Letter from the Editor
Steward Observatory is pleased to present the Summer 2009 Newsletter. Those who have missed the monthly mailings may rest assured that the Steward Newsletter will resume regular distribution in September. In the meantime, we trust our readers will find the summer news collection to be both enjoyable and informative.
Laura Forsyth
Lead Editor
We would be delighted to hear from you! Please email comments and announcement submissions to newsletter@as.arizona.edu.
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In Memoriam
We celebrate the life and mourn the loss of Frank J. Low, Professor Emeritus. Dr. Low passed away on June 11, 2009 in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 75. He was a pioneer of the entire field of infrared astronomy and a giant contributor to ground-based, airborne and space research at these wavelengths. He will be greatly missed by all of us at Steward Observatory and throughout the astronomical community. Steward Special. UA News. New York Times.
Awards and Achievements
Congratulations to our faculty on their recent promotions:
- Romeel Davé to Associate Professor with Tenure
- Xiaohui Fan to Professor
- Michael Hart to Astronomer
- Philip Hinz to Associate Professor with Tenure
Adam Block, Public Observing Programs Coordinator at the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, was featured in Astronomy magazine’s June 2009 edition in an article entitled “Adam Block's awesome universe” by Tom Polakis. He is also featured in a new book by Robert Gendler called Capturing the Stars: Astrophotography by the Masters.
Kris Eriksen successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis "New Observational and Theoretical Insights on Cassiopeia A" on June 12, 2009. Dr. Eriksen will soon begin a postdoctoral position with John Hughes at Rutgers University.
Jarita Holbrook, soon to join Steward as an Assistant Staff Astronomer, was recently elected President of the Association for Women Faculty (AWF) at the University of Arizona. She will hold the office for one year.
Ed Prather, Associate Staff Scientist, is the recipient of this year’s College of Science Innovation in Teaching Award, one of the University’s highest honors for teaching. He will be recognized at the College of Science Faculty Reception on September 9.
Amy Stutz successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis "A Spitzer and SMT Study of Dense Cores: Constraining the Earliest Stages of Low Mass Star Formation," on June 18, 2009. Dr. Stutz has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg.
In Transition
Chris Groppi, Assistant Staff Astronomer, has accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Sciences. Groppi, who established himself as a driving force behind submillimeter-wave array receiver science and technology through his work on Desert STAR and SuperCAM, will begin his new position in August. He plans to continue collaborations with the Steward Observatory Radio Astronomy Lab (SORAL) in the coming years.
Have we missed anyone?
Let us know!
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Announcements
Robert Kennicutt, now director of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England, was co-recipient of the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation 2009 Cosmology Prize along with Wendy Freedman, director of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, and Jeremy Mould, professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne School of Physics. The award recipients are being honored for their “leadership in the definitive measurement of the value of the Hubble constant, one of the most important numbers in astronomy.” See also CIW Press release. Kennicutt did the work cited during his tenure as professor at Steward Observatory.
In late May, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) announced that the largest solar telescope – located at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) in Big Bear Lake, California – is now operational. The 1.6-meter off-axis paraboloid primary mirror for this clear aperture telescope was spun cast, ground, polished, and figured at the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory (SOML). It also served as the prototype for development of the 8.4-meter Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) off-axis mirrors.
Mirror Lab update: The first 8.4-meter GMT mirror is currently in the early stages of polishing; the 8.4-meter LSST mirror has completed the rough abrasive grinding; and preparations are underway for spin casting a 6.5-meter f/1.25 mirror for the Mexican National Observatory (Observatorio Astronómico Nacional - OAN) at San Pedro Martir in Baja California. On Friday, June 26, new interferometric optical test components were installed in the top end of the test tower at the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory.
Public tours of the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory continue through the summer and fall. For more information regarding tours of the Mirror Lab, please contact Cathi Duncan.
The Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter is holding more summer programs and evening stargazing events. Please visit the updated website for more information or contact the SkyCenter directly.
In early June, representatives from LAMOST in Beijing visited Steward Observatory, the Mirror Lab, and Mt. Graham in connection with potential interest in the Giant Magellan Telescope.
The Galway Ultra Fast Imager (GUFI) has been successfully installed at the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) on Mt. Graham. This remarkable instrument, on loan from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) until June 2010, gives a readout time of only 2 msec, has extremely high time resolutions (up to 400 images a second) and very low light level sensitivity. Researchers interested in using this imager for their own observations are invited to contact Richard Boyle for GUFI's technical details.
Arizona Astronomy Board member David Healy was recently featured in the Arizona Daily Star article “Backyard stargazers set sights on higher prize in the heavens.” Healy regularly searches for asteroids with his computer-controlled 32-inch telescope near Sierra Vista, Arizona.
During the summer months many Steward Observatory researchers present talks on their current research at various workshops, conferences, colloquia, and symposia. Click here to see abstracts for some of these talks.
New Faces
Mark Ammons will be joining Steward on July 6 as a Hubble Fellow. Ammons, who recently received his Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz, will be working with Jill Bechtold on quasar research and Michael Hart on the MMT laser guide star adaptive optics system.
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