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| ===== APO 3.5-m Users Committee Meeting, 2/03/2026 ===== | ===== APO 3.5-m Users Committee Meeting, 2/03/2026 ===== |
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| Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Misty Bentz (GSU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Eric Bellm (UW), Jon Holtzman (NMSU), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Michael Hayden (OU), Ben Williams (UW) | Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Misty Bentz (GSU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Eric Bellm (UW), Jon Holtzman (NMSU), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Michael Hayden (OU), Ben Williams (UW) |
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| Nancy started by announcing the newest member to the 3.5m observing staff: Harrison (Harry) Abbot started a few weeks ago. We will introduce him at a later date. | Nancy started by announcing the newest member of the 3.5m observing team: Harrison (Harry) Abbot started his position at APO a few weeks ago. We will introduce him at a later date, although some of you may meet him online (over TUI) in the meantime. |
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| === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives === | === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives === |
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| * JHU - long/lat used to be on home page, pls add back in | * JHU - The longitude/latitude/elevation of APO used to be easily findable at the top of the APO home page. This information is important for many users so please add it back in. Nancy agreed and will ensure that this gets done. |
| * NMSU - user seeing higher dark current rate w/KOSMOS in Jan, boosted since Nov/Dec 1200 sec exp - seeing it in Dark frames but not necessarily in science frames | * NMSU - A user recently reported seeing a higher dark current rate with KOSMOS; the values were elevated from what they saw in November-December after the last repair. This is seen in longish (1200 sec) exposures, although it seems to be present in the Dark frames but not necessarily in the science frames (which leads to an over-subtraction when removing the dark current). The APO staff will take a look at this in more detail and will use this information as they develop the KOSMOS repair schedule. |
| * Oklahoma - nothing to report | * Oklahoma - nothing to report |
| * Wyoming - nothing to report | * Wyoming - nothing to report |
| * Williams - no report | * Williams - no report |
| * BYU - nothing to report | * BYU - nothing to report |
| * UVa - nothing to report - thanks for keeping legacy website up | * UVa - nothing to report from users; Anne thanked APO for keeping the legacy website up. We discussed the website later in the agenda. |
| * Georgia State - one person responded re: public archive - would be really helpful because trying to pull data from research group | * Georgia State - one user responded to Misty's request for feedback regarding having APO data made available in a public archive (after a proprietary period). The user said it would be really helpful for them since they are trying to locate historical data taken from APO. |
| * Colorado - no report | * Colorado - no report |
| * Washington - nothing to report | * Washington - nothing to report |
| === Additional site, telescope and instruments discussion === | === Additional site, telescope and instruments discussion === |
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| Storm dumped 6-8 hrs of heavy rain, froze, 2' of snow, trees weighted down by frozen ice/snow, on generator power for about a week, now open and can observe again as of last night. | The recent winter storm that affected a large swath of the US dumped heavy rain for 6-8 hours, which then froze, followed by about 2 feet of snow. Trees were weighted down by frozen ice and snow, which led to a number of downed limbs, trees, and power poles. The site lost power and was on generator power for about a week. Fortunately, the generator worked as expected throughout the entire week. We are now open and can observe again as of last night (Monday February 2). |
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| Documentary filmmaker for SDSS planetarium presentation. | There was a documentary filmmaker on site for an SDSS planetarium presentation. |
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| Telescope issue - still trying to determine if hardware or software issue. | There was a telescope issue (described above); we are still trying to determine if it is a hardware or software issue. |
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| KOSMOS - dark current - will investigate ASAP. | Yesterday we learned of the recent elevated dark current for KOSMOS (see above), which we will investigate ASAP. |
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| Servicing of ARCTIC - cleaned L1 lens, vacuum servicing. Had planned mods for diffuser but had to stop because of weather. Those possible upgrades still in the works. | A servicing of ARCTIC was completed last month, including cleaning the L1 lens and vacuum servicing. Additional planned work on the diffuser rotation mechanism was halted because of the bad weather. Those potential upgrades are still in the works. |
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| SoonerCam early software development still ongoing. Still having issues with ARCES ThAR - users should carefully examine their cal frames and report to obs-spec - 2 failure modes, they know how to identify and what to do. ThAr and possibly quartz will be blank or very low signal. | The early software development for SoonerCam is still ongoing. |
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| No issues with Spec, NICFPS. DIS and Agile decommissioning still ongoing. APOLLO having some thermal issues due to cold weather, trying to troubleshoot those further. | We are still having issues with the ARCES ThAr lamps; users should carefully examine their calibration frames and report any unusual behavior to the observing specialist. The ThAr and possibly quartz frames will be blank or have very low signal when things are not functioning correctly.There are two failure modes and the obs-specs know how to identify each one and what to do to remedy it. |
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| Generator worked as expected the entire week. | There are no current issues with TripleSpec and NICFPS. The DIS and Agile decommissioning is still ongoing. APOLLO has been having some thermal issues due to the cold weather, which we are continuing to troubleshoot. |
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| Open position for mechanical engineer to fill the 3.5m engineering group - not chief telescope engineer position that tried to fill previously. Cary will be promoted to lead the group. | There is an open position for a mechanical engineer to join the 3.5m engineering group. This is at a more junior level than the Chief Telescope Engineer position that was advertised previously. Please share this advertisement with any qualified candidates! [[https://careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/mechanical-engineer-remote-locations-new-mexico-united-states]] |
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| ---- | ---- |
| === 2026 Q1 3.5m scheduling === | === 2026 Q1 3.5m scheduling === |
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| The Q1 schedule is posted. Pretty full. B half DD time on Feb 11 - one of the last ones, one more in March. | The Q1 schedule is posted. It is pretty full at this point, although there is an available B half (DD01) on February 11. Users interested in requesting this time should send the request (including a program ID if the project already has been assigned time this quarter, otherwise a short proposal) to Ben, Nancy, Russet, Amanda, and their institutional schedulers. |
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| There is some OPEN time available on Jan 18A and also in February and March. Users interested in requesting any of that time should send the request (including a program ID if the project already has been assigned time this quarter, otherwise a short proposal) to Ben, Nancy, Russet, Amanda, and their institutional schedulers. | |
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| ---- | ---- |
| === 2026 Q2 3.5 scheduling === | === 2026 Q2 3.5 scheduling === |
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| The allocations to institutional schedulers went out last night. Proposals due 2/24. | The allocations were sent out to institutional schedulers last night. Proposals are due on February 24. We are aware of one class group that plans to visit APO during Q2 but if there are others who have not yet notified us please do so ASAP. |
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| ---- | ---- |
| === 2026 Q1 0.5 scheduling === | === 2026 Q1 0.5 scheduling === |
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| The ARCSAT Q1 schedule is posted and full; there is one open week remaining at the end of the quarter. | The ARCSAT Q1 schedule is posted; there is one open week remaining at the end of the quarter. |
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| ---- | ---- |
| === Wiki discussion === | === Wiki discussion === |
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| Instrument manuals on line are fine, but information about | Jon Holtzman led a discussion of the APO wiki (http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/apo-wiki/doku.php?id=start), which he has been cleaning up recently. While the instrument manuals on the APO website are fine for learning basic properties and operational procedures of the instruments, information about "features" or "issues" for each instrument (e.g those related to data processing or tricks/tips for observing in a very specific mode) are not held in a common repository despite the vast experience spread around the ARC user community. This would be particularly useful for new users, students, etc. The user wiki was designed for this, but it has been fairly stagnant lately. Jon is leading an effort to revitalize the wiki and populate it with things that users should be aware of and provide some descriptions of reduction issues and software options. Therefore Jon is trying to collect 1) a list of features/issues for each instrument, provided by users, and 2) a list of the software options for data reduction for each instrument (no judgment here - truly, what are people using?). He needs help populating these two sections for each instrument! If you have and information regarding either of these items, please email it to Jon Holtzman (holtz@nmsu.edu) so he can add it to the wiki. This will ultimately help all users achieve the pest possible performance from the 3.5m facility instruments for their science. |
| "features/issues", related to data processing are not held in a common | |
| repository, despite experience spread around collaboration, and need for | |
| new users, students, etc.. User wiki was designed for this, but it's | |
| been pretty stagnant. Jon Holtzman is leading an effort to revitalize | |
| and populate this, with things that users should be aware of and some | |
| description of reduction issues/possibilities. Trying to collect 1) | |
| features/issues, 2) what are the possibilities for data reduction. Not | |
| judgmental - what are people using? Needs help populating these two | |
| sections for each instrument! If you have something, email it to Holtz | |
| (holtz@nmsu.edu). Also could include stuff on how to achieve best | |
| performance, and what this performance is, etc. | |
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| ---- | ---- |
| === PypeIt discussion === | === PypeIt discussion === |
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| Holtzman is also working on incorporating modules in PypeIt for reducing | Jon Holtzman is also working on incorporating modules into PypeIt for reducing spectra from 3.5m instruments. PypeIt is designed primarily for data from slit spectrographs, and we have received funding as part of an NSF award to develop a PypeIt implementation for KOSMOS, ARCES, and TripleSpec. Initial modules have been created for all three instrument; ARCES is challenging because of its short slit, but the versions for KOSMOS and TripleSpec are nearing usability for testing. The PypeIt group does an excellent job in version controlling their software; in order for a new module to be incorporated into the overall distribution version, new modules need to be supplied with test data so that any time modifications are made to the code base they can be applied to the test data. In order to move us closer towards being able to implement the new APO-specific modules, we are looking for users in the ARC community that have familiarity w/PypeIt for non-APO instruments and are willing to test out our development modules. There are lots of parameters that can be tuned, and we're looking for people who have experience in doing so. UC reps: please query your users and have them contact Jon if they are willing to help with this. |
| spectra from 3.5m instruments. PypeiT is designed mostly for slit | |
| spectrographs, and we want to develop implementation for KOSMOS, ARCES, | |
| TripleSpec. Committed to getting it working. Initial modules have been | |
| created:ARCES challenging because of short slit, but KOSMOS and TripleSpec | |
| perhaps nearing usability for testing. PypeIt is excellent in version | |
| controlling their software; for incorporation into distribution version, | |
| modules need to be supplied with test data so any time modifications | |
| are done can be applied to test data. Implementation is not there yet, | |
| but trying to get more pexerience processing data, so looking for users | |
| in community that might be familiar w/PypeIt for non-APO instruments, | |
| and willing to experiment on development modules. Lots of parameters | |
| that can be tuned - looking for someone who has experience in using | |
| them. Please query your users - have them contact JH. | |
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| ---- | ---- |
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| * SoonerCam: See above site report and subsequent discussion. | * SoonerCam: See above site report and subsequent discussion. |
| * KOSMOS grisms: our proposal requesting funds to support the purchase of three new grisms for KOSMOS was not selected. We will move forward with the purchase of one or two grisms using ARC funds. If users have an opinion about this they should complete the following form **no later than Friday January 30**: https://forms.gle/Fr6LVu9o8Up782hW7 | * KOSMOS grisms: We received a number of useful responses to the recent survey - THANK YOU! The low-res grism is the highest priority for a significant majority of the respondents so we will move forward with purchasing that grism immediately as we continue to seek funds for the purchase of additional grisms. |
| * ASPEN: we have an NSF proposal pending but learned that we did receive some funds from the State of New Mexico to further advance the design. We will move forward with building the atmospheric dispersion corrector first since it can be used with ARCES. We presented a poster about ASPEN at the Jan. 2026 AAS meeting and received some positive feedback, and we submitted several papers about the instrument for the SPIE conference this summer. We still plan to hold the Preliminary Design Review in the first half of 2026, likely now in Q2. | * ASPEN: No major updates this month. We still plan to hold the Preliminary Design Review in Q2 2026. |
| * Ocotillo: Things are progressing; we have the camera in hand and someone is working on camera characterization and software. We have the grating, some optics, and the fiber in hand. The TEG will be hiring an engineer/technician at the BS/MS level very soon; interested parties should look for the job ad on the UW hiring site shortly. | * Ocotillo: No major updates this month. The TEG will be hiring an engineer/technician at the BS/MS level very soon; interested parties should look for the job ad on the UW hiring site shortly. |
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| https://careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/mechanical-engineer-remote-locations-new-mexico-united-states | |
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| === Website update === | === Website update === |
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| Plan to schedule hackathonon. JH: no page that gives overview of instruments - need that. Work session, not a suggestion hour. Michael H We don't have ETCs for most of the instruments. BK: we've tried for 15 yrs to have ETCs for all instruments, never completed. | Nancy stated that we'd like to understand what users are not able to find/do on the new website in an effort to encourage users to move to that one. One user suggested getting rid of the drop-down menus on the front page and restoring all the links to the front page. Or at minimum, reducing the number of clicks that it takes to reach specific information. Another user mentioned that there are no Exposure Time Calculators for any of the instruments. Bill stated that we have tried for the last 15 years to get ETCs for all instruments but these have not been completed. Another user mentioned that there is no front page that gives an overview of all the instrument. We concluded that an efficient way to address //some// of these issues would be to schedule a hackathon where users could meet in real time with the web development team to discuss and implement suggestions. Nancy and Ben will discuss this further with the IT staff. |
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| Anne: Getting rid of the drop down menus on the front page would be helpful. Just put the links (back) on the front page to make them findable. | |
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| ---- | ---- |
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| === ACTION ITEMS === | === ACTION ITEMS === |
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| Open action items from previous meetings: | Open action items from previous meetings: |
| * Joanne Hughes: put the KOSMOS MOS data reduction software on the wiki. Joanne is waiting for an update from her colleagues at the College of Idaho. Update: Nancy connected with the folks working on this while at the AAS meeting so we are getting closer to have this software in hand and made available to the | * Joanne Hughes: put the KOSMOS MOS data reduction software on the wiki. Joanne is waiting for an update from her colleagues at the College of Idaho. Update: Jon Holtzman put a link to the College of Idaho software on the wiki, and notes that this is a wrapper for lower level reduction stuff in pyVista. Additional descriptive text/examples would still be welcome and good. Status: CLOSED |
| user community through the wiki. Status: Holtzman put link to CofI software on the wiki, and notes that this is a wrapper for lower level reduction stuff in pyVista. Additional descriptive text/examples would stil be welcome and good. CLOSED | |
| * UC reps: remind your users to review the Q1 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 Q1 schedule and request OPEN/DD01 time if they can make a good case for it. Status: OPEN. |
| * UC reps: remind your KOSMOS users to complete this survey no later than Friday January 30 to register their final preferences for which new grism option(s) are most important for their science: https://forms.gle/Fr6LVu9o8Up782hW7 . Status: CLOSED. | |
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| New action items from this meeting: | New action items from this meeting: |
| * xxx | * UC reps: ask your users to provide instrument usage/data reduction tips and tricks to Jon Holtzman for inclusion on the wiki. |
| | * UC reps: ask your users if they have experience using PypeIt with non-APO instruments; if so please contact Jon. |
| | * Nancy: ensure that observatory lat/long/elevation gets put back on new APO home page. |
| | * Nancy: explore web page hackathon idea with APO webdev team. |
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| === All Other Business === | === All Other Business === |
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| xxx | None. |
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