NOAO @ January AAS

Presentations from NOAO events at the 2016 AAS meeting in Kissimmee are now posted. If you missed these events (or wish to relive the experience!), please follow the links below.

• NOAO Transformed: A Status Report [29.4 MB PDF]
  NOAO Director David Silva highlights new research capabilities for the NOAO community (including new instrumentation, survey data sets, and data exploration tools) as well as future directions and opportunities.
• News from Kitt Peak National Observatory [22.9 MB PDF]
  Lori Allen, Kitt Peak Associate Director, describes the exciting new missions for the Mayall 4-m, WIYN 3.5-m, and 2.1-m telescopes, their current instrumentation, and Observatory efforts in outreach and dark sky protection.
• US Gemini NGO Mini-Workshop on AO
  A suite of presentations provide an introduction to adaptive optics (Claire Max), illustrate the process of planning an observational program (Tim Davidge), and discuss issues associated with data processing and analysis (Franck Marchis).
• The US National Gemini Office (NGO): What we can do for you [3.7 MB PDF]
  Dara Norman discusses the US National Gemini Office (NGO), part of the NOAO System Science and Data Center (NSSDC) in Tucson, AZ, and the services it provides to observers.
• ANTARES: An Event Broker for LSST [12 MB PDF]
  Gautham Narayan introduces a prototype system to identify rare transient events in real-time, from “multi-messenger” data streams. Several demos illustrate how an alert can be characterized with only position information, its light curve analyzed, and the event compared to a library of known events using machine learning algorithms.
• Hunting Dwarf Galaxies: A Preview of the NOAO Data Lab [7.8 MB PDF]
  NOAO is developing new Data Lab tools to facilitate the exploration of large datasets. Here Knut Olsen demonstrates how the Hydra II dwarf galaxy discovered by the SMASH survey is easily identified using Data Lab services, as is the RR Lyrae variable star that lurks within it.
• Thirty Meter Telescope Open House [12.6 MB PDF]
  Fiona Harrison and Mark Dickinson review the status of TMT and opportunities for US community participation.
• TMT Thermal IR Science and Instrumentation Workshop
  Presentations discuss concepts and science cases for a thermal-IR imager and spectrometer for TMT, in preparation for an anticipated call for proposals for second generation instruments.
• Light Pollution at Campus/University Observatories [32.5 MB PDF]
  Panelists Doug Arion, James Lowenthal, and Pat Seitzer discuss light pollution mitigation at university and college campuses.
• A Kit for Exploring Light Pollution Issues and Solutions [54.6MB PDF]
  Connie Walker introduces the Quality Lighting Teaching Kit. Produced by NOAO’s EPO group, the kit features problem-based learning scenarios that are designed for use in schools, afterschool programs, museums, and national parks.

   

  REU Student Posters
  Presentations by the following students showcased research carried out in Summer 2015:
  • Rose Gibson (Effects of Commercial Airline Traffic on LSST Observing Efficiency, [4.1 MB PDF])
  • Logan Jones (Star Formation and AGN populations in Abell 1689, [920 KB PDF])
  • Elizabeth Juelfs (Reddening in the SMASH Survey, [2.4 MB PDF])
  • Jacklyn Pezzato (Kepler Observations of ASAS Variable Stars, [562 KB PDF])
  • Erick Sandberg (Mass Loss in Main Belt Asteroids, [3.3 MB PDF])
  • Tayeb Zaidi (Supernova Lightcurve Classification, [738 KB PDF])