Subject: Daniel Eisenstein: AS2 collaboration and mailing lists

From: Michael Strauss

Submitted: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:22:40 -0500

Message number: 1010 (previous: 1009, next: 1011 up: Index)

Dear SDSS-2 collaboration, ARC members, and ARC proposal co-signers,

As many of you know, we are beginning work on an ambitious new set of
surveys to utilize the APO 2.5-meter telescope from 2008 until 2014.
These projects build on the SDSS-2 and ET science legacy but require
significant upgrades of the facility as well as new survey strategies.

We anticipate that these surveys will be unified into a collaboration
structure similar to that of SDSS and SDSS-2.  The collective project
is currently being called AS2 until a more permanent name is found.

The main point of this email is to alert you that work on the design and
funding of the AS2 project is beginning in earnest.  If you wish to be
involved, you should sign up to be on AS2 mailing list(s) and alert the
relevant survey PI(s) that you are interested in contributing.  The
project has started a wiki at 
    http://jeeves.astro.princeton.edu/as2trac/wiki
To register, go to http://jeeves.astro.princeton.edu/as2trac/register
and make an account (make up whatever password you want, but don't use
a high-value one).  Please include your name and email.  Then proceed
to the mailing lists at
    http://jeeves.astro.princeton.edu/as2trac/wiki/MailingLists
You will need to make up a password here too; again, use something you
don't trust for security elsewhere.  It is fine to use the same low-value
password for the wiki and all of the mailing lists.

We do NOT intend to continue to send AS2 email to the SDSS-2 or ARC
email lists, so if you wish to receive AS2 email, you must sign up for
the AS2 mailing lists.


The outline of AS2 and its surveys are:

SSS: In fall 2008 and spring 2009, we will use dark/grey time and the 
current SDSS spectrographs to complete a survey of 250,000 stars, mostly
at high galactic latitude.  This strategy will be similar to SEGUE, 
with the goal being to study the assembly and chemical enrichment
of the outer parts of the Milky Way.  (PI: Connie Rockosi)

ASEPS: In bright time from fall 2008 through spring 2014, we will 
conduct a large radial-velocity survey for extrasolar planets using 
the multi-object Exoplanet Tracker spectrograph.  Approximately
100,000 stars will be surveyed, yielding over 1000 planets.  We expect
to build additional ET spectrographs beyond the current prototypes.
(PI: Jian Ge)

APO-LSS: From fall 2009 through spring 2014, we will use dark/grey
time and the upgraded SDSS spectrographs to perform a 10,000 degree
survey of galaxies and the Lyman-alpha forest aimed at producing the
state-of-the-art measurement of large-scale structure, including a 1%
distance measurement from the baryon acoustic oscillation.  The upgraded
spectrograph will feature 1000 fibers, new CCDs and gratings, and extended
UV and red coverage.  Some additional imaging will be performed in fall
2008.  (PI: David Schlegel)

APOGEE: Starting in 2011, we will use a high-resolution infrared (H-band)
multi-fiber spectrograph to conduct a survey of stars.  The goal is to
study the dynamics and chemical enrichment of the Milky Way, primarily
at low galactic latitudes where dust extinction makes the optical
impractical.  (PI: Steve Majewski)

The details of these science cases are not frozen and we welcome
collaborators to join in the development of these surveys.  We are
actively investigating the opportunities to piggy-back these surveys
and hence make the whole observing plan more than the sum of its parts.


With 3 new or upgraded instruments and 6 years of planned operations,
the SDSS-2 to AS2 transition will be significantly more strenuous than
the SDSS to SDSS-2 transition was.  We need your help to develop these
ideas into funding proposals and then to bring them to fruition.
Please contact the survey PIs to see how you can help!

We expect that AS2 will be an institution-based collaboration, similar
to SDSS and SDSS-2.  It is not the case that all SDSS-2 members will be
members of AS2, nor does co-authorship on one of the proposals to ARC
automatically grant membership.  The mechanisms for institutions and
individuals to join are currently being developed by the AS2 steering
committee.  I'll hope to be able to give you news on this soon.

Thanks,
Daniel Eisenstein


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