As part of an internal review of the status and future directions of KPNO, a subgroup of the scientific staff (T. Armandroff, B. Bohannan, A. Dey, and R. Green) prepared a discussion on the Evolution of KPNO and its suite of instrumentation. In particular, this report presented a forward look to the likely needs of KPNO by the year 2005.

KPNO Roles

• Enabling basic scientific research
• Complementing Gemini capabilities

Science and Technology Opportunities circa 2005

• Basic astronomical research that does not require 8-m
  • Large scale: kinematics and metallicity of Galactic disk and halo
  • Large scale structure to z ~ 0.2
• Surveys to drive Gemini and NGST observations
• Synoptic and Target-of-Opportunity
• Photometric calibration and photometry in general
• Astrometric positions for effective use of 8-m class telescopes (both optical and near-IR)
• Support for multi-wavelength, provide the optical component
• Technology: a place to develop new astronomical instrumentation and software, to experiment with operations philosophy, and carry out scientific research.

Strategy for the Next Decade

• Evolve wide-field imaging and spectroscopic capabilities to provide excellence in the A/d ² figure of merit (~ number of objects/image quality)

Instrument Complement in 2005

The committee concluded that the core instrument complement for the Mayall 4-m, consistent with the goals and strategy outlined above, would be:

• Mosaic PF Imager (1 deg FOV imager at WIYN by 2007?)
• High-throughput, wide FOV spectrograph ( NGOS)
• Wide-field IR imager (NEWFIRM)