All members of the ARC and APO 3.5m user community are invited to attend either or both of two discussions which will be held at the January AAS meeting in Washington, DC. These meetings will focus on two planning issues for the 3.5m which are described below, with emphasis on the first of the two. The second will be dealt with at additional future opportunities as well, but these January discussions will be the primary opportunity for the general ARC community to consider the first one. > First, at a rather brisk pace (roughly by the end of January), we must > set priorities for the use of CIF (projects) funds for the coming 2-3 > calendar years. In essence this will probably mean choosing between a > set of very attractive instrumentation options and telescope improvement > projects, all of which it would be very sensible to undertake but not all > of which we can afford simultaneously. > > Second, on a somewhat more deliberate schedule, we need to formulate a > definite strategic plan for the telescope which will determine our goals > on a 5-10 year time scale. As a first and central issue, we must decide > whether our primary goal is to maintain a highly capable, general purpose > telescope to be used for a wide variety of programs by the research staff > of member institutions (i.e., our current primary goal) or whether it is > to develop some specialized "niche" application in which the 3.5m can > contribute uniquely (i.e., the role envisioned for 4m class telescopes in > the NAS Decadal Survey, as components of a "national observing system"). > Maybe there are completely different or hybrid possibilities too. Both meetings will be held in the Bancroft Room at the Hilton (where the AAS is meeting); one will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 pm on Tuesday, January 8, and the other will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 pm on Wednesday, January 9. There may well be some overlap in content between the two, but I hope that the discussion on the second day can build on what transpires at the first gathering, so please attend both if possible (but one will be better than none, of course). For those unable to be in DC, we plan to have a speaker phone with a dial-in conference line available. We also hope to have light refreshments available for those who show up in the flesh! If you think that there is a reasonable chance that you will attend one or both meetings, please inform Gretchen (gretchen@galileo.apo.nmsu.edu) at APO so we know roughly how many to expect, even if you are among those who have already told me that you will be there. Also, let her know if you would like to receive electronic copies of some relevant documents before the meeting. She will also be able to provide you with the call-in number once it is arranged. This is being sent to apo35-general and so should reach most of the relevant people; however, I would like to ask Users Cmte members and Schedulers at each institution to forward the message to anyone who might be interested but who does not subscribe to that email list. I look forward to seeing you in Washington and to lively discussions! Ed Turner APO APO APO APO APO Apache Point Observatory 3.5m APO APO APO APO APO This is message 533 in the apo35-general archive. You can find APO the archive on http://www.astro.princeton.edu/APO/apo35-general/INDEX.html APO To join/leave the list, send mail to apo35-request@astro.princeton.edu APO To post a message, mail it to apo35-general@astro.princeton.edu APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO APO