Revitalizing Mount Wilson Observatory

复兴威尔逊山天文台

• 批准号: 0963172
• 负责人: Harold McAlister
• 金额: $ 148.68万
• 依托单位: Mount Wilson Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-10-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0963172&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Revitalizing; Mount; Wilson; Observatory

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This award will permit the renovation of several research facilities at the Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO). This observatory was founded in 1904 in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California, remains an active research site in spite of the night sky illumination from the Los Angeles basin. The original 60- and 150-ft solar towers, which established the field of solar physics, are used by teams from the University of Southern California and UCLA to study the sun's surface activity and magnetic field as well as probing its interior using the techniques of helioseismology. UC Berkeley operates the Infrared Spatial Interferometer, a mid-infrared 3-telescope facility with a unique capability for studying supergiant and giant stars and their dusty environments. Mount Wilson is home to Georgia State University's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy whose CHARA Array is the world's highest resolution optical interferometer.The Observatory has been managed since 1987 under an agreement with the Carnegie Institution of Washington, owner of the original Observatory facilities, by the Mount Wilson Institute (MWI), a non-profit organization incorporated in California with offices in Atlanta. MWI seeks to renovate certain facilities that date from the Observatory's beginnings that have received no major attention in decades. These tasks include painting and repairs of solar towers and the original night-time telescopes presently in danger of serious malfunction due to lack of such maintenance, repair of tanks and delivery systems used for supplying potable and fire-fighting water, and reduction of vegetation that fuels forest fires. Many of these tasks involve human safety and all are fundamental to the continued operation of Mount Wilson Observatory as a scientific research site. Ongoing research efforts from Mount Wilson all involve the training of the next generation of astronomers and further public awareness of astronomical research. Undergraduate students are associated directly with four principal projects as well as with a special two-week summer program. MWI has updated the Astronomical Museum on the mountain to more clearly depict the historical contribution from MWO as well as better inform the public of its contemporary science programs.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该合同将允许对威尔逊山天文台（MWO）的几个研究设施进行翻新。 这个天文台于1904年在南加州的圣盖博山脉建立，尽管有来自洛杉矶盆地的夜空照明，它仍然是一个活跃的研究场所。最初的60英尺和150英尺的太阳塔建立了太阳物理学领域，由南加州大学和加州大学洛杉矶分校的团队使用，以研究太阳的表面活动和磁场，以及使用日震学技术探测其内部。加州大学伯克利分校运行红外空间干涉仪，这是一个中红外3望远镜设施，具有研究超巨星和巨星及其尘埃环境的独特能力。威尔逊山是格鲁吉亚州立大学高角分辨率天文中心的所在地，该中心的CHARA阵列是世界上分辨率最高的光学干涉仪。该天文台自1987年以来一直由威尔逊山研究所（MWI）管理，该研究所是一家在加州注册成立的非营利组织，在亚特兰大设有办事处。MWI寻求翻新某些设施，这些设施可以追溯到天文台的开始，几十年来一直没有受到重视。这些任务包括油漆和修理太阳能塔和原来的夜间望远镜，这些望远镜由于缺乏这种保养，目前有严重故障的危险，修理用于供应饮用水和消防用水的水箱和输送系统，减少助长森林火灾的植被。其中许多任务涉及人身安全，所有这些都是威尔逊山天文台作为科学研究场所继续运作的基础。威尔逊山正在进行的研究工作都涉及培训下一代天文学家以及进一步提高公众对天文研究的认识。 本科生直接与四个主要项目以及一个特殊的为期两周的暑期课程。MWI更新了山上的天文博物馆，以更清楚地描绘MWO的历史贡献，并更好地向公众介绍其当代科学计划。