uc:uc20240206_february_6_2024
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
| Next revision | Previous revision | ||
|
uc:uc20240206_february_6_2024 [2024/02/06 17:26] nchanove created |
uc:uc20240206_february_6_2024 [2024/02/13 01:38] (current) nchanove |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
| ---- | ---- | ||
| - | Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), | + | Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Misty Bentz (GSU), |
| - | + | ||
| - | Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Misty Bentz (GSU), | + | |
| + | === Introductions === | ||
| + | We started by introducing Mark Croom, our new part-time Observing Specialist. Mark is an upper level Astronomy graduate student at NMSU and spent the majority of his career as an aerospace engineer at NASA Langley Research Center before pursuing his passion for astronomy. Although he has been a long-time user of the 3.5m at APO, he began his training as a 3.5m obs-spec in January 2024. We look forward to working with him! | ||
| + | |||
| === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives === | === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives === | ||
| - | no report | + | * NMSU - nothing to report |
| - | nothing to report | + | * Colorado - nothing to report |
| - | + | * Wyoming - no report | |
| - | * NMSU - | + | * BYU - nothing to report |
| - | * Colorado - | + | * Washington - Eric sent a report by email with user concerns about time lost due to weather and snow on roof. This will be discussed further - see below. |
| - | * Wyoming - | + | * Seattle - nothing to report |
| - | * BYU - | + | * NAPG - no report |
| - | * Washington - | + | * JHU - nothing to report, KS has to leave at noon |
| - | * Seattle - | + | * UVa - nothing to report, AV has to leave at noon |
| - | * NAPG - | + | * Georgia State - nothing to report |
| - | * JHU - | + | * FGCU - nothing to report |
| - | * UVa - | + | * Oklahoma - Muk had questions about mitigation of snow on the roof since some OU users lost clear nights due to this issue. This will be discussed further - see below. |
| - | * Georgia State - | + | |
| - | * FGCU - | + | |
| - | * Oklahoma - | + | |
| ---- | ---- | ||
| Line 41: | Line 39: | ||
| 2) Operations | 2) Operations | ||
| - | |||
| - | 3.5m Telescope: | ||
| 3.5m Telescope: Telescope is working well, motion errors seem to be of the seasonal type. | 3.5m Telescope: Telescope is working well, motion errors seem to be of the seasonal type. | ||
| Line 62: | Line 58: | ||
| === Additional telescope and instrument discussion === | === Additional telescope and instrument discussion === | ||
| - | xxx | + | General |
| + | |||
| + | Snow on the roof issue: The recent winter weather has impacted our ability to open, even during clear nights, due to the accumulation of snow on the enclosure roof. [If we open the enclosure when there is snow on the roof, it will fall down onto the telescope.] There are heaters on the edges of the dome building (not across the top), which we use to help melt the snow. However, the main mechanism for snow removal is sunshine; if it's not sunny -- which has been the case after the recent snow storms -- the snow on the roof won't melt. Previously we have had staff members go onto the roof while wearing safety harnesses to shovel it off. This raised safety concerns from NMSU's Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) office during their annual safety training. An EHS representative is coming to site soon (their visit last week was postponed due to inclement weather) to inspect and discuss the situation; we may need to modify the hook points used for attaching the people wearing harnesses. We are looking at other options as well, e.g. using long poles to reach the snow, or possibly adding more heaters (but we need to be careful about ruining dome seeing). We recently put in cameras so we can see the snow on the roof and know how much there is. The heaters don't work well at temperatures below -2 C. If we operate them when the temperatures are near freezing then we run the risk of building up ice from the snow melt. This makes it less likely to have snow blowing onto the telescope but more likely to cause damage if that ice falls. This is also why we sometimes have wintertime opening restrictions where the wind speeds must be low. If the winds are below our normal limit but still above that special wintertime/ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ARCES issue: ARCES had a failure in its autofill system that caused it to warm up, taking it out of service for several weeks. We are pumping it down right now and then will cool it. The earliest possible date that it will return to service is likely around February 16, but it could extend beyond that. The dewar is a big volume to pump down and the cooling will be rather delicate. It has been at least a decade since we have done this in wintertime. We have all of the replacement parts for fill system in hand and they are ready to be installed. | ||
| + | |||
| + | DIS issue: The DIS red channel has had an electronics failure, with all pixels reading the same value. There are no immediate plans to repair it; we have tried every intervention we can do from the outside of the instrument to recover the red camera and not met with any success. We currently don't have the in-house expertise to do an internal repair. This raises the broader issue of when (not if) to decommission DIS. As the oldest instrument on the 3.5m, it continues to show its age and perform sub-optimally. Recall that the acquisition of KOSMOS was intended as a stop-gap measure that would provide continued capability for long-slit optical spectroscopy while Ocotillo is being developed and built. Nearly all former DIS users have migrated to KOSMOS, but there remain a few DIS holdouts. **UC reps: please tell your users that we need to understand what capabilities KOSMOS lacks that makes some people still want to use DIS.** If it is a resolution issue (either the desire for higher or lower resolution than what is offered by KOSMOS), we still have several slots remaining in the wheel that holds the grisms for KOSMOS. If people want/need different resolution, in principle we could fulfill this need with the addition of one low-res grating that would get the entire spectrum in one shot, and two higher-res gratings. Russet noted that we do now have a complete set of 1.25" and 20" slits (low, center, and high position) which are better matched to the site seeing, so users can now optimally sample the site seeing. **Nancy will follow up with Sarah to get some ROM estimates of costs for additional grisms.** | ||
| ---- | ---- | ||
| Line 68: | Line 70: | ||
| === 2024 Q1 3.5m scheduling === | === 2024 Q1 3.5m scheduling === | ||
| - | xxx | + | There have been some updates to the Q1 schedule based largely on having to reshuffle time that was scheduled to use ARCES. There is a short OPEN slot available on Feb 18B and a slightly longer one (bright time) on Feb 22A. At this point we cannot guarantee that ARCES will be back in service by that time so we're not sure if we can use those OPEN slots to repay any displaced ARCES users, but anyone who lost time due to weather, telescope or instrument issues is free to request Feb 18B or 22A. There is some additional OPEN and DD time available in March so people can also request some of that. |
| ---- | ---- | ||
| Line 74: | Line 76: | ||
| === 2024 Q2 3.5m scheduling === | === 2024 Q2 3.5m scheduling === | ||
| - | xxx | + | The Q2 allocation emails were sent to the institutional schedulers, with requests due by February 23. We are expecting that ARCES will be back in operation by Q2, and that DIS red will remain inoperable. |
| ---- | ---- | ||
| Line 80: | Line 82: | ||
| === 2024 Q1 0.5m scheduling === | === 2024 Q1 0.5m scheduling === | ||
| - | xxx | + | The Q1 schedule for ARCSAT is basically full. There is one week that is listed as unavailable when we will have classes on site. The Q2 call for proposals will be issued in mid-March. |
| ---- | ---- | ||
| Line 86: | Line 88: | ||
| === Meetings === | === Meetings === | ||
| - | * Jan. 2024 AAS Recap - | + | * Jan. 2024 AAS Recap - Thanks to those who participated in booth; it was great to see current and former APO users. Jamey enjoys going to the AAS meetings to represent APO and values making connections with our user community. When Nancy asked the group to consider whether we need to have a presence at EVERY winter AAS meeting, Misty asked what is the motivation for our participation (recruitment for ARC partners? science highlights? job openings/ |
| - | * 30th anniversary celebration? | + | * Nancy asked the group to consider one last time the idea of holding an APO 30th anniversary celebration |
| ---- | ---- | ||
| Line 96: | Line 98: | ||
| * None | * None | ||
| + | |||
| + | Open action items from this meeting: | ||
| + | |||
| + | * UC reps: ask your users what capabilities KOSMOS lacks that makes some people still want to use DIS | ||
| + | * Nancy: get ROM costs for new KOSMOS grisms | ||
| + | * UC reps: remind your users to review the Q1 schedule and request OPEN/DD time if they can make a good case for it. | ||
| ---- | ---- | ||
| Line 101: | Line 109: | ||
| === All Other Business === | === All Other Business === | ||
| - | xxx | + | None. |
| ---- | ---- | ||
uc/uc20240206_february_6_2024.1707240374.txt.gz · Last modified: 2024/02/06 17:26 by nchanove
Page Tools
