Continuing Support of Two Astronomical Imagers for Cosmology, Education, and Diverse Other Projects

Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project funds the ongoing operation of the Parallel Imager for Southern Cosmology Observations (PISCO), a fast, general-purpose imaging photometer in Chile. The South Pole Telescope (SPT) consortium is conducting the SPT-3G deep millimeter-wave continuum survey, which is detecting thousands of previously unknown galaxy clusters and groups. PISCO observations play a key role in the production of an extensive catalog of galaxy clusters over about 9% of the sky. The resulting searchable public database will include imaging as well as spectroscopy in the optical, infrared, and X-ray, contributing to a wide variety of scientific studies. This project also funds the operation and maintenance of a MicroObservatory telescope for remote STEM education and outreach, operated as part of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Science Education Department Robotic Telescope Network for the online STEM learning community. This program will produce photometric and spectroscopic catalogs of volume-complete samples of galaxy clusters over a 4000 square degree area of sky. After analyzing candidate cluster positions in existing survey data such as DES and VISTA, the SPT team will: (1) make the additional photometric imaging observations needed for completeness in redshift and mass limit, (2) obtain weak lensing measurements during periods of excellent seeing for a representative sub-sample of these clusters, (3) make these evolving data sets available to the astronomical and STEM learning communities in both raw and reduced form, through publications and a web-accessible, searchable archive, and (4) analyze the data for cosmology and the determination of neutrino properties. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.