Optical image of the edge-on spiral galaxy ESO 510-G13, which is 105,000 light-years across and 150 million light-years away. The severely warped disk of stars, gas, and light-blocking dust surrounding the spherical central bulge was likely caused by a significant past encounter with another galaxy.

To address the scientific challenges described in Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium ,the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee recommends undertaking the following projects, arranged in order of priority in three categories: major, moderate, and small.

MAJOR INITIATIVES

• Next Generation Space Telescope
• Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope
• Constellation-X Observatory
• Expanded Very Large Array
• Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope
• Terrestrial Planet Finder Single Aperture Far Infrared Observatory

MODERATE INITIATIVES

• Telescope System Instrumentation Program
• Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope
• Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• Advanced Technology Solar Telescope
• Square Kilometer Array technology development
• Solar Dynamics Observatory
• Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy
• Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope
• Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System
• Advanced Radio Interferometry between Space and Earth
• Frequency Agile Solar Radio telescope
• South Pole Submillimeter-wave Telescope

SMALL INITIATIVE

• National Virtual Observatory