portfolio

Anyone want to buy some telescopes? Heavily used. Free to a good home. The NSF has issued a preliminary response to the NSF Astronomy Portfolio Review. Game on. NSF MPS/AST Response to Portfolio Review Report (pdf) This is a 4 page response from NSF Astronomy Division Director Ulvestad to the Portfolio Review, from August 31st 2012. Implementation is pending current budget negotiations for next fiscal year budget and plan. Implementation requires acting by end of 2013. Small Grants: "...Given the constrained budget scenarios and the explicitly higher-priority recommendation for AAG and…

Heads up, peeps.NSF Portfolio Review is out Mayall, WIYN, 2.1m KPNO, GBT and VLBA are out in recommended scenarios. Shit. Portfolio Review - full text 170 pp (pdf) To summarise: Kitt Peak telescopes cut; Green Bank Radio Telescope and Very Large Baseline Array cut; McM-P Solar Telescope cut before Advanced Solar Telescope starts. Committee recommends pre-emptive cuts based on pessimistic budget scenario. LSST, CCAT and GSMT in. Two scenarios: A presumes 10% effective cut over decade B presumes 30% effective cut over decade From Exec Summary: "We recommend that AST avoid the risk of drastic…