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--- uc:uc20260113_january_13_2026 [2026/01/13 15:01]
nchanove
+++ uc:uc20260113_january_13_2026 [2026/01/13 21:17] (current)
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@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
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-Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU),
+Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Kristian Finlator (NMSU), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Michael Hayden (OU), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Ben Williams (UW), Misty Bentz (GSU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Amanda Townsend (APO), Adam Kowalski (CU), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Sarah Tuttle (UW), Shane Thomas (APO)
-Sarah Tuttle (UW), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Michael Hayden (OU), Eric Bellm (UW), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Ben Williams (UW), Misty Bentz (GSU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa)
 === User feedback and comments from institutional representatives ===
-  * Wyoming - no report
+  * Wyoming - nothing to report
   * Williams - nothing to report (by email)
-  * Washington - nothing to report other than users are eager to hear about KOSMOS updates
+  * Washington - nothing to report (by email)
-  * UVa - nothing to report
+  * UVa - Anne is currently unable access the observing schedule on the new website and does not see a way to access the old website as was promised last month (this was discussed later in the meeting)
-  * Oklahoma - nothing to report other than users are eager about KOSMOS updates
+  * Oklahoma - nothing to report
-  * NMSU - nothing to report other than users are eager to hear about KOSMOS updates
+  * NMSU - nothing to report
   * JHU - nothing to report
   * Georgia State - nothing to report
-  * Colorado - no report
+  * Colorado - nothing to report
   * Colgate - no report
-  * BYU - nothing to report
+  * BYU - Aleksandr reported that a user who tried to sign up for an account on the new website discovered that BYU was not listed as an institution option (this was discussed later in the meeting)
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 === Additional site, telescope and instruments discussion ===
-xxx
+There was one student group that visited last month. We've had some winter weather and were closed for two nights due to ice on the enclosure and lightning arrestors.
+As for instruments, both KOSMOS and ARCTIC each had some problems last month. There was an instance when the KOSMOS disperser wheel was commanded and then got stuck; this was remedied by the operator going up to the observing level and moving it by hand. We had one instance where the camera focus wasn't set properly and caused confusion regarding the telescope focus; this was corrected. We've seen some stress cracks in the UW-manufactured silicon wafer slits, likely due to differential expansion of the aluminum holders. We are working to identify a manufacturer for new spares/replacements.
+ARCTIC had a failure of the filter wheel; this was discovered by an observing specialist in the afternoon and fixed by the engineering staff that same day so it did not impact observing. We had another instance where the instrument exposure was stuck and could not be commanded to take another. An init was done, which caused a dropped quad, and the user elected to observe in the single amplifier mode for the rest of night. We had a more serious issue with an ion pump that resulted in loss of vacuum to the instrument. This was due to a failure of a high voltage cable that became welded to the pump; both needed to be replaced. Special thanks for Cary Smith who came in during his time off during the winter break to restore the instrument.
+First biases were achieved with the new SoonerCam setup. We are starting to develop the new ICC software and trying to learn the lower level commands for triggering the camera.
+We've seen an intermittent failure of the ARCES ThAr lamp power supply, We cleaned the connectors and this seemed to help but the issue still sporadically appears.** Users should check their ThAr exposures to make sure they have enough lines with appropriate S/N levels.**
+DIS decommissioning continues; the instrument is decabled but still on the observing floor for now.
+There have been no issues with TripleSpec or NICFPS, and APOLLO has been working well.
+We have completed hiring process for a new Support Astronomer (observing specialist). Harrison (Harry) Abbot will begin his work and training in a few days.
+There will be a site infrastructure review held at APO next month. The goal is to review overall site and telescope infrastructure items (excluding instruments) in order to develop priorities for resource allocation in order to ensure that we maintain a highly functioning observatory.
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@@ Line 68: / Line 81: @@
 === 2026 Q1 3.5m scheduling ===
-The Q1 schedule is posted. There is some OPEN time available on xxx
+The Q1 schedule is posted. 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.
-Dec 23A (short slot) and on New Year's Eve (note added in proof: the 12/31 time is now spoken for). Users interested in the Dec 23A time should send a request to Ben, Nancy, Russet, Amanda, and their institutional schedulers.
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@@ Line 75: / Line 87: @@
 === 2026 Q1 0.5 scheduling ===
-The ARCSAT Q1 schedule is posted. xxx There are two unscheduled weeks at the end of December.
+The ARCSAT Q1 schedule is posted; there is one open week remaining at the end of the quarter.
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@@ Line 81: / Line 93: @@
 === Status of new instrument initiatives ===
-  * SoonerCam: Nearly all of the parts we are expecting have come in. We will begin working on this in January.
+  * SoonerCam: See above site report and subsequent discussion.
-  * KOSMOS grisms (no change from last month): we are still awaiting a decision on the proposal we submitted for funds to support the purchase of three new grisms for KOSMOS.
+  * 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
-  * ASPEN: Work on the design of the new optical echelle spectrograph continues with the goal of completing the Preliminary Design Review in spring 2026. We hosted a productive ASPEN team meeting at APO and NMSU in October. We submitted another NSF proposal in mid-November.
+  * 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.
-  * Ocotillo: The TEG team is working on optics mounting. We have the disperser for the red channel in hand and mounts are being fabricated in the shop. We are working to characterize and provide software for the camera. Fiber assembly will begin in early 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.
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@@ Line 90: / Line 102: @@
 === Website update ===
-We are tentatively planning to launch the new website on January 13, 2026. We are currently working on updating the procedure for staff access for the portion of the website that will be behind a login. The old website will still be accessible, at least for some TBD time period, but the goal is for all users to migrate to the new site and let us know if there is critical information that they can no longer find.
+We flipped the switch this morning so that https://mainapo.apo.nmsu.edu became  https://www.apo.nmsu.edu. This resulted in some preliminary problems as some certificates needed to be updated in order to preserve the old web site (which will be located at legacy.apo.nmsu.edu). We hope to have these sorted out by the end of the day. The links to the observing schedules are currently not working, but one can still access the Q1 schedule using this direct link: http://35m-schedule.apo.nmsu.edu/2026Q1.shtml. Shane will fix Aleksandr's reported issue ASAP. If users have difficulties finding what they need on the new site please let us know ASAP!
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@@ Line 96: / Line 108: @@
 === AAS Meeting Recap ===
-Nancy presented a subset of slides from her presentations to the ARC Board of Governors meeting in early November to provide the UC reps with a summary of the 2025 operations, science achievements, and plans for next year.
+We had a booth alongside SDSS and SciServer so there was a strong APO presence at the Jan. 2026 AAS meeting in Phoenix. We were well positioned in the exhibit hall and received a lot of foot traffic; we gave away a lot of swag.
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@@ Line 103: / Line 115: @@
 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. Status: OPEN.
+  * 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 user community through the wiki. 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. Status: CLOSED.
+  * UC reps: please discuss the idea of archiving our 3.5m data with your users and report back with any reactions, either positive (e.g., advantages that they see to having a data archive) or negative (e.g., potential issues or concerns). No UC reps reported any feedback from users so we will be moving forward with piloting this as a next step. Status: CLOSED.
-  * UC reps: please discuss the idea of archiving our 3.5m data with your users and report back with any reactions, either positive (e.g., advantages that they see to having a data archive) or negative (e.g., potential issues or concerns).
 New action items from this meeting:
-  * 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: 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.
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 === All Other Business ===
-xxx
+None.
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