Los Alamos National Laboratory joins the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Consortium

Contact: Shelley Thompson, shelley@lanl.gov, (505) 665-7778

Recent News Los Alamos scientist named Asian American Engineer of the Year Los Alamos scientist featured in NASA science update Los Alamos muon detector could thwart nuclear smugglers Wojciech H. Zurek named Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar Four Los Alamos physicists honored by American Physical Society Los Alamos National Laboratory organizations earn seven out of 13 NNSA Pollution Prevention awards Carter Hydrick returns to the Bradbury Science Museum Feb. 15 Laboratory supports summer science program New NASA IBEX mission to carry Los Alamos instrument Beason takes top threat reduction post at Los Alamos

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., March 29, 2001 -- Los Alamos National Laboratory last week signed on as a full member of the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Consortium and will support up to 16 full-time students from the other institutions in the consortium - New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University and the University of Puerto Rico.

"The Magdalena Ridge Observatory partners are extremely excited about having Los Alamos National Laboratory become an active participant in this consortium, which was formed to advance and support cutting-edge research in astronomy," said Daniel H. López, president of New Mexico Tech. "Together we will establish the MROC as a collaborative scientific effort that will be recognized throughout the country and the world."

"This is an important opportunity for the Laboratory to expand our collaborative relationships with the New Mexico institutions and to encourage exploration of our universe through the application of advanced technology," said Bill Press, Los Alamos' deputy Laboratory director for science, technology and programs. "We are pleased to support these students as part of the MROC."

Once constructed along the main ridge of the Magdalena Mountains west of Socorro, N.M., the MRO will be a state-of-the-art observatory employing cutting-edge technology to produce detailed images of the far reaches of the universe. The observatory will be equipped with three 2.4-meter telescopes -- two fixed and one moveable -- linked by optical interferometry to create the potential resolving power of a single 50-meter telescope. The telescopes will also be independently operable for projects not requiring such high resolution. MRO will be used for scientific research by the consortium and by the U.S. Army for missile tracking.

"Magdalena Ridge Observatory is certain to become a tremendous resource, not only for researchers, but for students as well -- from kindergarten to post-docs," adds Van Romero, vice president for research at New Mexico Tech.

"The observatory consortium was initially established in 1999," explained David Westpfahl, professor of astrophysics at New Mexico Tech, "and each member of the consortium is an equal partner making equal contributions. We are delighted to have Los Alamos as a partner. There is a lot of expertise and specialties at the Laboratory that will expand astrophysics."

The Laboratory's contribution to the project will be the equivalent support of four students per university per year -- $120,000 per university per year. The students supported by Laboratory funding will work in areas of interest both to Los Alamos and the MRO. They will spend part of the year in Los Alamos mentored by a Los Alamos scientist.

Rene Walterbos, head of NMSU's astronomy department said, "The Laboratory will contribute a lot of expertise, instrumentation and new scientific interests that the staff [of NMSU] is interested in. We are very happy with the support they are providing the students at the university. The money will allow us to hire students and post docs to do research at Los Alamos and the observatory."

Construction of the MRO will begin spring 2002 with a completion date in 2006. Although the observatory will not be fully operational for four years, Los Alamos will begin funding students this year. "At Fenton Hill Observatory -- a site 35 miles west of Los Alamos -- a prototype interferometer is being built by UPR and Los Alamos as a testbed for the MRO interferometer. This interferometer will allow scientists and students to get experience using the instrument before MRO is online," said Galen Gisler, a Los Alamos astrophysicist. Interferometry allows the combination of the multiple telescope signals to obtain higher resolution than is available from the individual signals alone -- effectively acting like a single telescope mirror as wide as the distance between the individual telescopes.

Scientists are also looking into the possibility of staging the building of the observatory to have one telescope operational in two years, allowing single-telescope research to begin at the MRO before the construction is complete.

Funding for the facility -- which will eventually cost $40 million -- was secured through the U.S. Army, which runs the White Sands Missile Range. The design, construction and operation of the observatory will be under the auspices of the consortium. The partnership between DOD and the consortium will allow the facility to be a scientific observatory primarily, but also be used by the military to track missile tests at White Sands Missile Range, make images of geostationary satellites and track satellites and orbiting debris. The military will use the facility during the day. At night, university astronomers will combine the power of the three telescopes at the facility to conduct high-resolution studies of nearby planets and faraway stars.

Some envisioned research areas of the MROC are surveying galaxies, studying planets in high resolution, searching for extrasolar planets, imaging the cores of nearby galaxies and studying atmospheric turbulence.

NM Tech is the lead institution in site development and infrastructure design of MRO and is the consortium administrator. NMSU will help design and build instrumentation for MRO and will also contribute its experience in running a major optical observatory. NM Highlands is responsible for controls and the system integration of MRO and will design a spectrograph -- which divides light into its component wavelength, like a prism. UPR will help design and build adaptive optics and the interferometers both at MRO and the Fenton Hill Observatory.

The MRO facility will be located near New Mexico Tech's Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, within the federally mandated Langmuir Research Area made available through the Magdalena district of the U.S. Forest Service's Cibola National Forest. The observatory will be at 10,600 feet, making it the fourth highest observatory in the world and the second-darkest developed astronomical site in the United States.

On April 16 the MROC expects to receive $3 million, approved by Congress through a DOD funding bill for Fiscal Year 2000, to begin the planning, design and eventual construction of the optical telescope facility. Representatives of the consortium recently met at Los Alamos to sign the agreement making the Laboratory a full member and to decide upon the suite of instruments for the MRO telescopes.

Additional news releases related to Space Sciences