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uc:uc20250506_may_6_2025 [2025/05/06 17:09]
nchanove created 		uc:uc20250506_may_6_2025 [2025/05/28 15:46] (current)
nchanove
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-Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Kevin, Misty, Russet, Joanne, Zach, Anne, Ben W, Moire, Sarah +Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Misty Bentz (GSU), Russet McMillan (APO), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Zach Berta-Thompson (CU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Ben Williams (UW), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Sarah Tuttle (UW)
- +
-Ben Williams (UW), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU),  Michael Hayden (OU), Eric Bellm (UW), Ben Williams (UW), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Moire Prescott (NMSU)+
  
 === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives === === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives ===
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 The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting. The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.
  
-// 3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 3/04/25 – 03/31/25 //+// 3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 4/01/25 – 05/01/25 //
  
 1) Overview 1) Overview
  
-March was a bit unsettled weather wise with higher spring winds and elevated dust levels for a good portion of the month. Light snow flurries, with little accumulation, on two nights was the majority of the moisture we received in March. The second half of the student group from CU and one instrument team visited APO this month. A small number of high school and college spring break tours of the site and telescope were also given mid-March. +The frequency of higher winds and elevated dust levels improved somewhat during the month of April. APO experienced several days of particularly bad dust events ending in accumulation of several inches of snow. The precipitation melted within a day and did little to affect our high fire danger. We had a visiting class from OU and another observing team from NMSU on site this month. A NASA team was on site for APOLLO maintenance as well working with site staff. 
  
 2) Operations 2) Operations
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 3.5m Telescope: Telescope is working as expected.  3.5m Telescope: Telescope is working as expected. 
  
-0.5m Telescope: Telescope is working as expected.  ACP Library support errors are still occurring even with the dcam-spare camera swap. USB communications dropouts are now the most likely cause of the error. Discussions on how to proceed from here will be on going. +0.5m Telescope: Telescope is working as expected.  ACP Library support errors are still occurring even with the dcam-spare camera swap but with much lower frequency. 
  
-KOSMOS: There was some troubleshooting required following an inadvertent power down of part of the instrument. Documentation and the addition of extra labeling hopefully will correct this from happening in the future. +KOSMOS: System is cooled and stable. 
  
-ARCTIC: Maintenance on the diffuser mechanism was performed however we believe there was a failure of part of the electronics that controls rotation. Troubleshooting is continuing. Diffuser rotation has been disabled while we attempt to repair. The mechanism that moves the diffuser in and out of the optical path is still functional in the meantime. +ARCTIC: The diffuser rotation mechanism is still unreliable even after a full servicing. Troubleshooting is continuing. The mechanism that moves the diffuser in and out of the optical path is still functional in the meantime. The rest of the instrument is cooled and stable. 
  
-Agile: The camera was returned to the repair facility for additional troubleshooting. They transplanted our detector to a spare set of electronics boards, vacuum pumped and tested. We have it back now and are reinstalling at the writing of this report. I will give a further update during the meeting. +Agile: The camera is operational but only in slow readout mode. The Agile instrument rotator is still not performing nominally and we are troubleshooting it further. 
  
-ARCES: System is currently up and usable. There was a recent report that flat fields are shifting. The effect is mentioned in the user manual however may be of larger magnitude than has been seen in the past. The orders appear to shift a few rows from image to image. The cause is unknown at this time especially since the instrument had been so stable for years. It is advised not to use super flats in your reductions unless you carefully compare individual raw images you are combining. No further update on this problem from last month. +ARCES: System is currently up and usable. 
  
-DIS: System is cooled and usable.+DIS: System is cooled but in an unknown state for science.
  
 NICFPS: System is cooled and usable. NICFPS: System is cooled and usable.
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 TripleSpec: System is cooled and usable.  TripleSpec: System is cooled and usable. 
  
-APOLLO: The system is operational. The team was able to successfully receive returns off of the Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR-1) on the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost Lander. This is a major accomplishment for the team and lunar ranging operations at APO.+APOLLO: The system is currently experiencing some technical issues with the laser at the time of this report. The servicing trip had to be extended to attempt repairs. Hopefully an update will be able to be given at the time of the meeting.
  
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 === Additional site, telescope and instrument discussion ===  === Additional site, telescope and instrument discussion === 
  
-rotator - shift position and then stop , worse than not rotator +The ARCTIC diffuser rotation mechanism has been challenging to repair. The symptom is that when commanded to rotate, the diffuser shifts in position and then stops. This is worse than having no rotation, so the rotation functionality is currently disabled. It will require a complete rebuild in order to get it working so this is on the longer-term to-do list. 
-Agile - rotator probs - too frequently for science, too intermittent for testing, hard to + 
 +The Agile instrument rotator is exhibiting problems. Unfortunately they are occurring too frequently for science, but too intermittently for detailed testing, which makes it hard to diagnose. This is still being worked on.
  
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 === 2025 Q2 3.5m scheduling === === 2025 Q2 3.5m scheduling ===
  
-fully allocated+The time in Q2 is fully allocated; no OPEN or DD slots remain.
  
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 === 2025 Q2 0.5 scheduling === === 2025 Q2 0.5 scheduling ===
  
-The Q2 ARCSAT schedule 1 week left +The Q2 ARCSAT schedule has one week of OPEN time remaining (June 12-19). 
  
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 === 2025 Q3 3.5m scheduling === === 2025 Q3 3.5m scheduling ===
  
-Shutdown is 7-17 July, allocations went out last week. Requests are due 5/23. No DIS. +The 3.5m summer shutdown is scheduled for 7-17 July, inclusive. Institutional allocations for Q3 were sent out last week and all requests are due on May 23. DIS will no longer be made available for proposers. 
  
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- 
  
 === Status of new instrument initiatives ===  === Status of new instrument initiatives === 
  
-Early discussions regarding the development of a replacement high speed imager, SoonerCam, are ongoing. We expect to be able to share an information/specification sheet or white paper about the instrument fairly soon.+A replacement high speed imager, SoonerCam, is under development. We expect to be able to share an information/specification sheet or white paper about the instrument fairly soon. In the meantime, a survey of all past/present/future users of such an instrument (i.e. current and former Agile users, or those who want to use a modern high speed imager) was distributed. We really need to hear from users concerning anticipated needs for frame rate, binning, etc. as this information will drive some design decisions. We plan to add a focal reducer but the pixels are currently very small. Here is the email sent to 35m-general requesting survey responses:
  
-Our preliminary proposal to the NSF for a replacement echelle was not invited for a full proposal. Work on the instrument continues with the goal of completing the Preliminary Design Review this calendar year, and additional sources of funds are being investigated. 
  
-We have no updates concerning Ocotillo.+''Dear APO 3.5m users,
  
-survey - when it comes around, what kind of memory it will consume (tons of data over long time?) - hope is to put in a focal reducer but right now the pixels are very small+We are purchasing a new qCMOS high-speed camera, **SoonerCam**, to replace the old camera on Agile. This camera provides a read-noise of 0.3 e- in the ultra-quiet scan mode. It's a 4096x2304 pixel camera with 4.5 micron pixels. It can provide up to 25 frames/s in this mode.  Using Agile's current setup, the camera provides **0.05 arcsec per pixel (or a field of view of 115" x 205")**.''
  
 +''Before finalizing the design and installation at the telescope, we would love to hear your thoughts or feedback on what would make this new camera suitable for your science needs.''
 +
 +''If you are interested in using this new capability, can you please provide feedback on:
 +[[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJG6zQg7YtGxGhAtaKULHyzZVZe29uHCiegcHdM0edglN1gw/viewform?usp=sharing]]''
 +
 +''Thank you,''
 +''On behalf of the SoonerCam team (including the Astro group at OU, Sarah Tuttle, Bill Ketzeback and the APO engineering/software team, and Nancy Chanover),''
 +''-Muk''
 +
 +Work on the new optical echelle spectrograph continues with the goal of completing the Preliminary Design Review this calendar year. Another grant proposal is in the works.
 +
 +We have no updates concerning Ocotillo.
  
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 === Future of ARCSAT Working Group === === Future of ARCSAT Working Group ===
  
 +This group is still meeting and exploring various options for the future of ARCSAT.
  
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- 
  
 === ACTION ITEMS ===  === ACTION ITEMS === 
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 Open action items from previous meetings: Open action items from previous meetings:
   * Nancy: get Mt. Cuba Foundation proposal for new KOSMOS grisms submitted. STATUS: OPEN. The proposal is done; Nancy needs to confirm with NMSU's Office of Grants and Contracts whether they need to be involved in the submission since it's a small proposal. She plans to submit it before the next Users Committee meeting.   * Nancy: get Mt. Cuba Foundation proposal for new KOSMOS grisms submitted. STATUS: OPEN. The proposal is done; Nancy needs to confirm with NMSU's Office of Grants and Contracts whether they need to be involved in the submission since it's a small proposal. She plans to submit it before the next Users Committee meeting.
-  * UC reps: remind your users to review the Q2 schedule and request OPEN/DD time if they can make a good case for it. STATUS: OPEN.+  * UC reps: remind your users to review the Q2 schedule and request OPEN/DD time if they can make a good case for it. STATUS: CLOSED.
  
-New action items from this meeting: None+New action items from this meeting: 
 +  * UC reps: ask your users to complete the survey regarding needs/desires for a high speed imaging capability. The link to this survey was sent out to 35m-general on May 6, 2025 by Mukremin Kilic, and is also included above. STATUS: OPEN.
  
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 === All Other Business === === All Other Business ===
  
-NC - data archiving +Nancy requested input from the UC reps concerning user needs/desires for data archiving. There was no clear consensus about what (if anything) APO should provide or facilitate in this area, but several UC members stated that it would be more useful to have reduced data available in an archive more so than raw data files. 
-Zach -  mixed reactions - yes it would be nice to see what has been observed, Worry about what would  make it most useful is to have reduced data products (out of reach). Another question : with new instruments to build it in? Russet - making data available and searchable/usable are 2 different things. Could be a strength/compromise - could be student opportunity. Sarah - lot of work.Misty - sounds nice but right now seems like a good time to discuss but not act. Zach - mini version could be way to archive data in Zenodo w/papers. Joanne - we should all upload all our best data to some repository. KS - reduced data in an archive is more useful. Keven +
  
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uc/uc20250506_may_6_2025.1746551394.txt.gz · Last modified: 2025/05/06 17:09 by nchanove

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