[meteorite-list] Astronomers Optimistic Despite Recommended Cuts for Arecibo

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Nov06/arecibo.funding.html

Despite significant recommended cuts from NSF for 
Arecibo, Cornell astronomers are optimistic about 
observatory's future

Nov. 6, 2006

By Lauren Gold (LG34 at cornell.edu)
Chronicle Online

On Nov. 3, the Senior Review, an advisory panel 
to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) 
Division of Astronomical Sciences, recommended a 
24 percent cut in funding over the next three 
years for Arecibo Observatory, which Cornell 
manages as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere 
Center (NAIC). The panel also advised NAIC to 
find outside partners to cover another 
recommended 40 percent funding cut by 2011 or 
risk closure.

Despite this news, Cornell astronomers remained 
upbeat about the long-term future of the 
telescope.

Joseph Burns, Cornell vice provost for physical 
sciences and engineering, issued a statement in 
response to the report:

"...Cornell supports the NSF's overall plan to 
find funds to carry out new initiatives, but we 
are disappointed with some of the Senior Review's 
specific recommendations into the next decade. We 
remain dedicated to the core scientific programs 
of the Arecibo Observatory and, accordingly, we 
are pleased that the review recognizes the 
facility's significant contributions today and 
its potential for important discoveries well into 
the next decade. Our staff will be working with 
our astronomy community to identify cost savings 
... (and) we are confident that Arecibo's 
remarkable research and educational programs will 
be kept strong into 2011 and beyond."

The Arecibo Observatory's 305-meter diameter 
antenna, the world's largest and most sensitive 
radio-radar telescope, attracts more than 250 
scientists to northwestern Puerto Rico from 
around the world every year and has been the 
source of pivotal discoveries about pulsars, 
planets, distant galaxies, near earth objects and 
the interstellar medium, as well as key findings 
about gravitational physics, atmospheric sciences 
and more.

Arecibo has received several major upgrades in 
recent years. The Arecibo L-Band Feed Array 
(ALFA), which began operation in spring 2005, for 
example, allows researchers to survey large 
swaths of sky and search for such time-variable 
phenomena as pulsars seven times more efficiently 
than in the past.

"You could very well say it's a new phase for 
Arecibo," said Cornell professor of astronomy Jim 
Cordes. "We're doing things that are pretty 
unique to what Arecibo can do -- playing on its 
strengths."

Arecibo is also one of only two telescopes in the 
world with radar capability (the other is the 
Goldstone NASA tracking telescope in California). 
Radar research has yielded some of the most 
detailed imaging of the surface of the Moon, as 
well as a much more accurate characterization of 
the surfaces of other planets and near earth 
objects. It remains a vital tool for a wide range 
of studies in planetary science.

In addition, the observatory hosts Angel Ramos 
Foundation Visitor and Educational Facility, a 
self-supporting educational center, which 
receives over 100,000 visitors annually and is 
the major outreach facility for Hispanic 
Americans.

Cornell has operated Arecibo as a national 
facility since 1971, and in 2005 was awarded a 
cooperative agreement to continue operations 
until 2010.

The Senior Review's report was based on an 
assumption that the NSF's overall budget would 
not increase in the next five years. It 
considered ongoing and future projects within 
three major branches of astronomy: optical and 
infrared astronomy; radio, millimeter and 
submillimeter astronomy; and solar astronomy.

"The idea of this exercise was to put us in a 
good position to move forward with a very 
exciting scientific program," said Wayne van 
Citters, director of the Division of Astronomical 
Sciences. "We have to look at it as a very 
positive step toward a bright future for 
astronomical sciences."

Citing Arecibo's unique strengths, Burns said he 
is confident that Arecibo will continue to prove 
its usefulness. "The refocusing of scientific 
programs is something we can handle very 
adequately," he said. "We're very optimistic for 
a scientifically exciting future."

##