Subject: APO 3.5m users committee minutes, April 2014
From: Suzanne Hawley
Submitted: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 14:41:23 -0700 (PDT)
Message number: 1331
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APO 3.5-m Users Committee Phonecon, 4/14/14
Attending: Suzanne Hawley, Mark Klaene, Scott Anderson, Rachel Kuzio de
Naray, Bill Ketzeback, Bruce Gillespie, Jeff Bary, Rene Walterbos, Russet
McMillan, John Bally, Michael Strauss, Mary Beth Kaiser, Joanne Hughes
Clark, Remy Indebetouw, Jon Holtzmann
Absent: Al Harper, John Wisniewski
**********************************
User feedback and comments from institutional representatives:
o Washington - Scott had nothing to report.
o Chicago - No report.
o New Mexico State - Jon had nothing to report.
o Princeton - Michael said Princeton is happy.
o Colorado - John said thanks for the recent excellent student field trip,
and they got some great data.
o Virginia - Remy had nothing to report.
o Johns Hopkins - Mary Beth had nothing to report.
o NAPG - Jeff said that there was a group of students that had a
successful APO visit with Beth Willman from Haverford.
o Georgia State - Rachel had nothing to report.
o Seattle Univ. - Joanne had nothing to report.
o Oklahoma - no report.
**********************************
Discussion of telescope/instruments report:
Mark mentioned the following while discussing the report.
We had a nearby (about 4 or 5 miles north and west of Sunspot) wildfire
start (most probably human-caused) this past Thursday that grew to about
100 acres. The fire was contained and is now essentially extinguished.
There were minor issues with smoke that were monitored closely. On the
telescope, we have been refining the new guiding code and it is now in
regular use, including with Agile. Thanks go to all the users who helped
us wring out the new code during their science time. It would have taken
considerably more engineering time if that had been the only time we could
have used for the tests.
Instruments have not had any new problems this month. The SPIcam dark
spikes are still with us, so we plan to service the ion pump during the
period late April through early May . Thus SPIcam will be down for 2-3
weeks. It is not scheduled to be on the telescope during that time, but if
this poses a problem for any users, please notify Bill Ketzeback right
away.
The GIFS software (TUI, ICC, hub mods, etc.) is about 90% completed. There
will be a GIFS training run 27 and 28 May. Anyone who is interested in
participating should contact Carol Grady and Bill Ketzeback.
The CCD for the ARCTIC imager was chosen to be an STA detector, see the
ARCTIC web page for details. Joe Huehnerhoff is finalizing the optical
design for the instrument, and also carrying out lifecycle tests on the
new shutter.
We are planning two summer shutdown periods this year, the first is July
7-24 for normal maintenance, and the second is August 8-17 to install and
test the TCC upgrade.
Mark Klaene's detailed report for the reporting period follows:
*************************
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights
03/06/14 through 04/09/14
0) Overview
Generally another productive period with variable cloudiness, little
precipitation. Current forest fire danger is just moderate.
Preparations are underway for 20-yr anniversary event. Housing continues
to be tight through May due to more training sessions and SDSS-IV work.
We had a successful class trip from CU this period, thanks to John Bally.
This class was much larger than we recommend but it worked out well.
1) Telescope
Telescope has been working very well. Refinements to the new guider code
are essentially complete. No further development is planned, however, we
will address issues that arise. Fritz put a lot of effort into this and
it shows. The new guider code addresses many problems reports over the
years and is now maintainable. The new TCC development is also
progressing nicely with some initial testing on the telescope during the
day.
2) Instruments
DIS has been operating normally.
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. Currently we see a spike that may affect dark
current about 1/day and if it occurs during observations we will let the
observer know to check their data. We plan to take the instrument offline
in late April/early May to address this issue.
Echelle is operational with no problems.
NIC-FPS continues to operate in shared-risk observing mode due to
occasional image corruption issue. NFS less than 9 is operational.
GIFS is operational. The small LN2 hold time designed in by GFSC
continues to be a problem. The TUI interface is essentially ready and
undergoing final user testing.
3) ARCTIC
The instrument development is proceeding on schedule. The CCD has been
ordered. Final testing of the prototype shutter is ongoing and should be
complete in May. The optics is converging toward a final f/8 design, with
plans to begin ordering glass in the summer.
4) Summer shutdown
There will be 2 shutdowns scheduled this summer. The first is from July
7th to July 24th for M2 and M3 mirror re-coating, mechanical maintenance,
electronic system upgrades and the majority of instrument servicing. A
second shutdown will be from August 8th to August 17th for the new TCC
upgrade. We expect the telescope to be operational for much of the time
during the second shutdown as is necessary to test the new TCC.
**********************************
Recent class trips - Klaene:
We recently hosted 3 group visits at APO, which taxed our housing capacity
but in the end worked out fine. John Bally noted that staging his
activities from the conference area at the Sunspot visitor center was a
boon for his large group of students.
**********************************
ARCSAT shared-risk observing - Hawley, Ketzeback:
Suzanne thanked Joe Huehnerhoff and Bill Ketzeback, along with other APO
staff including Ed Leon, Ben Harris, Conor Sayres, and Russell Owen, for
their hard work in bringing the ARCSAT upgrade project to successful
completion. More than ten different users have now tested the telescope,
including a group of students from U. Oklahoma who used it while on-site
for a training trip. We have gotten good feedback on the operation of the
ACP software interface, and are still working on a few issues to make it
fully compatible with our remote observing operations.
We are now at a stage where we can begin general ARCSAT observing in a
shared-risk mode. Suzanne noted that PhD scientists and graduate students
at all ARC partners and leasing institutions are welcome to use ARCSAT
remotely, with no required trip to the site for training. Undergraduate
students are also welcome if a PhD/graduate student is present with them
during observing. A Call for Proposals for ARCSAT will go out soon for
the period May 5 - Oct 5, 2014. The telescope will be scheduled in one
week blocks (Monday-Sunday), and there will be no charge during this time.
We will appreciate helpful feedback to improve operations during this
shared-risk period. See the ARCSAT webpage (linked off the main APO home
page) for more information, including the users manual, the proposal form
and the call for proposals. Proposals for the shared risk period should
be sent by email (as text files only!) to Suzanne and Russet by May 1,
2014.
Jon Holtzman mentioned that there are limited opportunities for robotic
programs to be conducted on the NMSU 1-meter telescope; contact Jon if
interested.
**********************************
WIYN trades update - Hawley:
Suzanne received a couple of proposals for WIYN time trades for Q3/4,
comprising a few nights of WIYN observing time. Suzanne said that John
Salzer, WIYN Board President, felt that the 2014B WIYN observing schedule
could support these requests, and that Wisconsin and Indiana users are
looking into using the ARC telescope on trade. If any users are still
interested in using WIYN time during the 2014B semester, by trading ARC
time in Q3/Q4, they should contact Suzanne as soon as possible.
**********************************
Adler NEO program - Hawley, Walterbos:
Rene was pleased to announce that Adler planetarium has been awarded a
2-year NASA grant to use the 3.5-m to observe NEOs photometrically and
spectroscopically. Adler will lease the 17% share of the telescope that is
being vacated by Chicago at the end of 2014. This will affect how much
time is available for new leasing partners in 2015-2016. Current ARC
partners and leasing partners with signed 3 year leases will not be
affected.
Leasing and new partnership arrangements for ARC are being discussed by
telecon every other week by the New Members Committee comprised of Rene
Walterbos, Suzanne Hawley, Ron Irving, Mike Evans, Bruce Gillespie, and
Mike Skrutskie. If users have questions or input to this process, they
should contact any of these people.
**********************************
20th anniversary celebration - Hawley, Walterbos:
The 3.5m 20th anniversary (and ARC 30th anniversary) fest will be held at
APO on 12-13 May. There will be a reception and star party, a program of
historical and scientific talks, lunch and a tour on-site and dinner at
the Lodge. We are expecting about 75 people to attend the festivities.
**********************************
ACTION ITEMS:
[open from previous meeting]:
===> ACTION: Advertise ARCSAT shared-risk observing starting in May
Status: Discussed above, closed.
===> ACTION: Send expressions of interest for WIYN time trades to
Suzanne by April 1
Status: Discussed above, closed.
[new from this meeting]:
none
**********************************
Next meeting: The next Users Committee phonecon will be on Monday 19 May
at 8:30 AM Pacific Time. The agenda and other materials will be sent to
the committee members during the preceding week.
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