Continuing Support of Two Astronomical Imagers for Cosmology, Education, and Diverse Other Projects

该项目为南方宇宙学观测平行成像仪(PISCO)的持续运作提供资金，这是智利的一种快速、通用成像光度计。南极望远镜(SPT)联盟正在进行SPT-3G深度毫米波连续谱探测，正在探测数以千计以前未知的星系团和星团。对皮斯科的观测在形成覆盖约9%天空的广泛星系团的过程中发挥了关键作用。由此产生的可搜索的公共数据库将包括光学、红外和X射线的成像和光谱，为广泛的科学研究做出贡献。该项目还为用于远程STEM教育和推广的微型天文台望远镜的运营和维护提供资金，该望远镜是史密森天体物理天文台科学教育部机器人望远镜网络的一部分，用于在线STEM学习社区。该计划将在4000平方度的天空区域内制作完整的星系团体积样本的光度和光谱目录。在分析了DES和VISTA等现有调查数据中的候选星系团位置后，小组委员会将：(1)进行红移和质量限制的完整性所需的额外光度成像观测；(2)在这些星系团的代表性样本的最佳视觉期内获得弱透镜测量；(3)通过出版物和网络可访问、可搜索的档案，以原始和简化的形式向天文学和STEM学习界提供这些不断演变的数据集，以及(4)为宇宙学和中微子性质的确定分析数据。这一裁决反映了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。

This project funds the ongoing operation of the Parallel Imager for Southern Cosmology Observations (PISCO), a fast, general-purpose imaging photometer in Chile. The South Pole Telescope (SPT) consortium is conducting the SPT-3G deep millimeter-wave continuum survey, which is detecting thousands of previously unknown galaxy clusters and groups. PISCO observations play a key role in the production of an extensive catalog of galaxy clusters over about 9% of the sky. The resulting searchable public database will include imaging as well as spectroscopy in the optical, infrared, and X-ray, contributing to a wide variety of scientific studies. This project also funds the operation and maintenance of a MicroObservatory telescope for remote STEM education and outreach, operated as part of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Science Education Department Robotic Telescope Network for the online STEM learning community.This program will produce photometric and spectroscopic catalogs of volume-complete samples of galaxy clusters over a 4000 square degree area of sky. After analyzing candidate cluster positions in existing survey data such as DES and VISTA, the SPT team will: (1) make the additional photometric imaging observations needed for completeness in redshift and mass limit, (2) obtain weak lensing measurements during periods of excellent seeing for a representative sub-sample of these clusters, (3) make these evolving data sets available to the astronomical and STEM learning communities in both raw and reduced form, through publications and a web-accessible, searchable archive, and (4) analyze the data for cosmology and the determination of neutrino properties.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.