The astronomy community in Taiwan has been growing. With an influx of talented new faculty members, at the moment there are about a dozen institutions active in astronomy or astrophysics related research. The following figure shows the demographical distribution of astronomers in Taiwan at the end of 2022, and it is expanding rapidly.
While individual scientists are pursuing their own niche topics, many with international partners, some coordination of financial and human resources is desirable so as to facilitate further advancements. The following figure illustrates the optical telescopes larger than 2 m in aperture in the Indo-Pacific region.
TAOva (Taiwan Astronomical ObserVatories Alliance) is a collaborative platform of observing facilities of the community. Funded by the NSTC (National Science and Technology Council), the consortium aims to coordinate resources of existing radio and optical/infrared telescopes for optimal use, providing users supports in preparation of observing proposals, in data processing, thereby promoting collaboration in science and engineering developments. The platform also offers information or labor sharing to organize outreach activities, workshops, summer/winter student internship, and to hold forum events to discuss the next major projects of interest to the community, including but not limited to partnership in giant optical/infrared telescopes, high-energy space instruments, or gravitational wave detection.
TAOvA, currently operated from 2022 November to 2025 August, consists of three major programs. In addition to the community events at large outlined above, there are (1) the financial support to operate Lulin Observatory, which hosts equipment items for astronomical, environmental, atmospheric, space, and earth sciences., and (2) initial funding for the 2-m telescope in Mexico in exchange for community observing time.
In this cycle, TAOvA is PI and co-PI by 陳文屏 at NCU, and 李景輝 at ASIAA, respectively, with the following Appointed Specialists :
(TKU) 潘璽安
(ASIAA) 王祥宇、呂聖元、蘇裕農、 汪仁鴻
(NTU) 藍鼎文、吳柏鋒
(NTNU) 曾瑋玲、Y Hashimoto、吳亞霖、李悅寧
(YZU) 俞伯傑
(NCU) 周翊、饒兆聰、潘彥丞、陳婷琬
(NTHU) 江國興、賴詩萍、陳蕙茹、T Goto、A Cooper
(NCHU) 張雨晏、T Hashimoto
(NCUE) 胡欽評
(NCKU) 李君樂
(NTTU) 金若蘭
(NSYSU) 呂浩宇
The grant is renewable with another round of proposals, pending upon the funding availability and evaluation of performance in this cycle.
TAOvA 是臺灣天文台合作平台，整合各大學及研究單位的資源，有效利用現有電波與光學望遠鏡，以促進合作。本平台將繼續協助研究人員撰寫申請計畫、分析數據，另舉辦學生訓練營、鼓勵他們參與觀測訓練。TAOvA將共同辦理演講活動，規畫社群推動下階段大型計畫。我們將優化國內光學設施，包括鹿林天文台設備,讓各級學校參訪並使用望遠鏡，繼續支援天文學以外其他領域的計畫，另外協助正在籌建位於墨西哥的兩米望遠鏡，讓社群共享資源。