The NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) was established by NASA as a national astronomical observatory primarily to support space missions and to obtain infrared observations of solar system objects, and approximately 50% of the available observing time is allocated to such programs. NASA provides the entire cost of operation of the facility as well as visitor support for the astronomers carrying out programs focused on solar system objects. The rest of the observing time is allocated to observational programs of scientific interest outside the solar system and in particular astronomical studies typically supported by the NSF. Under an agreement between NSF and NASA, the NSF provides funding for visitor support for the approximately 50% of observers whose programs are not related to solar system objects. The IRTF has been managed, operated and maintained for NASA under a Cooperative Agreement with the University of Hawaii (UH) through its Institute for Astronomy during the past 5 years. This Cooperative Agreement provides funding for the cost of IRTF operations and for support of visiting observers engaged in solar system observations. Over 145 refereed publications resulting from IRTF observations have been produced in the last 5 years. This award covers the NSF-related visitor and observing support costs for observers who either come to the observatory or observe remotely. These costs include the cost of lodging and food at the Mauna Kea Observatory mid-level facility, ground transportation between Hilo and the summit, cryogens for instruments, and payment of up to one-half of page charges for IRTF publications (up to $5K per year). For remote observing the costs include support for a second person at the summit (for safety reasons) and food and lodging for this person at the mid-level facility.
Most of the IRTF staff is based at the UH facilities in Hilo, and it is situated in a largely rural setting with large minority communities. Several underrepresented groups (e.g. native Hawaiian) are employees of or are UH students with the IRTF. As part of the training of astronomy graduate students at UH, one or two graduate students funded by the IRTF will acquire instrumentation experience. In addition to disseminating the results to the scientific community the IRTF contributes to outreach within the Hilo community through two major programs Journey through the Universe (JTTU) and the Mauna Kea Astronomy Educational Center (MKAEC). The JTTU program (the IRTF is part of the team) is a community based program sponsored by the National Center for Space, Earth, and Flight Sciences that brings together the resources of the entire local community (schools, families, businesses, civic groups, local government, and academic/research institutes) to promote astronomy and science to K-12 students through the development of an astronomy curriculum for all grade levels. The IRTF will be a resource for highlighting exciting examples of science and technology in Hilo. MKAEC is a recently funded outreach center currently under construction in Hilo and is intended to educate the greater community on astronomy and its connection to the Hawaiian community, both present and past. The IRTF will be supplying MKAEC with educational materials and interacting with its staff. ***
This grant provides support for visting astronomers to the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) located at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. This support is essential for obtaining the data collected at the telescope. There are about 200 astronomers each year who are on proposals to use the telescope, and about 15% are graduate students working on their thesis projects. The IRTF provides "hands-on" experience for researchers, since larger telescope facilities generally do not allow visiting astronomers to work at the observatory. This hands-on experience is essential for graduate students and post-docs to learn how to optimize data taking and judging the quality of the observations. The research conducted spans the entire range of astronomy-- the solar system, the interstellar medium, star formation, stellar properties, and galaxies. Of particular importance are studies of "brown dwarfs", objects that are lower end of stellar mass. Some of these objects are at the boundary between stars and planets, and therefore they are most interesting to study. This is a relatively new area of research. Another area of great interest is the formation of stars and planets. The infrared spectral range is essential in this field of research since the dust in star forming regions block out much of the visible light. About 50 peer-reviewed research papers in all fields of astronomy are produced each year with the IRTF.
