APO 3.5-m Users Committee Phonecon, 10/05/09 Attending: Suzanne Hawley, Al Harper, Jon Holtzman, Michael Strauss, Scott Anderson, Mark Klaene, John Bally, Russet McMillan, Bill Ketzeback, Bruce Gillespie Absent: Jon Fulbright, Remy Indebetouw ********************************** User feedback, comments from institutional representatives: Chicago (Al Harper) - Al said he had nothing new to report. New Mexico State (Jon Holtzman) - Jon reported on a recently received question from an NMSU user. Is is possible to do field-star guiding in horizon mode? Russet said it is possible, although there are accuracy limitations, particularly for long exposures. Users are encouraged to try it if they need it, although bore-sight guiding and/ or "unguided" exposures may work as well, or better. The Observing specialists will share their experiences with field-star horizon-mode guiding amongst themselves so that everyone is up to speed. Washington (Scott Anderson) - Scott (and Suzanne) thanked all the site staff for their support during the recent visit and orientation of a batch of new UW students. Colorado (John Bally) - A recent CU user of TripleSpec using the long- slit mode recommends the need to take darks and off-target sky frames. This led to a discussion of whether the user documentation is explicit on this topic. ===> ACTION: Russet McMillan will look at the TripleSpec user documentation for its adequacy in describing darks and sky calibrations for the long-slit mode. Princeton (Michael Strauss) - Michael said that things with the PU users are "quiet, happy, and no news." Johns Hopkins - Suzanne mentioned that she had received a note of appreciation from a JHU user who received timely site staff help in unlocking a user password blockage. Virginia - No report. ********************************** Discussion of telescope/instruments report: Mark mentioned that it has only been a short time since the last report. The weather has since been a mixed bag of rain, clouds, clear nights and occasionally very good seeing. The new axes motor controllers have been working reasonably well since coming out of shutdown, but there have been sporadic dropouts, which the site engineers are working on. The operations building kitchen has received a long-overdue remodeling job. For the instruments, the SPIcam filter wheel is still occasionally hanging up; quick modifications are being tried, but the system may need a redesign and overhaul. If users notice problems with the SPIcam filter wheel, they should let their Observing Specialist know about it when it happens. Also, the GFP developed a vacuum leak, which was fixed. The CIF projects for 2009 are essentially completed, and planning is underway for 2010 projects. ************************* 3.5-m Telescope, Instruments, and CIF Projects Highlights, 9/10/09 through 10/1/09 Mark Klaene 0) Overview The first three weeks of observing after the summer shutdown has been a mixed blessing. Weather kept us closed much of the time, but when we were open skies were generally photometric and seeing variable but often very good. Problems with the new motors and controllers were much less than expected given the minimal testing that was done coming out of shutdown. The kitchen upgrade is mostly complete, with new appliances arriving soon. 1) Telescope There were no unexpected problems this period. We had one occurrence of the altitude axis faulting due to position errors and one due to high wind (something not previously tested). We are addressing these issues during the engineering time October 1 and 2. 2) Instruments The SPIcam filter wheel failed at 120 deg instrument rotation angle. It appears that the filter wheel drive circuit is not applying sufficient current during the full wheel rotational move. Modifications were made to the circuitry to improve this and SPIcam is back in service. If the problem recurs, a redesign of the drive circuitry will be required. DIS, Echelle, Agile and TripleSpec ran with no problems. GFP had a vacuum leak and is being pumped on prior to re-cooling later this week. The leak is suspected to be at the valve. 3) CIF projects With the completion of the CIF projects for 2009, we are currently discussing plans for 2010. ********************************** 2009 Science Highlights (Hawley): Suzanne said that we have science highlights from Chicago, Washington, Colorado, Virginia, and Princeton in hand. We expect to get highlights from NMSU and JHU in the next few days. Bruce Woodgate has given us a highlight for the GFP, and we need to get something for APOLLO. We will assemble these next week for inclusion in the 2009 annual report for the ARC Board. ********************************** Time accounting changes (Hawley, McMillan): Russet said that for several years we have been scheduling the telescope for usage between sunset and sunrise with a 5-minute cushion, but the usage accounting in the night logs has been from/to 12 degree twilight. With several instruments now effectively working well into twilight, the usage accounting is going to be made consistent in the sense that twilight will be reported in the night logs as used (or not) if it could have been effectively used. Operationally, there is no change--the twilight time will be accounted for when appropriate, and the night log tables will be modified to reflect this. The "Day Use" category will be removed from the night logs. ********************************** ARC futures planning (Hawley): Suzanne said that discussions are starting about the post-2014 time frame and the future of APO. This will encompass the whole observatory, and we need to start reexamining issues pertaining to the 3.5-meter telescope. A futures planning process will be discussed with the ARC Board next month, and we should be thinking about topics such as operational modes, institutional alignments, new instrumentation, etc. A futures committee will probably be formed, and it will need representation from the 3.5-meter user community. ********************************** ACTION ITEMS: [open from previous months]: ===> ACTION: Suzanne needs the 2009 3.5-m telescope science highlights--one page of graphics and text per highlight--submitted to Mark Klaene and herself not later than 5 October. Multiple highlights from each institution are encouraged, dating back to 1 October '08. STATUS: Closed. [new actions from this meeting]: ===> ACTION: Russet McMillan will look at the TripleSpec user documentation for its adequacy in describing darks and sky calibrations for the long-slit mode. ********************************** Next meeting: The next Users Committee phonecon will be on Monday, 9 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 1148 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