There are two separate, but sometimes related, APO 3.5m policies which often cause confusion. I attempt to state them clearly below for future reference. 1) Remote observations using the 3.5m may only be made with the active participation of at least one person "certified" for remote observing. Such certification requires that the person spend at least three nights on-site at APO familiarizing themselves with the physical facilities, operational practises, personnel and so forth of the Observatory. A list of certified remote observers is maintained by APO. (Note that it is not required that a person spend three full nights *observing* on-site to be certified. Although some on-site observing is clearly desirable, none is actually required since weather and other factors may make it impossible. Rather, the idea is to be thoroughly familiar with the Observatory based on personal experience.) 2) Observatory staff cannot provide training in use of the telescope and its instruments to students; such instruction is the responsibility of the appropriate faculty or research staff supervisors of the student. With advanced approval of Observatory management, such training may sometimes be provided by senior students with extensive APO observing experience. As time permits, Observatory staff will endeavor to provide reasonable levels of assistance to PhD level astronomers familiarizing themselves with the telescope and instruments, but it is generally presumed that such users have significant prior experience in observational astronomy. Entirely inexperienced observers should seek the assistance of collaborators or colleagues. (This policy derives in part from the "lean" style of operations at APO and the small size of the staff and in part from the fact that student instruction is the responsibility of supervising faculty members.) As with all policies, extraordinary circumstances might sometimes justify exceptions. Please contact the Director and/or the Site Operations Manager to discuss possible exceptions, if necessary. Ed Turner APO APO APO APO APO Apache Point Observatory 3.5m APO APO APO APO APO This is message 219 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