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==== APO 3.5-m Users Committee Meeting, 12/06/2022 ====

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Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Russet McMillan (APO), Derek Buzasi (FGCU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Gordon MacDonald (APO), Eric Nielsen (NMSU), Ben Williams (UW), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU),Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Misty Bentz (GSU), Caleb Wang (UW), Adam Kowalski (CU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa)

=== User feedback and comments from institutional representatives ===

  * NMSU - nothing to report
  * Wyoming - nothing to report
  * NAPG - no report
  * BYU - nothing to report
  * JHU - nothing to report
  * Washington - Eric recently had a new user asking about our TOO policies and discovered that it is challenging or impossible to find that information on the APO web site - Nancy took the action to make sure that the TOO policy is findable on the web site (also investigate site search issue) and that any links from the APO web site to the TDAWG report point to the new(er) wiki, docu-wiki ([[http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/apo-wiki/]])
  * Oklahoma - nothing to report (by email)
  * Georgia State - nothing to report
  * Colorado - nothing to report
  * Seattle - Joanne asked about the turnaround time for the production of slit mask templates to test the MOS capability of KOSMOS. Bill replied that it takes 1-2 weeks for the manufacturing once the mask is designed. 
  * FGCU - nothing to report
  * UVa - nothing to report

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=== Telescope and Instruments Report === 

The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.

//3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 11/01/2022 - 12/05/2022 //

0) Overview

APO is no longer under any staffing or indoor masking restrictions from the State of New Mexico due to COVID. The COVID vaccination policy for ARC/APO was updated following the ARC Board meeting in November.

Weather for November has continued transitioning to fall-like.  
 
November had no classes visiting, but there was one visiting instrument (DSSI from UVa) team and a UW engineer visit.

1) Telescope

The telescope is behaving mostly as expected.  As the nighttime temperatures continue to drop we expect to see the seasonal issues with motion errors pop up.  A failure of the altitude drive system was fixed with a new memory/program card in the drive.  The telescope has been behaving as expected since the repair.  
 
2) Instruments

KOSMOS: An issue with bias noise variation is being investigated.
 
DIS: Scattered light is very bad in blue and red after the recent servicing. Evolution of the peak/wings is progressing more slowly than was hoped.

TripleSpec: Cold, operational and performing nominally. 
 
Agile: Cold, operational and performing nominally. There is a known issue with missing observatory and WCS cards from the headers that we are trying to track down. This problem seemed to originate about the time we converted and moved the hub35m to a new server. 

Echelle: Echelle inter-order light ratios are excellent.
 
NICFPS: The instrument is performing nominally with the occasional need to reset the controller due to corrupted images, and previous cautions about rotator angle.
 
ARCTIC: Cold, operational and performing nominally.  
 
3) ARCSAT:  Flarecam is in use and performing nominally.

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=== Additional telescope and instrument discussion === 

ARC's COVID policy has changed slightly. Boosters beyond first set of shots are no longer required; this is in line with the NMSU COVID policy, which in turn is aligned with the policies of the State of New Mexico. The current ARC policy is posted on the APO web site; any changes will be announced to the Users Committee as well as through other channels.

The telescope is performing better; Bill recently found a fix for a perplexing altitude issue, and they are testing spares for that fix today. KOSMOS has been behaving oddly (more below); Sarah will be traveling to APO in January to investigate a bias issue. Gordon just finished testing new Mac, Windows, and Linux versions of TUI for python 3.1. The TUI downloads page has not yet been updated to reflect these most recent versions but we will do that later this week.

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=== KOSMOS update === 

We recently discovered an issue with the bias levels on KOSMOS. In a small number of images, there is a change of bias level during readout of an image. This occurs in both amplifiers and there are bias variations by row, but not always all the way across a given row, i.e. not always into the overscan. We are currently investigating how often it occurs, and for what percentage of those times it is not possible to fix the problem with the overscan. There may be a pattern where it occurs early in night but that is not clear yet. Ultimately we may need to adjust some voltages on the detector; Sarah Tuttle will be coming to the site in January to investigate this in person. Until we know more, users should check each one of their exposures, and when possible take multiple spectra per target in the event that one is unusable.

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=== Q4 3.5m scheduling ===

We have two open dates coming up soon: Dec 13B (brightish) and Dec 16B (grey); Dec 17B is also open but has been requested. Then we have some dark slots (shorter, but still ~ 4 hours of time since the winter nights are longer) on 27-29 and 31 December. We have 5 slots total in late December, with 2 requests received so far. We welcome requests and are eager to fill the mid-December time, although we will not publish a schedule update until the Q1 schedule is finished (so around Dec 9 or 10).

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=== Q1 3.5m scheduling ===

The Q1 schedule is in progress; we are at the stage of error checking a draft schedule. Q1 has been a rather challenging quarter to schedule, with several classes, visiting instruments and time-critical events (some with collisions of requested dates), and quarter-night requests. Amanda has been doing the bulk of the work on the Q1 schedule and she is doing a great job so far. The Q1 training dates will be added in towards the end of the schedule building process. Currently the unassigned time is mostly half nights but that may change.

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=== Q4 ARCSAT scheduling ===

All of the time after December 15 is unassigned; users wishing to observe in mid/late December with FlareCam are welcome to request the time.

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=== ARC Board of Governors Meeting Recap ===

The ARC Board of Governors meeting was held on Monday November 7. A few highlights from the meeting were as follows:
  * Chip Kobulnicky (UWy) has agreed to serve as ARC Board Secretary/Treasurer, replacing Ron Irving from UW.
  * The Science Highlights and Telescope Impact slide deck is available if users wish to learn more about the science being done with the 3.5m and the scientific impact of the facility. It can be accessed from the wiki ([[http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/apo-wiki/]]), on the page entitled "Information from ARC Board of Governors Meetings".
  * The Board approved a request to move forward with a conceptual design for a new echelle spectrograph.
  * The Board approved our 2023 budget!

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=== AAS 241 Meeting ===

The January 2023 AAS meeting will be 8-12 January in Seattle. We have a spreadsheet where people can sign up to indicate that they are giving a talk or poster that makes use of APO data, and/or sign up to spend a bit of time at the APO booth in the Exhibit Hall: [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F_oM3sqCz51Ynb1HvPftlr9RB5zvBFUjJN5yOq5Bu1s/edit?usp=sharing]] .
Several APO staff members will be in attendance this year, and it would be good to have a mix of APO staff and users at the booth through the meeting. Nancy will order stickers to give to people for their badges to indicate that they are presenting results from APO observations. Also, a digital version of the APO logo is available for download so users can add it to their iPosters or talks if they made use of APO data. All of this information is now available on the AAS Meetings page of the wiki ([[http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/apo-wiki/]]). **UC Reps: please notify your department members of these resources and request their participation in our booth and APO promotional efforts.**

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=== ACTION ITEMS === 

Open action items from previous meetings:

  * Nancy: start investigations re: short wavelength throughput (climate data, other facilities). Status: OPEN. No news. Old news: Nancy reached out to some colleagues at other observatories to ask about short wavelength performance degradation of their optical coatings. She got some names from Bill and will contact those individuals next. The ongoing discussions about new coatings for the primary also relate to this issue so we will determine our coatings first before continuing to pursue this line of investigation.

New action items from this meeting:

  * Nancy: make sure that the APO web site gets updated to address the issues reported by Eric B.
  * UC reps: distribute information about the AAS meeting and our request for participation/help at the booth.
  * Nancy: send out a new calendar invitation with the UC meeting dates for 2023.

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=== All Other Business ===

None.

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=== Next meeting ===

The next meeting will be on **Tuesday February 7, 10:30 am MST.**

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