Near Infra-red Instrumentation Worskhop


September 16, 2009 (Wednesday)
Hameetman Auditorium, Cahill Center for Astrophysics, Caltech
Start 0900, End 1730


S. R. Kulkarni (Science Organizer) srk AT astro.caltech.edu
A. M. Hetman (Local Organizer) amh AT astro.caltech.edu
A. Boden (Local Organizer) bode AT astro.caltech.edu

Broadly speaking long wavelength astronomy is on the ascent. Spitzer performed spectacularly during the cryo phase and has now embarked what could be a very productive warm phase. Last year Akari finished a sensitive four-band sky survey. This year saw the successful launch of Herschel. In less than three months we expect the WISE mission (a UCLA-JPL-IPAC mission) will be launched. In the near future we will see ALMA and JWST. The purpose of this 1-day workshop is to review the NIR instrumentation suite at the WM Keck Observatory and to plan for future NIR instruments based on the opportunities made available from the above missions and facilities.


I. The Broad View

  • Keep your Friends Close but Enemies Closer: A Review of NIR Instrumentation Elsewhere
    [K. Glazebrook*, Swinburne] (30 min)
  • The WISE Mission [E. Wright*, Principal Investigator, UCLA] (30 min)

    II. NIRC: Looking back (Swan song) and going forward [Soifer*, Principal Investigator, Caltech] [30 min]

    1000-1030 Coffee Break

    III. OSIRIS

  • OSIRIS: Capabilities & Performance [Larkin*, Principal Investigator, UCLA] (30 min)
  • OSIRIS: A User's perspective (Extra-galactic) [David Law*, UCLA] (20 min)
  • OSIRIS: A User's perspective (Galactic) [Tuan Do*, UCLA] (20 min)
  • OSIRIS: A Users's perspective (Planetary) [Mate Adamkovics*, UCB] (20 min)

    1230-1400 Lunch Break

    IV. MOSFIRE: The Instrument & The Science [Steidel*, Co-Principal Investigator, Caltech] (30 min)

    V. TRIPLESPEC & NIRES

  • NIRES: Capabilities [Matthews*, Principal Investigator, Caltech] (20 min)
  • TripleSpec & TEDI [T. Herter/P. Muirhead*, Cornell University] (30 min)

    1420-1450 Coffee Break (30 min)

    VI. The near Future

  • NIRSPEC: Performance, Science & Potential upgrade [McLean(PI)/Adkins^, UCLA/WMKO] (30 min)
  • Ground-Based Followup of WISE sources [Eisenhardt*, Project Scientist, JPL] (30 min)

    VII Panel Discussion (Chaired by T. Armandroff)

    (*) ... Confirmed   (^) ... Details being worked out

    1730 END OF WORKSHOP


    Attendees : Parking is available in the underground parking garage (identified as Parking Structure 3 in the map). You need to buy a day pass from a machine ($6) and display the receipt.

    Additional logistical information on Cahill and Pasadena is available here
    This is meeting low on budget and high on intellectual quality. We will provide coffee and pastries (morning) and cold drinks and cookies (afternoon). For lunch we direct you to Chandler student cafeteria or the shops close at Lake and California (a five minute walk).
    Speakers: Your allocated time includes 5 min (for both 20 minute and 30 minute talks). You will be given a wrap-up sign five minutes before your allocated talking time. For example, a 30 minute speaker will be given the sign 20 minutes into talk. Talk ends 25 minutes into the talk and is followed by Q&A for the remaining five minutes. We urge the speakers to stick to their time limit. Q&A makes workshops more exciting.
    Kulkarni will be taking notes and this chore will be simplified if you could please number your slides.