The AURA Observatory Visiting Committee (OVC) reviewed the programs of the National Solar Observatory from 8--11 December. The need to visit both NSO sites during these visits makes the effort for the OVC members particularly strenuous. Nonetheless, the visits provided an outstanding opportunity for the NSO staff and the OVC to interact extensively and closely. The hard work and sincere interest by the OVC members in assessing the quality and plans of NSO were very much appreciated by the NSO staff and myself. The OVC expressed appreciation for the service and research programs at both sites and strongly endorsed our vision for a renewed NSO centered around SOLIS and a large Optical/Infrared observing facility. The OVC report and the comments on it by the NOAO and NSO have been accepted by AURA and forwarded to NSF.
As a result of comments by the OVC, the efforts related to the preparation of a proposal for the large Optical/Infrared observing facility (or "Flagship Telescope" in the language of the report) are being expanded by increasing the participation of the NSO staff. With Christoph Keller as chair, a team of six NSO astronomers has prepared a proposal to realize this broader participation. Its first step is the formation of four task groups, to make recommendations about science goals, site choice, high-resolution techniques and coronagraphy techniques. Convenors for these task groups are Jack Zirker, John Leibacher, Rich Radick and Matt Penn respectively.
Other current activities relating to the future NSO program include: (1) the submission of a more complete proposal for SOLIS to NSF; (2) the preparation of a proposal for an enhancement of the GONG facility to allow higher resolution imaging; (3) an attempt to resolve issues surrounding the funding of the RISE/PSPT facility; and (4) an agreement with the USAF/PL for NSO/SP to construct the prototype of the USAF ISOON telescope/instrument package. The pressure on our staff of all these new initiatives together with our desire to maintain visitor observing support and provide enhanced observatory capabilities unfortunately starts eating into the research time available to the NSO scientific staff.
The scientific staff was strengthened by the recruitment of Haocheng Lin at NSO/SP. He takes the position vacated as the result of the retirement of Jack Zirker. Other personnel changes include the departure of Ann Barringer from the NSO Director's Office. Ann moved to a new position in Phoenix. Her replacement is Priscilla Piano (ppiano@noao.edu).
Jacques Beckers