Abstract for MSU seminar 3/22/2006
Ron Probst
Major Instruments Program, NOAO
NEWFIRM Project Scientist
This talk has two parts: (i) the technical and programmatic challenges of building a widefield infrared camera, and (ii) the scientific motivations and resulting observational programs for these instruments. The point of reference for both parts is NEWFIRM, a widefield IR camera for the NOAO 4-m telescopes, nearing delivery in Tucson.
IR detector arrays are the heart of any IR instrument. Technical advances have come in the form of format (and physical size) jumps. These have driven the complexity and size of the surrounding cryogenic instruments. On the technical side, increase in size alone can raise new technical challenges for which proven solutions are inadequate. The same is true on the managerial side. An informal management structure that successfully produces $1 M PI-class instruments is not simply scalable to $5 M facility instruments. I will present examples and “lessons learned” in both areas from my experience with NEWFIRM and its predecessor projects.
The purpose of an instrument is to do science. The recognized need for deep, widefield near infrared imaging capability to support science on 8-10m class telescopes has produced a crop of similar instruments that are now coming on-line. This includes NEWFIRM on the NOAO 4-m telescopes; WFCAM on UKIRT; WIRCAM on the CFHT; and VISTA, an evolutionary convergence of instrument and telescope. I’ll review the scientific motivations, which are (unsurprisingly) similar. The realization as specific observing programs and practices is tending strongly to large scale survey efforts that require detailed advance planning and large blocks of observing time. NEWFIRM is embedded in an observing system designed to support this programmatic style. However, the traditional practice at NOAO with its university users has been the few nights’ observing run used by a small team to carry out a single, very specific, project. The optimal mix of “survey” and “PI” science is a topic of great interest for the potential NEWFIRM user community.