PLEASE NOTE: The FITS headers for all instruments now use common time keywords, as discussed with the users committee and implemented during the 2013 summer shutdown. Below is a brief description, as documented on the 3.5m current information page at: http://www.apo.nmsu.edu/arc35m/Engineering/index.html We have recently had some questions about this change and will discuss it at the next users committee meeting. Users are encouraged to provide feedback to their users committee members prior to the meeting (Jan 13, 2014). ------ As of August 30, 2013, the 3.5-m has implemented a TAI time standard in all the instrument headers. All time keywords are referenced to TAI. In an effort to make all time keywords the same from instrument to instrument several keywords are no longer being written to some instrument headers. The standard keywords are: TIMESYS, UTC-TAI, UT1-TAI, LST, DATE-OBS (TAI time at start of exposure in year-month-day-hour:minute:second format), and EXPTIME. Every effort has been made to give users the minimum number of time related keywords with which they can recreate any of the old keywords on their own in post processing. ---- APO 3.5-m Users Committee Phonecon, 12/02/13 Attending: Suzanne Hawley, John Bally, Rene Walterbos, Bill Ketzeback, Mary Beth Kaiser, Joe Huenerhoff, John Wisniewski, Joanne Hughes Clark, Scott Anderson, Michael Strauss, Jeff Bary, and Bruce Gillespie. Absent: Remy Indebetouw, Al Harper ********************************** User feedback and comments from institutional representatives: o Washington (Scott Anderson) - Scott had nothing new to report. o Chicago (Al Harper) - no report. o New Mexico State (Rene Walterbos) - Rene had nothing new to report. o Princeton (Michael Strauss) - Michael said that everything was fine. o Colorado (John Bally) - John had nothing new to report. o Virginia (Remy Indebetouw) - no report. o Johns Hopkins (Mary Beth Kaiser) - Mary Beth had no concerns to report. She noted with appreciation that Hal Weaver got some very good data on comet ISON. o Georgia State (Mike Crenshaw) - no report [Mike and other GSU astronomers were observing at APO at the time] o Seattle Univ. (Joanne Hughes Clark) - Joanne said her runs have been fine, and the staff quite helpful. o NAPG (Jeff Bary) & U. Oklahoma (John Wisniewski) - Jeff and John said that so far they have only been involved in the selection and scheduling of their upcoming observing programs and so far, so good. ********************************** Discussion of telescope/instruments report: In Mark's absence, Suzanne pointed the committee to his report (see below). One highlight is that the camera upgrade for the DIS slit viewer is delayed due to the camera manufacturer. Bill mentioned that the increase in dark current seen in SPIcam images was correlated with the changeout of the ion pump about a year ago, and he's working with the manufacturer of the pump to find a remedy. Suzanne emphasized the importance for SPIcam users of monitoring their data. Joanne asked to please have the Observing Specialists let the users know when a dark-current "event" occurs. Bill said he would ensure that this happens. Mark Klaene's detailed report for the reporting period follows: ************************* 3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights 10/15/13 through 11/25/13 0) Overview Generally a productive period with the first snowfall of the season now on the ground, albeit not much snow. 1) Telescope Telescope has been working very well. We had one instance of the glycol fluid in the moat seal flowing into the main azimuth bearing. It took 2 days to clean and repack the bearing. One night would have been lost however weather was so bad that we would not have been able to open regardless. 2) Instruments DIS has been operating normally. The movement of DCam (shown in the mask) was located and a temporary fix put in place. Delivery of the new DCAM camera has been delayed by the manufacturer by about an additional month. Agile is operational with no problems TripleSpec had no operational problems this period. SPIcam variable dark current has been isolated to the current ion pump type and controller. A different ion pump has been installed but so far only minimal improvement has been noted. We are continuing to monitor dark current and ion pump spikes closely to understand the issues and determine best path forward. Echelle is operational with no problems NIC-FPS is operating in shared-risk observing mode due to occasional image corruption issue. NFS less than 9 is operational. ********************************** ARCTIC PDR report: Suzanne reported that the preliminary design review for the ARCTIC visible imager instrument was held at the end of October. The review went well, and the review committee was supportive of the overall design and implementation approach. There is an unresolved question of whether to use an e2v CCD or one from a relatively new vendor, Semiconductor Technologies Associates (STA). Joe Huenerhoff is looking into the trade-space comparisons between the two. The JHU Instrument Development Group will be asked to do a followup check of the optical design. Suzanne asked if anyone has any experience with STA detectors, please let us know. The final PDR report will be made available to the users committee. ********************************** ARCSAT update: Joe announced that the web interface for ARCSAT (the .5-m telescope at APO) is up and running; he is working on some minor bugs in the focus and dome controls. We plan engineering testing to continue this week, and then will release the telescope to some experienced users for further tests. Suzanne added that we planto finish the user documentation and testing in the next 1-2 months, and then will release the telescope to the general ARC user community for shared-risk observing programs, with the goal of regular observing starting in Q2. ********************************** ARC Board meeting summary: Rene commented that the annual ARC Board of Governors meeting went well, and that the Board is happy with the progress on operational funding and prospects for the next two to three years. The Board spent time discussing future issues, and was pleased that the current institutional partnership is stable and that there is real interest in expanding the consortium. The Board was also satisfied with the continued high level of observatory performance and staff support; the operating budgets for next year were unanimously approved. Bill noted that this was the fourth year running in which the 3.5-m telescope experienced a downtime of <1%. It was also noted that SDSS4 was given Board approval to begin its first year of observing operations in mid-2014. ********************************** Q1 schedule: Suzanne said that the Q1 schedule will be out shortly. The Chinese consortium has signed the agreement to use the telescope; their program is denoted by IH01 in the Q4 2013 observing schedule and in the upcoming Q1 2014 schedule. ********************************** On-site visits, training: Suzanne reminded the committee, and by extension, the general user community, that the 3-night on-site training policy is applicable to all users, including the new leasing partners. With more new people coming to the site, it is even more essential to note on the observing proposals and schedules if the observers will be on site at APO, and/or are there for training. Additionally, if the new observer is a grad student, it is the policy that he or she be accompanied by a PhD astronomer from the student's institution. APO staff are not expected to train students how to observe. This led to the following action item: ===> ACTION: Users Committee members to check the Q1 schedule to confirm that their observing programs conform to the on-site training policy [see http://www.apo.nmsu.edu/arc35m/TrainingInfo_ARC35m.html] Jeff asked a more general question, what is the documentation that new users should be looking at? Suzanne said that the training link, plus the telescope and instrumentation user documentation at the APO website. The committee agreed that it would be good to have a document that provides guidance (website links, etc.) to new users. Additionally, it was noted that APO welcomes largish student and other groups to visit the observatory for multi-night observing programs and training. These events need to have their arrangements made separately both for scheduling with Russet and Suzanne, and with Mark Klaene on-site, both well in advance. John Bally said that Colorado is planning a student visit to APO in early April. John Wisniewski has a group coming for a week sometime in Q2. Jeff Bary is expecting his users to come to the site in groups of at most four people, on a yet-TBD schedule. ********************************** New business: Rene and Suzanne pointed out that the 20th anniversary of the dedication of the 3.5-meter telescope is coming up this spring. Discussions have begun on when, where, and how to celebrate this event. Options include having a fete at APO in the spring or summer, including a celebratory dinner, and possibly a science meeting. We have chosen not to do this in conjunction with the transition from SDSS3 to SDSS4 to avoid dilution of the 3.5-m celebration. This leads to the following action item: ===> ACTION: Users Committee members to think about the context and themes for a 20th-anniversary celebration for the 3.5-m, to be discussed at the next Users Committee telecon. ********************************** ACTION ITEMS: [open from previous meeting]: ===> ACTION: Find users to assist with instrument documentation. Status: Open. Thanks to Michael Strauss and Mary Beth, who have sent useful comments. ===> ACTION: Users committee members to query their communities for interest in and volunteers to help with setting up a 3.5m user wiki. Status: Open. No feedback yet. [new from this meeting]: ===> ACTION: Users Committee members to check the Q1 schedule to confirm that their observing programs conform to the on-site training policy [see http://www.apo.nmsu.edu/arc35m/TrainingInfo_ARC35m.html] ===> ACTION: Users Committee members to think about the context and themes for a 20th-anniversary celebration for the 3.5-m, and discuss at the next Users Committee telecon. ********************************** Next meeting: The next Users Committee phonecon will be on Monday 13 January at 8:30 AM Pacific Time. The agenda and other materials will be sent to the committee members during the preceding week. APO APO APO APO APO Apache Point Observatory 3.5m APO APO APO APO APO This is message 1324 in the apo35-general archive. 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