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NOAO Small Telescopes Workshop

January 12-January 15, 1997

Toronto, Canada

Sunday, 12 January, 9:00am-5:00pm
Queens Quay 1/2

Tuesday, 14 January, 6:30-7:30pm
Harbour A


This is an open meeting and workshop, sponsored by AURA and NOIRLab, concerning the possibilities for maintaining access to small telescopes in North America and the role of Kitt Peak's smaller telescopes. The results of this workshop will guide the writing of an announcement of opportunity (AO) for future operation or use for those telescopes that NOAO can no longer support and operate in the way that the National Observatories traditionally have done. The workshop is also intended to provide an opportunity for individuals with common interests in these telescopes to explore ways that they may join forces to propose plans in response to that AO.

9:00 AM Welcome and "why we are here" G. Oertel
9:15 AM Report from the Lowell meeting on Small Telescopes R. Millis
9:30 AM The scientific and educational roles played by small telescopes S. Strom
9:45 AM The role of ground-based telescopes in support of space missions G. Riegler
10:00 AM The NOAO "small" telescopes in the context of other national and private facilities S. Wolff
10:15 AM The NSF perspective H. van Horn
10:30 AM break for coffee, discussion
10:45 AM Where is this process leading? L. Willson
11:00 AM Panel (= all the above speakers) responds to questions from the floor
11:45 AM Introduction to the discussion groups
12:00 PM Lunch break
1:00 - 3:00 PM

Discussion groups meet

Discussion group A. Queens Quay 1/2
The use of small telescopes for educational purposes, including to provide research opportunities for faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions, in small astronomy programs, or in non-astronomy environments.

Co-Chairs: S. Strom and D. Elmegreen
NOAO/AURA: M. A'Hearn, G. Jacoby

Discussion group B. Pier 9
The use of small telescopes for support of observations at other wavelengths and/or from space.

Co-Chairs: Y. Kondo and E. Guinan
NOAO/AURA: D. Richstone, K. Mighell

Discussion group C. Pier 8
The use of small telescopes for large projects - surveys, long-term monitoring, and longitude-coverage networks.

Co-Chairs: B. Paczynski and M. Urry NOAO/AURA: D. Crawford, M. Smith

Discussion group D. Pier 7
Innovative approaches to the instrumentation and operation of small telescopes - private or at NOAO - for use by a wide community of observers.

Co-Chairs: R. Green and R. Gehrz
NOAO/AURA: G. Oertel and B. Bohannan
3:00 PM Coffee break in Queens Quay 1/2. (Note: some participants may leave to participate in the SIRTF session 3-6 PM.)
3:30 PM Reconvene to discuss the results of the small-group discussion and summarize the results of the workshop

The session on Tuesday, January 14, 6:30-7:30PM in Harbour A will be an open session with a short summary of Sunday's program followed by reports from the discussion groups.