We are nearing the end of the engineering shutdown of the 3.5-m telescope. Several factors have conspired which make it necessary to extend the shutdown at least through the night of 30 September. The PIs and observers of science programs affected have already been personally notified. Given the vagaries of recent weather (e.g., hurricane Nora), it is difficult to predict when the telescope will be ready for scientific observations--at least two full nights of engineering time "on the sky" will be necessary to recollimate, repoint, and check out other systems that have been worked on during the shutdown. The telescope will be returned to science use once we determine its proper functioning, and additional notices to this effect will be mailed to this distribution next week. Investigators for science programs that are scheduled beginning 1 October should stay on standby and await further notification. It is worth mentioning that some unexpected last minute problems were encountered and remedied, which contributed to the delay in shutdown completion. On the other hand, we are hopeful that the long-standing problem with the instrument rotator stalling has been cured, and some mechanical and communication problems with DIS have been fixed. These items were not originally in the shutdown agenda, but have been addressed nonetheless. A full account of the shutdown accomplishments will be forthcoming, and we look forward to a productive observing season in 4Q. Ed Turner, Director Bruce Gillespie, Site Operations Manager APO APO APO APO APO Apache Point Observatory 3.5m APO APO APO APO APO This is message 174 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