As announced in the previous message, it will be necessary to slip the planned shutdown of the 3.5m by 3 weeks. This means the first night of engineering shutdown will be August 18 (rather than July 28) and the first night of resumed science operations will be September 27 (rather than September 6). The primary reasons are delays in obtaining critical parts from various commercial suppliers and in scheduling personel working on the various engineering tasks. To stick to the announced schedule would mean closing the telescope without gain during weeks when it could be used and almost certainly not completing important engineering and maintenance tasks before returning the telescope to science operations. Neither is acceptable, despite the very considerable inconvenience and possible confusion this change of plans will entail. As a first cut at producing a new schedule, programs scheduled for September 6 - 26, inclusive, will be rescheduled into the period July 28 - August 17, inclusive, in the following manner: Programs scheduled for 9/22-26 -> 7/28-8/1, respectively. Programs scheduled for 9/6-21 -> 8/2-17, respectively. In other words, the programs assigned to, say, September 24 will be rescheduled on July 30 and those previously assigned to September 16 will be rescheduled on August 12, for example. This mapping very roughly preserves moon phase and, of course, gives displaced programs from September compensatory time in July-August. Please let me know if this scheme is unclear in any way. Of course, I am well aware that the reassigned time will not be suitable for many programs for a variety of reasons. These cases will no doubt require substantial effort to sort out so that the newly available July-August telescope time is used effectively. I propose the following three step process: 1) If possible, the affected PI and collaborators should modify their science programs in whatever way necessary to make effective use of the new time slot. If this requires a different instrument from that previously scheduled or a switch, one way or the other, between remote and on-site observing modes, please inform both Gretchen and me by email. 2) In cases where the original PI and collaborators can no longer use their assigned time, please try to arrange internal institutional re-assignments of the time to new programs or perhaps swaps for time assigned to other institutions. All such arrangements MUST be coordinated through the relevant institutional scheduler(s) who will inform Gretchen and me. 3) If no use can be found for the reassigned time by the observers and institution concerned, please declare the time OPEN by an email to Gretchen and me with a copy to apo35-general@astro (so that other potential users may ask for it). This should be done as early as possible and no later than 14 days prior to the night(s) in question. Our goal will be to have a final schedule for each night during the newly available July 28 - August 17 interval settled 10 days, or at worst 7 days, in advance if at all possible. It would, of course, be helpful to accomplish this goal earlier when possible. Thus, these matters will require immediate attention from those affected. Finally, I ask your understanding of the situation and apologize for the inconvenience. As will be described in a following message, we will deal with major engineering shutdowns differently in the future. The new system is intended, among other things, to avoid exercises of this sort. Ed Turner APO APO APO APO APO Apache Point Observatory 3.5m APO APO APO APO APO This is message 149 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