After scrutinizing NSF’s ground-based astronomy portfolio for more than a year, on 3 November a “senior review” committee released its recommendations for saving $30 million annually—one-quarter of the foundation’s combined budget for the four national observatories.
NSF called for the review “to look at our own program and see what we could wring out [of it]” to invest in new projects, the foundation’s astronomy division director Wayne Van Citters said at a news conference. “We realized there was a considerable mismatch between the ambitions of the community and our ability to respond.” Two areas were off limits for potential cuts: the Gemini twin telescopes, because of international agreements, and NSF’s grants program, which funds individual researchers. (See Physics Today October 2005, page 30.)
The recommendations include:
The observatories have said they will work with NSF on the implementation of the recommendations. NRAO director Fred Lo says his observatory will...
