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--- uc:uc20251007_october_7_2025 [2025/10/14 20:41]
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+++ uc:uc20251007_october_7_2025 [2025/10/14 20:55] (current)
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 === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives ===
-  * Colorado - Several CU users were wondering about the status of data reduction software for KOSMOS, and whether PyKOSMOS is considered finished and ready for widespread use or whether people should still be using standard IRAF routines. A user found that the spectra are tilted so much that they need to use the Marsh algorithm rather than the Horn algorithm in the reduction, and the PyKOSMOS documentation currently does not address this. Nancy, in collaboration with Sarah Tuttle, took the action item to follow up with Jim Davenport on this and report back.
+  * Colorado - Several CU users were wondering about the status of data reduction software for KOSMOS, and whether PyKOSMOS is considered finished and ready for widespread use or whether people should still be using standard IRAF routines. A user found that the spectra are tilted so much that they need to use the Marsh algorithm rather than the Horn algorithm in the reduction, and the PyKOSMOS documentation currently does not address this. Nancy and Sarah Tuttle took the action item to follow up with Jim Davenport on this and report back.
   * BYU - nothing to report
   * Oklahoma - nothing to report
@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
   * Washington - nothing to report other than general interest in the timetable for the KOSMOS repair
   * JHU - nothing to report (by email)
-  * Seattle - nothing to report regarding recent observations, but Joanne had a comment on the topic of KOSMOS data reduction. She and her collaborators had a College of Idaho student working with Jon Holtzman of software for slit mask/MOS data reduction. The software is pretty stable and is publicly available but it is not on the wiki yet. Joanne said she would be happy to share it and took the action item to put it on the wiki.
+  * Seattle - nothing to report regarding recent observations, but Joanne had a comment on the topic of KOSMOS data reduction. She and her collaborators had a College of Idaho student working with Jon Holtzman on software for slit mask/MOS data reduction. The software is pretty stable and is publicly available but it is not on the wiki yet. Joanne said she would be happy to share it and took the action item to put it on the wiki.
   * NAPG - no report
@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 APO will be hosting an Open House this coming weekend, during which we will be giving public demos, tours, and talks over a 4-hour event.
-The 3.5m telescope is performing as expected for this time of year. We had a failure of one of actuators on the secondary mirror, which froze when changing between two ports. Homing of the mirror corrected the problem with no further issues; this was caught during poor weather so no science time was lost.
+The 3.5m telescope is performing as expected for this time of year. We had a failure of one of the actuators on the secondary mirror, which froze when changing between two ports. Homing of the mirror corrected the problem with no further issues; this was caught during poor weather so no science time was lost.
 The 0.5m telescope is working as expected; Dcam-spare and UVAcam are available to users for Q4.
-KOSMOS is warm and taken apart as a result of increased dark current reported by the users. At last month's Users Committee meeting we concluded that it was becoming unusable for science and the consensus was that we should not wait until December to do an inspection. Upon taking it offline it was discovered that of the four thermal connections between the LN2 cold strapping and the cold block that cools the CCD, three of them were broken; only 1 was providing cooling. We subsequently ordered new strapping material to do a repair; the material was delayed because it came from Europe. Once it arrived it became apparent that the repair would be more difficult than what we could manage to do on site. We contacted several vendors and got quotes, and ultimately the cold head block and various pieces were sent out to a shop in Albuquerque. They need to procure some materials to do the repair, but we are hoping that by early next week (week of Oct 13-17) the repairs will be completed. Then we will pick it up to return it to APO, do the vacuum baking out to prepare the dewar for service. Ideally we are hoping that it could return to service late in the week of Oct 13-17 but it could be later, depending on how quickly the shop can procure their needed materials and complete the repair. We will continue to update the scheduled KOSMOS users as we learn more about the timetable.
+KOSMOS is warm and taken apart as a result of increased dark current reported by the users. At last month's Users Committee meeting we concluded that it was becoming unusable for science and the consensus was that we should not wait until December to do an inspection. Upon taking it offline it was discovered that of the four thermal connections between the LN2 cold strapping and the cold block that cools the CCD, three of them were broken; only one was providing cooling. We subsequently ordered new strapping material to do the repair; the material was delayed because it came from Europe. Once it arrived it became apparent that the repair would be more difficult than what we were comfortable doing on site. We contacted several vendors and got quotes, and ultimately the cold head block and various pieces were sent out to a shop in Albuquerque. They need to procure some materials to do the repair, but we are hoping that by the week of Oct 13-17 the repairs will be completed. Then we will pick it up, return it to APO, and do the vacuum baking out to prepare the dewar for service. Ideally we are hoping that it could return to service late in the week of Oct 13-17 but it could be later, depending on how quickly the shop can procure their needed materials and complete the repair. We will continue to update the scheduled KOSMOS users as we learn more about the timetable.
-ARCES: While working on streamlining the software for calculating IOL it was discovered that the DATE-OBS keyword in the FITS headers was wrong (45 min in the future from when image was written). After some data mining we found that this occurred in late August 2024 but it was not caught until now. **If time stamps are important for your echelle observations ARCES observers should take note and we can provide the detailed time offset for anyone for whom this is critical.** There was a report from a user a few weeks ago that the new ThAr bulb that was replaced in July 2025 had some weak/missing Ar lines in blue orders. We replaced it with a different spare on September 29 and the next day we learned that the new bulb was slightly fainter than bulb from a year ago so ARCES users should also note this. These hollow cathode lamps are no longer being made with Th metal filaments and it is increasingly hard to find spare lamps on the shelf. We just purchased a supply so that we have some spares and we hope that each one will last a few years. Given that it is becoming harder to find the old style ThAr lamps and alternative source may need to be identified.
+ARCES: While working on streamlining the software for calculating IOL it was discovered that the DATE-OBS keyword in the FITS headers was wrong (45 min in the future from when the data file was written). After some data mining we found that this occurred in late August 2024 but it was not caught until now. **If time stamps are important for your echelle observations ARCES observers should take note and we can provide the detailed time offset for anyone for whom this is critical.** There was a report from a user a few weeks ago that the new ThAr bulb that was replaced in July 2025 had some weak/missing Ar lines in the blue orders. We replaced it with a different spare on September 29 and the next day we learned that the new bulb was slightly fainter than the bulb from a year ago so ARCES users should also note this. These hollow cathode lamps are no longer being made with Th metal filaments and it is increasingly hard to find spare lamps on the shelf. We just purchased a supply so that we have some spares and we hope that each one will last a few years. Given that it is becoming harder to find the old style ThAr lamps an alternative source may need to be identified.
 ARCTIC, NICFPS, TripleSpec and APOLLO are all functioning nominally. DIS and Agile are still slated for decommissioning.
@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 === 2025 Q4 3.5m scheduling ===
-The Q4 schedule is posted. There is a fair amount of OPEN/DD01 time in late October (dark time, all B halves). We hope to use some of it to pay back KOSMOS users who had to give up their time but we're not committing to that until we know when KOSMOS will be returning. Some of the scheduled KOSMOS time may need to be allocated to other users, ideally from same institution. There is additional OPEN/DD01 time later in quarter, including a limited number of A halves or partial A halves. A huge thank you to Russet for doing such a great job with the challenging schedule for this quarter.
+The Q4 schedule is posted. There is a fair amount of OPEN/DD01 time in late October (dark time, all B halves). We hope to use some of it to pay back KOSMOS users who had to give up their time but we're not committing to that until we know when KOSMOS will be returning. Some of the scheduled KOSMOS time may need to be allocated to other users, ideally from the same institution. There is additional OPEN/DD01 time later in quarter, including a limited number of A halves or partial A halves. A huge thank you to Russet for doing such a great job with the challenging schedule for this quarter.
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 New action items from this meeting:
-  * Nancy: follow up with Jim Davenport about the status of PyKOSMOS and report back.
+  * Nancy/Sarah: follow up with Jim Davenport about the status of PyKOSMOS and report back.
   * Joanne Hughes: put the KOSMOS MOS data reduction software on the wiki.
-  * UC reps: remind your users to review the Q4 schedule and request OPEN/DD01 time if they can make a good case for it. Status: OPEN.
+  * UC reps: remind your users to review the Q4 schedule and request OPEN/DD01 time if they can make a good case for it.
-  * UC reps: remind your users to ** provide Nancy with science highlights from 2025; she needs to receive them no later than Monday October 27.** Status: OPEN.
+  * UC reps: remind your users to ** provide Nancy with science highlights from 2025; she needs to receive them no later than Monday October 27.**
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 === All Other Business ===
-We discussed the timeline of events that led to the temperature issues for KOSMOS. In January 2025 the chip temp increased. Data taken in late winter and early spring were probably not affected, but users started to notice the issue in the mid/late spring.
+We discussed the timeline of events that led to the temperature issues for KOSMOS. In January 2025 the chip temperature increased. Data taken in late winter and early spring were probably not affected, but users started to notice the issue in the mid/late spring.
-Gordon is working on a new release for TUI (v3.2), which will be coming soon. The new version cleaned out some old scripts and removed the option of selecting instruments that are being decommissioned. The most exciting aspect is that he is working on packaging to make the software installation process more simple for users, especially students. Although we encourage users to stay current with their TUI versions, older versions of the software will still work.
+Gordon is working on a new release for TUI (v3.2), which will be coming out soon. The new version cleaned out some old scripts and removed the option of selecting instruments that are being decommissioned. The most exciting aspect is that he is working on packaging to make the software installation process more simple for users, especially students. Although we encourage users to stay current with their TUI versions, older versions of the software will still work.
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@@ Line 132: / Line 132: @@
 === Next meeting ===
-The next meeting is currently scheduled for Tuesday November 4, 2025, which directly conflicts with the ARC Board of Governors meeting. Therefore the November meeting is canceled, and we will meet next on Tuesday December 2, 2025, at 10:30 MST.
+The next Users Committee meeting is currently scheduled for Tuesday November 4, 2025, which directly conflicts with the ARC Board of Governors meeting. Therefore the November UC meeting is canceled, and we will meet next on Tuesday December 2, 2025, at 10:30 MST.
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