uc:uc20221206_december_6_2022
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uc:uc20221206_december_6_2022 [2022/12/06 17:04] nchanove created |
uc:uc20221206_december_6_2022 [2022/12/06 22:25] (current) nchanove |
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| - | Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), | + | Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), |
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| - | Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), | + | |
| === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives === | === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives === | ||
| - | * NMSU | + | * NMSU - nothing to report |
| - | * Wyoming | + | * Wyoming |
| - | * NAPG | + | * NAPG - no report |
| - | * BYU | + | * BYU - nothing to report |
| - | * JHU | + | * JHU - nothing to report |
| - | * Washington | + | * Washington |
| - | * Oklahoma | + | * Oklahoma |
| - | * Georgia State | + | * Georgia State - nothing to report |
| - | * Colorado | + | * Colorado |
| - | * Seattle | + | * Seattle |
| - | * FGCU | + | * FGCU - nothing to report |
| - | * UVa | + | * UVa - nothing to report |
| - | + | ||
| - | nothing to report | + | |
| - | no report | + | |
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| 0) Overview | 0) Overview | ||
| - | APO is no longer under any staffing or indoor masking restrictions from the State of New Mexico due to COVID. The COVID vaccination policy for ARC/APO was updated following the ARC Board meeting | + | APO is no longer under any staffing or indoor masking restrictions from the State of New Mexico due to COVID. The COVID vaccination policy for ARC/APO was updated following the ARC Board meeting in November. |
| Weather for November has continued transitioning to fall-like. | Weather for November has continued transitioning to fall-like. | ||
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| === Additional telescope and instrument discussion === | === Additional telescope and instrument discussion === | ||
| - | xxx | + | ARC's COVID policy has changed slightly. Boosters beyond first set of shots are no longer required; this is in line with the NMSU COVID policy, which in turn is aligned with the policies of the State of New Mexico. The current ARC policy is posted on the APO web site; any changes will be announced to the Users Committee as well as through other channels. |
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| + | The telescope is performing better; Bill recently found a fix for a perplexing altitude issue, and they are testing spares for that fix today. KOSMOS has been behaving oddly (more below); Sarah will be traveling to APO in January to investigate a bias issue. Gordon just finished testing new Mac, Windows, and Linux versions of TUI for python 3.1. The TUI downloads page has not yet been updated to reflect these most recent versions but we will do that later this week. | ||
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| === KOSMOS update === | === KOSMOS update === | ||
| - | xxx | + | We recently discovered an issue with the bias levels on KOSMOS. In a small number of images, there is a change of bias level during readout of an image. This occurs in both amplifiers and there are bias variations by row, but not always all the way across a given row, i.e. not always into the overscan. We are currently investigating how often it occurs, and for what percentage of those times it is not possible to fix the problem with the overscan. There may be a pattern where it occurs early in night but that is not clear yet. Ultimately we may need to adjust some voltages on the detector; Sarah Tuttle will be coming to the site in January to investigate this in person. Until we know more, users should check each one of their exposures, and when possible take multiple spectra per target in the event that one is unusable. |
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| === Q4 3.5m scheduling === | === Q4 3.5m scheduling === | ||
| - | xxx | + | We have two open dates coming up soon: Dec 13B (brightish) and Dec 16B (grey); Dec 17B is also open but has been requested. Then we have some dark slots (shorter, but still ~ 4 hours of time since the winter nights are longer) on 27-29 and 31 December. We have 5 slots total in late December, |
| - | Regarding the remainder of the OPEN/DD time in Q4, Nov 15B will be assigned to Jeff Bary (NAPG). The rest of the available time is in December, and there is a lot of it. Interested users are reminded | + | |
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| === Q1 3.5m scheduling === | === Q1 3.5m scheduling === | ||
| - | xxx | + | The Q1 schedule is in progress; we are at the stage of error checking a draft schedule. Q1 has been a rather challenging quarter to schedule, with several classes, visiting instruments and time-critical events (some with collisions of requested dates), and quarter-night requests. Amanda has been doing the bulk of the work on the Q1 schedule and she is doing a great job so far. The Q1 training dates will be added in towards the end of the schedule building process. Currently the unassigned time is mostly half nights but that may change. |
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| === Q4 ARCSAT scheduling === | === Q4 ARCSAT scheduling === | ||
| - | xxx | + | All of the time after December 15 is unassigned; users wishing to observe in mid/late December with FlareCam are welcome to request the time. |
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| === ARC Board of Governors Meeting Recap === | === ARC Board of Governors Meeting Recap === | ||
| - | xxx | + | The ARC Board of Governors meeting |
| - | + | * Chip Kobulnicky (UWy) has agreed | |
| - | The ARC Board of Governors meeting | + | * The Science Highlights |
| + | * The Board approved a request to move forward with a conceptual design for a new echelle spectrograph. | ||
| + | * The Board approved our 2023 budget! | ||
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| === AAS 241 Meeting === | === AAS 241 Meeting === | ||
| - | xxx | + | The January 2023 AAS meeting will be 8-12 January in Seattle. |
| - | + | Several APO staff members will be in attendance this year, and it would be good to have a mix of APO staff and users at the booth through the meeting. Nancy will order stickers to give to people for their badges to indicate that they are presenting results from APO observations. Also, a digital | |
| - | The January 2023 AAS meeting will be 8-12 January in Seattle. | + | |
| - | We will discuss this further at our December UC meeting. | ||
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| New action items from this meeting: | New action items from this meeting: | ||
| - | * xxx | + | * Nancy: make sure that the APO web site gets updated to address the issues reported by Eric B. |
| + | * UC reps: distribute information about the AAS meeting and our request for participation/ | ||
| + | * Nancy: send out a new calendar invitation with the UC meeting dates for 2023. | ||
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| === Next meeting === | === Next meeting === | ||
| - | The next meeting will be on xxx Jan 3 or Feb 7? xxx | + | The next meeting will be on **Tuesday |
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uc/uc20221206_december_6_2022.1670346257.txt.gz · Last modified: 2022/12/06 17:04 by nchanove
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