NSF Visitor Support for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility

NSF 访客对 NASA 红外望远镜设施的支持

• 批准号: 1747987
• 负责人: John Rayner
• 金额: $ 29.56万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-04-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1747987&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Visitor; Support; NASA; Infrared

The NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a national astronomical observatory primarily to support spacecraft missions and to obtain infrared observations of Solar System objects. The IRTF is managed, operated and maintained for NASA under a Cooperative Agreement with the University of Hawaii (UH) through its Institute for Astronomy. NASA provides the majority of the operating cost of the facility as well as visitor support for the astronomers carrying out programs focused on Solar System objects. Fifty percent of the available observing time is allocated to Solar System observing programs. The rest of the observing time is allocated to observational programs emphasizing scientific programs outside the Solar System. The IRTF visitor use for these non-Solar System programs has been supported by the NSF in the past. This grant will continue the NSF funding support for visiting astronomers for the IRTF for an additional two years.From 2012-2016, 539 refereed publications have resulted from IRTF observations, of which 395 are non-Solar System publications. Most of the IRTF staff is based at the UH facilities in Hilo, situated in a largely rural setting with large minority communities. Several underrepresented groups (e.g., native Hawaiian) are employees of UH or are UH students with the IRTF. The IRTF contributes to educational and public outreach within the Hilo community through three major programs: Journey through the Universe, the Imiloa Astronomy Center, and the Maunakea Scholars Program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

美国航天局红外望远镜设施（IRTF）是由美国国家航空航天局（NASA）作为国家天文观测站建立的，主要用于支持航天器飞行任务和获得太阳系天体的红外观测。根据与夏威夷（UH）通过其天文学研究所签订的合作协定，国际遥感工作队为美国航天局进行管理、运营和维护。NASA提供了该设施的大部分运营成本，以及对天文学家进行太阳系天体项目的游客支持。50%的可用观测时间分配给太阳系观测计划。其余的观测时间分配给观测计划，强调太阳系以外的科学计划。IRTF访客用于这些非太阳系项目的计划在过去一直得到NSF的支持。 这笔赠款将继续为IRTF访问天文学家提供两年的资助。从2012年到2016年，IRTF观测产生了539篇参考出版物，其中395篇是非太阳系出版物。IRTF的大多数工作人员都在希洛的UH设施工作，该设施位于一个主要是农村的地方，有大量的少数民族社区。一些代表性不足的群体（例如，夏威夷本地人）是UH的雇员或IRTF的UH学生。IRTF通过三个主要项目为希洛社区的教育和公共宣传做出贡献：宇宙之旅，Imiloa天文中心和Maunakea学者计划。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。