One of the major recommendations of the NRC Panel on Ground-Based Optical and Infrared Astronomy was that the NSF should augment funding for facility instruments for the powerful new telescopes at those independent observatories that agree to provide national peer-reviewed access to their facilities. I am pleased to announce that this program has been initiated. Steward Observatory has agreed to provide 24 nights of community access per year on the converted 6.5-m MMT for a period of six years. I will be working out the details of this access program, including when it will begin, with Peter Strittmatter over the next few months. Peter has already indicated that any facility instrument, not just the three funded by the NSF under this new program, will be made available to the community.
The NSF has also funded fiber-fed medium and high resolution spectrographs for the Hobby-Eberly telescope, and 27 nights per year for six years will be made available to the national community. Both the converted MMT and the Hobby-Eberly telescope will be equipped with instruments that are not included in the Gemini first-light suite of instruments, and so this new program will substantially increase the opportunities available to the community.
Future Newsletters will describe when and how to submit applications for the time at the independent observatories, and NOAO will also provide descriptions of the instrumental capabilities that are available. The time will be scheduled through an NOAO-managed TAC. Note, however, that neither of the two telescopes involved is completed yet, and access is probably 18-24 months away.
Sidney Wolff