APO 3.5-m Users Committee Phonecon, 5/10/04 Attending: Rene Walterbos, Michael Strauss, Jon Holtzman, Ed Turner, Bruce Gillespie, Russet McMillan, Karl Glazebrook Absent: Al Harper, Don York, Bruce Balick, Jim Green, John Bally Minutes taken by Bruce Gillespie ********************************** NIC-FPS report: Nobody on the telecon was able to give an update on NIC-FPS status, so Ed Turner later asked the team to provide a written report, which follows: Hi Ed, Here's a brief update on NIC-FPS. Detector--getting images on the Leach controller and are continuing to optimize. The Rockwell controller work is on hold for now. Filter wheels--functional tests proceeding well, both warm and cold. Repeatability tests are producing good results. Etalon mover--initial tests of mechanism (warm and cold) were acceptable, but additional work is in progress to improve results. Machining of the etalon mounting hardware is in progress. Etalon and controller--CS-100 testing at vendor is complete and controller is being shipped from U.K. Dewar--Aero-glazing is finished and pump-down for a contamination check showed no offgasing. MLI blanket construction is planned for this week. Optical bench--integration is underway, including mounting all components, making cables, alignment, etc. Software--preparing control software for integration testing of filter wheels and etalon mover. Much work needs to be done in this area. Test set-up--all optical components are in hand and assembly/alignment is underway. Hope that's sufficient detail to get you up to speed. Fred [Hearty] ********************************** CorMASS tests at APO: Bruce Gillespie reported that the recent The CorMASS test run at the 3.5-m telescope last week was quite successful. Sample spectra were taken of many targets that had been suggested by nearly a dozen ARC astronomers. Mike Skrutskie and John Wilson, the Co-PIs for CorMASS, were able to take advantage of an easy integration to our systems, plus good skies, good seeing, and good pointing to put CorMASS through its paces on the telescope. They report that they were easily able to acquire spectra of 15th magnitude objects, and that some examples of quickly reduced spectra can be seen at http:/www.astro.virginia.edu/~mfs4n/cormass_apo/. These spectra represent a small fraction of the science targets for the run. ********************************** CorMASS availability in 3Q2004: Ed Turner reported that Mike Skrutskie and John Wilson have agreed to temporarily leave the CorMASS instrument at APO, where it is being kept cold and ready to use. They have offered its use to ARC astronomers who want to use it through the summer, and possibly into the fall. Although many of our users may have submitted their 3rd quarter proposals, substituting CorMASS for present and 3rd quarter programs is a possibility that users should explore with their scheduler, in order to take advantage of this unanticipated opportunity. Alternatively, or in addition, users may submit Director's Discretionary time requests directly to Ed Turner, in the standard format. Operation of CorMASS at APO is currently only in "service" mode, or by users being present at the telescope. Data reduction guides and routines exist, and limited operational and data reduction expertise has been developed by the site staff. ********************************** Last month's minutes were approved without comment. Next phonecon will be on Monday, June 14, 2004, at 11:30 AM Eastern Time APO APO APO APO APO Apache Point Observatory 3.5m APO APO APO APO APO This is message 778 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