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

基特峰国家天文台将在2016财年至18财年期间运行和维护位于亚利桑那州图森附近的WIYN 3.5米望远镜，以开展以下三项关键活动：(A)在NASA-NSF系外行星观测研究(NN-EXPLOVER)联合方案框架内，大约270个夜晚用于与研究绕其他恒星运行的行星(所谓系外行星)及其宿主恒星有关的科学研究；(B)2018财年安装极端精密多普勒光谱仪，用于确定开普勒和凌日系外行星调查卫星等空间任务发现的系外行星的质量；以及(C)必要的纠正性和预防性技术维护以及对WIYN设施及其仪器进行必要的小规模技术升级。KPNO代表WIYN伙伴关系运营和维护WIYN，该伙伴关系的股权成员是印第安纳州威斯康星州大学和国家光学天文天文台(NOAO)，密苏里州-哥伦比亚大学的运营合作伙伴U也加入了该伙伴关系。KPNO是NOAO的一个单位，NOAO由大学天文学研究协会(AURA)根据与国家科学基金会(NSF)的合作协议运营。智力优势：现在公认的是，我们银河系的许多恒星系统都拥有一颗或多颗系外行星。宿主恒星系统性质的混合(单星与多星、恒星化学成分和温度等)而系外行星系统的性质(例如，每颗恒星的系外行星数量、每个系统内的相对安排、系外行星的组成)令人震惊，在很大程度上是意想不到的。在能够理解这种混合的起源之前，必须先了解系外行星及其宿主恒星的性质。目前的观测目标是将系外行星分为以气体为主(如海王星)、以冰为主或以岩石为主(如地球)，然后将这些分类与测量的恒星性质进行比较。当然，它们一定是紧密相连的，因为恒星系统和系外行星系统是由同一团原子和分子气体组成的。在该计划期间，WIYN将主要用于研究系外行星宿主恒星的性质。安装EPDS后，WIYN将被用来测量系外行星的质量，这是确定系外行星主要是气态、冰态还是岩石所必需的。该计划支持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。广泛的影响：通过同行审查和所有人开放数据，开放基于询问的研究，将使科学家和公民无论他们是谁或在哪里工作，都可以参与NOAO/WIYN研究事业。EPDS的故事、它的技术以及它对系外行星质量的测量以及我们从中学到的东西，将是基特峰游客中心的一个重要的公众参与机会，该中心每年接待超过4万名游客。EPDS项目汇集了两个联邦机构、三个美国联邦研究中心、几所美国大学以及高度专业化的工业合作伙伴。许多参与者都是早期的职业科学家，有些人甚至是本科生。反过来，EPDS项目将把WIYN转变为世界上最主要的径向速度测量设施之一。

Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) will operate and maintain the WIYN 3.5-m telescopelocated near Tucson, Arizona, during the FY16 through FY18 period to enable the following three key activities: (a) approximately 270 nights for scientific research related to the study of planets orbiting other stars (so-called exoplanets) and their host stars, within the framework of the joint NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research (NN-EXPLORE) program; (b) FY18 installation of the Extreme Precision Doppler Spectrometer (EPDS), to be used to determine the masses of exoplanets discovered by NASA space missions such as Kepler and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS); and (c) essential corrective and preventive technical maintenance as well as minor technology upgrades as needed for the WIYN facility and its instrumentation. KPNO operates and maintains WIYN on behalf of the WIYN partnership, whose equity members are the U. of Wisconsin, Indiana U., and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), joined by operational partner U. of Missouri-Columbia. KPNO is a unit of NOAO, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF).Intellectual Merit: It is now well established that many stellar systems in our Milky Way host one or more exoplanets. The mix of host stellar system properties (single vs. multiple stars, stellar chemical composition and temperature, etc.) and exoplanet system properties (e.g., number of exoplanets per star, relative arrangements within each system, exoplanet composition) is astonishing and largely unanticipated. Before the origins of that mix can be understood, the nature of the exoplanets and their host stars must be understood. The current observational goal is to classify exoplanets as gas-dominated (like Neptune), ice-dominated, or rock-dominated (like Earth) and then compare those classifications to measured stellar properties. Surely, they must be tightly connected since the stellar and exoplanet systems formed from the same cloud of atomic and molecular gas. During the period of this program, WIYN will be used primarily to study the properties of exoplanet host stars. After EPDS is installed, WIYN will be used to measure exoplanet mass, which is required 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.Broader Impacts: Open access for enquiry-based research via peer review and open data for all will allow scientists and citizens to engage in the NOAO/WIYN research enterprise no matter who they are or where they work. The EPDS story, its technology as well as its measures of exoplanet mass and what we learn from that, will be a central public engagement opportunity at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center, which receives more than 40,000 visitors per year. The EPDS project brings together two federal agencies, three US federal research centers, and several US universities as well as highly specialized industrial partners. Many participants are early career scientists, some as early as undergraduate. In turn, the EPDS project will transform the WIYN into one of the premier radial velocity survey facilities in the world.