APO 3.5-m Users Committee Phonecon, 10/06/08 Attending: Suzanne Hawley, Bruce Gillespie, Scott Anderson, Al Harper, Meredith Drosback (for Remy Indebetouw), Mark Klaene, Russet McMillan, Guy Stringfellow (for John Bally), Michael Strauss Absent: Jon Holtzman, Jon Fulbright Minutes taken by Bruce Gillespie ********************************** User feedback, comments from institutional representatives: The only substantive comment on user feedback came from Suzanne Hawley. She and her students have noticed that in TUI, the windowing function for DIS applies the same way for both the blue and red images--they can't be set separately, and the spectra appear at different places on the blue and red chips. At a minimum, this "feature" should be highlighted in the users documentation, and possibly we should consider revising the software so that the DIS blue and red images can be windowed separately. ********************************** Discussion of telescope/instruments report - Klaene: The report is given below. Mark pointed to the recent spate of good weather and a well-behaved telescope. Now that the future of SDSS-III is secured, we are beginning to spend funds that had been held back on needed site improvements. We have continued diagnostic and repair work on the tertiary rotation system, and its geared encoder is now working better. The tertiary homing problem is on the schedule for repair during October. Current performance anomalies with DIS cryo and vacuum systems are being watched, and are hinting at future maintenance. TripleSpec experienced a vacuum gauge failure, which is being replaced and an ion pump is being added to the instrument; TripleSpec should be ready for scheduled observations next week. For CIF projects, we are close to permanently moving Agile to the TR2 port, with its new rotator. The new axes controllers are getting close to being put on the telescope, and planning for next year's direct-drive motor replacements in alt and az is underway. Guy asked about the status of the loose wire recently found hanging into SPIcam's field of view. Mark said that the loose wire was being re-secured. Suzanne added a comment that as a part of the move of Agile to a new mirror-cell port, Agile instrument control will be implemented in TUI, probably by the end of the year. ************************* 3.5-m Telescope, Instruments, and CIF Projects Highlights, 9/6/08 through 10/1/08 Mark Klaene 0) Overview We have finally seen the end to the summer monsoons--the humidity has dropped and clearer skies are now the norm, and fall is definitely in the air. The telescope has been working quite well, taking good advantage of the clear nights. On site-related matters, we are nearing the completion of the installation of a new boiler for Dorm B and repair of the fire alarm system replacement will begin this week. 1) Telescope Most of the problems with tertiary rotation have been fixed with the differential wiring modification done during the September engineering time. New power supplies are on order to address the axial stepper motor noise, and these will be installed during the October engineering time. 2) Instruments The DIS blue ion pump continues to run at high current, and we may need to open the dewar in the near future for servicing. DIS red and SPIcam are fully operational with no problems. Service was required on the DIS red cryotiger, which was accomplished during a recent period of poor weather. Echelle and NIC-FPS remained cold and powered on during the shutdown. We are waiting for UVa to design and build a new NIC-FPS fan-out board that will hopefully reduce readout noise. TripleSpec had to be warmed up due to a vacuum gauge failure, with the repair still in progress. Most of the TripleSpec spare parts are now at the site, and final instrument acceptance is pending the delivery of documentation. Agile has a new mask to reduce the light scattered around the CCD. The instrument rotator for the TR2 port is now in testing in the lab. GFP is currently warm since it is not on the schedule until late November. APOLLO remains operational, and has had a recent record- breaking run of of lunar-return photons. 3) CIF projects New software was created for the altitude and az axis controllers, and is being tested on the rotation axis. Planning for next years CIF projects is in work. The major CIF project for next year is direct drives for azimuth and altitude axes. ********************************** Calibration (Flat, Arc lamps) upgrades - Klaene: Mark mentioned that we have been looking at the suite of flat-field and emission-line calibration lamps on the telescope in the context of meeting users requirements for our new and upgraded instrumentation. Bill Ketzeback has been researching this topic, and we have identified possible improvements aimed at increasing the flux in the far blue/ near UV for DIS flat fields, and in providing additional lines for wavelength calibration in this part of the spectrum. We are interested to hear if the other optical instruments, and especially the IR instruments, have adequate flat field and wavelength calibration capability from our present lamps or if improvements are desired. Other improvements are possible and may be worth considering, such as more lamps, projector systems, fiber-fed cal sources, internal cal sources, etc. Please contact us if you would like more information on the current system and possible upgrades. But in order to proceed, we need user feedback; Suzanne asked for an action item. ACTION: The Users Committee representatives are to ask their respective users for suggestions on improving the calibration lamp system on the telescope, e.g., flux, wavelength distribution, emission- line calibration, etc., and report at the next meeting. ********************************** CIF plans for next year - Hawley, Klaene: The major CIF project for next year is the direct-drive replacement for the alt and az telescope axes. There may be time and resources for other smaller projects (e.g., cal lamps, as above) and minor upgrades. Suzanne encourages the Users Committee members to talk with their users about telescope and instrument upgrades. There is some "opportunity space" here, particularly for instrumentation upgrades. ********************************** Science highlights due - Hawley: For those institutions that have not submitted their annual science highlights to Suzanne and Bruce, the window for acceptance is rapidly closing. ********************************** ACTION ITEMS: [open from previous months]: ACTION: Committee members should send one or two science highlights from the telescope users from their institutions to Suzanne (slh at astro.washington.edu) and Bruce (gillespi at apo.nmsu.edu) not later than 1 October for use in the Annual Report to the ARC Board of Governors meeting in November. STATUS: A few institutions have not yet turned in their highlights. [new actions from this month]: ACTION: The Users Committee representatives are to ask their respective users for suggestions on improving the calibration lamp system on the telescope, e.g., flux, wavelength distribution, emission- line calibration, etc., and report at the next meeting. ********************************** Next meeting: The next Users Committee phonecon will be on Monday, 3 November, 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 1115 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