sci08008 — Announcement
ALTAIR Seeks Community Input
June 30, 2008
As described previously in Currents, the Senior Review report urged NOAO to ensure that community access to facilities remains scientifically balanced over all apertures. As part of its response to this request, NOAO has formed a community-based committee, ALTAIR (Access to Large Telescopes for Astronomical Instruction and Research), which is charged with developing a prioritized, quantitative, science-justified list of capabilities for 6.5- to 10-m telescopes in the US System, including Gemini.
The committee will focus on what the US community desires in terms of capabilities and access to telescopes in this aperture range. It will address the current needs and uses of such facilities, and it will also attempt to predict how these needs will evolve over the next ten years. The charge and membership of the committee are available at the ALTAIR committee Web site. The goals of the ALTAIR study are similar to those of the recent ReSTAR committee study, which studied the needs of the US community for 2- to 4-m telescopes.
Following the approach taken by ReSTAR, the ALTAIR committee is now soliciting input from the broad community in the form of a survey in order to understand the community’s needs. The survey probes your current and/or anticipated future use of 6.5- to 10-m facilities, including aspects such as required instrumentation, observing modes, observing time, and other resources. The first part of the survey, which is designed to provide a snapshot of your needs and priorities, requires only about 10 minutes to complete. In the second part of the survey, you are invited to describe in greater detail the resources needed to achieve your future science goals. You are also invited to express your views on the allocation of US federal funding for 6.5- to 10-m class telescopes.
Please respond to the survey to make your views known! Your input will guide the evolution of the NOAO program and the investment of NSF resources. We will report on the results of the survey in a future issue of Currents.
