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J. V. Lambert, J. L. Africano, D. L. Talent, P. F. Sydney, V. SooHoo (Boeing North American), D. L. Nishimoto (Oceanit), P. W. Kervin (Air Force Research Lab)
The Air Force Maui Optical Station (AMOS) was established in 1965 as a research and operations center for United States Department of Defense. The primary mission of AMOS has been space surveillance—the detection, tracking, identification, and monitoring of suborbital missiles and manmade objects in Earth orbit. However, the site has also actively supported a secondary mission in the area of scientific and astronomical research. Each of the facility’s five telescopes, with apertures ranging in size from 0.6 to 3.67 meters, has unique capabilities to support astronomical observations. Over the years, the facility has supported the development of adaptive optics and laser guide stars; high resolution imaging of P Cygni; Saturn ring plane crossing observations; Jupiter torus studies; asteroid characterization and follow-up; Comet Shoemaker/Levy-9 impact observations; and multi-decade IR photometry of long period variable stars. Results from these efforts will be presented. With the changing international political environment, the site is becoming more available for astronomical observations. Unique niches AMOS can fill include the short notice (hours to days) scheduling of transient event observations, and long-term (multi-year) synoptic observations.
If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is a
s follows:
http://ulua.mhpcc.af.mil