This message serves to notify the APO 3.5m users community that there is an approved GRB target of opportunity program during Q2 2005, and that regularly scheduled observing, except that identified explicitly as time critical, may be pre-empted at any time for GRB observations. The Observing Specialists will carry out the GRB data acquisition, but the pre-empts will be authorized on a case-by-case basis by observatory management. Thus, we ask that any questions or concerns be directed to Suzanne Hawley (ARC 3.5m Director) and Bruce Gillespie (APO Site Operations Manager), and not to the Observing Specialists. As many of you may be aware, there has been for some time a program of GRB followup observations on the 3.5m. Recently this program has become more active due to the launch of Swift and anticipation of significantly more GRB alerts, predicted to be as many as several per month. Four of the six ARC institutions are now involved in quite a large GRB followup effort. Because of the increased level of participation and anticipated increased number of target-of-opportunity observations, we have been carrying out extensive discussions in the Users Committee and among the ARC-GRB group to put together a program that maximizes the science return while mitigating as much as possible the inconvenience to regularly scheduled 3.5m observers. (Users are encouraged to refer to the minutes of the Users Committee meetings for more information about these and other developments at the site.) The result of these discussions is a document describing both the GRB science effort and the plans for alerts, pre-empting of scheduled observers, and recompense to the observers. The Users and Futures Committee members at each institution have copies of the document and are charged with actively soliciting feedback on the program. We do not intend to make the document public or post it on the web, so please contact your representatives to obtain a copy. FYI, the reps are: Institution - Users Committee, Futures Committee Princeton - Michael Strauss, Ed Turner Chicago - Al Harper, Josh Frieman Colorado - John Bally, John Stocke Washington - Bruce Balick, Scott Anderson Johns Hopkins - Karl Glazebrook, Tim Heckman New Mexico State - Jon Holtzman (for both) Please familiarize yourself with the plans, provide feedback to your representatives, and bear with us as we gain experience with the administration of the program. As described in the document, we will review the program at the end of each quarter to assess both the scientific return and the effect on the scheduled users. Suzanne Hawley APO APO APO APO APO Apache Point Observatory 3.5m APO APO APO APO APO This is message 897 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