Real Time Data/Video/Voice Uplink and Downlink for Kuiper Airborne Observatory

LFS was an educational outreach adventure which brought the excitement of astronomical exploration on NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) to a nationwide audience of children, parents and children through live, interactive television, broadcast from the KAO at an altitude of 41,000 feet during an actual scientific observing mission. The project encompassed three KAO flights during the fall of 1995, including a short practice mission, a daytime observing flight between Moffett Field, California to Houston, Texas, and a nighttime mission from Houston back to Moffett Field. The University of Chicago infrared research team participated in planning the program, developing auxiliary materials including background information and lesson plans, developing software which allowed students on the ground to control the telescope and on-board cameras via the Internet from the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, and acting as on-camera correspondents to explain and answer questions about the scientific research conducted during the flights

Balloon-borne three-meter telescope for far-infrared and submillimeter astronomy

The scientific objectives, engineering analysis and design, results of technology development, and focal-plane instrumentation for a two-meter balloon-borne telescope for far-infrared and submillimeter astronomy are presented. The unique capabilities of balloon-borne observations are discussed. A program summary emphasizes the development of the two-meter design. The relationship of the Large Deployable Reflector (LDR) is also discussed. Detailed treatment is given to scientific objectives, gondola design, the mirror development program, experiment accommodations, ground support equipment requirements, NSBF design drivers and payload support requirements, the implementation phase summary development plan, and a comparison of three-meter and two-meter gondola concepts

The star formation histories of low surface brightness galaxies

We have performed deep imaging of a diverse sample of 26 low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) in the optical and the near-infrared. Using stellar population synthesis models, we find that it is possible to place constraints on the ratio of young to old stars (which we parametrize in terms of the average age of the galaxy), as well as the metallicity of the galaxy, using optical and near-infrared colours. LSBGs have a wide range of morphologies and stellar populations, ranging from older, high-metallicity earlier types to much younger and lower-metallicity late-type galaxies. Despite this wide range of star formation histories, we find that colour gradients are common in LSBGs. These are most naturally interpreted as gradients in mean stellar age, with the outer regions of LSBGs having lower ages than their inner regions. In an attempt to understand what drives the differences in LSBG stellar populations, we compare LSBG average ages and metallicities with their physical parameters. Strong correlations are seen between an LSBG's star formation history and its K-band surface brightness, K-band absolute magnitude and gas fraction. These correlations are consistent with a scenario in which the star formation history of an LSBG primarily correlates with its surface density and its metallicity correlates with both its mass and its surface densit

The Emission and Distribution of Dust of the Torus of NGC 1068

We present observations of NGC 1068 covering the 19.7–53.0 μm wavelength range using FORCAST and HAWC+ on board SOFIA. Using these observations, high-angular-resolution infrared (IR) and submillimeter observations, we find an observational turnover of the torus emission in the 30–40 μm wavelength range with a characteristic temperature of 70–100 K. This component is clearly different from the diffuse extended emission in the narrow line and star formation regions at 10–100 μm within the central 700 pc. We compute 2.2–432 μm 2D images using the best inferred CLUMPY torus model based on several nuclear spectral energy distribution (SED) coverages. We find that when 1–20 μm SED is used, the inferred result gives a small torus size (<4 pc radius) and a steep radial dust distribution. The computed torus using the 1–432 μm SED provides comparable torus sizes, 5.1^(+0.4)_(-0.4) pc radius, and morphology to the recently resolved 432 μm Atacama Large Millimeter Array observations. This result indicates that the 1–20 μm wavelength range is not able to probe the full extent of the torus. The characterization of the turnover emission of the torus using the 30–60 μm wavelength range is sensitive to the detection of cold dust in the torus. The morphology of the dust emission in our 2D image at 432 μm is spatially coincident with the cloud distribution, while the morphology of the emission in the 1–20 μm wavelength range shows an elongated morphology perpendicular to the cloud distribution. We find that our 2D CLUMPY torus image at 12 μm can produce comparable results to those observed using IR interferometry

Near-infrared and Millimeter-wavelength Observations of Mol 160: A Massive Young Protostellar Core

We have discovered two compact sources of shocked H2 2.12-micron emission coincident with Mol 160 (IRAS 23385+6053), a massive star-forming core thought to be a precursor to an ultracompact HII region. The 2.12-micron sources lie within 2" (0.05 pc) of a millimeter-wavelength continuum peak where the column density is >= 10e24 cm$^{-2}$. We estimate that the ratio of molecular hydrogen luminosity to bolometric luminosity is > 0.2%, indicating a high ratio of mechanical to radiant luminosity. CS J=2-1 and HCO$^+$ J=1-0 observations with CARMA indicate that the protostellar molecular core has a peculiar velocity of ~ 2 km s$^{-1}$ with respect to its parent molecular cloud. We also observed 95 GHz CH3OH J=8$-7 Class I maser emission from several locations within the core. Comparison with previous observations of 44-GHz CH3OH maser emission shows the maser sources have a high mean ratio of 95-GHz to 44-GHz intensity. Our observations strengthen the case that Mol 160 (IRAS 23385+6053) is a rapidly accreting massive protostellar system in a very early phase of its evolution.Comment: 47 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ, 7 Dec 201

Training of Instrumentalists and Development of New Technologies on SOFIA

This white paper is submitted to the Astronomy and Astrophysics 2010 Decadal Survey (Astro2010)1 Committee on the State of the Profession to emphasize the potential of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to contribute to the training of instrumentalists and observers, and to related technology developments. This potential goes beyond the primary mission of SOFIA, which is to carry out unique, high priority astronomical research. SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP aircraft with a 2.5 meter telescope. It will enable astronomical observations anywhere, any time, and at most wavelengths between 0.3 microns and 1.6 mm not accessible from ground-based observatories. These attributes, accruing from the mobility and flight altitude of SOFIA, guarantee a wealth of scientific return. Its instrument teams (nine in the first generation) and guest investigators will do suborbital astronomy in a shirt-sleeve environment. The project will invest $10M per year in science instrument development over a lifetime of 20 years. This, frequent flight opportunities, and operation that enables rapid changes of science instruments and hands-on in-flight access to the instruments, assure a unique and extensive potential - both for training young instrumentalists and for encouraging and deploying nascent technologies. Novel instruments covering optical, infrared, and submillimeter bands can be developed for and tested on SOFIA by their developers (including apprentices) for their own observations and for those of guest observers, to validate technologies and maximize observational effectiveness.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, White Paper for Astro 2010 Survey Committee on State of the Professio

The core mass function in the Orion Nebula Cluster region : What Determines the Final Stellar Masses?

Funding: European Research Council (ERC) via the ERC Synergy Grant ECOGAL (grant 855130) (R.S.K.).Applying dendrogram analysis to the CARMA-NRO C18O (J = 1–0) data having an angular resolution of ∼8'', we identified 692 dense cores in the Orion Nebula Cluster region. Using this core sample, we compare the core and initial stellar mass functions in the same area to quantify the step from cores to stars. About 22% of the identified cores are gravitationally bound. The derived core mass function (CMF) for starless cores has a slope similar to Salpeter's stellar initial mass function (IMF) for the mass range above 1 M⊙, consistent with previous studies. Our CMF has a peak at a subsolar mass of ∼0.1 M⊙, which is comparable to the peak mass of the IMF derived in the same area. We also find that the current star formation rate is consistent with the picture in which stars are born only from self-gravitating starless cores. However, the cores must gain additional gas from the surroundings to reproduce the current IMF (e.g., its slope and peak mass), because the core mass cannot be accreted onto the star with 100% efficiency. Thus, the mass accretion from the surroundings may play a crucial role in determining the final stellar masses of stars.Peer reviewe