* Astronomy

Dire Budget Projections from NSF AST

In his presentation to the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, NSF AST Director Jim Ulvestad provided guidance on the NSF MPS Astronomy (AST) budget projections that can only be described as dire. The signals from NSF AST imply that some existing facilities will be closed and some popular programs eliminated as a result of budget pressures, significantly altering the landscape of ground-based astronomy.
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Tribe paved way for stellar research

March 15, 1960, was a cool, clear day in southern Arizona. That morning, about 50 people drove up the winding road to the top of Kitt Peak, 56 miles southwest of Tucson. These scientists, politicians, military officers and members of the Tohono Oodham Nation had gathered to dedicate the countrys first national observatory.
They listened to William W. Morgan, a professor of astronomy at the University of Chicago, deliver the official address. After the ceremony, the visitors ate lunch and toured the mountain.
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These are heady times for solar astronomers, with the Solar Dynamics Observatory launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday and accelerated funding for the world's biggest ground-based solar telescope announced last month.
These are perilous times for solar astronomy in Tucson, which has hosted the world's largest solar telescope - the iconic McMath-Pierce - on Kitt Peak since 1962.
That telescope could close as its operator, the National Solar Observatory, takes on the new monster: the 14-story-high Advanced Technology Solar Telescope on Haleakala Peak, on Hawaii's Maui Island.
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