Support for the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope Facility

我们银河系中的许多恒星拥有一颗或多颗行星。有了这个奖项，位于图森附近的基特峰国家天文台的WIYN望远镜将继续主要用于测量这些“系外行星”的速度和质量。需要质量来确定系外行星主要是气态的、冰状的还是岩石状的。由该计划促成的研究将加强识别和描述附近宇宙中类似地球的系外行星的基础。WIYN使用的主要仪器被称为NeID，它超过了技术要求，通常会测量出每秒不到一米的行星速度。这项提案将为NSF未来45个月对WIYN行动的贡献提供资金，以支持NASA-NSF系外行星观测研究(NN-EXPLOVER)计划。NN-Explore将联邦机构、联邦研究中心和美国大学聚集在一起，目标是推进系外行星的研究。通过同行评议和该奖项促进的开放数据获取基于调查的研究，将允许科学家和公民参与WIYN研究企业，无论他们是谁或在哪里工作。许多参与者是早期职业科学家和本科生。根据这一奖项，NSF的国家光学-红外天文学研究实验室(NOIRLab)将在2024年至2027年继续运行WIYN望远镜，作为NSF对NN-EXPLOVER计划的贡献。NN-EXPLOVER使与系外行星及其宿主恒星的特征相关的科学研究成为可能。Neid是美国唯一一台开放式极高精度径向速度仪器，它具有技术能力和所需的长达数年的高节奏(大约每隔一晚)在空中飞行的时间，以实现以下目标：识别附近的宜居行星，跟踪NASA开普勒和TESS等任务的发现，为詹姆斯·韦伯和罗马太空望远镜选择关键目标，并为NASA未来的宜居世界天文台开辟道路。该奖项为WIYN的基本运营和维护提供支持，以及NEID继续运营所需的次要技术升级。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many stars in our galaxy host one or more planets. With this award, the WIYN telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson will continue to be used primarily to measure the velocities and masses of these “exoplanets”. Masses are needed to determine if an exoplanet is primarily gaseous, icy, or rocky. Research enabled by this program will strengthen the foundations for identifying and characterizing Earth-like exoplanets in the nearby cosmos. The primary instrument being used at WIYN, known as NEID, exceeds its technical requirements and routinely measures planet velocities to better than a meter per second. This proposal will fund the next 45 months of NSF’s contribution to WIYN operations, in support of the NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research (NN-EXPLORE) Program. NN-EXPLORE brings together federal agencies, federal research centers, and U.S. universities, with the goal of advancing research in exoplanets. The open access for enquiry-based research via peer review and open data facilitated by this award will allow scientists and citizens to engage in the WIYN research enterprise no matter who they are or where they work. Many participants are early career scientists and undergraduate students.Under this award, NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) will continue to operate the WIYN telescope from 2024 through 2027 as NSF’s contribution to the NN-EXPLORE program. NN-EXPLORE enables scientific research related to the characterization of exoplanets and their host stars. NEID is the only open-access extreme-precision radial velocity instrument in the U.S. that has the technical capability and the required years-long and high cadence (approximately every other night) time on sky to meet the goal of identifying nearby habitable planets, following up on discoveries by NASA missions like Kepler and TESS, picking key targets for the James Webb and Roman Space Telescopes, and blazing the path forward to enable NASA’s future Habitable Worlds Observatory. This award provides support for essential operations and maintenance of WIYN, as well as minor technological upgrades needed for the continued operation of NEID.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.