Date: February 16-17, 2011

Place: Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing, China

Motivation: In the coming decade, Chinese astronomy will experience rapid expansion in the area of optical and infrared observations.  Projects such as the Guoshoujing Telescope (LAMOST) are coming online, and many future ones are currently under development.  In order to get full return from our investments in these projects and to grow the base of trained observers requires an immediate expansion of the Chinese optical-infrared telescope system to include a portfolio of existing international facilities.  With an eye toward the needs of this growing community, we have initiated the Telescope Access Program (TAP), through which astronomers based in China will be able to gain access to leading facilities at a range of apertures.  Current plans for TAP will allow Chinese astronomers access to ~50 nights per year across four major facilities:

- Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), 3.6m, on Mauna Kea in Hawaii (15-20 nights/year)

- Hale 5m (200-inch) on Mt. Palomar in California (23 nights/year)

- MMT 6.5m on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona (10-12 nights/year)

- Two Magellan 6.5m telescopes at Las Campanas, Chile (3-4 nights/year)

Access to these facilities not only gives Chinese PIs the ability to lead their own observational projects, but perhaps more importantly, presents a valuable opportunity to interface with international astronomers associated with the respective observatories and communities

We expect observations by Chinese astronomers to begin on these facilities in the second half of 2011, or early 2012.  The first TAP proposal deadline will be near the end of March.  Given the rapid timescale for the beginning of this program, we are holding the 1st TAP Workshop at the KIAA on the Peking University campus, Feb 16-17, 2011.  The goals for this workshop are to:

1) Introduce the Telescope Access Program to the community: what it is and how the program (e.g., proposals, time allocation) will work

2) Describe the participating telescopes and their instrumentation

3) Have Chinese astronomers describe current programs and how they may benefit from TAP.

3) Allow astronomers within China to discuss potential programs with each other and with members of the participating TAP observatory communities

4) Discuss possibilities for future collaboration on an instrumentation or facility level between Chinese astronomers and the observatories participating in TAP.

Invited speakers include:

Daniel Devost, CFHT Director of Science Operations

Licai Deng (NAOC)

Xiaohui Fan (Arizona)

Philip Hinz, Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics (Arizona)

Yipeng Jing (SHAO)

Shude Mao (NAOC/Manchester)

Eric Peng (PKU)

Shiang-Yu Wang (ASIAA)

Christian Veillet, CFHT Executive Director

Scientific Organizing Committee:

Eric Peng (chair)

Shude Mao

Suijian Xue

Local Organizing Committee:

Ning Zhang

Jie Ma

Beini Tang

Chengze Liu

Lei Yang

Yiqing Liu

We invite participation from all astronomers interesting in learning more about TAP, and particularly those who anticipate using the TAP facilities.  This workshop will be a forum for people to learn about the facilities, have their questions answered, and to discuss new observational projects with their colleagues in advance of the first proposal deadline.  We would like to minimize formal talks and allow people time for discussion.  Junior-level astronomers are encouraged to attend, so please feel free to forward this announcement to anyone who may not have received the initial mailing.

We plan to have a website available within the coming weeks.  If you are interested in coming to this meeting, please email the following information to telescope.access.program@gmail.com.  Space at the KIAA is limited, so for full consideration please send your registration before January 27th.

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