Victoria, June 14, 2013
Hello everyone,
since I wrote my last report two months ago, I
have had the opportunity to attend three meetings that are directly relevant to
the strategic planning for Canadian astronomy. Two of
these meetings focused specifically on CFHT: the ngCFHT workshop, which took
place in Hilo, HI, on March 27-29, 2013, and the triennial CFHT Users’ Meeting, held in Campbell
River on May 6-8. The third meeting was,
of course, the 2013 CASCA AGM,
which took place on the campus of the
University of British Columbia on May 28-30. The following reflects my notes
and impressions from these meetings.
CFHT is at a crossroad. Until now, the telescope has maintained
world-wide competitiveness – in spite of its modest size in a landscape
dominated by 8m class facilities – thanks to its wide-field imaging
capabilities. This is changing. HyperSupremeCam (HSC)
at Subaru outperforms MegaCam by an order of
magnitude in exposure time and 10% to 15% in image quality. DECam,
now in full operation at the 4m Blanco telescope, boasts nearly 4 times MegaCam’s field of view. PanSTARRS
1+2 and, especially, LSST (on track for a 2014 start of construction) will
eventually completely dominate the wide-field imaging game. These facilities
will be game changers. Dome venting (which is underway) and/or upgrades in MegaCam detectors (which have been proposed) will keep the CFHT
competitive in the near term, but, in my view, do not represent CFHT’s long-term
future.
At the CFHT Users’ Meeting, the Director, Doug Simons, laid out
a three-step plan for the telescope: 1) implement new capabilities to keep CFHT
competitive in the very near-term; 2) expand the existing partnership; and 3) transform
the telescope into a new facility.
Proposals for new capabilities for CFHT will be tended in August
2013, and a selection will be made in late fall/winter. Upgrades to the MegaCam and/or ESPaDOnS detectors,
the purchase of narrow-band filters for MegaCam, a 4D
Superconducting MKID Camera, and upgrades to the Pueo
AO system are some of the ideas floated at
the meeting. Before then, we can look forward to SITELLE, an imaging Fourier transform spectrometer with an
11’×11’ field of view and wavelength range between 350 and 850 nm. SITELLE is
scheduled to be delivered at the telescope this summer, and will be offered on
a shared risk basis in 2014A.
Doug made it clear that the future of CFHT must proceed through
expansion of the current consortium with a view towards exploiting the
strengths and synergies of the existing facilities on Mauna Kea. CFHT has been
working towards this goal for several years already, with Brazil, China, Korea
and Taiwan currently buying nights on the telescope. Doug announced that China
has expressed an interest of becoming a full partner. This opens an exciting
possibility, since the additional funding could be used to cover the operating
costs for UKIRT, which is looking for a new owner to take over after September
30, 2013. The advantages are obvious, not least the fact that if (when) CFHT is
redeveloped, UKIRT could provide needed telescope access to the Canadian optical
community while the CFHT site is under construction.
Which brings us to point 3) in Doug’s presentation. Currently
the only proposed long-term future for CFHT is ngCFHT: a 10m telescope, to be built on the existing CFHT pier,
equipped with a highly multiplexed, wide field, medium to high resolution
spectrograph. The project is proposing to start redeveloping the site in late
2017, with first light expected in ~2021. At both the Users’ meeting, and at
the ngCFHT workshop, the case was made by numerous
speakers that such facility would outperform all existing or planned wide-field
spectroscopic instruments, including BigBoss,
AAT/Hermes, VISTA/4MOST, and VLT/MOONS. I was mostly impressed by the diversity
of the science cases ngCFHT can address: from exoplanets to cosmology, and everything in between (see http://www.ngcfht.org/science-study for a partial list).
The ngCFHT workshop was attended by
close to 100 participants from Canada, France, Australia, Brazil, China, India,
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the US, many of whom not directly associated
with the feasibility study for the project. Although there is no question that
the scientific enthusiasm behind ngCFHT is
significant, funding is an issue (the cost estimate is ~$200M, to be divided
amongst all partners), and of course it remains to be seen whether ngCFHT will remain the only route forward, or whether other
ideas will emerge. But one thing is certain: we must act soon – now – or we
risk being left behind in the burgeoning field of wide-field spectroscopic
surveys.
The 2013 CASCA AGM
took place on the campus of the University of British Columbia on May 28-30. The
scientific level of the meeting was very high – with many excellent talks and
posters on topics from exoplanets to stellar
chronology to the recent Planck results. Presentations were made on future
facilities, including SKA, SPICA, CCAT, the Artic
Telescope and ngCFHT (TMT was, regrettably, absent),
as well as current facilities, in particular JCMT, ALMA, Gemini and CFHT; a
lunch discussion focused on the implementation of the LRP and generated some
interesting discussion about the future of CFHT and Space Astronomy projects
(slides can be found on the LRP Implementation committee webpage. Additionally, I would like to remind everyone that the latest reports
from the all CASCA committees, containing several statements relevant to the
issues discussed here, are posted on the Committee pages on the CASCA website).
In terms of current ground-based facilities, with the exception
of ALMA, the outlook is not especially positive. The STFC Council will cease
operational support for JCMT on September 30, 2014; consequently, JCMT, like
UKIRT, is looking for a new owner, and a Prospectus is expected to be released
this summer. As for Gemini, the director Markus Kissler-Patig
reported some good news (Flamingos2 has now been installed at Gemini South and
is undergoing commissioning, while GPI will be delivered later this summer) but
also spoke of a significant (20%) budget cut. In spite of this, Gemini is
taking steps to ensure its competitiveness: Markus outlined a plan that
facilitates the use of visiting instruments; operationally, the SAC and Board
are considering a proposal to allocate 20% of the telescope time to Large
Projects (a good idea, in my opinion, as mounting large observing campaigns at
Gemini is almost impossible under the current multi-national TAC structure).
At the “business meeting” the membership approved CASCA’s Ethics Statement
as well as the new amended by-laws required to comply with the new Canada Not-for-profit Corporations
Act. There are two important changes in
the new by-laws (which have not yet been submitted but are expected to take
effect within the next year). The first is a change in the structure of the
CASCA Executive. The 1st and 2nd vice presidents (now
serving a one-year term) will be replaced by a single vice-president, serving
for two years. To compensate, the number of directors will be increased from
three to four. The second change is in the mechanism to select new Board
members. While the Nominating Committee will continue to propose nominees,
volunteers will be solicited from the community well in advance of the
Committee deliberations.
Finally, it was announced that the 2014 CASCA Meeting will be
hosted by Université Laval and take place in downtown
Québec City on June 8-11. Two bids to host the 2015 meeting have been received
and are being considered.
Since the last report, there has been a new development
concerning the review process of NSERC Discovery Grants. In the 2012-2013
competition, none of the six
astronomers serving on the panel was
working at a Canadian Institution (five worked in the US, one in France). This
is of obvious concern. The CASCA Board has been in communication with NSERC on
this issue; copies of all correspondence can be found in the CASCA Board webpage. The Canadian Association of Physics (CAP) has also been informed. At
this time, the situation is not yet resolved.
A second development concerns High Performance Computing (HPC). Since the last report, the newly
appointed Compute Canada (CC) CEO, Bill Applebe, has
left the organization, and has been replaced (on an interim basis) by the CEO
of Westgrid, Jill Kowalchuk.
In a recent email communication, Jill indicated that CC is in the process of
forming a Research Advisory Committee, and that this will include a CASCA
representative. This is great news, as the lack in the current CC governance of
a voice speaking for researchers across Canada has been a serious concern for
the membership.
Finally, the CASCA Board is making preparations for a Mid Term
Review (MTR) of our Long Range Plan. An MTR panel will be formed (we are in the
process of identifying a Chair), and we are planning two Town Hall meetings to
be held in June next year (one possibly in Québec immediately following the
AGM, and one in Western Canada). Papers describing progress on the LPR
priorities, as well as outlining new initiatives that might have emerged since
the LPR, will be solicited before then.
Until next time, I wish everybody a very happy and productive
summer.
Laura Ferrarese
President
of CASCA