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--- uc:uc20221004_october_4_2022 [2022/10/04 19:12]
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+++ uc:uc20221004_october_4_2022 [2022/10/07 17:18] (current)
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 Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Eric Nielsen (NMSU), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Caleb Wang (UW), Sarah Tuttle (UW), Mukremin Kilic (OU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Eric Bellm (UW), Ben Williams (UW)
-Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Russet McMillan (APO),
+We started by introducing Caleb Wang, a new mechanical/optical engineer recently hired into the Telescope Engineering Group at UW. Welcome, Caleb!
 === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives ===
@@ Line 11: / Line 12: @@
   * BYU - nothing to report
   * Colorado - no report
-  * FGCU - nothing to report (email)
+  * FGCU - nothing to report (by email)
-  * Georgia State - nothing to report (email)
+  * Georgia State - nothing to report (by email)
   * JHU - nothing to report
   * NMSU - nothing to report
   * NAPG - no report
-  * Oklahoma - used KOSMOS on 2 nights, everything went smoothly, question about setup - blue grating with center, high slit is shifted to red - set up is different from OSMOS on MDM - possibility to adjust wavelength coverage? OSMOS was 4000-6800A, here center is to blue, high is to the red, high is working fine but if there is way to change it by 200 A (move a little bluer?) - shifting grating or make different slit - could manufacture slits that are not centered? - shifted either up or down? BK: could this adjustment come from using the non-reflective slits? would introduce more overhead
+  * Oklahoma - A user recently had 2 nights with KOSMOS and everything went smoothly, They had a question about the setup; they find that blue grating in the central position is slightly different than that of OSMOS on MDM. The spectral coverage for the OSMOS grating is 4000-6800 A, whereas for KOSMOS it is 3800-6600, which is a bit close to H alpha. The blue/center setup is working fine and is usable, but the question was raised whether it would be possible to change the grating center, perhaps by shifting it or making a different slit that was between the current "center" and "high" positions. Sarah and Bill responded that there is no easy way to implement this shift, but they will take this up as a task to explore further as they work through the KOSMOS punchlist.
-  * Seattle - nothing to report (bad weather)
+  * Seattle - nothing to report
-  * UVa - nothing to report (email)
+  * UVa - nothing to report (by email)
-  * Washington - nothing to report - suspect other users also interested in shift - NC to email UC feedback from Muk to see if there is broad interest
+  * Washington - nothing to report, but Eric suspects some UW users may also be interested in the KOSMOS blue/center wavelength shift requested by Muk. Nancy will follow up with Muk to get a summary of the request and distribute it to see if there is broader interest. [Note added in proof: see KOSMOS discussion below.]
-  * Wyoming - nothing to report (email)
+  * Wyoming - nothing to report (by email)
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@@ Line 64: / Line 65: @@
 === Additional telescope and instrument discussion ===
-Weather changing, expect normal telescope shifts. KOSMOS moving off shared risk. DIS being serviced now. Fewer visitors in Oct. Setting aside Shelyak time for obs-spec training so can support more broadly. Not ready to be offered to broad community. Maybe 1-2 more advanced users could request it. Software is not ready. complicated set up procedure from target to target. Pre-packaged software that have to customize to our needs.
+The weather on the mountain is changing with the start of fall, and we expect to see the normal telescope shifts that are due to temperature changes. KOSMOS is moving off of shared-risk category (see below for more details). DIS is being serviced right now. We anticipate having fewer visitors on site in October. We are setting aside some time on ARCSAT for obs-spec training with the Shelyak so we can support its use more broadly. It is not yet ready to be offered to the broad user community. The software, which is a pre-packaged interface that we have to customize for our needs, still needs a fair amount of work. Currently it requires a complicated set-up procedure at each target one wishes to observe. We would be open to having 1-2 more advanced users help us with testing things out; anyone interested should contact Bill. We recently hired a new software person on the 3.5m side; they will start work on Oct. 17 so will be introduced once they come on board.
-new software person
 ----
@@ Line 72: / Line 71: @@
 === KOSMOS update ===
-want to take it off shared risk category
+After nearly a year of KOSMOS usage on the 3.5m we are now planning to remove it from shared risk category. Going forward it will be offered to our users as a standard facility instrument. We do still have a punchlist of issues that we're working on, but after having met to discuss those items it was decided that nothing on the list impeded us from moving it off of shared risk. We are aware that the bias level appears to be changing, and the associated controller issues are still being worked on. There are also still some deliverables we are waiting for, i.e. the new slits. Over the next several months we will be reaching out to KOSMOS users who have exercised the instrument for different types of targets (extended source, faint limit, etc.) to help us understand the ramifications of some of the known instrument issues on their data.
-APO doesn't have standing definition of shared risk and how to transition off
-we do have punch list of issues we're working on
-nothing on the list impeded us from moving it off shared risk, bias appears to be changing, controller issues still working on
-still have deliverables - new slits, as output of conversation we will put together a document that defines shared risk and expected path through commissioning for how to get off that category
-continue to shrink punch list
-heads up - looking for super users
+Our meeting about the status of KOSMOS highlighted the fact that APO does not have a standing definition of shared risk and how to transition an instrument off of that status, so as an output of the conversation over the next month we will be putting together a document that defines shared risk and the expected path that takes an instrument through commissioning to becoming a facility instrument.
+Note added in proof regarding the issue of the wavelength coverage of the blue center slit: Currently the blue grating on KOSMOS in the central position covers 3800-6600 A, so the red cutoff is very close to Halpha. This setup is not ideal for observing magnetic targets, which have Zeeman splitting of the Halpha line. The high slit position shifts the wavelength coverage to 4150-7050, which is good for Halpha, but now misses some of the higher order Balmer lines. So the question was asked whether it would be possible to have another slit position that would cover the range from 4000-6800 A, or something like that. **UC reps: please query your users to determine if there are additional needs for this capability.**
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@@ Line 85: / Line 81: @@
 === Q4 3.5m scheduling ===
-Not any open or DD time until mid-Nov and more in December. Couple of hiccups that got fixed.
+There is no available open or DD time until mid-November, and then there is some more in December. There were a few minor errors in the early version of the Q4 schedule that have since been fixed. These quick fixes were made possible by the fact that the affected parties had checked the schedule as soon as it was published and notified us right away of the problem. ** New users are reminded that they should always check the schedule when it comes out!** It is far easier to fix schedule errors early in the quarter.
 ----
@@ Line 91: / Line 87: @@
 === Q4 ARCSAT scheduling ===
-Only got 1 request for Q4 so far - lots of time available.
+We have only received one request for Q4 so far, so there is lots of time available.
-check schedule when it comes
 ----
@@ Line 98: / Line 93: @@
 === ARC Board of Governors Meeting ===
-The ARC Board of Governors meeting is on Monday November 7. Nancy, Ben, and some of the observatory staff are starting to gather the relevant data and prepare their presentations.
+The ARC Board of Governors meeting is on Monday November 7. Nancy, Ben, and some of the observatory staff are starting to gather the relevant data and prepare their presentations. Nancy reiterated her request for science highlights from each institution (she sent an email request to the 35m-general mailing list on 10/04/2022). It would be easiest if UC reps would collect the slides from their users and send them to Nancy in a single packet. If that is not possible, users should send their slides directly to Nancy. **The hard deadline for receipt of science highlights slides is Wednesday October 26.** Any format is fine.
-slides / any format - UC reps collect
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@@ Line 106: / Line 99: @@
 === Jan. 2023 AAS Meeting ===
-The January 2023 AAS meeting will be 8-12 January in Seattle. There will be lots of UW users there, and hopefully many from other ARC institutions and lease partners as well, We discussed options for doing something special for APO or ARC users. UC reps: please poll your users to see if they would be interested in an APO event (e.g. a meal or reception one evening) during the AAS meeting? One suggestion was to give out stickers to people with posters to indicate that they made use of APO data. Chip suggested that we try to connect those with undergraduates in attendance who are looking for graduate programs with representatives from other ARC member institutions, as a small-scale recruitment effort. Misty suggested that we start a Google Doc where people can list their APO-related posters and talks; this would help with connecting people. The abstract deadline for the meeting is Tuesday October 11!
+The January 2023 AAS meeting will be 8-12 January in Seattle. There will be lots of UW users there, and hopefully many from other ARC institutions and lease partners as well. The abstract deadline for the meeting is Tuesday October 11! We discussed options for doing something special for APO or ARC users. Last month the UC reps were asked to poll their users to see if they would be interested in an APO event (e.g. a meal or reception one evening) during the AAS meeting. The response was moderately enthusiastic, so Nancy will continue to explore options. We will definitely have an APO booth in the exhibit area, so in a month or two Nancy will be looking for volunteers to help us staff the booth. Stay tuned!
-We will definitely have an APO booth in the exhibit area, so in a month or two Nancy will be looking for volunteers to help us staff the booth. Stay tuned!
-no responses - Joanne
-stay tuned
 ----
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 New action items from this meeting:
-  * UC reps: please encourage your users to submit science highlights xxx
+  * UC reps: please encourage your users to submit science highlights. **Nancy needs to have them all in hand by Wednesday October 26.**
+  * UC reps: please query your users to determine whether they have a need for a slightly different wavelength range for the blue grating.
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 === All Other Business ===
-xxx
+None.
 ----

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