Small Telescopes, Big Results

Abstract

I am writing in praise of the News Focus article “Astronomers overcome ‘aperture envy’” by Robert Irion (7 Jul., p. [32][1]) in which an important point is made, courageously, in the face of “big” astronomy's new conventional wisdom favoring large telescopes: Small telescopes can (and do!) yield big science. Without the armada of well-equipped, small-aperture telescopes slowly sprouting up across the globe, the progress of discovery in astronomy and astrophysics would be severely stunted. The value of Irion's piece can best be summarized by his quote of John Huchra's observation on the move toward larger instruments: “This trend hurts students the most.” As an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, the only reason I was able to observe with a research-quality telescope at all was the availability of small instruments at Kitt Peak. (This was before the recent policy of “selling out” those telescopes to private consortia.) Graduate students usually don't get time on 8- to-10-meter telescopes. If they do, it is only by riding the coattails of their advisors' observing time and academic reputations. # {#article-title-2} Although we enjoyed Irion's excellent article describing the many contributions of small telescopes, we were struck by the comments of National Optical Astronomy Observatories director Sidney Wolff, who stated that “forefront questions…require…more powerful instruments and multi-institutional collaborations.” The article itself contradicts this view and describes a number of small telescopes and small collaborations that are making exciting contributions to “forefront” research. These include (i) measuring changes in the expansion rate of the universe; (ii) finding the optical counterparts to gamma-ray bursts; (iii) making precise observations of sun-like stars to understand solar influences on climate change; (iv) making the first direct detection of extrasolar planets, which led to the first determination of their physical properties; (v) understanding stellar interiors through asteroseismology; (vi) conducting the first deep all-sky survey in the near infra-red; and (vii) discovering near-Earth asteroids. Thus, small telescopes are, in fact, making big contributions to science. It's clear to us that small telescopes still have a bright future. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.289.5476.32