currently being mounted at the
South Pole), to specialized infrared telescopes at the current scale of 510m, to some future giant telescope. It is far too early to tell how this will
develop. We only know that all developments depend on taking the first
step to open up options for astronomy.
Gemini Observatory Update
Dennis Crabtree (NRC-HIA)
The Gemini Board had an “intense and rewarding” retreat in September to address their vision
for the future of the Gemini Observatory. Following the Board retreat and the November Board
meeting:
●
●
●
The Board re-affirmed its endorsement of the scientific goals of the Gemini community as
expressed in the Aspen program and remains committed to finding the required
resources.
The Board encouraged Gemini to pursue arrangements with other observatories to
provide instrumentation capabilities beyond those available or practical for the Gemini
telescopes. To this end the Board approved the principle of pursuing a collaboration with
Subaru on a wide-field optical spectrograph to address the wide-field optical science that
came out of Aspen.
Noting the high demand for queue-scheduled time by the Gemini users, the Board
approved an operations budget that will allow Gemini to increase its scientific staff to a
level required to support 100% queue-scheduled observations. The increased
operational budget will also Gemini to develop enhanced data reduction pipeline
software, add additional office space in Hilo and build a small dormitory at Cerro Pachon.
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Figure 1 A view of SOAR from Genmini South (center background) in November. The seeing monitor and weather
tower are on the left and the SOADAR is seen on the right. This was not a typical November night in Chile as we did
not open due to high humidity.
In Semester 2005A, Gemini initiated a time exchange with the Keck Observatory. Gemini users
have access to 5 nights of HIRES time in exchange for 5 nights of Michelle time. HIRES has
been recently upgraded (see the Keck webpages) so this is a very exciting opportunity for the
Gemini community. In 2005A, a Canadian proposal was allocated 3 of the 5 nights with HIRES.
Gemini has changed the process for populating the queue. The overall size of the queue has
been reduced. It was felt that too much effort by PIs, NGO and Gemini staff was being put into
Phase II proposals that would never be executed. In addition, the size of SRB 1 and 2 have
been slightly reduced and SRB 4 has been eliminated. Each country will still have at least one
proposal in SRB 1. The better observing condition bins will not be overfilled as they have in the
past. PIs in SRB 3 are being asked to consider relaxing their observing conditions and
consolidating their program (as if they were classically scheduled and had non-optimal
conditions) in order to increase the chances of their program being executed.
The Canadian Gemini Office has provided significant support for the Gemini queue in the last
few months. Stephanie Côté supported a GMOS-S queue shift in September, Tim Davidge a
NIRI-Altair shift in October and Dennis Crabtree a GMOS-S shift in November.
Mise à jour sur l’observatoire Gemini
Dennis Crabtree (IHA-CNRC)
Le Conseil de l’observatoire Gemini a organisé une séance de réflexion « intense et
enrichissante » en septembre afin d’aborder la question de sa vision de l’avenir de
l’observatoire Gemini. À la suite de la séance de réflexion et de la réunion du Conseil en
novembre :
●
●
●
Le Conseil a affirmé de nouveau son appui des buts scientifiques de la communauté
Gemini exprimés dans le programme d’Aspen, et demeure engagé à trouver les
ressources nécessaires.
Le Conseil a encouragé l’observatoire Gemini à faire des arrangements avec d’autres
observatoires pour fournir des capacités en instrumentation plus poussées que celles qui
sont disponibles ou pratiques pour les télescopes Gemini. À cette fin, le Conseil a
approuvé en principe la poursuite d’une collaboration avec Subaru pour mettre au point
un spectrographe optique à grand champ pour étudier les questions de la science de
l’optique à grand champ découlant du programme d’Aspen.
Prenant note de la grande file d’attente de temps d’observation des utilisateurs de
l’observatoire Gemini, le Conseil a approuvé un budget des opérations qui permettra à
l’observatoire d’augmenter son personnel scientifique à un niveau pouvant assurer le
soutien à 100 % des observations mises au calendrier. Ce budget des opérations majoré
permettrait également à l’observatoire Gemini de développer des logiciels de pipeline
améliorés pour la réduction de données, d’ajouter des bureaux à l’administration centrale
Hilo et de construire un petit dortoir à Cerro Pachon.
●
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Figure 1 Le télescope SOAR de l'observatoire Gemini Sud (arrieère plan au centre) en novembre. Le
moniteur d'observation et la tour météorologique sont situés à la gauche est a la droite. Cette nuit de
novembre au Chili n'etait pas typique parce qu'on n'a pas ouvert l'observatoire en raison de l'humidité trop
élevée.
Au semestre 2005A, l’observatoire Gemini a organisé un système d’échange de temps
d’observation avec l’observatoire Keck. Les utilisateurs de l’observatoire Gemini ont accès à
cinq nuits de temps d’observation avec l’appareil HIRES en échange de 5 nuits avec l’appareil
Michelle. L’appareil HIRES a récemment été mis à jour (consulter les pages Web de
l’observatoire Keck) et, par conséquent, il s’agit d’une occasion excitante pour la communauté
de l’observatoire Gemini. On a accordé 3 des 5 nuits avec l’appareil HIRES à une proposition
canadienne pendant le semestre 2005A.
Gemini a modifié la méthode de population de la file d’attente. La grandeur globale de la file
d’attente a été réduite. On croyait que les chercheurs principaux, le personnel du bureau
national de Gemini et le personnel de Gemini mettaient trop d’efforts pour élaborer des
propositions de projets de Phase II qui ne seraient jamais exécutés. De plus, la grandeur de
SRB 1 et 2 a été quelque peu réduite et SRB 4 a été éliminé. Chaque pays aura toujours au
moins une proposition dans SRB 1. Les casiers des meilleures conditions d’observation ne
seront pas trop remplis comme ils l’étaient par le passé. On demande aux chercheurs
principaux dans SRB 3 d’envisager la possibilité de réduire leurs conditions d’observation et de
consolider leur programme (comme s’ils avaient un calendrier établi classiquement et des
conditions moins qu’optimales) afin d’augmenter les chances que leur programme soit exécuté.
Le bureau canadien de l’observatoire Gemini a fourni un soutien considérable pour la file
d’attente du Gemini au cours des quelques derniers mois. Stephanie Côté a appuyé une
modification de la file d’attente pour le projet GMOS-S en septembre, Tim Davidge pour le
projet NIRI-Altair en octobre et Dennis Crabtree pour le projet GMOS-S en novembre.
Legacy Survey Plans for the JCMT
If you have any interest in large surveys with the JCMT, now is the time to get involved! In
October 2004, the JCMT Board issued a formal call for Legacy Survey Proposals to exploit the
wide-field mapping capabilities of JCMT's new generation of submillimetre instrumentation,
principally the SCUBA-2 bolometer array (+ FTS, Pol) and HARP-B (+ Pol) heterodyne array,
due in 2005-6. Letters of Intent, received by 5th November 2004, suggest an unprecedented
level of interest, running to 5 years of clear nights by several hundred astronomers from the
partner countries. Canadian participation in this process was extremely strong.
The Letters of Intent received by the JCMT Surveys Steering Group are available on-line at:
http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JCMT/surveys/. All interested Canadian astronomers are
encouraged to join the relevant survey mailing lists. A Survey Guidelines document, linked from
the above URL, will re-iterate and/or update the proposal rules and instrument specifications. It
should be considered the definitive source of information for proposals. The Board wishes to
encourage broad participation amongst the partner countries. It is expected that, at the very
least, membership of survey groups will remain open during the period leading up to the
submission deadline for Legacy proposals, March 1st 2005. The potential for new survey ideas
to emerge before the deadline is acknowledged; these should be brought to the attention of the
community via the mailing lists or Wiki.
A workshop `Legacy Surveys with the JCMT' will take place at the Lorentz Centre in Leiden
from the 24th to 26th January 2005. A link to the registration information is available at the
Surveys web site (URL above).
JCMT Legacy surveys must address a number of important scientific questions and yield
archived data of sufficient quality to remain useful for unforeseen future research. They must be
large, coherent science investigations, typically involving hundreds of hours of observing time,
not reproducible by any reasonable number of ordinary proposals.
In March, proposals will be sent to around a dozen expert reviewers, chosen by the Director
JCMT and JCMT Board Chair. These reviewers will be external to survey groups and will
include astronomers from non-partner countries. They will assess the science, legacy value,
feasibility and management plans. The JCMT Survey Steering Group will, based on the
comments of the reviewers, present a coherent Legacy survey programme to the JCMT Board
at its summer meeting in 2005.
Given the extremely enthusiastic response from the submillimetre community the JCMT Board
intends to ask the funding agencies in the UK and Canada to provide further funds for SCUBA2 and to consider extending JCMT operations beyond 2009 to ensure full exploitation.
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The JSSG currently consists of the following members: Rob Ivison, Gilles Joncas, Antonio
Chrysostomou, Douglas Scott, Derek Ward-Thompson, Frank Helmich, Ian Smail, Paul van der
Werf, and Tim Jenness.
For more information, or to get on the Canadian SCUBA2 or millimetre surveys email
exploders, contact Doug Johnstone ([email protected]) or James Di Francesco
([email protected]).
Doug Johnstone
National Research Council Canada Tel (250) 363-8108
Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics Fax (250) 363-0045
5071 West Saanich Road [email protected]
Victoria, B.C. V9E 2E7 www.hia.nrc.gc.ca
Government of Canada
Conseil national de recherches Canada Tel (250) 363-8108
Institut Herzberg d'astrophysique Fax (250) 363-0045
5071, chemin West Saanich [email protected]
Victoria (C.-B.) V9E 2E7 www.iha.cnrc.gc.ca
Gouvernement du Canada
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reports
Reports
CTAC report for Gemini & CFHT for semester 2005a / Rapport du CATC de Gémini & TCFH
pour le semestre 2005a
JCMT CTAG Semester Report 2005a / Rapport Semestriel du GATC du TJCM 2005a
Coalition for Canadian Astronomy - Report on Recent Activities by Gretchen Harris
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E-Cass 2004 Dec. - CTAC Report: Gemini+CFHT
CTAC report for Gemini &
CFHT
for semester 2005a
CTAC Voting Members
Rapport du CATC de Gémini &
TCFH pour le semestre 2005a
Membres votants du CATC
Current members of CFHT/Gemini CTAC Les membres du CATC pour les télescopes
are:
Gémini & TCFH sont:
Bohlender, David (CNRC-IHA Victoria)
English, Jayanne (U. Man. - Winnipeg)
Ellison, Sara (Univ. Victoria)
Mitchell, George (St.Mary's Univ., Halifax), Chair /Président
Patton, David (Trent Univ., Peterborough)
Stetson, Peter (NRC-HIA, Victoria)
Richer, Harvey (Univ. BC - Vancouver)
van Kerkwijk, Marten (Univ. Toronto)
The CTAC Technical Secretary, Dr.
Jacques P. Vallée (NRC-HIA, Victoria),
supervises computer processing and
provides corporate memory.
Le Secrétaire Technique du CATC est le Dr.
Jacques P. Vallée (IHA, Victoria), supervisant le
processus informatique et la mémoire
corporative.
The observing season starts on 1 Feb.
2005 and ends on 31 July 2005.
La saison des observations débute le 1 fév. 2005
et se termine le 31 juillet 2005.
Proposal Statistics
Statistiques des demandes de
temps
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CFHT: For this semester, 24 Canadian
proposals were received, requesting 72
nights. In addition, the Cdn commitment for
the Legacy Survey was 27 dark nights. The
allocated time for Canada was 27 dark
nights for the Legacy Survey, and 32.5
nights for the regular proposals. The
Canadian over-subscription factor (the ratio
of requested time to available time) was 2.2
for CTAC proposals alone, and 1.67 overall
(including the Legacy Survey).
TCFH: Pour ce semestre, 24 demandes de
temps canadiennes ont été reçues, et un total de
72 nuits furent demandées. De plus, l'imposition
canadienne pour le Relevé du Legs fut de 27
nuits noires. Le temps alloué pour le Canada fut
de 27 nuits noires pour le Relevé du Legs, et de
32.5 nuits pour les demandes de temps. Le
facteur de pression canadien (temps
demandé/temps disponible) fut de 2.2 pour les
demandes de temps seulement, et de 1.67 au
total (incluant le Relevé du Legs).
Gemini: For Gemini North, CTAC received
29 proposals requesting 544 hours, and for
Gemini South CTAC received 21 proposals
requesting 248 hours. Given Canada's
share of 162 hours on GN and 174 hours
on GS, the Canadian over-subscription was
3.4 for GN and 1.4 for GS.
Gémini: Pour le télescopes Gémini Nord, le
CATC a reçu 29 demandes pour 544 heures, et
pour Gémini Sud le CATC a reçu 21 demandes
pour 248 heures. Comme la part du Canada est
de 162 heures sur GN et de 174 heures sur GS,
ceci done un facteur de pression de 3.4 sur GN et
de 1.4 sur GS.
Peer Review: Two external referee reports
were requested by email for each CFHT
and Gemini proposal, with both national
and international reviews sought and
received. Only 1 reminder was sent to late
referees. The referee's email response rate
was very good with 83% for CFHT, and
73% for Gemini. Close to 4 weeks were
given to CFHT referees, and close to 2
weeks for Gemini referees.
Arbitrage: Pour chaque demande TCFH ou
Gémini, on a fait participer par courriel deux
arbitres externes, choisis parmi les communautés
nationale et internationale. Un seul rappel a été
envoyé aux arbitres en retard. Le taux de
réponse des arbitres a été très bon: 83% pour le
TCFH, et 73% pour Gémini. Les arbitres avaient
environ 4 semaines (TCFH) et 2 semaines
(Gémini) pour retourner leurs rapports.
The CTAC Meeting for Gemini
& CFHT
La réunion du CATC pour Gémini &
TCFH
The CTAC meeting was held on 6 & 7 Nov.
2004 at the Univ. of Toronto (hosted by
Marten van Kerkwijk). As always, CTAC
ranked proposals according to their
scientific merit and technical feasibility.
La réunion du CATC a eu lieu les 6 et 7 Nov.
2004 à l'Univ. de Toronto (avec l'amabilité de
Marten van Kerkwijk). Comme d'habitude, le
CATC a classé les demandes selon le mérite
scientifique et leur faisabilité technique.
CTAC discussed the following issues :
Le CATC a discuté les points suivants:
1. For the 3rd semester in a row, the value 1. Pour le 3e semestre en ligne, le CATC a
of external referees was discussed again
and again. It remains the general view of
CTAC that external referee reports are very
valuable.
discuté encore and encore de l'importance des
arbitres externes. L'opinion générale du CATC
demeure que les rapports d'arbitres externes sont
très importants.
2. CTAC noted a continuing problem with 2. Le CATC note le problème continuel avec les
proposal figures for Gemini. Figures are
submitted as attachments and the final
Gemini proposal is assembled in Victoria.
With the current PIT, it is not possible for
the proposer to review the assembled
proposal and approve it before submitting it.
As a result, there were again a number of
truncated or partially illegible Figures.
figures des demandes pour Gémini. Les figures
sont soumises comme attaches et la demande
finale Gémini est assemblée à Victoria. Avec
l'outil PIT, il n'est pas possible au demandeur de
voir la demande assemblée et de l'approuver
avant de la soumettre. Comme résultat, il y a un
nombre de figures tronquées ou partiellement
lisibles.
L'IHA envoie aux chercheurs principaux par
CFHT & Gemini TAC summaries and
copies of referee reports (names withheld) courriel depuis Victoria les rapports des arbitres
are sent from HIA in Victoria by email to the (anonymes) et le sommaire du CATC.
PIs of the proposals.
The International TACs
Les CAT Internationaux
At these international meetings, joint
proposals and potential duplicate sources
are discussed, and time assignments and
scheduling are finalised. The final observing
schedules can be seen on the CFHT and
Gemini web pages.
À ces rencontres internationales, on discute les
demandes conjointes et les cas de duplication de
sources, et on finalise les allocations de temps et
l'horaire.
Le CAT International pour le TCFH s'est réuni
pendant la rencontre du Comité Scientifique les
11,12,13 nov. 2004. Le CATC était représenté
par son Président.
The CFHT International TAC met at the
SAC meeting held on 2004 Nov. 11,12,13,
and CTAC was represented at this meeting
by its Chair.
Le CAT international pour Gémini s'est réuni le 29
nov. 2004. Le CATC était aussi représenté par
The Gemini International TAC met on 2004 son Président.
Nov. 29, and CTAC was again represented
by its Chair.
George Mitchell
Chair, Canadian
Time Allocation
Committee
(CTAC) for
Gemini and
CFHT
George Mitchell
is Professor at
St.Mary's
University in
Halifax, NS. He
is also Chair of
the Dept. of
Astronomy &
Physics and of
the BurkeGaffney
Observatory.
Much of his
research
involves the
interstellar
medium and star
George
Mitchell
Président,
Comité
d'Allocation
de Temps
Canadien
(CATC) pour
Gémini et le
TCFH.
George
Mitchell est
professeur à
l'Université
St.Mary's de
Halifax. Il est
aussi
directeur du
département
d'astronomie
& physique,
ainsi que de
l'Observatoire
Burke-
formation.
Gaffney à
Halifax. Sa
recherche
touche
surtout le
milieu
interstellaire
et la
formation des
étoiles.
E-Cass 2004 Dec. - CTAG Report: JCMT
JCMT CTAG Semester
Report 2005a
Rapport Semestriel du
GATC du TJCM 2005a
Submission and refereeing
Soumission et arbitrage
Thirty-two proposals were submitted to the
Canadian Time Allocation Group (CTAG)
for James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
(JCMT) time in the coming semester.
Proposals were received via e-mail to
[email protected] at HIA in Victoria.
Two referees were requested for each
proposal, and, as usual, there was a high
percentage (80 %) of responses from
referees (only 1 reminder was issued).
Le Groupe d'Allocation de Temps Canadien
(GATC) a recu 32 demandes de temps au
Télescope James Clerk Maxwell (TJCM) pour le
semestre qui vient. Les demandes sont
envoyées par courriel à [email protected]
à l'IHA de Victoria. Pour chaque demande, deux
arbitres furent sollicités. Comme d'habitude,
environ 80 % des arbitres ont répondu (1 rappel
seulement).
CTAG Statistics
Statistiques du GATC
The amount of Canadian time requested
(1211h for regular proposals, 43h for
previous student payback, 98h for
previous rollover status, 16h for CanServ)
greatly exceeded the 540h available,
resulting in a Canadian oversubscription
of 2.53, demonstrating a continuing
healthy interest by the scientific
community.
Le temps canadien demandé (1211h pour les
demandes normales, 43h pour repaiement
étudiant, 98h pour anciennes demandes avec
transfer automatique, 16h pour CanServ) a
surpassé les 540h disponibles, donnant un taux
de sursouscription de 2.53, ce qui démontre un
grand intérêt continuel par la communauté
scientifique.
CTAG meeting
Réunion du GATC
The voting members of CTAG are:
Les membres votants du GATC sont:
Beaulieu, Sylvie (Univ. Laval, Ste Foy)
Matthews, Henry (NRC HIA, Penticton), Chair/Président
Plume, René (Univ. Calgary),
Welch, Gary (St.Mary's Univ., Halifax)
Yee, Howard (Univ. Toronto)
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The NRC CTAG is ably assisted by
Jacques Vallée for the technical
secretarial duties, computer processing,
and the corporate memory.
Le GATC du CNRC reçoit l'aide compétente de
Jacques Vallée pour le secrétariat technique,
l'analyse computationnelle et la mémoire
corporative.
On this occasion, the CTAG met in
Victoria (NRC HIA) on Nov. 13/14 to
discuss proposals to use the JCMT. The
JCMT Director, Gary Davis, was in
attendence and gave an overview of the
JCMT situation. Taking into account
comments from referees, technical
assessors, and the CTAG's own
assessments, the proposals were ranked
in order of overall merit and a provisional
allocation of time was made.
Le GATC s'est réuni les à Victoria (IHA-CNRC)
les 13/14 nov. pour évaluer les demandes de
temps canadiennes. Le Directeur du TJCM,
Gary Davis, était présent et a donné un aperçu
de la situation au TJCM. Le GATC a ordonné
les demandes de temps selon le mérite
scientifique, tenant compte des commentaires
des arbitres, des évaluateurs techniques, et de
l'évaluation du GATC, et une distribution
provisoire du temps a été faite.
CTAG issues
Points d'intérêt du GATC
1. CanServ is limited to 'urgent' proposals. 1. CanServ est restreint aux demandes
The maximum time is 4h, and the
'urgentes'. Le temps maximum est de 4h, et
'urgency' must be explained.
l'urgence doit être expliquée.
2. CTAG absolutely needs external
referee reports, to cover all areas (many
being outside our combined areas of
expertise). In response to a query, Gary
Davis, JCMT Director, commented that no
one has ever documented a case to him
where ideas where stolen by a referee,
and many countries do use external
referees such as the UK and CSO.
2. Le GATC a absolument besoin de rapports
d'arbitres externes, pour couvrir tous les
champs (plusieurs étant en dehors de nos
domaines conjoints d'expertise). En réponse à
une question, Gary Davis, Directeur du TJCM, a
commenté que personne ne lui a jamais
démontré un cas où ses idées furent volées par
un arbitre, et plusieurs pays utilisent des
arbitres externes comme la Grande-Bretagne et
le CSO.
International TAC
CAT International
ITAC members met by telecon on Nov.23.
The ITAC includes representatives from
Canada (CTAG Chair), the UK, and the
Netherlands. It overseas the division of
time between the partners and also
assesses all purely international
proposals, i.e. those without a PI or a co-I
from a JCMT partner country.
Les membres du CATI se sont rejoints via
télécon le 23 Nov. Le CIAT est composé de
représentants du Canada (Président du GATC),
du RU, et des Pays-Bas. De plus, le CIAT divise
le temps entre les partenaires et évalue les
demandes 100% internationales, c-à-d sans un
PI ou un co-I d'un pays partenaire du TJCM.
Allocations for successful proposals are
posted on the JCMT Web pages in
Hawaii. In all cases, further information is
sent to the PI's in the form of feedback
from the CTAG.
Dr. Henry Matthews
Chair, Canadian Time Allocation
Group (CTAG) for JCMT
Dr. Matthews is at NRC HIA, where his
research concentrates on the physics of the
ISM.
On pourra voir sur la toile du TJCM à Hawaii la
liste des demandes de temps fructueuses. Des
informations plus détaillées sont envoyées par
le GATC aux chercheurs principaux.
Dr. Henry Matthews
Président, Groupe d'Allocation de
Temps Canadien (GATC) pour le
TJCM
Dr. Matthews est à l'IHA du CNRC, Ses
recherches portent sur la physique du milieu
interstellaire.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Coalition for Canadian Astronomy - Report on Recent Activities
Coalition for Canadian Astronomy - Report on
Recent Activities
Members and representatives of the Coalition for Canadian Astronomy met in early December
with senior ministry officials from both Finance and Industry and ~20MPs. To reach this many
people it was necessary to have some overlapping meetings and so two groups were often in
action at the same time. Coalition reps were: Gretchen Harris, Russ Taylor, Gilles Joncas
(CASCA), Michael Jolliffe (Industry), and Pekka Sinervo (ACURA). Temple Scott Associates
also attended the meetings and provided us all with an extensive briefing package which
included: a full schedule of the meetings and identification of the participants for each meeting,
background information on all of the MPs, and guidelines on how to present ourselves and
desired outcomes for each session.
The meetings ran for three days (Dec. 7-9) and were normally 30 minute
sessions. The majority of the MPs we met were from the liberal party and
most of those had supported the Coalition’s previous efforts. We also met
with several conservatives along with members from the NDP and Bloc
Quebecois. At every meeting we provided our audience with a copy of
the pre-release report of the Mid Term Review (as authorized by CASCA
Board), a scorecard detailing how the $63.8M already received has been
used, a background document on the LRP and past lobby efforts, and a
summary of what funding is required over the next seven years and how
that funding will be spent. We will be posting all of these on the CASCA
website in the New Year.
Our goal for each meeting was to raise awareness that further money was
required for the LRP since the previous funding that was allocated by the
federal government in 2001 and 2003 would begin to run out as early as
mid 2005, thus there is a need to assign new funds beginning in fiscal
year 2005/06. The meetings generally began with the astronomer (Russ,
Gretchen, Gilles) speaking briefly about the LRP and MTR, excellence in
Canadian astronomy and the broad community support for this initiative.
Michael Jolliffe spoke about the evidence of economic benefits both past
and present. Pekka Sinervo talked about ACURA: its uniqueness in
Canada as a university based coalition and the work that ACURA has
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done so far. The questions asked both during and after these brief
presentations varied widely but always came down to what money we
needed and a time line for the funding. The materials prepared provided
a breakdown in terms of the full 7 year ask based on the MTR Report as
well as what was needed in the first year and the first three years.
The people we met with were generally interested and supportive. Those
who had been supporters in the past remain so and new MPs ranged from
very supportive to neutral (very few here). Several agreed to write letters
to or speak to ministers Emerson (Industry) and Goodale (Finance).
Others agreed to raise it in caucus or even in Question Period. The two
Quebec MPs with whom Gilles Joncas met were among the strongest
new supporters and we owe him our thanks for these two meetings
alone. Pekka Sinervo’s presence was also enormously valuable because
he is an academic, but not an astronomer, and a Dean whose job involves
overseeing 32 different departments. When he spoke to the uniqueness
and value of ACURA he was listened to. Michael Jolliffe continued what
he has been doing for the Coalition for several years in speaking to the
economic benefits of supporting the LRP. I was normally not in the
meetings with Russ Taylor but it was clear from comments by the others
that he is continuing his very effective championing of the LRP.
As for me, I learned a lot, had some fun in the process and came home
exhausted. Overall I am pleased with the results and am optimistic that
we will continue to be supported by the federal government. However, the
process of funding the LRP remains a complex one and, until a better
process comes along, we will need to do this again and again. We are
already planning meetings for the New Year which will include the agency
Presidents (or VPs) in January; and we will likely be in Ottawa again in
early February for a second round of meetings with both MPs and ministry
staff. Keep alert for more from the Coalition in the next week or two. We
are looking for your help in raising the LRP with your local MPs and during
the break is an ideal time to get in touch. There will be an email with
information on how to get in touch with MPs and some ideas of what you
might say – by letter, on the phone, or in person.
Gretchen Harris
Co-Chair: Coalition for Canadian Astronomy

Winter Solstice 2004

Transcription

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