U.S.-Venezuela Cooperative Research: Long-Term AstronomicalSurveys Using Electronic Detectors on a Wide-Field Telescope

这个奖项将支持大卫顾志远博士，约瑟夫S。 米勒和劳埃德B。加州大学的罗宾逊 利克天文台与古斯塔沃博士合作研究 天文学研究中心（CIDA） 在委内瑞拉的梅里达 合作的目的是 建立一个长期的联合方案，包括两个部分： 首先是为飞行员提供旅行和数据传输支持 仪器项目，以开发一个大格式的电子 (CCD)新的加拿大国际开发署1米施密特望远镜上使用的相机。 利克和加拿大国际开发署的天文学家将利用这一强大的 组合承接各种广泛的新型测光 和具有共同科学意义的天气调查。 之一 这将是一项重要的新的长期观测调查， 天空中的20个地方 在许多潜在的程序中， 这些数据将是一个天文光度测量研究 星系的光度函数和一个天气计划， 寻找遥远的超新星 的第二部分 合作将尝试开发新的定量 分析广泛的多维数据的方法，旨在 主要是探索星系的演化和宇宙学。 主要的观测调查是一些最有成效的 天文学工具来了解宇宙。 此类调查 让天文学家能够测量 已知的物体，并发现新的，罕见的或不寻常的 对象的类。 尽管它们的重要性， 覆盖大面积的调查，天气计划，或任何 长期项目都特别难做 在今天望远镜时间稀缺的气候下。 加开发署 委内瑞拉的天文台最近完成了建设， 一个1米长的施密特望远镜 与之相似的是，在《易经》中， 北方三个最大的 同他们合作的 计划为加拿大国际开发署的望远镜开发成像相机， 开发了超大型电荷耦合探测器（CCD） 在利克的探测器实验室，加上加拿大国际开发署的能力， 为专门观察员提供长期调查时间 应该可以让天文学家进行各种新的 调查的深度、时间和覆盖面都是前所未有的。

This award will support Drs. David Chih-yuen Koo, Joseph S. Miller, and Lloyd B. Robinson of the University of California Lick Observatory in a research collaboration with Dr. Gustavo Bruzual of the Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomia (CIDA) in Merida, Venezuela. The purpose of the collaboration is to establish a long-term joint program involving two parts: the first involves travel and data-transfer support for a pilot instrumentation project to develop a large-format electronic (CCD) camera for use on the new CIDA 1-meter Schmidt telescope. Lick and CIDA astronomers will then use this powerful combination to undertake various extensive new photometric and synoptic surveys of joint scientific interest. One of these will be a major new long-term observational survey of 20 areas in the sky. Among many potential programs using these data will be a multicolor photometric survey to study the luminosity function of galaxies and a synoptic program to search for very distant supernovae. The second part of the collaboration will attempt to develop new quantitative methods of analyzing extensive multidimensional data, aimed mainly at exploring the evolution of galaxies and cosmology. Major observational surveys are some of the most productive astronomical tools to understand the universe. Such surveys allow astronomers to measure distributions of properties of known objects and also to discover new, rare, or unusual classes of objects. Despite their importance, photometric surveys that cover large areas, synoptic programs, or any long-term projects are all particularly difficult to undertake in today's climate of scarce telescope time. The CIDA observatory in Venezuela has recently finished the construction of a 1-meter Schmidt telescope that has overall optical properties similar to the one at Palomar and is the among the three largest in the northern hemisphere. The collaborators' plan to develop imaging cameras for the telescope at CIDA using charge coupled detectors (CCDs) of very large format developed at the Detector Laboratory at Lick, plus the ability of CIDA to provide dedicated observers time for long-term surveys should allow astronomers to undertake a variety of new surveys of unprecedented depth, time and areal coverage.