FY03 TSIP AWARDS

SAO AWARDED $2.5M FOR MMIRS

In June 2003, the TSIP program awarded $2.5 mil. over three years to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) for the design and fabrication of “The MMT and Magellan Infrared Spectrograph” (MMIRS) to be shared by the MMT and Magellan telescopes. The proposed MMIRS will use a single Hawaii-2 array and is based on the existing FLAMINGOS instrument concept for reduced cost and risk. The 0.2 arc second per pixel detector scale is matched to the sites’ infrared conditions, and the adopted resolving power (R = 3000) is appropriate for the intended science. The large field (up to 6.8 x 6.8 arc minutes), multi-object capabilities, and high sensitivity make this instrument very compelling and will be a significant enhancement of U.S. near-infrared spectroscopic capability, particularly at Magellan in the southern hemisphere. The strong need for such instruments was specifically identified at the 2001 “Optical/IR Observing System Workshop.” The MMIRS award provides for 27 additional nights at the MMT Observatory and for the first time gives the U.S. community access (27 nights) to the 6.5-m Magellan telescopes in Las Campanas.

CARA AWARDED $1.1M FOR KIRMOS

The second of the two FY03 TSIP awards ($1.1 mil.) went to the California Association for Research in Astronomy (CARA) to support ongoing work on KIRMOS, a near-IR imager and multi-object spectrograph for the W. M. Keck Observatory Keck II telescope. KIRMOS is an ambitious instrument that calls for a very large detector format (2 x 2 mosaic of 2048 x 2048 pixel arrays) to cover an 11' x 11' field with relatively fine sampling of 0.16 arc seconds per pixel. The wide field, large detector size, and the large collecting area of the Keck telescope will make KIRMOS the most powerful instrument of its kind, with the potential to provide unique and much-needed scientific capabilities to U.S. astronomy. The first half of the KIRMOS Phase B preliminary design study has already been completed, and the current TSIP award will fund the remainder of this study. In exchange for TSIP funding, the U.S. community will have access to 12 additional nights on the high-performance Keck 10-m telescopes, including all Keck facility instruments, beginning in semester 2004-A (February 1, 2004).