Lowell Observatory

HIGH SENSITIVITY OBSERVATIONS OF GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES AT HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION. PR# 72-9101-16.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: STAR FORMATION IN SUBCRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS

OBJECTIVES. THE MISSION ACCESSIBLE NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY OR MANOS BEGAN IN LATE 2013 AS A PHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION SURVEY OF NEWLY DISCOVERED SUB-KM LOW DELTA-V NEOS. WITH ~100 NEW NEOS BEING DISCOVERED MONTHLY THESE CRITERIA PROVIDE CLEAR SELECTION CRITERIA FOR STUDYING ONLY THE MOST INTERESTING OBJECTS. MANOS IS ABLE TO CHARACTERIZE ABOUT 10% OF NEW DISCOVERIES WHICH ARE SELECTED TO BE AMONGST THE MOST SPACECRAFT ACCESSIBLE BODIES IN NEAR-EARTH SPACE. OUR APPROACH IS TO BUILD A COMPREHENSIVE DATA SET OF ASTROMETRY PHOTOMETRY AND SPECTROSCOPY THROUGH QUEUE REMOTE AND TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY OBSERVATIONS. WE PROPOSE A SECOND GENERATION MANOS THAT WILL CONTINUE THIS IMPORTANT WORK WHILE BUILDING UPON THE SUCCESSES OF THE INITIAL SURVEY. WE WILL FOCUS ON THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS: - ESTABLISH A SYSTEM FOR RAPID COARSE CHARACTERIZATION OBSERVATIONS (E.G. SPARSE LIGHTCURVES AND COLORS) OF NEWLY DISCOVERED NEOS ON SMALL APERTURE TELESCOPES TO INFORM MORE DETAILED FOLLOW-UP ON LARGER FACILITIES. - EMPLOY A UNIQUE SUITE OF TELESCOPIC ASSETS TO CONTINUE BUILDING AN UNPRECEDENTED DATASET FOR PROBING THE DIVERSITY OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES IN THE NEAR-EARTH OBJECT POPULATION. - EXPAND ON THE FIRST GENERATION MANOS SURVEY WITH NEW SPECTROSCOPIC CAPABILITIES THAT WILL PROVIDE DEEPER INSIGHT INTO THE COMPOSITIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF NEOS. - FOLLOW-UP UNEXPECTED RESULTS FROM THE FIRST GENERATION SURVEY INCLUDING AN ATTEMPT TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF PLANETARY ENCOUNTERS IN MODIFYING NEO PROPERTIES AND A PROBE OF COMPOSITIONAL LINKS BETWEEN SMALL NEOS AND METEORITES. - CONTINUE TO BUILD A NETWORK OF TELESCOPIC FACILITIES AND OBSERVERS TO SERVE AS INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE EVENT OF TIME CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS SUCH AS THE DISCOVERY OF AN IMPACTING ASTEROID (E.G. 2008 TC3). IN TOTAL THE NEXT GENERATION MANOS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO A LARGE UNIFORM CATALOG OF NEO PHYSICAL PROPERTIES THAT WILL HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR UNDERSTANDING FORMATIVE AND EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM FOR INFORMING ACCURATE IMPACT HAZARD ASSESSMENT AND FOR IDENTIFYING THE MOST VIABLE SPACECRAFT TARGETS IN NEAR-EARTH SPACE. METHODOLOGY. OUR APPROACH IN CONDUCTING THIS SURVEY WILL LEVERAGE EXPERIENCE GAINED THROUGH OUR FIRST GENERATION SURVEY. THIS INCLUDES OBSERVING PROTOCOLS FOR CHALLENGING TARGETS THAT CAN BE FAINT AND MOVING AT HIGH NON-SIDEREAL RATES AND THE USE OF FULLY DEVELOPED REDUCTION AND ANALYSIS PIPELINES. WE PLAN TO CONTINUE THE USE OF NOAO FACILITIES (GEMINI NORTH AND SOUTH SOAR 4M KITT PEAK 4M) AND FACILITIES AT LOWELL OBSERVATORY INCLUDING THE 4.3M DISCOVERY CHANNEL TELESCOPE. WE WILL EXPAND OUR EFFORTS TO INCLUDE THE USE OF SPEX+MORIS AT NASA S IRTF AS WELL AS COORDINATING WITH ONGOING PHOTOMETRIC SURVEYS AT SEVERAL SMALLER TELESCOPES. THIS SUITE OF FACILITIES WILL BE USED TO OBTAIN VISIBLE IMAGES FOR ASTROMETRY AND LIGHT CURVE PHOTOMETRY VISIBLE SPECTRA AND NEAR-IR SPECTRA. WE WILL TARGET OBJECTS WITH DIAMETERS<1 KM WHICH REMAINS A RELATIVELY UNEXPLORED SIZE REGIME. WE WILL ALSO PRIORITIZE OBJECTS BASED ON DYNAMICAL PROPERTIES NAMELY OBJECTS WITH LOW DELTA-V AND LOW MOID ORBITS. WE INTEND TO TARGET APPROXIMATELY 10% OF NEWLY DISCOVERED OBJECTS BRINGING OUR SAMPLE TO ~500 OBJECTS. WE WILL CONTINUE TO SHARE SURVEY PROGRESS REGULARLY THROUGH OUR PROJECT WEBSITE. RELEVANCE. THE DATA SET PROVIDED BY MANOS WILL PROVIDE ONE OF THE LARGEST REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES OF NEO PHYSICAL PROPERTIES IN THE WORLD AND WILL INCLUDE INFORMATION ABOUT SIZES SHAPES DYNAMICS AND COMPOSITIONS. OUR FOCUS ON LOW DELTA-V OBJECTS WILL HELP TO QUANTITATIVELY DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF VIABLE MISSION TARGETS (EITHER HUMAN OR ROBOTIC) IN THE NEO POPULATION. FINALLY THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (E.G. SPIN STATE COMPOSITIONS) MEASURED FOR INDIVIDUAL MANOS TARGETS AS WELL AS THE DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTIES ACROSS THE POPULATION CAN DIRECTLY INFORM ASSESSMENTS OF IMPACT HAZARD.

KSS - THE KUIPER SPECTRAL SURVEY: A LARGE SCALE COMPOSITIONAL STUDY OF THE KUIPER BELT: WE PROPOSE A LARGE SCALE COMPOSITIONAL SURVEY OF THE KUIPER B

AN ADVANCED LARGE MONOLITHIC IMAGER FOR THE LOWELL OBSERVATORY 4.2-METER DISCOVERY CHANNEL TELESCOPE

THE MISSION ACCESSIBLE NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY (MANOS) CONDUCTS OBSERVATIONS TO CHARACTERIZE THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF NEAR- EARTH OBJECTS (NEOS) WHOSE ORBITS ARE READILY ACCESSIBLE TO SPACECRAFT EXPLORATION. THROUGH TARGETED OBSERVATIONS OF NEAR

THE GOALS FOR OUR PROPOSED THREE-YEAR STELLAR-OCCULTATION PROGRAM ARE TO: (I) OBSERVE OCCULTATIONS BY PLUTO WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF UNDERSTANDING ITS C

CAREER: BRIDGING MINOR PLANET AND METEOR SCIENCE IN THE ERA OF BIG DATA

THE EVOLUTION OF MASSIVE STARS AS A FUNCTION OF METALLICITY: CLOSING THE LOOP IN THE LOCAL GROUP

PROPOSED RESEARCH: OUR FOCUS IS ON DETAILED INVESTIGATIONS OF SELECTED OBJECTS THAT ARE EITHER INHERENTLY INTERESTING OR THAT HAVE EXTREMELY FAVORABL

NEW HORIZONS IMAGES OF PLUTO REVEALED VALLEY NETWORKS AND CHANNELS WITH A VARIETY OF MORPHOLOGIES SUGGESTIVE OF THE EROSIVE ACTION OF FLUID. THEIR DISCOVERY WAS STARTLING AS NO MATERIAL IS KNOWN THAT IS STABLE AS A LIQUID UNDER THE TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE CONDITIONS PREVALENT ON PLUTO'S PRESENT-DAY SURFACE. VARIOUS HYPOTHESES HAVE BEEN PROPOSED TO ACCOUNT FOR THESE FEATURES INCLUDING THEIR BEING FORMED THROUGH GLACIAL RATHER THAN FLUVIAL ACTION OR THAT LIQUIDS COULD HAVE EXISTED ON PLUTO'S SURFACE DURING EXTREME CLIMATIC EPISODES IN THE PAST. WE PROPOSE TO TEST ANOTHER HYPOTHESIS: THAT LOW MELTING POINT MIXED FLUIDS COULD EXIST EVEN AT THE EXTREMELY COLD TEMPERATURES AND LOW PRESSURES PREVALENT IN THE KUIPER BELT TODAY. THE ANTIFREEZE EFFECTS ON WATER OF SALT OR ALCOHOL ARE FAMILIAR. SUCH FREEZING POINT SUPPRESSION IS A COMMON FEATURE OF MIXTURES. EXAMPLES INVOLVING MATERIALS KNOWN TO BE PRESENT AT PLUTO'S SURFACE INCLUDE N2 + CH4 (A SMALL EFFECT) AND CH4 + C2H6 (A MUCH LARGER EFFECT). WE PROPOSE TO TEST OUR HYPOTHESIS VIA A PRACTICAL AND COST-EFFECTIVE COMBINATION OF THEORETICAL AND LABORATORY TECHNIQUES. THIS APPROACH ENABLES US TO SCREEN MANY MORE COMBINATIONS THAN WE COULD EVER HOPE TO DO IN THE LABORATORY BY PROGRESSING FROM INEXPENSIVE AND STRAIGHTFORWARD CALCULATIONS THROUGH A MORE SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT IN MORE DETAILED NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS AND FINALLY TO TIME-CONSUMING AND EXPENSIVE LABORATORY CONFIRMATIONS. EACH STEP OF THIS CHAIN WE INVEST MORE TIME AND EFFORT IN SMALLER SUBSETS OF POTENTIAL MIXTURES HOMING IN ON THOSE THAT POSSESS ESPECIALLY INTERESTING PROPERTIES. EACH APPROACH CAN BENEFIT FROM WORK ON THE OTHERS SO IT IS NATURAL TO COMBINE THEM WITHIN A COORDINATED INVESTIGATION. THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS RELEVANT TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM WORKINGS PROGRAM ELEMENT BECAUSE IT OFFERS A SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION INTO THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF WHAT COULD BE A KEY CLASS OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS IN THE FAR OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM SPECIFICALLY FLUIDS THAT COULD FORM IN THE SURFACE OR NEAR-SURFACE ENVIRONMENTS OF BODIES SUCH AS PLUTO TRITON ERIS MAKEMAKE AND HAUMEA. IF AS WE HYPOTHESIZE SUCH FLUIDS CAN EXIST THEY COULD ENABLE A RICH PALETTE OF GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES TO OPERATE ON THESE BODIES REVOLUTIONIZING UNDERSTANDING OF GEOLOGY IN THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM.

GOALS: INVESTIGATIONS OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COMETS ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE IN ADDITION TO REVEALING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF COMETS THEMSELVES THE COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF COMETS HOLD UNIQUE CLUES TO CONDITIONS IN THE EARLY SOLAR NEBULA THE SOLAR SYSTEM'S FORMATION PROCESSES AND EVEN THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE ON EARTH AS INFLUENCED BY COMET IMPACTS OVER THE PAST 4.6 BILLION YEARS. THE GOALS OF OUR PROPOSED RESEARCH ARE TO UNDERSTAND THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF COMETS BY APPLYING A VARIETY OF OBSERVATIONAL TECHNIQUES. WE PARTICULARLY EMPHASIZE SIMULTANEOUS OR COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS WITH DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTATION. WE AIM TO (1) MEASURE THE BASIC PROPERTIES OF COMETARY NUCLEI BY STUDYING COMETS WHOSE DUST COMAE ARE SO ANEMIC THAT THE SIGNAL FROM THE NUCLEUS CAN BE EXTRACTED OR ARE AT SUFFICIENT DISTANCES SUCH THAT THE COMA NO LONGER DOMINATES THE SIGNAL (2) MEASURE AND MODEL COMA JET MORPHOLOGY TO DETERMINE THE ORIENTATION OF THE ROTATIONAL AXIS THE LOCATION OF SOURCE REGIONS THE LIFETIME AND VELOCITIES OF THE OBSERVED SPECIES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE PARENTS AND HOW THE PRODUCTION OF MATERIAL FROM THE SURFACE OF EACH NUCLEUS VARIES WITH TIME AND SOLAR ILLUMINATION AND (3) MEASURE THE COMPOSITION AND PRODUCTION RATES OF COMETS AS A FUNCTION OF ORBITAL MOTION. DUE TO THE STRONGLY INTER-RELATED ASPECTS OF THESE MEASUREMENTS RESULTS FROM THE PROPOSED PROJECTS WILL ENABLE US TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL NATURE LOCATION AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ACTIVE SOURCE REGIONS ON THE NUCLEUS AND HOW THESE PRODUCE THE OBSERVED COMA PHENOMENA. PREVIOUS RESULTS: WE HAVE HAD A NUMBER OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS UNDER CURRENT PAST FUNDING INCLUDING IMAGING PHOTOMETRY AND/OR SPECTROSCOPY OF 20+ SHORT-PERIOD AND 10+ LONG-PERIOD COMETS. OUR PRIMARY EFFORTS INCLUDED COMPLETING ANALYSES OF COMET ISON PERFORMING SUPPORT OBSERVATIONS FOR ROSETTA TARGET 67P/CHURYUMOV- GERASIMENKO AND STUDYING SEVERAL CLOSE-APPROACHING COMETS - 209P/LINEAR 252P/LINEAR 45P/HONDA-MRKOS-PAJDUSAKOVA AND 41P/TUTTLE-GIACOBINI-KRESAK - WITH MULTIPLE SCIENCE GOALS. WE'VE ALSO RECENTLY COMPLETED A ROTATIONAL STUDY OF 49P/AREND-RIGAUX AND OBTAINED ADDITIONAL NUCLEUS DATA OF 6P/D'ARREST 2P/ENCKE AND 103P/HARTLEY 2. PRODUCTION RATES WERE DETERMINED AND IMAGES OBTAINED OF SEVERAL OTHER COMETS. PROPOSED RESEARCH: IN THE PROPOSED INTERVAL WE PLAN DETAILED INVESTIGATIONS FOR A VARIETY OF COMETS INCLUDING SEVERAL THAT HAVE BEEN OR ARE POTENTIAL NASA SPACECRAFT MISSION TARGETS. NUCLEUS STUDIES WILL BE MADE OF COMETS 2P/ENCKE 6P/D'ARREST AND 103P/HARTLEY 2. ROTATIONAL PERIODS AND HOW THEY CHANGE WITH TIME WILL BE MEASURED AND WE WILL INVESTIGATE CLAIMS FOR COMPLEX ROTATION AND WHEN PRESENT ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE DETAILS OF THE SPECIFIC ROTATIONAL STATE INVOLVED. COMA IMAGING WILL BE OBTAINED FOR COMETS 21P/GIACOBINI-ZINNER 38P/STEPHAN-OTERMA 46P/WIRTANEN AND 88P/HOWELL TO STUDY AND MODEL JET MORPHOLOGY; ON-GOING OBSERVATIONS OF 41P/TUTTLE-GIACOBINI-KRESAK WILL ALSO BE MODELED UNDER THIS GRANT. EXPECTED RESULTS INCLUDE THE ORIENTATION OF THE ROTATION AXIS THE ROTATION PERIOD THE LOCATION AND SIZE OF EACH SOURCE REGION AND THE OUTFLOW VELOCITY OF THE GAS. PLANNED SPECTROSCOPY OF WIRTANEN WILL BE COMBINED WITH SIMILAR DATA RECENTLY OBTAINED FOR TWO OTHER VERY CLOSE APPROACHING COMETS -- 252P/LINEAR AND 45P/HONDA-MRKOS-PAJDUSAKOVA -- TO MEASURE THE ELUSIVE SPECIES DIATOMIC SULFUR. A NEW EXTREMELY HIGH RESOLUTION SPECTROGRAPH ON OUR 4.3-M TELESCOPE DCT WILL BE USED TO MEASURE ISOTOPIC RATIOS AND OTHER PROPERTIES IN THE BRIGHTEST COMETS. PRODUCTION RATES WILL BE OBTAINED TO INVESTIGATE TEMPORAL TRENDS AND/OR DETERMINE BASIC COMPOSITION. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS WITH OTHER INVESTIGATORS WILL BE PURSUED WHEN PRACTICAL. WE WILL ALSO OBTAIN OBSERVATIONS OF NEWLY DISCOVERED COMETS AS CIRCUMSTANCES WARRANT.

MASSIVE STARS ARE THE COSMIC ENGINES THAT POWER THE FAR-INFRARED LUMINOSITIES OF DISTANT GALAXIES AND DOMINATE THE IONIZATION OF NEARBY HII REGIONS. THEY ARE THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF CARBON AND OXYGEN IN THE UNIVERSE AND THEIR CORE COLLAPSES MANUFACTURE ALL OF THE ELEMENTS HEAVIER THAN FE. THE RE-IONIZATION OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE WAS THANKS TO POPULATION III MASSIVE STARS AND THE SUPER-MASSIVE BLACK HOLES WE FIND IN THE CORES OF GALAXIES TODAY WERE SEEDED AS A RESULT OF THE BLACK HOLES THAT FORMED FROM THE FIRST GENERATIONS OF MASSIVE STARS. UNDERSTANDING MASSIVE STAR EVOLUTION IS THE KEY TO UNLOCKING MANY ASTROPHYSICAL PROBLEMS. THE LARGEST UNCERTAINTY IN MASSIVE STAR EVOLUTION IS THE QUESTION OF HOW WOLF-RAYET (WR) STARS FORM. OUR PROPOSAL WILL DETERMINE THE FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF WRS USING FOUR ARCHIVAL NASA DATA SETS FOR A CRITICAL COMPARISON WITH PRESENT DAY EVOLUTION MODELS. IT IS GENERALLY ASSUMED THAT MASSIVE STARS SPEND MOST OF THEIR POST-MAIN-SEQUENCE LIVES WRS. FOR DECADES WE HAVE BELIEVED THAT WRS FORM AS A RESULT OF STELLAR WINDS STRIPPING OFF THE H-RICH OUTER LAYERS OF A STAR LEAVING BEHIND A BARE STELLAR CORE. IN THIS PICTURE WRS ARE A NORMAL STAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE MOST MASSIVE STARS. RECENTLY THIS SCENARIO HAS BEEN CALLED INTO QUESTION. STELLAR WIND MASSLOSS RATES ARE NOW KNOWN TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT ALTHOUGH WHETHER THIS IS A FACTOR OF 3 OR 10 REMAINS UNCLEAR. IF THE LATTER IS CORRECT THEN THIS POSES A SERIOUS PROBLEM FOR THE FORMATION OF WRS. THIS HAS CREATED A PARADIGM SHIFT WITH INCREASED IMPORTANCE ATTACHED TO THE ROLE OF BINARY EVOLUTION WITH ROCHE-LOBE OVERFLOW PERFORMING THE STRIPPING. ATTEMPTS TO DISTINGUISH WHICH SCENARIO IS MORE PREVALENT IS COMPLICATED BY THE POSSIBILITY OF PAST MERGERS; I.E. JUST BECAUSE A WR IS NOT A BINARY TODAY DOES NOT PROVE IT WAS NOT ONE IN THE PAST. WE WILL TACKLE THIS QUESTION FROM A FRESH PERSPECTIVE DETERMINING RELIABLE FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF WRS AND SEEING WHETHER THEY BETTER MATCH THE SINGLE OR BINARY STAR EVOLUTIONARY MODELS. IF THEY AGREE WITH THE SINGLE-STAR MODELS THAT IS COMPELLING EVIDENCE THAT WRS ARE A NORMAL PART OF THE EVOLUTION OF MASSIVE STARS. IF THEY DISAGREE PERHAPS EITHER BINARY EVOLUTION PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE FORMATION OF WRS OR THE SINGLE STAR MODELS COULD BE IMPROVED. FOR INSTANCE WE KNOW THAT THE MASS-LOSS RATES DURING THE LUMINOUS BLUE VARIABLE AND RED SUPERGIANT PHASES ARE POORLY CONSTRAINED BY OBSERVATIONS. IF HIGHER MASS LOSS RATES DURING THESE PHASES WERE INCLUDED COULD WE ACCOUNT FOR ALL OF THE WR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (INCLUDING CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES) THAT WE FIND? EITHER RESULT WILL HELP US LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF WRS WHILE ALSO TESTING AND HELPING IMPROVE THE EVOLUTIONARY MODELS. FOR THIS TEST TO BE MEANINGFUL WE MUST HAVE ACCURATE MEASUREMENTS OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF WRS (SUCH AS EFFECTIVE TEMPERATURES BOLOMETRIC LUMINOSITIES AND CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES) AS WELL AS HAVING A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNCERTAINTIES ON THESE QUANTITIES. TO ACHIEVE THIS WE HAVE A SELECTED A STATISTICALLY LARGE SAMPLE OF 27 WRS IN THE SMALL AND LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS WHICH POSSESS EXCELLENT UV SPECTRA IN THE MAST IUE ARCHIVE. THIS WAVELENGTH IS CRUCIAL AS IT CONTAINS KEY DIAGNOSTIC RESONANCE LINES SUCH AS CIV 1550. TO THESE WE ADD OUR OWN HIGH QUALITY MAGELLAN OPTICAL (AND WHEN NEEDED NEAR-IR) SPECTROPHOTOMETRY. FORTY PERCENT OF OUR SAMPLE HAS ALSO BEEN OBSERVED IN THE FAR-UV WITH FUSE PROVIDING ADDITIONAL DIAGNOSTICS. FINALLY WE WILL INCORPORATE NASA 2MASS AND SPITZER IPAC PHOTOMETRY WHICH EXTEND THE SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTION INTO THE IR. WE WILL MODEL EACH OF THESE COMBINED DATA SETS USING CMFGEN A STELLAR ATMOSPHERE CODE THAT INCLUDES THE MANY COMPLICATIONS NEEDED TO MODEL THE SPECTRA OF THESE STARS. THE USE OF THIS COMBINED DATA SET ACHIEVES WHAT ONE COULD NOT HOPE TO DO FROM ANY ONE OF THEM CONSISTENT WITH THE AIMS OF THE ADAP.

NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS (NEOS) ARE ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM THROUGH THEIR COMPOSITIONAL LINKS TO METEORITES. AS TRACERS OF OTHER PARTS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM THEY PROVIDE INSIGHT TO MORE DISTANT POPULATIONS. THEIR RELATIVELY SMALL SIZES AND COMPLEX DYNAMICAL HISTORIES MAKE THEM EXCELLENT LABORATORIES FOR STUDYING ONGOING SOLAR SYSTEM PROCESSES SUCH AS SPACE WEATHERING PLANETARY ENCOUNTERS AND NON-GRAVITATIONAL DYNAMICS. KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES IS ESSENTIAL TO IMPACT HAZARD ASSESSMENT. FINALLY THE PROXIMITY OF NEOS TO EARTH MAKE THEM FAVORABLE TARGETS FOR ROBOTIC AND HUMAN EXPLORATION.HOWEVER IN SPITE OF THEIR SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE ONLY THE LARGEST NEOS HAVE BEEN WELL STUDIED AND A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR SUB-KM NEOS DOES NOT EXIST.WE PROPOSE HERE FOR SUPPORT OF THE MISSION ACCESSIBLE NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY (MANOS). MANOS IS A FULLY ALLOCATED MULTI-YEAR SURVEY OF SUB-KM NEOS THAT IS READY TO PROVIDE A LARGE UNIFORM CATALOG OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (LIGHT CURVES + COLORS + SPECTRA + ASTROMETRY) REPRESENTING A 100-FOLD INCREASE OVER PRESENT KNOWLEDGE OF NEOS IN THIS SIZE RANGE. FROM THIS COMPREHENSIVE CATALOG WE WILL DERIVE GLOBAL PROPERTIES OF THE NEO POPULATION AS WELL AS IDENTIFY INDIVIDUAL TARGETS THAT ARE OF POTENTIAL INTEREST FOR EXPLORATION.WE WILL ACCOMPLISH THESE GOALS FOR APPROXIMATELY 500 MISSION-ACCESSIBLE NEOS ACROSS THE VISIBLE AND NEAR-INFRARED RANGES USING TELESCOPE ASSETS IN BOTH THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN HEMISPHERES. MANOS HAS ALREADY BEEN AWARDED OR IS GUARANTEED TIME ON 10 DIFFERENT TELESCOPES RANGING IN APERTURE FROM 1 TO 8 METERS AND WILL GRADUALLY BEGIN IN LATE 2013 WITH FULL OPERATIONS ESTABLISHED BY MID-2014. WE WILL USE PROVEN ANALYSIS TOOLS TO MODEL AND CHARACTERIZE EACH OF THE OBJECTS OBSERVED BY MANOS. WE WILL CONDUCT THIS SURVEY WITH COMPLETE TRANSPARENCY SHARING OUR TARGET LISTS AND DATA PRODUCTS ON PUBLICLY-ACCESSIBLE WEBSITES.A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF MORE THAN 500 LARGE KM-SCALE NEOS HAS ALREADY BEEN OBTAINED. THE FRONTIER OF NEO RESEARCH INVOLVES PUSHING OBSERVATIONAL LIMITS TO BUILD AN EQUIVALENT REPRESENTATIVE DATABASE OF THE SMALLEST NEOS. MANOS REPRESENTS THIS NEXTGENERATION OF NEO SURVEYS MADE POSSIBLE BY ESTABLISHING A REGULAR CADENCE OF OBSERVATIONS TO ACCESS SMALL NEWLY DISCOVERED NEOS WITHIN DAYS OR WEEKS OF FIRST DETECTION BEFORE THEY FADE BEYOND OBSERVATIONAL LIMITS.MANOS WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING KEY TOPICS RELEVANT TO PLANETARY SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION:- COMPOSITIONAL DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN KM-SCALE NEOS AND METEORITES- SPACE WEATHERING PROCESSES BY TARGETING SMALL OBJECTS THAT ARE DYNAMICALLY YOUNG AND THAT UNDERGO FREQUENT SURFACE-RESETTING PLANETARY ENCOUNTERS- THE INFLUENCE OF PLANETARY ENCOUNTERS ON NEO ROTATIONAL PROPERTIES- THE NEO BINARY RATE AND TIDAL FORMATION OF BINARY SYSTEMS- RADIATIVE TRANSFER OF REGOLITH-COVERED SURFACES BY ACCESSING OBJECTS ACROSS A RANGE OF VIEWING ASPECTS- DETERMINING PHYSICAL CRITERIA FOR PLANNING OF ROBOTIC AND HUMAN EXPLORATION MISSIONS

BASE DESCRIPTION THIS AWARD IS MULTIPLE YEAR AWARD TO LOWELL OBSERVATORY FOR PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR EDWARD W. DUNHAM FOR THE KEPLER PROJECT AWARDED U

THE LAKES AND SEAS OF TITAN ARE COMPOSED OF METHANE AND ETHANE SATURATED WITH NITROGEN FROM THE ATMOSPHERE BUT THEY ALSO CONTAIN SMALLER AMOUNTS OF TRACE HYDROCARBON AND OTHER SPECIES.

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS PROVIDE IMPORTANT CLUES ABOUT THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. FOR OVER 20 YEARS LOWELL OBSERVATORY HAS MAINTAINED CATALOGS OF ORBITAL ELEMENTS FOR ALL KNOWN MINOR PLANETS. THESE ASTEROID (ASTORB) AND COMET (COMORB) CATALOGS ARE ACTIVELY CURATED AND REPRESENT THE CURRENT CENSUS OF MORE THAN OF A MILLION MINOR PLANETS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. WITH NASA PDART SUPPORT WE HAVE BEEN WORKING FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS TO MODERNIZE THE ASTORB DATABASE AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEM OF SOFTWARE. THIS HAS INVOLVED MODIFYING BACKEND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPING A NEW WEBSITE (ASTEROID.LOWELL.EDU) AND ADDING PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (E.G. ALBEDOS LIGHTCURVE PERIODS SPECTRAL TYPES) TO THE DATABASE. THIS WORK IS ONGOING AND WILL REACH COMPLETION IN MID-2019. FROM THIS WORK WE HAVE IDENTIFIED A NUMBER OF IMPROVEMENTS THAT WILL FURTHER INCREASE COMMUNITY ACCESS TO THE DATABASE AND EXPAND ITS CAPABILITIES. WE PROPOSE HERE TO DEVELOP NEW FEATURES THAT WILL BUILD UPON THE ASTORB AND COMORB DATABASES. THIS WORK WILL CONSIST OF THREE PRIMARY COMPONENTS. FIRST WE WILL INCORPORATE INTO OUR SYSTEM THE OPEN SOURCE DIRECT N-BODY INTEGRATOR GENGA (GRIMM&STADEL 2014) WHICH IS DESIGNED FOR GPU-BASED HARDWARE. N-BODY INTEGRATORS FOR MINOR PLANET ORBITS TYPICALLY USE CPUS AND THUS ARE LIMITED TO A HANDFUL OF PROCESSING CORES. GPUS HAVE A MUCH LARGER (~100X) NUMBER OF CORES WHICH MAKES THEM VERY WELL SUITED TO PARALLELIZING A LARGE NUMBER OF SIMPLE FLOATING POINT CALCULATIONS LIKE THOSE NEEDED FOR ORBIT INTEGRATION. THIS SOFTWARE WILL FACILITATE EFFICIENT MAINTENANCE OF OUR DATABASE AND THE CREATION OF NOVEL OBSERVATIONAL PLANNING TOOLS. OUR SECOND MAJOR TASK WILL INVOLVE ADDING COMETS AND INTERSTELLAR OBJECTS TO THE DATABASE. FOR OVER 20 YEARS COMORB HAS ONLY BEEN USED INTERNALLY AT LOWELL THIS WILL BE THE FIRST TIME THESE DATA ARE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE. WE WILL AUGMENT OUR DATABASE TO HANDLE COMETS AND COMPLEXITIES ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR ORBITAL AND BRIGHTNESS PROPERTIES. FOLDING COMETS INTO THE ASTORB ECOSYSTEM WILL ENABLE USE OF THE OBSERVATIONAL PLANNING TOOLS ON THE PROJECT WEBSITE. OUR THIRD MAJOR TASK WILL INVOLVE BUILDING A BRIDGE BETWEEN THE LOWELL DATABASE AND THE JPL SMALL-BODY ORBIT DETERMINATION SYSTEM. SINCE THEIR INCEPTION THE LOWELL CATALOGS HAVE SERVED AS INDEPENDENT CALCULATIONS OF ORBITAL ELEMENTS REGULARLY COMPUTED AS NEW DATA BECOME AVAILABLE. AS THE NUMBER OF KNOWN MINOR PLANETS HAS GROWN BY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE SINCE ASTORB S INCEPTION AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO IN THE LSST ERA MAINTENANCE WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY CHALLENGING. THIS PROBLEM CAN BE GREATLY AMELIORATED IF WE CAN OUTSOURCE THE INITIAL COMPUTATION OF ORBITAL ELEMENTS. FORTUNATELY JPL PRODUCES THE HIGHEST QUALITY ORBITAL ELEMENTS IN THE WORLD ARE WELL PREPARED TO HANDLE THE INFLUX OF OBJECTS FROM LSST AND HAVE AN API (APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE) FOR ACCESS TO THEIR ORBITAL ELEMENTS. WE WILL WORK CLOSELY WITH THE SOLAR SYSTEM DYNAMICS GROUP AT JPL TO INGEST THEIR ORBITAL ELEMENTS INTO ASTORB SO THAT WE MAINTAIN ALL OF OUR ASSOCIATED FUNCTIONALITY WHILE BUILDING LONG-TERM STABILITY. IN EXCHANGE FOR RECEIVING ORBITAL ELEMENTS FROM JPL WE WILL PROVIDE THEM OUR CURATED PHYSICAL PROPERTIES DATABASE WHICH HAS BEEN ADDED TO ASTORB DURING OUR FIRST ITERATION OF PDART FUNDING. THESE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES WILL THEN BE ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THE JPL SYSTEM. WE WILL IMPLEMENT A VIRTUAL OBSERVATORY (VO) INTERFACE TO ASTORB WHICH WILL PROVIDE OPEN PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE DATABASE AS WELL AS FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF DATA TO JPL. THE TWO MAIN THEMES OF THIS PROPOSAL ARE INCREASING ACCESS TO THE ASTORB AND COMORB DATA AND EXPANDING THEIR CAPABILITY FOR FUTURE USERS. THE TASKS IN SUPPORT OF THESE THEMES ARE DIRECTLY IN LINE WITH PDART OBJECTIVES TO (1) CREATE A REFERENCE DATABASE TO ENABLE PLANETARY SCIENCE RESEARCH AND (2) TO DEVELOP SOFTWARE TOOLS THAT WILL ENHANCE FUTURE SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE IMPORTANCE OF BINARITY ON THE ORIGIN OF WOLF-RAYET STARS -THIS PROJECT IS DESIGNED TO DEMONSTRATE HOW HIGH-MASS STARS LOSE THEIR OUTERMOST LAYERS, EXPOSING THEIR CORES. SUCH OBJECTS ARE KNOWN AS WOLF-RAYET (WR) STARS. MOST OF THEIR HYDROGEN IS GONE, AND THEY ARE MADE UP OF THE PRODUCTS OF NUCLEAR BURNING SUCH AS HELIUM, CARBON, AND OXYGEN. WR STARS ARE NEAR THE ENDS OF THEIR LIVES AND ARE DESTINED TO EXPLODE AS SPECTACULAR SUPERNOVAE. THERE ARE TWO METHODS BY WHICH THESE WRS MIGHT FORM. IN THE FIRST OF THESE, THE OUTER LAYERS ARE REMOVED BY STELLAR WINDS, IN WHICH MATTER IS PUSHED OFF THE STAR BY THE PRESSURE OF THEIR INTENSE LIGHT. IN THE SECOND METHOD, MATERIAL IS PULLED OFF THE STAR BY THE GRAVITY OF AN ORBITING COMPANION STAR. IT IS LIKELY THAT SOME WR STARS FORM ONE WAY, WHILE OTHERS FORM THE OTHER. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO FIND WHAT FRACTION OF WR STARS IS FORMED BY EACH METHOD. THIS RESULT WILL BE IMPORTANT SCIENTIFICALLY, BECAUSE THESE HIGH-MASS STARS PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN THE ECOLOGY OF THE UNIVERSE, MANUFACTURING THE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE UP OUR PLANET AND THE LIFE ON IT. THEIR INTENSE EXPLOSIONS AT THE ENDS OF THEIR LIVES RELEASE THESE ELEMENTS INTO SPACE, TRIGGERING THE FORMATION OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF STARS AND PLANETS. THESE OBSERVATIONS WILL ALSO PROVIDE SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECTS FOR UNDERGRADUATES. THE PROJECT INCLUDES THE CONSTRUCTION AND FREE DISTRIBUTION OF COLLEGE-LEVEL EXERCISES IN ASTRONOMY. THE INVESTIGATOR TEAM WILL USE THREE COMPLEMENTARY APPROACHES. FIRST, THEY WILL MEASURE THE LUMINOSITIES AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES OF NITROGEN-RICH WOLF-RAYET STARS (WN) AND COMPARE THESE TO THOSE PREDICTED BY THE EVOLUTIONARY MODELS. SECOND, THE NATURE OF THE ENIGMATIC WN3/O3 STARS WILL BE INVESTIGATED. THESE ARE EITHER ARCHETYPES OF STRIPPED BINARIES OR A MISSING LINK BETWEEN O STARS AND WRS. THIRD, THEY WILL CONDUCT A SYSTEMATIC SURVEY FOR O-TYPE STARS IN THE LARGE AND SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUDS. THE RELATIVE NUMBER OF O AND WR STARS AS A FUNCTION OF MASS (LUMINOSITY) IS ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL DIAGNOSTICS OF THE ORIGINS OF WRS. TOGETHER THESE THREE PROGRAMS WILL PUT NUMBERS AND UNCERTAINTIES ON THE FRACTION OF BINARIES FORMED BY EACH MECHANISM. THE AUTHORS WILL ALSO CONSTRUCT A HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTRAL ATLAS OF 1000 BRIGHT STARS COVERING A WIDE RANGE OF SPECTRAL TYPES AND LUMINOSITY CLASSES. THIS ATLAS IS INTENDED AS A HEURISTIC RESOURCE AVAILABLE NOT ONLY FOR ASTRONOMERS BUT ALSO FOR ASTRONOMY STUDENTS. IT WILL BE USED IN UNDERGRADUATE LAB EXERCISES AT NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY. THESE SPECTRA AND TEACHING UNITS WILL THEN BE MADE FREELY AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE THROUGH A WEBSITE. 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.

PLUTO'S SECRET SAUCE: DO SUBSURFACE VOLATILE FLUIDS SHAPE ITS GEOLOGY?

MASSIVE STAR BIRTH, LIFE AND DEATH: CLOSING THE LOOP IN THE LOCAL GROUP OF GALAXIES

TURN DOWN THE NOISE! DISENTANGLING PLANETARY AND STELLAR SIGNALS BY OBSERVING THE SUN WITH EXPRES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A SURVEY FOR MULTIPLICITY OF LOW-MASS (CLASS M) DWARF STARS

THREE MAJOR DATABASES OF MINOR PLANET ORBITAL ELEMENTS ARE CURRENTLY MAINTAINED IN THE UNITED STATES: THE MINOR PLANET CENTER MPC CATALOG, JPL HORIZO

GROUNDBASED COMETARY STUDIES GOALS: INVESTIGATIONS OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COMETS ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE - IN ADDITION

WE WILL LOOK FOR CORRELATIONS BETWEEN THE JET PROPERTIES AND THE COMET'S PRODUCTION RATES TO INVESTIGATE HOW THE HIGH ACTIVITY LEVELS AFFECT THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF THE COMA

COMPREHENSIVE MODELING OF THE NUCLEUS ROTATIONAL STATE AND THE COMA MORPHOLOGY AND LIGHTCURVE VARIABILITY OF COMET 1P/HALLEYINVESTIGATIONS OF THE P

CIRCUMSTELLAR DISK EVOLUTION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PLANET FORMATION IN THE BINARY ENVIRONMENT

STELLAR AND SOLAR MAGNETIC ACTIVITY CYCLES

MASS RATIOS AND HIGH ORDER MULTIPLICITY OF YOUNG BINARIES

YOUNG STARS ARE HIGHLY ACTIVE AND FREQUENTLY FLARE. THESE FLARES CAN HAVE DRASTIC CONSEQUENCES FOR THE ATMOSPHERE OF AN EXOPLANET.

WE PROPOSE A STUDY OF THE OPTICAL BEHAVIOR OF VOLATILE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM ICES TO EXTEND CAPABILITIES FOR REMOTE SENSING OF THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL

STAR FORMATION AND MOLECULAR CLOUD STRUCTURE AT LOW METALLICITY

PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT THE LAKES OF TITAN ARE COMPOSED OF METHANE AND/OR ETHANE BUT THE RELATIVE PROPORTIONS ARE MOSTLY UNCLEAR. UNDERSTANDING THE PAST AND CURRENT STABILITY OF THESE LAKES REQUIRES CHARACTERIZING THE INTERACTIONS OF LIQUID METHANE AND ETHANE ALONG WITH NITROGEN. PRIOR INVESTIGATIONS FOUND THAT THE FREEZING POINT OF METHANE IS DEPRESSED WHEN MIXED WITH NITROGEN. RECENT WORK SHOWS THAT ALTHOUGH METHANE AND ETHANE HAVE SIMILAR FREEZING POINTS WHEN MIXED THEY CAN REMAIN LIQUID DOWN TO 72 K. CONCURRENTLY WITH THE FREEZING POINT MEASUREMENTS WE ACQUIRE TRANSMISSION SPECTRA OF THESE MIXTURES TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE SPECTRAL FEATURES CHANGE WITH CONCENTRATION AND TEMPERATURE. ANY MIXING OF THESE TWO SPECIES TOGETHER WILL DEPRESS THE FREEZING POINT OF THE LAKE BELOW TITAN S SURFACE TEMPERATURE PREVENTING THEM FROM FREEZING. THE NEXT STEP IS TO DETERMINE HOW THE METHANE-ETHANE SYSTEM BEHAVES IN THE PRESENCE OF A NITROGEN ATMOSPHERE. PRELIMINARY RESULTS INDICATE THAT AT HIGH PRESSURE THE TERNARY SYSTEM CREATES TWO SEPARATE LIQUID PHASES. THROUGH SPECTROSCOPY WE DETERMINED THE BOTTOM LAYER TO BE NITROGEN RICH AND THE TOP LAYER TO BE ETHANE RICH. UNDERSTANDING THE FREEZING POINTS OF COMBINATIONS OF THESE SPECIES HAS IMPLICATIONS FOR NOT ONLY THE LAKES ON THE SURFACE OF TITAN BUT ALSO FOR THE EVAPORATION/CONDENSATION/CLOUD CYCLE IN THE ATMOSPHERE AS WELL AS THE STABILITY OF THESE SPECIES ON OTHER OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES. THESE RESULTS WILL GUIDE CURRENT THEORETICAL MODELS AND INTERPRETATION OF FUTURE OBSERVATIONAL DATA. WE WILL USE THE CRYOGENIC ASTROPHYSICAL ICE LAB AT NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY TO MEASURE THE COMPOSITION AND STABILITY OF LIQUIDS AND ICES UNDER VARIOUS TEMPERATURES AND PRESSURES. OUR CRYOGENIC LABORATORY SETUP ALLOWS US TO EXPLORE ICES DOWN TO 30 K THROUGH IMAGING AND TRANSMISSION SPECTROSCOPY. SAMPLES WILL INCLUDE MIXTURES OF METHANE ETHANE AND NITROGEN. WE WILL ALSO PERFORM MODELING TO UNDERSTAND THE CHEMISTRY INTERACTIONS CAUSING THESE PHENOMENA. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL BE DIRECTLY APPLICABLE TO NASA S SOLAR SYSTEM WORKINGS OBJECTIVES OF CHARACTERIZING AND UNDERSTANDING THE CHEMICAL MINERALOGICAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES OF PLANETARY SURFACES AND FLUID INVENTORIES THAT INTERACT WITH THE SURFACE. WE WILL ALSO DEVELOP THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BASES FOR UNDERSTANDING THESE FEATURES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE VARYING CONDITIONS THROUGH TIME AFTER FORMATION.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: TUNABLE DUAL-POLARIZATION PHOTONIC RING RESONATOR FILTERS FOR OH-SUPPRESSED GROUND-BASED INFRARED ASTRONOMY -THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP NOVEL FILTERS CALLED RING-RESONATORS, IMPRINTED ON SILICON WAFERS, TO SUPPRESS THE ATMOSPHERIC AIRGLOW AT NEAR-INFRARED (NIR) WAVELENGTHS WHERE COOL STARS, PROTO-PLANETS AND GALAXIES GLOW MOST BRIGHTLY. THE AIRGLOW, COMING FROM NARROW EMISSION-LINES PRODUCED BY OH MOLECULES IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE, PREVENT ASTRONOMERS FROM TAKING FULL ADVANTAGE OF THIS WINDOW FROM GROUND-BASED OBSERVATORIES. THE RING RESONATORS CREATE NARROW-BAND NOTCH FILTERS (LIKE AN UNEVEN PICKET FENCE WITH VERY NARROW PICKETS), THERMALLY TUNED TO BLOCK THE AIR-GLOW LINES BUT LET MOST OF THE LIGHT FROM ASTRONOMICAL OBJECTS THROUGH. THIS PROGRAM FOCUSES ON SOLVING THE ENGINEERING PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH COUPLING LIGHT FROM TELESCOPES EFFICIENTLY INTO THE RING-RESONATORS, AND THEN BACK OUT TO FEED CONVENTIONAL INSTRUMENTS, SUCH AS SPECTROGRAPHS. BY THE CONCLUSION OF THIS PROJECT, LEVERAGED BY US INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS, THE TECHNOLOGY WILL BE SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED FOR ON-SKY DEMONSTRATION OF RING RESONATOR-BASED AIR-GLOW SUPPRESSION. WORKING WITH LOWELL OBSERVATORY?S MARLEY FOUNDATION ASTRONOMY DISCOVERY CENTER, THIS PROGRAM ALSO WILL DEVELOP A PORTABLE, INTERACTIVE EXHIBIT FOCUSED ON THE CRITICAL THINKING AND THE PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOLS USED BY SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTATION. RING RESONATOR FILTERS CURRENTLY OFFER THE ONLY VIABLE ALTERNATIVE (POTENTIALLY IN A MORE COMPACT PACKAGE) TO FIBER BRAGG GRATINGS (NOT FABRICATED IN THE US) FOR REDUCING THE PERNICIOUS AIRGLOW THAT LIMITS GROUND-BASED NIR OBSERVATIONS. THE RING RESONATORS DEVELOPED HERE AIM TO SUPPRESS (BY 20-40 DB) THE MOST PROMINENT OH LINES, YIELDING AN ESTIMATED SIGNAL TO NOISE (S/N) IMPROVEMENT IN THE NIR OF A FACTOR OF 5 OR MORE IN A BROAD-BAND SENSE, AND DRAMATICALLY REDUCING SCATTERED LIGHT IN ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS. LABORATORY EFFORTS FOCUS ON THE INTEGRATION OF COMMERCIAL OFF-THE-SHELF PHOTONIC LANTERNS INTO THE SOURCE-DEVICE-SENSOR PATHWAY; COUPLING BOTH TE AND TM INPUT MODES TO PHOTONIC DEVICES SIMULTANEOUSLY; AND LEVERAGING THE DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND PACKAGING EXPERTISE OF INDUSTRY LEADERS IN SILICON PHOTONICS, ALL FOR THE PURPOSE OF MITIGATING THE COUPLING LOSSES THAT HAVE THUS FAR LIMITED DEVICE THROUGHPUT. THE WAVELENGTH RANGE OVER WHICH OH SUPPRESSION CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED WILL ALSO BE EXPANDED. THE OUTREACH EXHIBIT WILL BE CENTERED UPON EXISTING INSTRUMENTS, SOME PREVIOUSLY FLOWN ON SOFIA, AND WILL BE PORTABLE, ALLOWING LOWELL?S INSTRUMENT TRANSPORT VEHICLE TO TAKE IT TO OTHER SITES, SUCH AS THE SCHOOLS WITH WHICH LOWELL PARTNERS. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

DESPITE THE STUNNING WEALTH OF DATA PROVIDED BY THE DISCOVERY OF THOUSANDS OF PLANETS SPANNING A SURPRISINGLY BROAD PARAMETER SPACE WE KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT YOUNG PLANETS. TO ACCURATELY ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROCESSES WHICH GOVERN PLANET FORMATION MIGRATION AND EVOLUTION WE MUST IDENTIFY AND STUDY YOUNG PLANETS THEMSELVES.IN 2016 WE PUBLISHED THE EXTRAORDINARY IDENTIFICATION OF A ~12 JUPITER MASS OBJECT IN A 9 DAY PERIOD ORBIT IN THE 2 MYR OLD CLASSICAL T TAURI SYSTEM CI TAU REPRESENTING THE FIRST UNAMBIGUOUS DISCOVERY OF A YOUNG STAR + DISK + SHORT-PERIOD PLANET KNOWN. THE KEY TO THE SUCCESS OF THIS WORK WAS THE APPLICATION OF INTENSIVE IR HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY. OUR ORIGINAL SURVEY WAS LIMITED TO HIGH RESOLUTION OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY BY VIRTUE OF HAVING ADEQUATE ACCESS TO LARGE TIME ALLOCATIONS ON THE MCDONALD OBSERVATORY 2.7-METER TELESCOPE. HOWEVER STELLAR ACTIVITY EFFECTS ARE A FUNCTION OF WAVELENGTH AND HAVE A MUCH LARGER IMPACT ON RV AMPLITUDES IN THE OPTICAL THAN IN THE IR WHEREAS GRAVITATIONALLY-INDUCED RV VARIATIONS SHOW THE SAME AMPLITUDES AT ALL WAVELENGTHS. THUS THE IDEAL APPROACH TO AN RV SURVEY OF ACTIVE SPOTTED YOUNG PLANETS IS TO USE IR SPECTROSCOPY FOR THE PRIMARY OBSERVATIONS WITH OPTICAL FOLLOWUP AS NEEDED.WE ARE PROPOSING FOR SUPPORT OF OUR YOUNG EXOPLANET RV OBSERVATIONS USING THE TRANSFORMATIONAL COMBINATION OF THE IGRINS IR SPECTROGRAPH AND LOWELL OBSERVATORY'S 4.3-METER DISCOVERY CHANNEL TELESCOPE (DCT). IN COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MCDONALD OBSERVATORY AND THE KOREAN ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE IGRINS IS IN RESIDENCE AT THE DCT FOR 6 MONTHS PER YEAR OVER THROUGH 2019. THE FIRST VISITS COVERED SEPTEMBER 2016-FEBRUARY 2017 AND AUGUST 2017-JANUARY 2018. IGRINS IS SCHEDULED TO RETURN TO THE DCT IN SEPTEMBER 2018 AND POSSIBLY AGAIN IN FUTURE YEARS (TBD). PRIOR TO THIS DEPLOYMENT AT THE DCT WE OBTAINED SUBSTANTIAL SURVEY DATA WITH IGRINS AT THE 2.7-METER TELESCOPE AT MCDONALD OBSERVATORY. THESE SPECTRA FROM MCDONALD COMBINED WITH NEW DATA OBTAINED WITH GENEROUS TIME ALLOCATIONS (28 NIGHTS IN THE 2016-2017 SEASON AND 23 IN THE 2017-2018 SEASON)ON THE DCT ARE EXPEDITING OUR UNPRECEDENTED IR SURVEY FOR SUBSTELLAR OBJECTS AROUND YOUNG STARS. TO DATE AT THE DCT WE HAVE OBTAINED MINIMUM 3-4 SPECTRA FOR EACH OF OUR 140 TARGET STARS; FOR A SUBSAMPLE WE HAVE DOZENS OF OBSERVATIONS. IGRINS THIRD VISIT WILL BE USED FOR INTENSIVE OBSERVATIONS OF PROMISING CANDIDATE EXOPLANET HOST STARS. A NEW HIGH-RESOLUTION OPTICAL SPECTROGRAPH IS BEING COMMISSIONED AT THE DCT BY YALE UNIVERSITY POTENTIALLY PROVIDING NEAR-SIMULTANEOUS OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY IN THE FUTURE; WE WILL USE THE MCDONALD 2.7 METER TELESCOPE FOR OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY IN THE NEAR TERM. THE RELATIVELY SHORT-PERIOD GIANT PLANETS WE ARE SENSITIVE TO ARE OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE IN PART BECAUSE OF THEIR ROLE IN THE DYNAMICS OF THE INNER 1 AU THE TERRESTRIAL PLANET-FORMING REGION. DETECTIONS OF PLANETS AROUND STARS WITH PRIMORDIAL DISKS ARE ESPECIALLY INTERESTING BECAUSE THEY PROVIDE A DIRECT LINK BETWEEN THE HOST DISK AND THE EXOPLANET PROPERTIES. WITH JWST IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO STUDY DISK COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE IN SYSTEMS WITH PLANETS FOR COMPARISON WITH SYSTEMS WHICH LACK GIANT PLANETS POTENTIALLY PROVIDING A PREDICTIVE TOOL FOR PLANET FORMATION. OUR PROPOSED WORK PROVIDES UNPRECEDENTED TARGETS FOR JWST CAMPAIGNS. FURTHERMORE OUR USE OF K2 DATA PRODUCTS TO UNDERSTAND AND DISENTANGLE STELLAR ROTATION AND ACTIVITY FROM EXOPLANET SIGNATURES ADDS TREMENDOUS VALUE TO BOTH DATA SETS.THIS RESEARCH IS DIRECTLY RELATED SCIENTIFICALLY TO THE NASA STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES ``1.5 ASCERTAIN THE ... ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM'' AND ``1.6 DISCOVER HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS EXPLORE HOW IT BEGAN AND EVOLVED'' AND TO OBJECTIVE ``3.1 ATTRACT AND ADVANCE A HIGHLY SKILLED COMPETENT AND DIVERSE WORKFORCE CULTIVATE AN INNOVATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT''.

"NEAR-EARTH ASTEROID PHOTOMETRIC SURVEY (NEAPS)"USING TELESCOPES AT LOWELL OBSERVATORY'S DARK-SKY SI

YOUNG STAR DYNAMICAL MASS RATIOS AND MASSES

HOW YOUNG STARS BEHAVE IN COUPLES AND THE IMPACT ON BINARY FORMATION, DISK EVOLUTION, AND PLANET FORMATION

"QUANTITATIVE ANALYSES OF GAS AND DUST COMA MORPHOLOGIES IN COMETS - PHASE II"INVESTIGATIONS OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF

RESONANT CONTACT BINARIES IN THE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN BELT

THE EMERGING PICTURE OF TITAN IS THAT OF A WORLD WITH HYDROLOGICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL SYSTEMS EVERY BIT AS COMPLICATED AS THOSE ON EARTH. ON TITAN TH

HIGH PRECISION, DIRECTLY DETERMINED RADII AND EFFECTIVE TEMPERATURES FOR GIANT STARS

EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENC

THE CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COMETS: UNIFORM ANALYSES OF 32 YEARS OF NARROWBAND PHOTOMETR

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: OBSERVING EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES AT HIGH RESOLUTION

SMALL BODIES ARE REMNANTS OF THE FORMATION OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND BY STUDYING THEM WE CAN CONSTRAIN THE EARLY PHASES OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND BY EXTENSION EXO-PLANETARY SYSTEMS. DUE TO THEIR LARGE HELIOCENTRIC DISTANCES AND BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN

INVESTIGATIONS OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COMETS ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE, IN ADDITION TO REVEALING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF C

COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF THE MOST PRISTINE OBJECTS KNOWN IN THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM

WE PROPOSE TO DISCOVER SHORT-PERIOD GIANT PLANETS ORBITING OTHER STARS AND MEASURE THEIR ORBITAL PER

DEEP ECLIPTIC SURVEY

THE SUBJECTS FOR THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH ARE COMETS HARTLEY 2, THE SUCCESSFUL TARGET OF NASA'S EPOXI MISSION, AND LULIN (2007 N3), A RECENT DYNAMICALL

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS AT LOWELL OBSERVATORY

MUTUAL ORBITS AND MASSES OF KUIPER BELT BINARIES AND MULTIPLE SYSTEMS

HOT JUPITERS, LOCATED ONLY A FEW STELLAR RADII FROM THEIR PARENT STARS, PROVIDE A LABORATORY IN WHICH WE CAN STUDY FUNDAMENTAL SYSTEM PARAMETERS INCL

DETERMINING THE DISTRIBUTION OF MARTIAN CHLORINE SALTS OBJECTIVE: OUR GOAL IS TO INVESTIGATE THE PRESENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF CHLORINE SALTS ON THE S

HIGH INCLINATION KUIPER BELT OBJECTSWE ARE PROPOSING A SEARCH FOR HIGH-INCLINATION KUIPER BELT OBJ

MISSION STATEMENT. THE RADIUS AND TEMPERATURE SCALE OF GIANT STARS ACROSS THE HERTZSPRUNG-RUSSELL DIAGRAM FROM RED GIANT BRANCH STARS TO HORIZONTAL B

THE LOWELL OBSERVATORY NATIVE AMERICAN ASTRONOMY OUTREACH PROGRAM: COMPLETING THE KAYENTA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT COLLABORATION

A PLANETARY SCIENCE CAMERA FOR THE LOWELL OBSERVATORY 1.1-M HALL TELESCOPEWE PROPOSE TO BUILD A NEW

INVESTIGATIONS OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COMETS ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE, IN ADDITION TO REVEALING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF C

PLUTO IS THE SMALLEST AND MOST DISTANT SOLAR SYSTEM BODY KNOWN TO HAVE A SIGNI CANT ATMOSPHERE AND ITS ATMOSPHERE FACES THE MOST DRAMATIC SEASONAL IN

THE COMPLEXITY OF PROBLEMS IN SMALL BODY RESEARCH HAS GROWN EXPONENTIALLY OVER THE LAST DECADES. DEALING WITH THESE PROBLEMS REQUIRES NOT ONLY POWERFUL COMPUTATIONAL FACILITIES BUT ALSO SOFTWARE TOOLS TO ANALYZE THESE DATA SETS IN THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY. FOR DECADES PLANETARY ASTRONOMERS WERE REQUIRED TO PRODUCE THEIR OWN SOFTWARE TOOLS DESPITE A LACK OF PROPER TRAINING IN CODING. AS A RESULT EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE SAME PROBLEM HAVE BEEN DUPLICATED MULTIPLE TIMES IN A VARIETY OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES USUALLY WITHOUT PROPER TESTING OR DOCUMENTATION. WHILE STUDENTS AND YOUNG RESEARCHERS TEND TO HAVE ENJOYED A MORE COMPREHENSIVE CODING TRAINING THEY OFTEN HAVE TO REPLICATE AND MIGRATE ALREADY EXISTING ROUTINES IN ORDER TO USE THEM FOR THEIR OWN WORK. HENCE THE LACK OF A MAINTAINED AND WELL-TESTED OPEN-SOURCE CODE BASE FOR PLANETARY ASTRONOMY REDUCES THE PRODUCTIVITY OF ESPECIALLY YOUNG RESEARCHERS. WE PROPOSE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN OPEN-SOURCE PYTHON SOFTWARE PACKAGE FOR PLANETARY ASTRONOMY DESIGNED FOR THE NEEDS OF ASTEROID AND COMET RESEARCHERS. THIS PACKAGE WILL PROVIDE AMONG OTHERS: OBSERVATION PLANNING AND DESIGN TOOLS; PHOTOMETRIC PHASE CURVE ROTATIONAL LIGHTCURVE AND ASTEROID/COMET THERMAL MODELS AND ANALYSIS TOOLS; DUST AND GAS ACTIVITY MODELS; UTILITIES FOR THE SPECTRAL AND SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF SMALL BODIES AND ROUTINES SUPPORTING ORBIT FITTING AND INTEGRATION IMAGE AND DATA ANALYSIS. THESE FEATURES HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED IN A SURVEY WITHIN THE SMALL BODY COMMUNITY AND ADDITIONAL FEATURES WILL BE ADDED IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH THE COMMUNITY. THE PUBLISHED CODE WILL BE WELL TESTED DOCUMENTED AND EASY TO USE. THIS PYTHON SOFTWARE PACKAGE FOCUSED ON SMALL BODY RESEARCH - SBPY - WILL BE DEVELOPED BY AND FOR PLANETARY ASTRONOMERS IN COLLABORATION WITH THE COMMUNITY. OUR TEAM CONSISTS OF MEMBERS OF THE ASTEROID AND COMET COMMUNITIES WHO ARE ALSO SEASONED SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS. WE WILL IMPLEMENT THIS PACKAGE IN PYTHON THE BY FAR MOST POPULAR PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE AMONG PLANETARY SCIENTISTS AND ASTRONOMERS. SBPY WILL COMBINE THE FUNCTIONALITY OF EXISTING METHODS AND SOFTWARE TOOLS IN A WELL-TESTED AND DOCUMENTED CODE SUITE THAT WILL BE EASY TO USE BY THE COMMUNITY. ALL METHODS USED IN SBPY HAVE BEEN USED IN PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS. WE WILL PUBLISH OUR CODE AS AN ASTROPY AFFILIATED PACKAGE THAT BUILDS UPON EXISTING ASTROPY FUNCTIONALITY AND MEETS THE HIGH REQUIREMENTS OF THE ASTROPY COMMUNITY. FUNCTIONALITY THAT IS RELEVANT TO OTHER ASTROPY AFFILIATED PACKAGES WILL BE ADDED THERE AS APPROPRIATE. SBPY WILL INCLUDE A UNIQUE REFERENCE TRACKING SYSTEM BUILDING A BIBLIOGRAPHY IN THE BACKGROUND DURING USE. CODE DEVELOPED AS PART OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO THE COMMUNITY AT ANY STAGE DURING ITS DEVELOPMENT THROUGH A GITHUB REPOSITORY ENABLING TESTING AND CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE COMMUNITY. THE FINAL PRODUCT WILL BE HOSTED ON NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION'S GITHUB SITE. IN ORDER TO DISSEMINATE THE PACKAGE AND ITS USE WE WILL PROVIDE EXAMPLE COOKBOOKS WORKSHOPS AND HACKATHONS FOR INSTANCE AT MEETINGS OF THE DIVISION FOR PLANETARY SCIENCES WHICH WILL ALSO ENABLE US TO STAY IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH THE COMMUNITY. THIS PROJECT IS RELEVANT TO NASA ROSES-2017 PDART AS IT PROPOSES TO PRODUCE A SOFTWARE TOOLKIT THAT WILL FACILITATE THE USE OF EXISTING AND FUTURE DATA SETS AS WELL AS ENABLE AND ENHANCE CURRENT AND FUTURE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS IN THE FIELD OF PLANETARY ASTRONOMY. OUR GOAL IS TO CREATE A CORE LIBRARY THAT WILL SERVE AS THE GOLD STANDARD AND BE OF USE TO MOST COMET AND ASTEROID DATA SETS AND PROJECTS WHETHER THEY BE ASTRONOMICAL IN NATURE (TELESCOPIC OBSERVATIONS) DERIVED FROM MISSION DATA (FLYBY OR RENDEZVOUS DATA SETS) OR ARE BASED ON PURELY SIMULATED DATA (E.G. FROM A SOLAR SYSTEM WORKINGS PROJECT). SBPY WILL BOOST THE PRODUCTIVITY OF CURRENT AND FUTURE PLANETARY ASTRONOMERS AND SMALL BODY RESEARCHERS.

EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENC

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE WEIRDEST STARS IN THE UNIVERSE: ILLUMINATING THE ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF THORNE-ZYTKOW OBJECTS -SOME OF THE WEIRDEST STARS IN THE UNIVERSE ARE CALLED THORNE-ZYTKOW OBJECTS, OR TZOS. THEY REPRESENT A COMPLETELY NEW MODEL FOR HOW THE INSIDES OF STARS CAN WORK, A NEW POSSIBLE FATE FOR BINARY STAR SYSTEMS, AND A NEW WAY TO PRODUCE HEAVY ELEMENTS. THIS RESEARCH PROGRAM WILL CARRY OUT AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF TZOS. THE INVESTIGATORS WILL RUN COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF THE BINARY STAR SYSTEMS THAT MIGHT FORM TZOS AND USE SOME OF THE PLANET'S LARGEST TELESCOPES TO SEARCH FOR TZOS. IN ADDITION TO LEARNING MORE ABOUT THESE MYSTERIOUS STARS, THIS RESEARCH WILL TRANSFORM OUR UNDERSTANDING OF COLD AND MASSIVE STARS AND EXPLAIN HOW THEY EVOLVE, DIE, AND ENRICH THE CHEMISTRY OF OUR UNIVERSE. THE INVESTIGATORS WILL WORK CLOSELY WITH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ON SHORT RESEARCH PROJECTS THAT CAN BE PRESENTED AT REGIONAL OR STATE SCIENCE FAIRS. THORNE-ZYTKOW OBJECTS COMBINE THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF RED SUPERGIANTS - COLD AND LUMINOUS MASSIVE STARS - WITH STRANGE NEUTRON CORES SUPPORTED NOT BY STANDARD STELLAR FUSION, BUT BY EXTREME QUANTUM PHYSICS. THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF A TZOS IS KEY FOR UNDERSTANDING THIS NOVEL MODEL OF SUPPORTING A COOL LUMINOUS EXTERIOR WITH A NEUTRON DEGENERATE INTERIOR. TERMINAL TZO SCENARIOS, WHICH COULD INCLUDE MASS-LOSS-DRIVEN DISSIPATION OF THEIR OUTER LAYERS, A SUPERNOVA-LIKE EXPLOSION, OR DIRECT COLLAPSE TO A BLACK HOLE, ARE CRUCIAL FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW TZOS CONTRIBUTE TO ENRICHMENT AND ADD TO THE POPULATION OF COMPACT OBJECTS. THE MERGER OF A RED SUPERGIANT AND NEUTRON STAR TO FORM A TZO IS NOTABLY DIFFERENT FROM THE STANDARD SCENARIO ASSUMED FOR MASSIVE BINARIES, WHERE BOTH STARS PRODUCE COMPACT OBJECTS AND EVENTUALLY MERGE TO GENERATE A GRAVITATIONAL WAVE TRANSIENT. NEGLECTING TZO FORMATION AND EVOLUTION WILL LEAD TO INCORRECT PREDICTIONS FOR HEAVY ELEMENT ENRICHMENT AND AN OVER-PREDICTION OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVE TRANSIENTS. USING HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY, ADVANCED STELLAR ATMOSPHERE MODELS TAILORED FOR COOL STARS, AND ARCHIVAL LIGHT CURVES OF THESE STARS, THE INVESTIGATORS WILL DETERMINE WHETHER POTENTIAL TZO CANDIDATES HAVE THE DISTINCTIVE SURFACE ABUNDANCE SIGNATURES PREDICTED. AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THIS RESEARCH PROGRAM, THE INVESTIGATORS WILL WORK ANNUALLY WITH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ON SHORT RESEARCH PROJECTS SUITABLE FOR PRESENTATION AT REGIONAL OR STATE SCIENCE FAIRS AND DEVELOP INFRASTRUCTURE FOR USE BY OTHER POTENTIAL PROJECT MENTORS ACROSS THE FIELD OF ASTRONOMY. 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.

EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNEARTHING THE YOUNG STARS IN AQUILA -A MAJOR GOAL IN ASTRONOMY IS TO UNDERSTAND THE CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO FORM STARS. STARS BEGIN THEIR LIVES IN GIANT, DUSTY CLOUDS OF GAS. THE ORION NEBULA IS A SPECTACULAR EXAMPLE OF SUCH A CLOUD IN WHICH MANY STARS ARE FORMING. A PARTICULARLY INTERESTING STAR FORMING REGION IS THE AQUILA RIFT, A MASSIVE EXPANSE OF DARK GAS CLOUDS. THE RIFT IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE NO OTHER NEBULA SO LARGE AND POTENTIALLY RICH IN YOUNG STARS LIES THIS CLOSE TO THE SUN. FOR MANY DECADES ASTRONOMERS HAVE BEEN PUZZLED BY THE LACK OF YOUNG STARS IN THE RIFT BECAUSE IT CONTAINS ENOUGH GAS TO FORM ABOUT A HUNDRED THOUSAND SUNS. YET ONLY A FEW YOUNG STARS HAD BEEN IDENTIFIED IN THE RIFT. ONE WAY TO FIND EVIDENCE OF FORMING STARS IS TO LOOK FOR HERBIG-HARO (HH) OBJECTS- DISTINCT JETS OF GAS THAT ARE PRODUCED BY YOUNG STARS. A NEW METHOD HAS PROVEN SUCCESSFUL IN FINDING SEVERAL DOZEN NEW HH OBJECTS IN THE RIFT, MANY IN PLACES WHERE NONE HAD BEEN SEEN BEFORE. THEIR DISCOVERY SHOWS THAT MANY MORE STARS ARE FORMING IN THE RIFT THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO COMPLETE A COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF THE RIFT TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE EXTENT OF STAR FORMATION WITHIN ITS CLOUDS. THE SURVEY WILL USE THE DARK ENERGY CAMERA (DECAM) ON THE BLANCO 4-METER TELESCOPE AT THE CERRO TOLOLO INTERAMERICAN OBSERVATORY, WHICH IS OPERATED BY NSF'S NOIRLAB. IT IS THE ONLY TELESCOPE IN THE WORLD THAT CAN DO THIS SEARCH. THIS SEARCH FOR HH OBJECTS IN THE RIFT WILL BE DEVELOPED BY DR. RECTOR INTO A CURRICULUM FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE (CURE). CURES ARE AN ESTABLISHED INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL THAT INTEGRATES SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH WITH EDUCATION BY GIVING INTRODUCTORY-LEVEL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO AUTHENTIC RESEARCH WITH REAL DATA. ITS GOALS ARE THREEFOLD: (1) TO TEACH THAT SCIENCE IS A PROCESS OF DISCOVERY, NOT JUST A BODY OF KNOWLEDGE, (2) TO IMPROVE ATTITUDES TOWARDS SCIENCE AND STEM CAREERS, AND (3) TO DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING, TEAMWORK AND GOAL-DRIVEN WORK SKILLS IMPORTANT IN ANY CAREER. DR. PRATO WILL ALSO MENTOR HER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AND PARTICIPATE IN OUTREACH ACTIVITIES, PARTICULARLY AS A ROLE MODEL TO WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND TO GIRLS INTERESTED IN PURSUING SCIENCE AS A CAREER. PRATO ACTIVELY MENTORS PROFESSIONAL JUNIOR WOMEN AT LOWELL AND NAU. FURTHERMORE, PRATO IS DEVELOPING A CURRICULUM FOR A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP AIMED AT PROVIDING ADVANCED UNDERGRADUATES AND EARLY-CAREER GRADUATE STUDENTS WITH CRITICAL PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OF THE TYPE THAT IS NOT TYPICALLY TAUGHT IN CLASS. PRATO IS ALSO LEADING A MAJOR EFFORT TO PROVIDE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN UNDER-RESOURCED COMMUNITIES TO PURSUE SECONDARY STEM EDUCATION. 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.

EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EXPRES SEARCH FOR LOW MASS PLANETS

WE PROPOSE TO BUILD A UNIFIED TOOLKIT THAT WILL GUIDE HOLDERS OF ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHS IN TURNING THOSE PLATES INTO CALIBRATED DIGITAL DATA SETS THAT WILL BE WIDELY ACCESSIBLE. THE KIT CONSISTING PRIMARILY OF SOFTWARE TOOLS WILL MAKE IT STRAIGHT

THE SET OF COMETS OBSERVED BY SOHO AND STEREO PROVIDES US WITH A LARGE (>1600 COMETS) AND UNIQUE DATABASE FOR STUDYING IMPORTANT COMETARY PROPERTIES.

FROM POINT SOURCE TO RESOLVED WORLD: COMPREHENSIVE SPECTRO-PHOTOMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF 1999 JU3 WE PROPOSE A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM OF TELESCOPIC

THIS PROPSAL TO NASA'S ORIGINS OF SOLAR SYSTEMS PROGRAM OUTLINES A THREE YEAR PROJECT THAT WILL SIGN

EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

THE SEASONAL HYDROLOGICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL CYCLES OF TITANTHE RECENT DRAMATIC IMAGES OF STREAM NET

THE SET OF COMETS OBSERVED BY SOLAR HELIOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY (SOHO) AND SOLAR TERRESTRIAL RELATIONS OBSERVATORY (STEREO) PROVIDES US WITH A LARGE (>2

THOMAS BIDA/LOWELL OBSERVATORY\NMERCURY'S ATMOSPHERE IN THE AGE OF MESSENGER: CALCIUM AND NEW SPECIE

GROUNDBASED COMETARY STUDIES

THE OBJECTIVE OF OUR PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE ATMOSPHERIC PROPERTIES OF HOT, SHORT PERIOD, EXOPLANETS. IN PARTICULAR, WE WILL ST

A HIGH PRECISION RADIAL VELOCITY SURVEY OF YOUNG STARS: GIANT PLANET DETECTION AND THE ORIGIN OF THE

THE LOWELL OBSERVATORY NAVAJO-HOPI ASTRONOMY OUTREACH PROGRAM: THE KAYENTA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT COLLABORATION

THE SEPARATION BETWEEN ASTEROIDS AND COMETS HAS BECOME LESS CLEAR WITH THE DISCOVERY OF A SMALL GROUP OF ASTEROIDS THAT DISPLAY COMET-LIKE DUST ACTIVITY. WHILE THE ACTIVITY IS ATTRIBUTED TO DIFFERENT MECHANISMS SOME OBJECTS SEEM TO ACTIVATE CLOSE TO THE SUN. NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS (NEAS) COME CLOSE TO THE EARTH AND THE SUN CONSTITUTING A NATURAL LABORATORY FOR THE STUDY OF THERMALLY INDUCED ACTIVITY. TWO NEA SUB-POPULATIONS ARE ESPECIALLY SUSPECTED OF BEING POTENTIALLY ACTIVE: DORMANT COMETS AND NEAR-SUN ASTEROIDS. DORMANT COMETS ARE COMETARY NUCLEI THAT HAVE DEPLETED THEIR NEAR-SURFACE ICE RESERVOIRS AND DO NOT SHOW ACTIVITY IN THE FORM OF A COMA OR A TAIL. IN CONTRAST TO MOST ASTEROIDS DORMANT COMETS MOVE ON COMET-LIKE ORBITS AND SHARE THE PHYSICAL SURFACE PROPERTIES OF COMETARY NUCLEI. EXAMPLES OF DORMANT COMETS THAT HAVE DISPLAYED COMET-LIKE ACTIVITY SUGGEST THAT AT LEAST SOME DORMANT COMETS ARE STILL CAPABLE OF HARBORING ICES. THE EXISTENCE OF ICES IN THE NEA POPULATION HAS IMPORTANT IMPLICATIONS FOR COMET EVOLUTION MODELS THE ORIGIN OF TERRESTRIAL WATER AND OTHER VOLATILES AND THE FUTURE RESOURCE UTILIZATION OF NEAS. NEAR-SUN ASTEROIDS ARE NEAS WITH EXTREMELY LOW PERIHELION DISTANCES. A RECENT STUDY (GRANVIK ET AL. 2016 NATURE 530) FOUND A LACK OF NEAR-SUN ASTEROIDS COMPARED TO MODEL SIMULATIONS OF THE NEA POPULATION. THIS LACK IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE DISRUPTION OF ASTEROIDS CLOSE TO THE SUN WHICH IS THOUGHT TO BE LINKED TO THEIR SIZES AND COMPOSITIONS. CHARACTERIZING THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF NEAR-SUN ASTEROIDS AS WELL AS THE SEARCH FOR ACTIVITY IN THEM WILL PROVIDE IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS ON THE NATURE OF THE DISRUPTION PROCESS THE ORIGIN OF METEOR STREAMS AND THE ZODIACAL DUST.

WE PROPOSE TO STUDY THE OPTICAL BEHAVIOR OF VOLATILE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM ICES TO EXTEND CAPABILITIES FOR REMOTE SENSING OF THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL P

THE ORBITS OF DISTANT OBJECTS SUCH AS KUIPER BELT OBJECTS (KBOS) AND CENTAURS ARE INHERENTLY UNCERTAIN BECAUSE EVEN THE BEST-OBSERVED OBJECTS HAVE ORBITAL ARCS THAT ARE SHORT COMPARED TO THEIR PERIODS. A TYPICAL KBO MAY ONLY HAVE A FEW YEAR OBSERVATIONAL ARC AND A 400-YEAR PERIOD. AS A RESULT UNTIL WE HAVE OBSERVED A DISTANT OBJECT THROUGH A FULL PERIOD ITS ORBITAL SOLUTION WILL ALWAYS BE AN APPROXIMATION AND THE EPHEMERIDES (RA/DEC) WHICH ARE DERIVED FROM THE ORBITAL SOLUTION WILL TEND TO DRIFT AWAY FROM "TRUTH" WITH TIME. THIS WILL EVEN HAPPEN FOR KBOS AND CENTAURS WHICH HAVE BEEN NUMBERED AND WHICH SUPPOSEDLY HAVE "WELL-DETERMINED" ORBITS. FOR EXAMPLE NUMBERED CENTAUR 63252 CURRENTLY HAS AN ERROR OF 9 ARCSEC AN ERROR WHICH WILL SLOWLY GROW WITH TIME. MANY OBJECTS HAVE ERRORS OF ONE OR MORE ARC MINUTES MOSTLY BECAUSE THEY HAVE RELATIVELY SHORT OBSERVATIONAL ARCS (PERHAPS A FEW YEARS) AND HAVE NOT BEEN OBSERVED AGAIN FOR SEVERAL YEARS. SOME RECENTLY-DISCOVERED OBJECTS HAVE VERY SHORT ARCS -- A MONTH OR LESS. IF NOT RECOVERED THE POSITIONAL ERRORS ON THESE OBJECTS WILL GROW VERY RAPIDLY SUCH THAT THEY WILL BECOME UNRECOVERABLE. ANY OF THESE DISTANT OBJECTS IF ASTROMETRICALLY OBSERVED TODAY WILL HAVE THEIR CURRENT POSITIONAL ERROR BECOME ZERO. THE ERROR WILL THEN GROW AGAIN WITH TIME BUT AT A SLOWER RATE BECAUSE THEY NOW HAVE AN IMPROVED ORBIT WITH A LONGER OBSERVATIONAL ARC. THE AIM OF THIS PROJECT IS TO TO OBTAIN ASTROMETRIC MEASURES FOR AS MANY OBJECTS AS POSSIBLE. WHY IS REDUCING THE POSITIONAL ERROR OF DISTANT OBJECTS IMPORTANT? SUCH OBJECTS ARE TYPICALLY QUITE FAINT. THIS MEANS THAT PHYSICAL OBSERVATIONS OF MOST OF THESE OBJECTS (COLORS SPECTRA LIGHT CURVES BINARITY) CAN ONLY BE OPTAINED ON LARGE GROUND-BASED OR SPACE TELESCOPES. TIME ON THESE TELESCOPES IS DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN AND IS VERY PRECIOUS. ONE DOES NOT WANT TO WASTE ANY OBSERVING TIME. BUT THESE TELESCOPES TYPICALLY HAVE SMALL FIELDS OF VIEW. WITHOUT AN ACCURATE POSITION THE OBSERVER DOES NOT KNOW WHICH OF MANY FAINT OBJECTS IN A FIELD IS THE DESIRED OBJECT. IF ONE HAS A TELESCOPE WITH A LARGE ENOUGH FIELD OF VIEW ONE CAN TAKE A SECOND EXPOSURE LATER IN THE NIGHT TO LOOK FOR THE MOVING OBJECT. THIS WILL IDENTIFY THE OBJECT BUT IS A WASTE OF AVAILABLE TIME. AND FOR TELESCOPES WITH SMALL FIELDS OF VIEW ESPECIALLY SPACE-BASED TELESCOPES OBJECTS WITH SIGNIFICANT ERRORS SIMPLY CAN'T BE OBSERVED AT ALL BECAUSE THEY CANNOT BE RELIABLY POSITIONED IN A SMALL APERTURE. THIS WORK WILL THUS KEEP A LARGER NUMBER OF DISTANT OBJECTS AVAILABLE FOR PHYSICAL STUDIES. ALSO GOOD ORBITS ARE REQUIRED IF WE ARE EVER GOING TO OBSERVE OCCULTATIONS OF KBOS EVEN IF WE USE A NETWORK OF TELESCOPES SUCH AS THE RECON NETWORK HEADED BY MARC BUIE AT SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE (HTTP://TNORECON.NET/). OCCULTATIONS ARE THE ONLY WAY WE HAVE OF DIRECTLY MEANSURING THE TRUE SIZES OF THESE OBJECTS FROM THE GROUND. I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS ASTROMETRY OF KBOS FOR MANY YEARS NOW UNDER SEVERAL NASA GRANTS. I ORIGINALLY USED THE LOWELL 1.8-M PERKINS TELESCOPE TO DO ASTROMETRIC FOLLOWUP OF BRIGHTER (R<22.5) DISTANT OBJECTS IN ORDER TO REDUCE THEIR FUTURE POSITIONAL ERROR. THAT WORK WAS FUNDED BY TWO NASA GRANTS: NNX-08AO28G AND NNX-08A029G. OVER FIVE YEARS I OBTAINED ASTROMETRY ON OVER 200 DISTANT OBJECTS. FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS I HAVE MOVED THIS PROJECT TO THE 4.3-M DISCOVERY CHANNEL TELESCOPE AT LOWELL OBSERVATORY UNDER NASA GRANT NNX-14AG32G. ALTHOUGH I HAVE UNFORTUNATELY HAD SEVERAL CLOUDY NIGHTS AND MARGINAL NIGHTS DURING THIS TIME I STILL MANAGED TO RECOVER ABOUT 200 DISTANT OBJECTS MANY FAINTER THAN THOSE OBSERVED AT THE 1.8-M (AND IN 2/5 THE TIME). I AM SUBMITTING THIS PROPOSAL TO CONTINUE THESE OBSERVATIONS. I NOTE THAT THIS WORK IS DONE AT RELATIVELY LOW COST AND AS A SERVICE BY ME TO THE KBO COMMUNITY.

THE LOWELL OBSERVATORY NAVAJO-HOPI ASTRONOMY OUTREACH PROGRAM: THE 2017-2018 SCHOOL YEAR

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH USING HIGH MASS BINARIES TO RESOLVE THE MASS DISCREPANCY: TAKING THINGS TO THE EXTREME

WE PROPOSE TO CONTINUE ANNUAL B (472 NM) AND Y (551 NM) MEASUREMENTS OF THE BRIGHTNESS OF TITAN URANUS AND NEPTUNE EXTENDING AN UNBROKEN TIME SERI

OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, OUR GROUP HAS ESTABLISHED THAT HD 179949 (AS WELL AS OTHER HOT-JUPITER HOST STARS) EXHIBITS OBSERVABLE SIGNATURES OF MAGNETO

LOWELL OBSERVATORYSTAR FORMATION IN THE EXTREME OUTER PA RTS OF DWARF GALAXIESTHE OUTER

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: VARIABLE CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS: PREVALENCE, TIMESCALES, AND PHYSICAL MECHANISMS

WE PROPOSE TO USE HIRES DATA FROM THE KECK OBSERVATORY ARCHIVE TO MINE HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTRA FOR RADIAL VELOCITY EVIDENCE OF MASSIVE EXTRA-SOLAR PL

THE ORBITS OF DISTANT OBJECTS SUCH AS KUIPER BELT OBJECTS (KBOS) AND CENTAURS ARE INHERENTLY UNCERTAIN BECAUSE EVEN THE BEST-OBSERVED OBJECTS HAVE OR

I PROPOSE TO CONTINUE ANNUAL B (472 NM) AND Y (551 NM) PRECISION PHOTOELECTRIC MEASUREMENTS OF THE BRIGHTNESS OF TITAN, URANUS AND NEPTUNE, EXTENDING

"TRACING STAR FORMATION IN LITTLE THINGS"DWARF GALAXIES SEEM SO SIMPLE. YET THE PROCESSES THAT LEAD

IT WAS BELIEVED UNTIL RECENTLY THAT ALL STARS OF 1 TO 8 MSUN ENTER A SHORT (<50 000 YR) PLANETARY NEBULA (PN) PHASE BETWEEN THE AGB AND WHITE DWARF PHASES. THIS TEXTBOOK PICTURE OF STELLAR EVOLUTION IS FAILING. CONSIDERABLE EVIDENCE NOW EXISTS TO ARGUE THAT PN FORMATION REQUIRES UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES (E.G. BINARY INTERACTIONS; DE MARCO 2009). THE TEXTBOOK MODEL FAILS IN SEVERAL WAYS: (1) THE NUMBER OF PNE IN GALAXIES IS 5X TOO LOW (2) PNE SHOULD NOT FORM IN GLOBULAR CLUSTERS BUT THEY DO (3)>80% OF PNE ARE NON-SPHERICAL YET THEIR PROGENITOR STARS HAVE SPHERICAL WINDS AND (4) THE PN LUMINOSITY FUNCTION (PNLF) METHOD FOR MEASURING GALAXY DISTANCES SHOULD PLACE ELLIPTICALS 3X TOO FAR BUT DOESN'T. THESE ANOMALIES CAN BE EXPLAINED IF MOST PNE ARE A MANIFESTATION OF BINARY INTERACTIONS RATHER THAN A NORMAL PHASE OF EVOLUTION (JACOBY ET AL 1997; DE MARCO 2009). IN TERMS OF BROADER IMPACT RESOLVING THE PN FORMATION MECHANISM CAN EXPLAIN THE SUCCESS OF THE PNLF IMPROVING CONFIDENCE IN ITS RESULTS AND CHANGE OUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MATERIAL RETURNED TO THE ISM WHICH AFFECTS GALACTIC CHEMICAL EVOLUTION. WE MONITORED ALL 6 PN CENTRAL STARS (PNCS) IN KEPLER S ORIGINAL FIELD. GROUND-BASED DATA SUGGESTED THAT 15% (I.E. 1) PNCS WOULD EXHIBIT VARIABILITY OF SUFFICIENT AMPLITUDE (5%) TO IMPLY A CLOSE COMPANION (MISZALSKI ET AL. 2009). WITH KEPLER S SUPERIOR PHOTOMETRY WE DETECTED PERIODIC VARIABILITY IN 3 PNCS AND QUASIPERIODIC BEHAVIOR IN A FOURTH AT AMPLITUDES UP TO 100X LOWER THAN GROUND-BASED DATA CAN MEASURE. ALL 4 VARIABLES ARE VERY LIKELY A CONSEQUENCE OF BINARY INTERACTIONS (DE MARCO ET AL 2015). OF THE REMAINING 2 PNE KEPLER COULD NOT SEPARATE THE PNCS FROM THE NEBULA IN ONE CASE. IN THE OTHER (ABELL 61) THE STAR DIDN T VARY BUT ITS SPHERICAL MORPHOLOGY IS COMPATIBLE WITH A SINGLE STAR ORIGIN HAVING NO PHOTOMETRIC VARIATION. THUS ALL KEPLER PNE ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE BINARY HYPOTHESIS. WE HAVE SINCE EXAMINED DATA FROM K2 CAMPAIGNS 0 (3 PNE) AND 2 (4 PNE). THESE PNE HAVE FAINTER STARS AND MORE COMPACT NEBULAE THAN THOSE IN THE KEPLER FIELD. ALSO THE K2 SENSITIVITY IS DEGRADED RELATIVE TO KEPLER; 2 OF THE 4 VARIABLES SEEN IN THE KEPLER FIELD WOULD HAVE BEEN MISSED WITH K2. STILL WE DID FIND 1 EXCELLENT CONTACT BINARY WITH A PERIOD OF 0.6D. WE PLAN TO DEVELOP A TUNED REDUCTION SCHEME THAT ADDRESSES OUR PROBLEM SPECIFICALLY I.E. FAINT STARS EMBEDDED IN BRIGHT SKY FROM THE NEBULA. WE WILL FOCUS ON THAT EFFORT WHEN DATA FOR CAMPAIGN 7 TARGETS (8 PNE) ARE RELEASED. THE MAIN ISSUE IS CENTROIDING THE PNCS IN BUSY FIELDS; METHODS EXIST (LAUER 1999) THAT CAN IMPROVE CENTROID MEASUREMENT AND PHOTOMETRY FOR UNDERSAMPLED DATA. DUE TO THE CHALLENGING TARGETS IN THE K2 FIELDS OUR USEFUL SAMPLE REMAINS SMALL DESPITE A TOTAL OF 22 OBJECTS. CAMPAIGN 11 THOUGH COVERS AN EXTREMELY PN-RICH FIELD WITH 195 PNE FALLING ON SILICON. MOST OF THESE SUFFER SIMILAR ISSUES: FAINT STARS COMPACT NEBULAE CROWDED FIELDS. WE WILL INCLUDE ALL TARGETS FOR COMPLETENESS AND FUTURE ANALYSIS NOTING THAT 36 PNE HAVE QUALITY COMPARABLE TO THOSE IN THE KEPLER FIELD. THAT WILL BRING THE KEPLER BINARY CENTRAL STAR SEARCH TO A STATISTICAL LEVEL THAT IS BETTER THAN OTHER BINARY PNCS DETECTION METHODS (MISZALSKI ET AL 2009; DOUCHIN ET AL 2015). WE WILL AGAIN FOLLOW UP PHOTOMETRIC VARIABLES WITH RADIAL VELOCITY SPECTRA FROM GEMINI TO VALIDATE BINARY PERIODICITIES (SEE DE MARCO ET AL 2015). THIS IS A CONTINUING PROGRAM FROM KEPLER CYCLE 3 (6 OBJECTS) AND THE K2 CAMPAIGNS 0 2 AND 7 (15 OBJECTS). WE WILL DRASTICALLY IMPROVE THE STATISTICS OF THE SAMPLE TO>50 PNE. CAMPAIGN 11 IS ESSENTIAL AS IT IS THE MOST POPULATED FIELD TO STUDY PNE WITH KEPLER.

THE LEAP 2010 TEACHER WORKSHOP

"CONTINUED FOLLOWUP OF KBOS"SUMMARY: WE ARE PROPOSING TO DO FOLLOWUP OF BRIGHTER KUIPER BELT OBJECTS (KBOS) USING THE LOWELL OBSERVATORY 1.8-M PERKI

THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF HOT AND COOL MASSIVE STARS AS A FUNCTION OF METALLICITY IN THE LOCAL GROUP

THE DISCOVERY OF EXOPLANETARY SYSTEMS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY. MULTI-PLANET SYSTEMS, PLANETS IN

WE PROPOSE AN ARCHIVAL STUDY TO COMBINE THE GALEX/ALL-SKY IMAGING SURVEY (AIS) WITH EXTENSIVE GROUND-BASED HOTOMETRIC AND PROPER-MOTION CATALOGS TO I

EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

WORK PLAN (STATEMENT OF WORK) THE TEAM IS GEORGE JACOBY (LOWELL OBSERVATORY) ORSOLA DE MARCO (MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY) TODD HILLWIG (VALPARAISO) JOSEPH LONG (STSCI) AND MATTHIAS KRONBERGER (DSH AMATEUR GROUP; JACOBY ET AL 2010). FUNDING REQUESTS IN THE BUDGET WILL APPLY ONLY TO JACOBY. JACOBY HAS AN EXTENSIVE HISTORY IN THE FIELD OF PNE HAVING DEVELOPED THE PNLF METHOD FOR DISTANCE DETERMINATION AND HAS CONSIDERABLE EXPERTISE IN HANDLING OBSERVATIONAL DATA OF ALL KINDS INCLUDING VARIABLE STAR DATA (SN IA RR LYR CEPHEIDS RED SUPERGIANTS). HE AND DE MARCO WILL PROVIDE THE SCIENTIFIC LEADERSHIP FOR THE PROJECT. JACOBY WILL MANAGE THE BUDGET AND TEAM ACTIVITIES. DE MARCO HAS DEVELOPED SIMULATIONS FOR BINARY CENTRAL STAR EVOLUTION AND GALACTIC POPULATION SYNTHESIS TO PREDICT THE RATES OF BINARY CENTRAL STARS. SHE ALSO LEADS THE IR EXCESS METHOD CAMPAIGN AND LED THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE FIRST KEPLER PAPER. HILLWIG HAS BEEN COLLECTING THE FOLLOW-UP RADIAL VELOCITY SPECTRA AT GEMINI AND HE GENERATES THE MODELS OF THE COMBINED LIGHT CURVE PLUS VELOCITY DATA TO SOLVE THE ORBITAL PARAMETERS. [THIS IS NOW COMPLETE FOR ONE OF THE CAMPAIGN 7 TARGETS] LONG HAS DEVELOPED ALL THE SOFTWARE PIPELINES TO ANALYZE THE DATA. HE IS INTIMATELY FAMILIAR WITH THE PUBLICALLY AVAILABLE SOFTWARE FROM THE KEPLER CENTER AND HAS TUNED THE ALGORITHMS AND PARAMETERS FOR OUR PARTICULAR SITUATION (E.G. DERIVING MASKS TO OPTIMIZE THE PHOTOMETRIC CONTRAST OF THE STARS AGAINST THE NEBULAR BACKGROUND). [THIS HAS BEEN COMPLETED INITIALLY FOR ALL OBJECTS BUT OPTIMIZING THE PARAMETERS IS NOT TARTED.]

WE ARE PROPOSING TO USE ONE HALF NIGHT PER MONTH TO ASTROMETRICALLY FOLLOW-UP APPROXIMATELY 15 ASTEROIDS WITH H MAGNITUDE BETWEEN 22 AND 24 AND WITH MOID LOWER THAN 0.05 AU USING LOWELL S 4.3M DCT.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING THE ATMOSPHERES OF YOUNG PLANETS

THE L.E.A.P. 2013 TEACHER WORKSHOP

DYNAMICAL ASTEROID FAMILIES RESULTING FROM CATASTROPHIC DISRUPTIONS REPRESENT THE INTERIORS OF THEIR FORMER PARENT BODIES. DIFFERENTIATION OF A LARGE

THE SET OF COMETS OBSERVED BY SOLAR HELIOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY (SOHO) AND SOLAR TERRESTRIAL RELATIONS OBSERVATORY (STEREO) PROVIDES US WITH A LARGE (>2

CAREER: A SYSTEMATIC KINEMATIC SURVEY OF YOUNG MILKY WAY CLUSTERS