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T.D. Oswalt (NSF)
At the dawn of the new millenium the small (< 2-m) telescopes at national facilities and many of those operated by universities or private individuals face an uncertain future. Ironically, many of these facilities could enter the 21st century as state-of-the-art resources for research and educational projects through relatively modest investments in off-the-shelf technology and the willingness of primary users to assume a larger role in their facilities’ operation and funding. Here we outline some of the reasons why and how these smaller telescopes should play an increasing rather than decreasing role in the era of 8-m class telescopes.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: toswalt@nsf.gov