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| uc:uc2026 [2026/05/06 20:00] – nchanove | uc:uc2026 [2026/05/06 20:34] (current) – nchanove |
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| === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives === | === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives === |
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| * Colorado - Adam reported an issue he's seen in his KOSMOS data. It is documented that arc lamps bleed over into the overscan but the documentation does not mention this for the flat fields. In fact, the flat field slope is seen in the overscan at a level of few hundred counts. This calls into question whether the overscan region is very useful. The recommendation for users is that they take biases close in time to their flats. The APO team took an action to add this to the instrument manual page, and Adam will add it to the users wiki (or will send Nancy the text to be added). | * Colorado - Adam reported an issue he's seen in his KOSMOS data. It is documented that arc lamps bleed over into the overscan for KOSMOS but the documentation does not mention this for the flat fields. In fact, the flat field slope is seen in the overscan at a level of few hundred counts. This calls into question whether the overscan region is very useful. The recommendation for users is that they take biases close in time to their flats. The APO team took an action to add this to the instrument manual page, and Adam will add it to the users wiki (or will send Nancy the text to be added). |
| * Williams - no report | * Williams - no report |
| * Colgate - no report | * Colgate - no report |
| * Georgia State - no report | * Georgia State - no report |
| * UVa - nothing to report | * UVa - nothing to report |
| * JHU - Kevin relayed a user question as to the feasibility of using the 3.5m to observe the Falcon 9 upper stage that is predicted to impact the Moon in August. Nancy indicated that she is also already thinking about trying to observe this and asked Kevin to put the user directly in contact with her, given her experience with this from observing the LCROSS impact. | * JHU - Kevin relayed a user question pertaining to the feasibility of using the 3.5m to observe the predicted impact of a Falcon 9 upper stage on the Moon in early August. Nancy indicated that she is also already thinking about trying to observe this and asked Kevin to put the user in contact with her directly, given her experience with this from observing the LCROSS impact. |
| * NMSU - nothing to report | * NMSU - nothing to report |
| * Washington - nothing to report | * Washington - nothing to report |
| === FAWG report === | === FAWG report === |
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| Denise Stephens presented an overview of the report completed by the Future of ARCSAT working Group (FAWG). The charge for this group was to identify current use cases for ARCSAT, assess its current capabilities, and explore future options for making it more useful for the ARC user community. The FAWG conducted an ARC-wide survey, for which they received 61 responses. The survey results indicated that there is still a strong demand for an 0.5m telescope for teaching, training, and scientific uses, but nearly half of the respondents said that ARCSAT in its current form would not meet their future needs. The FAWG examined telescope needs first, followed by cameras, user interface, and possible observing modes. The overarching concern is the reliability of the current ARCSAT, noting that it is one critical failure away from being unusable. The FAWG provided a suite of recommendations with different cost points, which the 3.5m leadership team will evaluate in preparation for making a recommendation to the ARC Board. Nancy expressed appreciation for the time and effort that the FAWG members put into this task. She will post the final version of the FAWG report after receiving it. | Denise Stephens presented an overview of the report completed by the Future of ARCSAT Working Group (FAWG), which she chaired. The charge for this group was to identify current use cases for ARCSAT, assess its current capabilities, and explore future options for making it more useful for the ARC user community. The FAWG conducted an ARC-wide survey, for which they received 61 responses. The survey results indicated that there is still a strong demand for an 0.5m telescope for teaching, training, and scientific uses, but nearly half of the respondents said that ARCSAT in its current form would not meet their future needs. The FAWG examined telescope needs first, followed by cameras, user interface, and possible observing modes. The overarching concern is the reliability of the current ARCSAT, noting that it is one critical failure away from being unusable. The FAWG provided a suite of recommendations with different cost points, which the 3.5m leadership team will evaluate in preparation for making a recommendation to the ARC Board. Nancy expressed appreciation for the time and effort that the FAWG members put into this task. She will post the final version of the FAWG report after receiving it. |
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| * APO: check out recently reported ARCSAT issue to see if can reproduce it and/or determine its cause. Status: CLOSED. | * APO: check out recently reported ARCSAT issue to see if can reproduce it and/or determine its cause. Status: CLOSED. |
| * CU: Adam K. to provide some examples of ghost spectra for KOSMOS documentation, and APO could potentially take some bright object spectra during engineering time to learn more about these effects. Status: CLOSED. | * CU: Adam K. to provide some examples of ghost spectra for KOSMOS documentation, and APO could potentially take some bright object spectra during engineering time to learn more about these effects. Status: CLOSED. |
| * Nancy will ensure that the final report from the Future of ARCSAT Working Group is made available to the Users Committee so that it can be added to the agenda for our next meeting. Status: CLOSED. | * Nancy will ensure that the final report from the Future of ARCSAT Working Group is made available to the Users Committee so that it can be added to the agenda for our next meeting. Status: OPEN (pending receipt of final version of report). |
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| New action items from this meeting: | New action items from this meeting: |
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| * TBD | * APO team: update KOSMOS user manual web page regarding issue of flats bleeding into overscan region. |
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