United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station

Coordinates: 35°11′03″N 111°44′26″W / 35.18417°N 111.74056°W / 35.18417; -111.74056
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Main article: United States Naval Observatory
United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station
Alternative namesNOFS
interferometer (Located at Anderson Mesa)
United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station is located in the United States
United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station
Location of United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station
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The United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS), is an

astronomical observatory near Flagstaff, Arizona, US. It is the national dark-sky observing facility under the United States Naval Observatory (USNO).[1] NOFS and USNO combine as the Celestial Reference Frame[2] manager for the U.S. Secretary of Defense.[3][4]

General information

The Flagstaff Station is a command which was established by USNO (due to a century of eventually untenable light encroachment in Washington, D.C.) at a site five miles (8.0 km) west of

positions for primarily operational scientists (astronomers and astrophysicists
), optical and mechanical engineers, and support staff.

NOFS science supports every aspect of positional astronomy to some level, providing national support and beyond. Work at NOFS covers the gamut of

astrophysics in order to facilitate its production of accurate/precise astronomical catalogs. Also, owing to the celestial dynamics (and relativistic effects[5]
) of the huge number of such moving objects across their own treks through space, the time expanse required to pin down each set of celestial locations and motions for a perhaps billion-star catalog, can be quite long. Multiple observations of each object may themselves take weeks, months or years, by themselves. This, multiplied by the large number of cataloged objects that must then be reduced for use, and which must be analyzed after observation for a very careful statistical understanding of all catalog errors, forces the rigorous production of most extremely precise and faint astrometric catalogs to take many years, sometimes decades, to complete.

The United States Naval Observatory, Flagstaff Station celebrated its 50th anniversary of the move there from Washington, D.C. in late 2005.[6] Dr. John Hall, Director of the Naval Observatory's Equatorial Division from 1947, founded NOFS. Dr. Art Hoag became its first director in 1955 (until 1965); both later were to also become directors of nearby Lowell Observatory.[7] NOFS has had 6 directors since 1955; its current and 7th acting director is Dr. Scott Dahm.[8]

NOFS remains active in supporting regional dark skies,[9][10] both to support its national protection mission,[11][12] and to promote and protect a national resource legacy for generations of humans to come.[13][14][15]

Night-time panoramic of operations at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS)
Dark-sky operations at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS)

Site description

NOFS is adjacent to Northern Arizona's San Francisco Peaks, on the alpine Colorado Plateau and geographically above the Mogollon Rim. Flagstaff and Coconino County minimize northern Arizona light pollution[16] through legislation of progressive code – which regulates local lighting.[17][18][19][20]

Indeed, despite a half-century-young history, NOFS has a rich heritage

USNO, the oldest scientific institution in the U.S.[22] Notable events have included support to the Apollo Astronaut program hosted by USGS' nearby Astrogeology Research Center; and the discovery of Pluto's moon, Charon, in 1978 (discussed below). At an elevation of approximately 7,500 feet (2,300 m), NOFS is home to a number of astronomical instruments[23] (some also described in the worldwide list of optical telescopes); some additional instrumentation is on nearby Anderson Mesa. NOFS (with parent USNO) also do fundamental science on the UKIRT
Infrared telescope in Hawaii.

The Navy provides stewardship of the facility, land and related dark sky protection efforts through its Navy Region Southwest, through Naval Air Facility El Centro.

Kaj Strand Telescope

The 1.55-meter (61-inch)

IAU to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf (not a principal) planet.[27][28][29] The 1.55-meter telescope was also used to observe and track NASA's Deep Impact Spacecraft, as it navigated to a successful inter-planetary impact with the celebrated Comet 9p/Tempel, in 2005. This telescope is particularly well-suited to perform stellar parallax studies, narrow-field astrometry supporting space navigation, and has also played a key role in discovering one of the coolest-ever known brown dwarf objects, in 2002.[30] The KSAR dome is centrally located on NOFS grounds, with support and office buildings attached to the dome structures. The large vacuum coating chamber facility is also located in this complex. The chamber can provide very accurate coatings and overcoatings of 100±2 Angstrom thickness (approximately 56 aluminium atoms thick), for small-to-multi-ton optics up to 1.8-meter (72-inch) in diameter, in a vacuum exceeding 7×106 Torr, using a vertical-optic, 1500-ampere discharge system. A dielectric coating
capability has also been demonstrated. Large optics and telescope components can be moved about NOFS using its suite of cranes, lifts, cargo elevators and specialized carts. The main complex also contains a controlled-environment, optical and electronics lab for laser, adaptive optics, optics development, collimation, mechanical, and micro-electronic control systems needed for NOFS and NPOI.

The KSAR Telescope's 18-meter (60-foot) diameter steel dome is quite large for the telescope's aperture, owing to its telescope's long f/9.8

milliarcsecond level, and close-separation, PSF photometry
. Several key programs take advantage of this capability to this day.

1.3-m telescope

The 1.3-meter (51-inch) large-field

exoplanets
.

1.0-m telescope

The 1.0-meter (40-inch) "Ritchey–Chrétien Telescope" is also an equatorially driven, fork-mounted telescope.

stellar magnitude
neutral density spot focal plane array camera, through which star positions are cross-checked before use in fundamental NPOI reference frame astrometry.

This telescope is also used to test internally developed optical adaptive optics (AO) systems, using tip-tilt and deformable mirror optics. The Shack–Hartmann AO system allows for corrections of the wavefront's aberrations caused by scintillation (degraded seeing), to higher Zernike polynomials. AO systems at NOFS will migrate to the 1.55-m and 1.8-m telescopes for future incorporation there.

The 40-inch dome is located at the summit and highest point of the modest mountain upon which NOFS is located. It is adjacent to a comprehensive instrumentation shop, which includes sophisticated,

CNC
fabrication machinery, and a broad array of design and support tooling.

0.2-m FASTT

A modern-day example of a

SOFIA Airborne Observatory correctly locate, track and image a rare Pluto occultation.[50]
FASTT is located 150 yards (140 meters) southwest of the primary complex. Attached to its large "hut" is the building housing NOFS' electronics and electrical engineering laboratories and clean rooms, where most of the advanced camera electronics, cryogenics and telescope control drives are developed and made.

Navy Precision Optical Interferometer

NOFS operates the

Naval Research Laboratory at Anderson Mesa
, 15 miles (24 km) south-east of Flagstaff. NOFS (the operational astrometric arm of USNO) funds all principle operations, and from this contracts Lowell Observatory to maintain the Anderson Mesa facility and make the observations necessary for NOFS to conduct the primary astrometric science. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) also provides additional funds to contract Lowell Observatory's and NRL's implementation of additional, long-baseline siderostat stations, facilitating NRL's primary scientific work, synthetic imaging (both celestial and of orbital satellites). The three institutions – USNO, NRL, and Lowell – each provide an executive to sit on an Operational Advisory Panel (OAP), which collectively guides the science and operations of the interferometer. The OAP commissioned the chief scientist and director of the NPOI to effect the science and operations for the Panel; this manager is a senior member of the NOFS staff and reports to the NOFS Director.

NPOI is a successful

flare stars.[57] In 2007–2008, NRL with NOFS used NPOI to obtain first-ever closure phase image precursors of satellites orbiting in geostationary orbit.[58][59]

NPOI Layout
Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI) Layout

Gallery

  • The Kaj Strand 1.55-m
    The
    Kaj Strand
    1.55-m
  • The wide field 1.3-m
    The wide field 1.3-m
  • The 40-inch Ritchey
    The 40-inch
    Ritchey
  • The Ron Stone FASTT
    The Ron Stone FASTT
  • The NPOI
    The
    NPOI
  • The 1.55-meter discovery images of Pluto's main moon, Charon
    The 1.55-meter discovery images of Pluto's main moon, Charon

See also

References

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