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MAJOR SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTATION
APPLICATION OF OPERATING RESOURCES
FEDERAL
APPROPRIATIONS
FTE
$000
GENERAL
TRUST
FTE
GOV’T GRANTS
& CONTRACTS
DONOR/SPONSOR
DESIGNATED
$000
FTE
$000
FTE
$000
FY 2004
ACTUAL
0
4,624
0
0
0
0
0
0
FY 2005
ESTIMATE
0
3,944
0
0
0
0
0
0
FY 2006
ESTIMATE
0
3,944
0
0
0
0
0
0
STRATEGIC GOAL: STRENGTHENED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Federal Resource Summary by Performance Objective
Performance
Objective
FY 2005
FTE $000
FY 2006
FTE $000
Change
FTE $000
Strengthened Scientific Research:
Conduct focused scientific research programs that are
recognized nationally and internationally
0
3,944
0
3,944
0
0
Total
0
3,944
0
3,944
0
0
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
Smithsonian science is engaged in research and discovery focused on the
origin and evolution of the universe, the formation and evolution of Earth and
similar planets, the discovery and understanding of biological diversity, and the
study of human diversity and cultural change. The fundamental role for federal
appropriations is to provide the basic scientific infrastructure that enables staff to
conduct research, compete for external grants and funding, publish in peerreviewed journals, and inform the public about the latest scientific discoveries in
an exciting and compelling manner.
To meet the goal of Strengthened Scientific Research, the Smithsonian
has traditionally used its no-year funding from the Major Scientific
Instrumentation (MSI) line item to develop large-scale instrumentation projects
that enable scientists working at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
(SAO) to remain at the forefront of astronomy and astrophysics. Currently funded
through this line item are two SAO projects: the Submillimeter Telescope Array
(SMA), located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the converted Multiple Mirror
Telescope (MMT) at SAO’s Fred L. Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins in
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Arizona. Because of the magnitude of the costs and the time required to
fabricate major new instruments and to reconfigure existing ones, the Institution
requests that funding for these projects be available until expended.
The Institution is not seeking additional programmatic funding for FY 2006
for this line item.
MEANS AND STRATEGY
Submillimeter Telescope Array
The SMA, a collaborative project of SAO and the Academia Sinica
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan, is comprised of eight 20-footdiameter antennas located on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, that function as
one giant telescope. The SMA is now capable of combining the light from all
eight of its telescopes simultaneously at two different frequencies and full
bandwidth, simulating the resolving power of a much larger telescope. Notable
among the results in FY 2003 was the publication of the first paper in a refereed
journal, which described the temporal variability of the radio source that
surrounds the black hole in the center of our galaxy. Another focus of research
has been the study of the distribution of molecular gas in nearby spiral galaxies.
While optical images trace the stars in the galaxies, the SMA image highlights
the molecular clouds where new stars are being born.
FY 2006 base resources will be used to continue work on additional sets
of receivers for the SMA, to enable us to move closer to completion of the
complement of six sets per telescope. These receivers are necessary to allow
observations with the SMA at key frequencies and to allow polarization
measurements, both of which provide critical information on properties of the lowtemperature universe. In addition, the resources will be used to incorporate two
nearby telescopes, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Caltech
Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) telescope, into the array, which will
significantly enhance the sensitivity, resolution, and imaging speed of the array.
Converted MMT
The original MMT, a joint project of SAO and the University of Arizona
dedicated in 1979, was composed of six identical 1.8-meter telescopes in a
single altitude-azimuth (naval-gun type) mount. The original multiple-mirror
design provided a state-of-the-art solution to the technological limitation in
casting large mirrors at that time. Following advances in mirror-casting
technology developed by the University of Arizona, SAO replaced the six smaller
mirrors of the original MMT with a single mirror 6.5 meters in diameter in the
1990s, thus more than doubling the light-gathering capability and increasing its
field of view some 400 times.
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The full power of the converted MMT’s wide-field optics became available
for scientific research in late FY 2003. The first three new instruments were
brought into operation at the MMT to use this power: Hectospec (a moderateresolution optical spectrograph fed by 300 optical fibers), Hectochelle (a highresolution optical spectrograph fed by Hectospec’s fibers), and Megacam (a
powerful wide-field camera). Approximately 25,000 spectra of galaxies and stars
were obtained with Hectospec and Hectochelle by the end of FY 2004. The first
scientific paper based on these data has been submitted for publication; others
are in preparation. MMT observers have responded to the scientific opportunities
these instruments provide by preparing a large number of exciting observing
proposals.
FY 2006 base resources will be used to continue the development of two
key instruments for the converted MMT: Binospec and MMT-Magellan Infrared
Spectrometer (MMIRS). Binospec is a wide-field optical spectrograph that will
allow scientists to study how galaxies have evolved over 75 percent of the
universe’s lifetime. MMIRS is a powerful infrared camera and spectrograph that
will allow scientists to penetrate the obscuring dust that veils star-forming regions
in our own galaxy and distant galaxies. Understanding how stars form throughout
time and space is a main goal of modern astrophysics, which is the key to
understanding our origins.
STRATEGIC GOALS AND FY 2006 ANNUAL PERFORMANCE GOALS
Strengthened Scientific Research
Conduct focused scientific research programs that are recognized
nationally and internationally ($3,944,000)
Theme: The Origin and Nature of the Universe
 For SAO’s SMA, the performance will be pushed to 0.35mm (900
GHz), the very edge of the atmospheric window accessible from the
ground. This will provide exquisite spatial resolution for the first time at
this wavelength, an improvement by up to a factor of a thousand over
existing instruments. The SMA will be used to examine forming planets
in nearby stellar systems, biologically important organic molecules in
the atmospheres of planets and moons in our own solar system, such
as Saturn and Titan, and also the earliest generations of galaxies
 For SAO’s MMT, construction of Binospec, the two-channel–imaging,
faint object spectrograph for the 6.5-m MMT, will commence. Binospec
will be a powerful tool for attacking several of the fundamental
questions in astrophysics and physics, including the nature of Dark
Energy through observations of high-redshift supernovae, the
formation of the chemical elements by tracing their evolution from early
stars and galaxies, and the evolution of galaxies over 75 percent of the
universe’s lifetime.
 For SAO’s MMT, design of MMIRS will be completed achieving a level
sufficient to conduct the Critical Design Review. MMIRS is a wide-field,
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near-infrared imager and multiobject spectrograph that will allow
scientists to probe deeply into regions of star and planet formation in
the Milky Way, nearby galaxies, and distant galaxies to study the
formation of stars throughout space and time.
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