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==== APO 3.5-m Users Committee Meeting, 10/01/2024 ====

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Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Michael Hayden (OU), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Misty Bentz (GSU), Sarah Tuttle, (UW), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Ben Williams (UW),   Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Eric Bellm (UW)


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

  * Oklahoma - nothing to report
  * BYU - nothing to report
  * NMSU - nothing to report
  * Washington - nothing to report
  * Georgia State - nothing to report
  * JHU - Kevin reported that his automated data reduction script for ARCES recently failed, and wondered whether this could be attributed to the change in ThAr lamps? Nancy and others will ask around to other ARCES users to see whether anyone else had a similar experience after the lamp change.
  * Colorado - nothing to report (received by email)
  * UVa - nothing to report
  * Wyoming - no report
  * FGCU - nothing to report (received by email)
  * NAPG - no report
  * Seattle - 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, 9/03/2024 – 10/01/2024 //

1) Overview

Weather wise, September has started to improve from the monsoonal pattern.  Operations have returned relatively smoothly from the August shutdown. During the month of September we had one small class visit (UW at the end of the month); another class that had been scheduled for earlier in the month was switched to remote training.  We also had the DSSI team on site for observing.  
 
2) Operations

3.5m Telescope: The tertiary rotation system was repaired by replacing a power supply, a voltage regulator on a board, and a high resolution encoder. The telescope is experiencing position errors in azimuth direction reversals that is currently not well understood. Pointing performance is affected slightly by this error, and investigations are underway. 
 
0.5m Telescope:  Telescope is working well.
 
KOSMOS: nothing to report.
 
ARCTIC: nothing to report
 
Agile: The camera failure was diagnosed to be a failed TEC.  A purchase order for the repair was issued, and we are now awaiting completion of the repairs so the camera can be returned.
 
Echelle: the instrument control computer hard drives were repaired/replaced.  A power supply was also replaced with a new one of the correct size.  The system is up, stable and usable.  IOL measurements appear nominal and are still very good.
  
DIS: System is currently up and usable.  Vacuum servicing may occur in Q4 but has not been scheduled yet.
 
NICFPS:  System is cooled and usable.
 
TripleSpec: System is up and usable.
 
APOLLO: The instrument control computer had a failure of a computer motherboard/CPU/power supply.  We are waiting on replacement parts to arrive as well as the spare ICC to be shipped from NASA. The system is down until the ICC is repaired.

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=== Additional site, telescope and instrument discussion === 

Bill provided some additional information about the telescope error described above. The telescope control system is throwing an error as it is slewing in the azimuth direction when it crosses the next magna sensor. It is unclear whether something has gradually changed over the years such that we need to open up the limit for that error (currently it is deemed to be too large, which is causing the issue), or whether there is some kind of hardware problem. This is still under investigation. It happens when the telescope is tracking or slewing, but only in the azimuth direction. The resulting pointing error is arcseconds in size.

After the Agile TEC was replaced there was still a problem with the detector when it was cooled and tested. The repair folks are still diagnosing this.

The APOLLO spare computer booted up yesterday, so we are hopeful that APOLLO observations will resume as scheduled next week.

In response to a question Nancy reviewed the procedure for getting a postdoc or PhD-level researcher trained on the 3.5m.

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=== 2024 Q4 3.5m scheduling ===

We have some unassigned time in Q4 (Oct 26B, Nov 23B and 28B (short), and several in December). Users should look at the schedule and follow the usual channels for requesting this time (i.e. email Russet, Amanda, Ben, Nancy and their institutional scheduler when submitting requests, and provide a proposal cover page if you don't already have a program scheduled for the current quarter).

UC reps: Please remind your users to respond to their set-up emails at least 24 hrs in advance of their scheduled observing time.

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=== 2024 Q4 0.5 scheduling ===

The Q4 ARCSAT scheduled is posted. There was a lot of demand for it this quarter but it seems that everyone got (pretty much) what they wanted.

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=== Website Modernization Effort ===

Ben reported that he started using the new website as the default so that he can identify broken links or missing content. The more people that make this change and start using the new website ([[https://newapo.apo.nmsu.edu]]) as the default, the better! As a reminder, please report any issues or bugs with the new web site on this form: [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XTGF1ekWatAW-T2xl71rIZgVlEBhtLVWJrkX8cSh8Nw/edit?usp=sharing]].

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=== Science Highlights Slides Request for ARC BoG Meeting === 

Nancy issued her annual request for science highlights (at least one from every ARC member institution and leasing partner!) for the ARC Board Meeting on November 8. Any file format is fine, but please make sure that each slide contains: researcher’s name and institution, a few bullets describing the science result and instrument used, and a graphic to complement the text. Users can send Nancy the slide directly or (preferably) UC reps can collect them and send them to her in a single packet. **The deadline for submitting slides is Friday October 25.** These are important for conveying to the Board members that their institution's investment in ARC and the 3.5m is worthwhile!

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=== ACTION ITEMS === 

Open action items from previous meetings:
  * Nancy: get ROM costs for new KOSMOS grisms. Sarah reported that she has a finalized quote from one vendor. The grism design turns out to be a little complicated, but also, costs have gone up, so these are more expensive than we expected (ballpark $20k apiece). Therefore, we need to explore potential funding sources. Nancy will amass all previous emails with grism requests and send to UC reps to query users about whether there is broad interest in a particular grism. This could help identify funding sources, either individually or collaboratively. STATUS: OPEN.
  * Nancy: Ensure that a short description of the impact of satellites be posted on the APO website somewhere and updated every 6 months or so. Nancy received examples of this issue from Anne Verbiscer and will get something added to the current (and new) web site. STATUS: OPEN. 

Open action items from this meeting: 

  * UC reps: remind your users to review the Q4 schedule and request OPEN/DD time if they can make a good case for it.

  * UC reps: remind your users that Nancy needs to receive all science highlight slides by October 25, 2024.

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=== All Other Business ===

None.

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=== Next meeting ===

The next meeting will be on November 5 at 10:30 MST.

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