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More Changes to Kitt Peak Facilities (1Dec94)
(from KPNO, NOAO Newsletter No. 40, 1 December 1994)

The new 3.5-m WIYN telescope will begin scientific operations in the
spring semester, and we have received already exciting science proposals for
observations with WIYN. The telescope promises excellent performance for
both optical imaging and multi-fiber spectroscopy. KPNO is responsible for
most of the operations costs for WIYN; that support effort has already
begun through the training of operators and other mountain and downtown
staff who will work to keep the telescope at its peak performance. At the
same time, our budget in real dollars continues to decline, by some 30% in
the last decade, and this trend is continuing. After many years of
belt-tightening, we are unable to absorb further cuts without significant
impact on our users, particularly as we take on WIYN operations.

Our guiding principle as we contemplate how to accommodate further
budget cuts is the provision of those critical scientific capabilities most
heavily used by our user community, across telescope aperture. These basic
capabilities which must be provided at a national facility such as Kitt Peak
include optical and infrared imaging, and both high and low resolution
spectroscopy at both optical and infrared wavelengths. Extending those
capabilities to improve performance and productivity and to assure that our
users have access to competitive instrumentation is our goal.

For the spring 1995 semester we have implemented several changes to the
instrumentation offered on Kitt Peak telescopes. These changes include the
restriction of IR instrumentation to particular telescopes, the retirement of
the FOE and the white spectrograph, the change of status of the 4-m
Cryogenic Camera to "reduced availability," and the restriction of FTS
operations to service observing only. Further changes to the list of available
instruments for the fall, 1995 semester are also under consideration. These
include the retirement of the 4-m prime focus camera and of photoelectric
photometry, as described in the accompanying articles. We are making every
effort to assist those astronomers impacted most heavily by these changes to
complete their programs.

We are forced also to make a more serious change in the facilities available
to the community--the closing of the 1.3-m telescope. The 1.3-m has been in
operation for decades. It was originally built as a "remote observing"
telescope, and later became heavily used for infrared observations and for IR
array development. New infrared instrumentation now underway, including
the Phoenix high resolution spectrometer and the GRASP multi-color grating
spectrometer, will not be usable on the 1.3-m because of size and weight
restrictions. While the 1.3-m telescope has been a highly productive facility
for many years, the scientific capabilities it offers are now largely duplicated
on the 2.1-m and 4-m telescopes.

During the spring semester, 1995, the 1.3-m telescope will be scheduled to
complete two graduate theses already underway, and to complete two
ongoing programs using photoelectric photometry. The telescope will also be
used occasionally for testing new IR arrays as the Aladdin project gears into
production. Other highly ranked proposals approved by the TAC for the
1.3-m telescope have been moved to the 2.1-m, and some 2.1-m proposals
have been moved to the 4-m telescope to accommodate our users' needs.
We will continue to pay close attention to approved thesis programs so that
students can complete their degrees.

We at Kitt Peak want to keep our telescopes open. You, our users, have told
us with no uncertainty that keeping telescopes open is your highest priority.
Access to telescope time is important to you, and to us as well - much of
our own research is done using the small telescopes on Kitt Peak. The
0.9-m, Coude Feed, and Burrell Schmidt telescopes offer unique and
specialized scientific opportunities in wide field imaging and high resolution
spectroscopy. The pattern of budget cuts and telescope closures has persisted
for 15 years, and will continue to threaten our small telescopes. To keep
those telescopes open, we must break the pattern.

Over the next 2-3 years we will explore new styles of operation of the small
telescopes to see if we can learn to operate them with fewer resources. We
may ask observers to come a night early to learn how to use a small
telescope from the previous observer, and to provide the same courtesy to
the next observer. We may ask users to assist us with the tasks of
documentation and advocacy for individual telescopes and their instruments
as telescope and instrument scientists. We may ask graduate students to
serve as "resident astronomers" to assist users, in return for telescope time.
Many of you may have other ideas for ways to reduce the cost of operating
small telescopes, and we welcome your suggestions as we work to find ways
to keep these telescopes open.

Caty Pilachowski

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