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)
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
The ARC Board of Governors meeting was held on Monday November 7. A few highlights from the meeting were as follows:
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.
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
None.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday February 7, 10:30 am MST.
Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Derek Buzasi (FGCU), Eric Nielsen (NMSU), Sarah Tuttle (UW), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Mukremin Kilic (OU), Misty Bentz (GSU), Russet McMillan (APO), Caleb Wang (UW), Ben Williams (UW), Gordon MacDonald (APO), Adam Kowalski (CU)
The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 10/3/2022 - 10/31/2022
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 has not changed.
Weather for October has continued transitioning to fall-like.
October had no classes scheduled to visit, there was one visiting instrument (NAIC) from NMSU mid-month.
1) Telescope
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. Those will be mitigated with adjustments to the motion control loops.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Internal calibration flux levels have been adjusted and exposure times are set/liked.
DIS: Servicing was completed for both cameras. Focus is good; scattered light is increasing slowly on the red camera but is expected to turn around and improve some over the winter (if it follows the historical pattern). The blue camera scattered light trend is less clear at the moment. Our best guess is that it will stabilize and hopefully turn around and improve.
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: Switched to Flarecam in late October, currently in use.
We had the first snowfall of the year at APO last week. DIS servicing has been completed; the scattered light is still with us. We had an issue with the telescope this morning: a tripped breaker caused a motion error, which has since been remedied. We introduced Gordon MacDonald, who was recently hired onto the APO staff as a software person for the 3.5m. Welcome Gordon! His areas of responsibility include working on the migration of the newest version of TUI (in python3) to various platforms, updating the control software for different instruments, and helping with an upgrade of the hub and its associated software. [The hub is the communications server that acts as a “traffic cop” between instrument controls, telescope controls and the user.] Caleb Wang joined the meeting from APO; he was there to get an introduction and overview of the facility and instruments.
The manufacturing of the second round of slits is underway. There have been some delays in the WNF (UW facility where the slits are machined) and we keep getting postponed off of the equipment. The first ones ready for production are waiting to be aluminized, Once we sign off on that set, we will do a big batch. We hope to have them done by the end of the CY. If people have requests for slits of unusual sizes they should let Sarah know so we can get them in the queue.
We are converging on process for the generation of MOS slit masks for KOSMOS with Bill's help. Joe Burchett (NMSU) has been working on it but we would like to develop a workflow for making them more easily. We have settled on a vendor in Arizona that has manufactured slits for KPNO; they are most affordable and have the fastest turnaround. If we could identify one or two more people who are interested in the MOS capability that would help us work through the process. Joanne has indicated interest so she will be next - is there anyone else?
Last month we discussed the issue of the wavelength coverage of the blue center slit. Currently the blue grating on KOSMOS in the central position covers 3800-6600 A, so the red cutoff is very close to Halpha. This setup is not ideal for observing magnetic targets, which have Zeeman splitting of the Halpha line. The high slit position shifts the wavelength coverage to 4150-7050, which is good for Halpha, but now misses some of the higher order Balmer lines. The UC reps were asked to query their users to determine if there are needs for another slit position that would cover the range from ~4000-6800 A. Both Eric B. (UW) and Adam (CU) responded that they have several users who would need this capability.
Reminder for all scheduling requests: please send emails to Ben, Russet, Nancy, and Amanda (ajt at apo.nmsu.edu).
Regarding the remainder of the OPEN/DD time in Q4, Nov 15B will be assigned to Jeff Bary (NAPG). The rest of the available time is in December, and there is a lot of it. Interested users are reminded to look for OPEN and DD01 blocks listed in the Q4 schedule and request it if desired, especially if they can make use of small blocks of time, especially with ARCES or Agile (for which no instrument change would be required).
Allocation emails will be going out tomorrow hopefully, and will have a somewhat early turnaround with requests due by 11/22/2022 to avoid the week of Thanksgiving.
There is unassigned time available with FlareCam. We used some time in October to train the obs-specs on Shelyak operations. Interested users should contact Ben, Russet, Nancy, Amanda and Bill to determine whether there is an option for getting trained. We are not yet ready to offer the Shelyak as a general use instrument on ARCSAT due to software issues that make its operation challenging, but we are open to testing the system with a few users who might be interested in helping us refine its operation.
The ARC Board of Governors meeting is on Monday November 7. Thank you to everyone who contributed science highlights; Nancy sent requests to a few individuals and it looks like we will have a packet containing representation from all ARC institutions and lease partners.
The January 2023 AAS meeting will be 8-12 January in Seattle. 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, we will make a digital image “sticker” available for download so users can add it to their iPoster if they made use of APO data. Nancy will also create a spreadsheet where people can indicate when their talk or poster is, as well as their availability to help out at the booth. Note added in proof: the spreadsheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F_oM3sqCz51Ynb1HvPftlr9RB5zvBFUjJN5yOq5Bu1s/edit?usp=sharing .
We will discuss this further at our December UC meeting.
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
None.
None.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday December 6, 10:30 am MST.
Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Eric Nielsen (NMSU), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Caleb Wang (UW), Sarah Tuttle (UW), Mukremin Kilic (OU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Eric Bellm (UW), Ben Williams (UW)
We started by introducing Caleb Wang, a new mechanical/optical engineer recently hired into the Telescope Engineering Group at UW. Welcome, Caleb!
The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 9/2/2022 - 10/2/2022
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 has not changed.
Weather for September has started transitioning to fall-like.
September was a very busy month at APO on the 3.5m side: Wyoming class 9/2-5, Washington class 9/17-21 and two visiting instrument teams – Los Alamos National Lab and Virginia. October has no classes scheduled to visit, there is one visiting instrument (NAIC) from NMSU mid-month.
1) Telescope
Telescope is behaving as expected. As the nighttime temperatures drop we expect to see the seasonal issues with motion errors pop up. Those will be mitigated with adjustments to the motion control loops.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Activities to decrease the flat lamp flux are ongoing. The MOS mask process is being worked through as well. New slit sets are expected to start arriving from UW soon. Discussions are ongoing about what work still needs to be completed to move the instrument from shared risk status to acceptance as a facility instrument.
DIS: Servicing has begun for both cameras. We expect DIS to be returned to science operations on or before 10/21.
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 are slowly increasing with the cooler ambient temperature; the ratios are still good.
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: Shelyak was set up and a training time slot was planned for the observing specialists to get acquainted with the current software configuration.
The weather on the mountain is changing with the start of fall, and we expect to see the normal telescope shifts that are due to temperature changes. KOSMOS is moving off of shared-risk category (see below for more details). DIS is being serviced right now. We anticipate having fewer visitors on site in October. We are setting aside some time on ARCSAT for obs-spec training with the Shelyak so we can support its use more broadly. It is not yet ready to be offered to the broad user community. The software, which is a pre-packaged interface that we have to customize for our needs, still needs a fair amount of work. Currently it requires a complicated set-up procedure at each target one wishes to observe. We would be open to having 1-2 more advanced users help us with testing things out; anyone interested should contact Bill. We recently hired a new software person on the 3.5m side; they will start work on Oct. 17 so will be introduced once they come on board.
After nearly a year of KOSMOS usage on the 3.5m we are now planning to remove it from shared risk category. Going forward it will be offered to our users as a standard facility instrument. We do still have a punchlist of issues that we're working on, but after having met to discuss those items it was decided that nothing on the list impeded us from moving it off of shared risk. We are aware that the bias level appears to be changing, and the associated controller issues are still being worked on. There are also still some deliverables we are waiting for, i.e. the new slits. Over the next several months we will be reaching out to KOSMOS users who have exercised the instrument for different types of targets (extended source, faint limit, etc.) to help us understand the ramifications of some of the known instrument issues on their data.
Our meeting about the status of KOSMOS highlighted the fact that APO does not have a standing definition of shared risk and how to transition an instrument off of that status, so as an output of the conversation over the next month we will be putting together a document that defines shared risk and the expected path that takes an instrument through commissioning to becoming a facility instrument.
Note added in proof regarding the issue of the wavelength coverage of the blue center slit: Currently the blue grating on KOSMOS in the central position covers 3800-6600 A, so the red cutoff is very close to Halpha. This setup is not ideal for observing magnetic targets, which have Zeeman splitting of the Halpha line. The high slit position shifts the wavelength coverage to 4150-7050, which is good for Halpha, but now misses some of the higher order Balmer lines. So the question was asked whether it would be possible to have another slit position that would cover the range from 4000-6800 A, or something like that. UC reps: please query your users to determine if there are additional needs for this capability.
There is no available open or DD time until mid-November, and then there is some more in December. There were a few minor errors in the early version of the Q4 schedule that have since been fixed. These quick fixes were made possible by the fact that the affected parties had checked the schedule as soon as it was published and notified us right away of the problem. New users are reminded that they should always check the schedule when it comes out! It is far easier to fix schedule errors early in the quarter.
We have only received one request for Q4 so far, so there is lots of time available.
The ARC Board of Governors meeting is on Monday November 7. Nancy, Ben, and some of the observatory staff are starting to gather the relevant data and prepare their presentations. Nancy reiterated her request for science highlights from each institution (she sent an email request to the 35m-general mailing list on 10/04/2022). It would be easiest if UC reps would collect the slides from their users and send them to Nancy in a single packet. If that is not possible, users should send their slides directly to Nancy. The hard deadline for receipt of science highlights slides is Wednesday October 26. Any format is fine.
The January 2023 AAS meeting will be 8-12 January in Seattle. There will be lots of UW users there, and hopefully many from other ARC institutions and lease partners as well. The abstract deadline for the meeting is Tuesday October 11! We discussed options for doing something special for APO or ARC users. Last month the UC reps were asked to poll their users to see if they would be interested in an APO event (e.g. a meal or reception one evening) during the AAS meeting. The response was moderately enthusiastic, so Nancy will continue to explore options. We will definitely have an APO booth in the exhibit area, so in a month or two Nancy will be looking for volunteers to help us staff the booth. Stay tuned!
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
None.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday November 1, 10:30 am MDT.
Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Eric Nielsen (NMSU), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Misty Bentz (GSU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Russet McMillan (APO), Mukremin Kilic (OU), Eric Bellm (UW), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Ben Williams (UW), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Derek Buzasi (FGCU)
The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 8/2/2022 - 9/5/2022
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 has not changed.
Weather for August has been very monsoonal.
September is shaping up to be a very busy month at APO on the 3.5m side: Wyoming class 9/2-5, Washington class 9/17-21 and two visiting instrument teams from Los Alamos National Laboratory and University of Virginia.
1) Telescope
The 3.5m telescope summer shutdown is over and the telescope was returned to service without major issues. Mirrors were washed, drive systems were cleaned and worn rollers were replaced along with other miscellaneous annual maintenance tasks.
The telescope secondary issue has not recurred since power board replacement; the system will continue to be monitored.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Commissioning activities are continuing; the instrument is still being offered on a shared risk basis. A replacement shutter for the slitviewer arrived was replaced over shutdown. Flux was decreased for the internal lamps again and the flux levels are being evaluated. Work continues on prototype multi-object masks at both NMSU and UW shops; several programs made use of these prototypes and lessons learned are being applied to the next round of test masks.
DIS: Servicing of the instrument is tentatively being planned for early October to attempt to resolve the ice droplets on the red camera.
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 was slowly decreasing with the warmer ambient temperatures, but increased with cooler monsoon temperatures; the ratios are still quite good.
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: Observing started up again after summer shutdown. We had some pointing and software issues at startup but it has been working well since then.
The weather at APO has been very monsoonal over the past month. September is going to be a busy month with two visiting classes, one from UWy (they were there in early September) and the other from UW, and two visiting instrument teams, The summer shutdown was completed and we are now back to normal operations. All routine shutdown maintenance activities were completed and the issue with the secondary mirror has not come back so hopefully it is resolved. Once again the 3.5m technical and operational staff did a fantastic job of conducting a successful shutdown and returning the telescope to science operations without a hitch. DIS servicing is currently scheduled for October. Ed Leon, the 3.5m electronics technician, retired on September 1. Nancy expressed her appreciation for his efforts and dedication to APO and the 3.5m over the past decade. The job ad for his position is now posted (https://jobs.nmsu.edu/postings/47642) - please share this widely and encourage people to apply!
Over summer shutdown several KOSMOS-related tasks were accomplished. We reduced the brightness of the internal calibration lamps by putting an ND filter in place. This will affect both flat fields and arc lamps, but since observers need to acquire arcs more frequently because of the known instrument flexure we don't want to dim those any further. We are recommending that observers use truss lamps for flat fields if the frames are still saturated. We are currently trying to see if we can address the brightness of the internal quartz lamps but not the arcs, which requires a tradeoff between the needs of narrow vs wide slit observations; no decisions have been made yet. We are optimizing the system for good arc lamp exposures for the moment. A new shutter was installed in the slit viewer camera. We hope to have the new slits from the UW shop by the end of the month. Nancy posted some info to the wiki concerning how some have been handling the flat fielding of KOSMOS data (see kosmos). We have gone through just about one entire cycle of seasonal changes with KOSMOS, so we are now developing a more complete understanding of its behavior with environmental changes. The multi-object capability is still coming; we hope to do some more testing during engineering time soon.
The problems that we had been having with the secondary mirror have not been recurring since shutdown; we hope it was resolved by the change in hardware that was made during shutdown. We are still vulnerable to a possible recurrence of the tertiary problem we had a few months ago but this is not a frequent issue so we hope it will not recur, The telescope came back together nicely after shutdown and we had good luck during the initial part of the shutdown recovery period. We expect to have good pointing with all instruments,
There is only one remaining unassigned half night of time, on Sep 30A. [Note added in proof: this has now been assigned; there is no remaining open time in Q3.]
When the Q4 schedule comes out users should check it to verify the scheduling of their programs. We expect to publish the Q4 schedule by end of this week (i.e. on 9/9). There will be no on site classes in Q4. Several monitoring programs are requesting quarter nights in Q4. Users should copy Amanda Townsend (ajt@apo.nmsu.edu) in addition to Nancy, Ben, Russet, and their institutional scheduler on all schedule related emails.
There is some free time coming up after the week of 9/18 - the last week of the month is unassigned. Once Q4 schedule comes out we will post a call for Q4 ARCSAT proposals.
The ARC Board of Governors meeting is on Monday November 7. Nancy, Ben, and some of the observatory staff are starting to gather the relevant data and prepare their presentations.
The January 2023 AAS meeting will be 8-12 January in Seattle. There will be lots of UW users there, and hopefully many from other ARC institutions and lease partners as well, We discussed options for doing something special for APO or ARC users. UC reps: please poll your users to see if they would be interested in an APO event (e.g. a meal or reception one evening) during the AAS meeting? One suggestion was to give out stickers to people with posters to indicate that they made use of APO data. Chip suggested that we try to connect those with undergraduates in attendance who are looking for graduate programs with representatives from other ARC member institutions, as a small-scale recruitment effort. Misty suggested that we start a Google Doc where people can list their APO-related posters and talks; this would help with connecting people. The abstract deadline for the meeting is Tuesday October 11!
We will definitely have an APO booth in the exhibit area, so in a month or two Nancy will be looking for volunteers to help us staff the booth. Stay tuned!
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
None.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday October 4, 10:30 am MDT.
Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Eric Bellm (UW), Eric Nielsen (NMSU), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Misty Bentz (GSU)
The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 7/5/2022 - 8/1/2022
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 has not changed.
Weather for July has been monsoonal, with dust also contributing to occasional closures.
1) Telescope
The telescope secondary issue may be related to the galil controller resetting. A power supply board was changed out and behavior is being monitored.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Commissioning activities are continuing; the instrument is still being offered on a shared risk basis. A replacement shutter for the slitviewer has arrived and will be replaced during the summer shutdown. Flux was decreased for internal lamps, more tuning is needed; this will take place at the same time as the shutter work. Work is also proceeding on prototype multiobject masks at both NMSU and UW shops. Some preliminary fields were observed and lessons learned are being applied to second round of test masks.
DIS: Servicing is tentatively being planned for early October to attempt to resolve the ice droplets on the red camera.
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 was slowly decreasing with the warmer ambient temperatures, but increased with cooler monsoon temperatures; the ratios are still quite good.
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: Limited to no usage lately.
We've had monsoonal weather at the observatory. The secondary mirror issue may be resolved since a board was replaced in the controller that moves the actuator on the back of the mirror. This was an old board and we are working on preparing for potential future failures. There has been some testing of MOS capabilities with KOSMOS. DIS is tentatively scheduled for servicing on red camera in early October. Everything else is nominal.
The KOSMOS activities that are planned for summer shutdown include the following:
As a status update on the MOS capability for KOSMOS, Bill got the KMS software running under certain operating systems; he can provide instructions on how to install it. He has been working with Joe Burchett at NMSU on streamlining the process; currently the software outputs files in a format that is used for making electronic boards but not used by many machine shops so Bill has been converting them to SolidWorks or AutoCAD. We've had a few slit masks made at the UW machine shop using a wire EDM but this is expensive. We attempted to have some made at the NMSU machine shop using a laser cutter but the results are of low quality. However, in both cases we found that the scale factor between the slits and the sky is off by a small amount, so we are iterating on that to get the slit positions to match on-sky coordinates. Bill has also been working with former KOSMOS folks at NOIRLab to work out the intricacies of setting up the software configuration files to make it more applicable for APO. We are hoping by mid-September to have the process streamlined to help users create slit masks for multiobject spectroscopy. UC reps should remind their users of this exciting new capability at APO!
Chip asked if anyone knows where KOSMOS users have placed recommendations for KOSMOS flat fielding given the bright rows in the flats attributed to the zeroth order. Nancy will follow up and share this information once she has it.
Last month we discussed the fact that we have to delay the realuminization of the primary mirror due to the Contreras Fire at Kitt Peak. We are still actively pursuing other options, including whether a silver overcoat is an option that we can consider (we need to make sure that the short wavelength performance matches the needs of our users). Discussions of this topic remain ongoing.
As a reminder, because our summer shutdown was curtailed we have OPEN/DD time in August that can be requested. The early August time has been allocated, and although we have received several requests for the available time later in August, there is still some available. UC reps please remind your users that they can request this time through the usual process (submit requests to Russet, Nancy, Ben, and institutional scheduler, including a proposal cover page if the program doesn't already have one in place for Q3.
The emails with the institutional allocations will be sent out later this week. We would like to know ASAP if any institutions expect to bring a class group to the site for training in Q4. This impacts our staffing schedule, for which we already have several constraints. No one on today's call indicated that their institution is planning a class trip in Q4.
The ARCSAT Q3 schedule is now published; there is still room for some more requests.
APO needs your help in updating the observatory publication record! Please send Nancy (nchanove@nmsu.edu) any references for 3.5m-related publications (refereed publications and student theses/dissertations that have been published or submitted) from Jan 1, 2021 to now. The deadline was nominally July 31 but Nancy can take all updates through the month of August.
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
None.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday September 6, 10:30 am MDT.
Due to the fact that a large number of the 3.5m management and operations team was unavailable for our scheduled Users Committee meeting on Tuesday June 7, the meeting was canceled. Instead, all of the items we would normally discuss are included in the below email that was sent to all Users Committee representatives for dissemination to their department members.
If anyone has any feedback from your users, please pass it along to Nancy and she will ensure that it gets communicated to the appropriate people.
The detailed site report is included below.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 5/01/2022 - 6/06/2022
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 has not changed.
Weather for May has been mostly seasonal, but New Mexico wildfires to the west and north have affected observing.
1) Telescope
The telescope experienced an (as yet) unexplained pointing shift in March and a couple others since then. There was one occurrences of this issue in May; an effective workaround to restore pointing and collimation by homing the mirrors appears to help. Root cause of the issue is still being investigated.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Commissioning activities are continuing; the instrument is still being offered on a shared risk basis. A replacement shutter for the slitviewer has arrived and will be replaced in late June or early July. Flux was decreased for internal lamps, more tuning is needed.
DIS: Been working well since the power supply failure repair. Please note that the red camera flat field lens has significant water spots. Extended object science is not recommended with the red channel at this time.
TripleSpec: TCAM was recovered with help from UVa. Multiple precautions (replacing fans, power supply, grounding, etc) have been implemented in the hopes of eliminating future system failures.
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 (mid-December).
Echelle: Echelle inter-order light is slowly decreasing with the warmer ambient temperatures, but ratios are still quite good.
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: Recent use has been relatively problem free.
As mentioned in Jamey's report above, during the month of May the site (and all of southern NM) was impacted by smoke due to several wildfires burning in New Mexico. We appreciate users' patience and understanding concerning the closure limits due to dust and smaller particulates, which we recognize can be frustrating for users when the skies seem otherwise clear. The observatory has made improvements in our ability to quantify the dust and pollen in the air, which enables us to make data-driven decisions concerning the balance between the desire to collect photons and ensuring the longevity and continued performance of our hardware.
Users are eager to learn from each other regarding KOSMOS data reduction! There is an effort underway to develop a python-based data reduction package for KOSMOS, which we will continue to provide updates on as we learn more. What about IRAF - are there any IRAF users who have experience reducing KOSMOS data? If so, please add your tips, tricks, scripts, or any other advice to the users' wiki! Contact Nancy if you have trouble accessing your wiki account.
There is a fair amount of OPEN time that is available in late June. Interested users are encouraged to request any OPEN time through the standard procedure, i.e. by emailing Ben, Russet, Nancy, and their institutional scheduler.
There is some open time in June that is available if users wish to request it (for those who can use FlareCam, with ugriz filters).
The Q3 schedule is being built at the time of this writing. As always, users are reminded to check the schedule as soon as it is published and let us know if anything is awry.
Please send Nancy any references for 3.5m-related publications (anything published from Jan 1 2021 to now). The deadline is July 31. Understanding the scientific usage and impact of the telescope is critical for evaluating future projects, initiatives, instrument concepts, etc., thus we need your help in updating our publication record! We are now participating in a cross-observatory analysis of scientific impact of ground-based telescopes, so it is especially important that we capture all publications resulting from APO observations. Any publications resulting from ARCSAT data are also requested. The listing should include refereed publications and student theses and dissertations (not conference abstracts unless they are peer reviewed) that made use of data acquired with the 3.5m and/or ARCSAT, published from 2021 to the present. If a paper has been submitted to a journal but has not yet completely gone through the review process, please include that as well, with the name of the journal and “submitted.”
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
Having heard no objections, the schedule of Users Committee Zoom meetings for the second half of 2022 will be: Jul 5*, Aug 2, Sep 6*, Oct 4, Nov 1, Dec 6. *denotes a Tuesday after a Monday holiday. All meetings will be on the first Tuesday of the month at 10:30 Mountain Time.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday July 5, 10:30 am MDT.
Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Ben Williams (UW), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Mukremin Kilic (OU), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Misty Bentz (GSU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Adam Kowalski (CU)
The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 6/06/2022 - 7/05/2022
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 has not changed.
Weather for June has been mostly monsoonal, the New Mexico wildfires to the west and north have been affecting observing very little compared to May. Pine and juniper pollen affected observing earlier in June but was not as bad as previous years.
1) Telescope
The telescope experienced an (as yet) unexplained pointing shift in March and a couple others since then. There was one occurrence of this issue in May, an effective workaround to restore pointing and collimation by homing the mirrors appears to help. Root cause of the issue is still being investigated.
Telescope experienced an issue with a tertiary actuator that APO has not been able to duplicate as of yet. Tertiary is working currently and investigations are continuing.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Commissioning activities are continuing; the instrument is still being offered on a shared risk basis. A replacement shutter for the slitviewer has arrived and will be replaced in July or possibly over shutdown. Flux was decreased for internal lamps, more tuning is needed, which will take place at the same time as the shutter work. Work is also proceeding on prototype multiobject masks at both NMSU and UW shops.
DIS: Been working well since the power supply failure repair. Please note that the red camera flat field lens has significant water spots. Extended object science is not recommended with the red channel at this time. We will attempt to resolve this issue in early October.
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 (mid December).
Echelle: Echelle inter-order light was slowly decreasing with the warmer ambient temperatures, but increased with cooler monsoon temperatures; the ratios are still quite good.
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.
Visiting Instruments : We had recent visits from 2 visiting PI instruments in May and June. DSSI (UVa sponsored) and HSAR (LANL lease). They are both scheduled for more time this fall/winter.
3) ARCSAT: Limited to no usage lately.
The weather at APO has been very monsoonal over the past month. The Lincoln National Forest, where APO is located, was recently reopened after a month-long closure, during which all recreational activities and visitors were banned due to fire danger. All 3.5m instruments have been behaving. KOSMOS work is ongoing; the flux levels for the internal lamps will be adjusted during the summer shutdown. Some instruments are experiencing seasonal changes; the echelle inter-order light is still good. There were two visiting instruments on site recently, one from UVa and one from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Both went well, and both have more scheduled time in September. ARCSAT has had limited usage lately due to fewer requests from users.
Efforts to make new slits for KOSMOS are ongoing. Sarah Tuttle is working on getting replacement slits made at UW. She and Joe Burchett are also working on getting some test slit masks made at NMSU (3D printed out of metal) for multi-object capability. This will be a good pilot to test the capability and assess how feasible it will be for the user community at large. Joanne's object of interest will be up in late August so she plans to contact Sarah closer to that time to see whether her target can be used for MOS.
Due to the Contreras Fire at Kitt Peak, it will not be possible to realuminize the 3.5m primary mirror there in mid-August as scheduled. Thus, we are reducing the length of the summer shutdown from three weeks to two weeks: 03 - 17 August inclusive. This means that there is an additional 7 nights of telescope time (on 01-02 and 18-22 August) that users can submit requests for. These slots are listed as OPEN and DDD01 in the current version of the August schedule. We expect that all instruments will be available.
Although it is somewhat short notice, we encourage users to think creatively about ways to use this time, including multi-institutional requests, projects that require a full night of coverage of a time-variable phenomenon, etc. Please spread the word to all 3.5m users - we would love to receive lots of requests for this time! The process for requesting this time is the same as usual - interested users should send an email (including a short proposal form if the proposed program does not already have one in the Q3 schedule) to Ben, Russet, Nancy, and their institutional scheduler. These proposals should be submitted by July 20 at the latest, but earlier would be even better, particularly for the 01-02 August time.
There was some discussion of other options aside from Kitt Peak for having M1 realuminized next summer. We are actively looking at other options, but unfortunately there are relatively few facilities that can accommodate a 3.5m mirror. The cost for building our own facility on-site is prohibitive (millions of dollars) and would require U.S. Forest Service permitting, which is a time-consuming process.
Aside from the perturbation due to the change in summer shutdown schedule, there is relatively little open time that users can request. We will be trying to fill July 19B relatively soon.
The ARCSAT Q3 schedule is now published; there is still room for some more requests.
APO needs your help in updating the observatory publication record! Please send Nancy (nchanove@nmsu.edu) any references for 3.5m-related publications (refereed publications and student theses/dissertations that have been published or submitted) from Jan 1, 2021 to now. The deadline is July 31.
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
None.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday August 2, 10:30 am MDT.
Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Denise Stephens (BYU), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Eric Bellm (UW), Russet McMillan (APO), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Adam Kowalski (CU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Ben Williams (UW), Misty Bentz (GSU), Mukremin Kilic (OU), Derek Buzasi (FGCU)
The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 4/05/2022 - 5/01/2022
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 has not changed.
Weather for April has been cloudy, mostly seasonal.
Q2 in person training started with OU training in early April.
1) Telescope
The telescope experienced an (as yet) unexplained pointing shift in March. It appears to be related to an un-commanded movement in one of the secondary actuators. Pointing was reset and the telescope is being monitored.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Commissioning activities are continuing; the instrument is still being offered on a shared risk basis. A replacement shutter for the slitviewer is on order (low temperature operation issue). Flux was decreased for internal lamps, more tuning is needed.
DIS: Had a power supply failure in early April. Repaired on 4/20. Scattered light has leveled off for both the blue and red cameras. Please note that the red camera flat field lens has significant water spots. Extended object science is not recommended with the red channel at this time.
TripleSpec: TCAM had a failure in early April; the RAID is showing some signs of failure. We have also taken the precaution of replacing fans and the power supply in the tcamera-icc. Attempts to recover the system have so far failed. The TripleSpec science camera was working fine except that telescope information is missing from the headers (similar to the problem with Agile) while tcamera-icc is down. Attempts at observing science targets without the use of TCAM have been mixed. Brighter targets have shown greater success.
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 (mid December). A recent pointing issue is also being investigated.
Echelle: Echelle inter-order light has leveled off.
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.
We expect to be working on the commissioning of two PI-level visiting instruments in Q2.
3) ARCSAT: Recent use has been relatively problem free.
The issue regarding the water spots on the DIS-red camera flatfield lens has been with us since October. It impacts users who are observing extended objects more than those observing point sources. For extended object science users are recommended to use KOSMOS rather than DIS. Users are reminded to check the Instrument News: Current Status page (https://www.apo.nmsu.edu/arc35m/Engineering/index.html) prior to their observing run to get the latest update on their scheduled instrument.
In addition to changing the power to the internal flat field lamps for KOSMOS, we installed a neutral density filter in a KOSMOS filter wheel. This should provide users with a way to take unsaturated/linear internal flats with larger slits. The KOSMOS users guide will be updated with details. Users are encouraged to provide feedback regarding how well this solution is working.
TripleSpec is currently down because the slit viewer camera control computer is having issues. The instrument can be used without tcam, provided that the targets are bright (~8-9 magnitudes) so that a single short exposure spectrum is sufficient for determining how well (or if) the target is centered on the slit. Several parts are still on order and we continue to try and diagnose this issue. Upcoming TripleSpec users should check the instrument status web page and try to identify a backup instrument/program.
Aside from the above regarding the internal flat field lamps, some progress is being made on developing the capability to make multi object slit masks. Whereas previously we reported that the old mask generating software from KPNO was not working, the observatory staff was able to get it to run. Progress!
There is a fair amount of OPEN/DD time that is available in June. A more limited amount is available in May, and we have already received several requests for it. Interested users are encouraged to request any OPEN or DD time through the standard procedure, i.e. by emailing Ben, Russet, Nancy, and their institutional scheduler. In addition, there is the possibility of more Q2 OPEN time becoming available in June due to a scheduling change. It may be possible to arrange a swap for more Q2 time in exchange for less Q3 time; it would help observatory staff to know if users would prefer time on setting versus rising Q2 targets. We will notify users about potential June time that opens up via the institutional schedulers, but any individuals interested in discussing a potential trade from Q3 to Q2 should notify Ben, Russet, Nancy, and their institutional schedulers.
There is some open time available that users can request.
The updated dates of the summer shutdown are 1-22 Aug, with a return to science on 8/23. The institutional allocations will be sent out soon.
The 3.5m users wiki needed to be migrated to a different platform because the old one (trak) was not compatible with python 3. We identified a new wiki platform, DokuWiki, which we are migrating to. It should be straightforward to migrate users from the old wiki to the new one, and most of the old content was migrated from trak to DokuWiki.
Because we are in the midst of revamping the wiki, this is a good time to reevaluate its purpose, organization, content, and utility. A quick poll of the Users Committee reps indicated that most people either don't use it or have used it in the past as a reference for data reduction guidance. While it is not intended to supersede information that is on the APO web pages (maintained by APO staff), the user contributed wiki is viewed as a path towards documentation, i.e. a repository where users can report things that work, issues they have had with data reduction, etc.
The UC reps were asked to disseminate the link to the new wiki (http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/apo-wiki/) and ask users for feedback concerning the following:
The UC reps reported the following feedback from their users:
Next steps: Nancy will investigate having accounts made for users. We will continue to welcome feedback on the wiki.
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
Discussion of calls for second half of 2022. Proposed dates: Jul 5*, Aug 2, Sep 6*, Oct 4, Nov 1, Dec 6. *denotes a Tuesday after a Monday holiday. If anyone has issues with our regular meeting day/time (first Tuesday of the month at 10:30 Mountain Time) please tell Nancy.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday June 7, 10:30 am MDT.
Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Ben Boizelle (BYU), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Eric Bellm (UW), Russet McMillan (APO), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Adam Kowalski (CU), Sarah Tuttle (UW), Anne Verbiscer (UVa)
Jamey's detailed report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's call.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 3/01/2022 - 4/04/2022
0) Overview
APO is no longer under any staffing or indoor masking restrictions from the State of New Mexico due to COVID. The COVID daily cases are dropping in New Mexico currently.
Weather for March has been cold with multiple snow storms.
Q1 in person training wrapped up with CU during early March. Planning is underway for OU training upcoming in early April. The COVID vaccination policy for ARC/APO has not changed.
1) Telescope
The telescope experienced an (as yet) unexplained pointing shift in March. It appears to be related to an un-commanded movement in one of the secondary actuators. Pointing was reset and the telescope is being monitored.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Commissioning activities are continuing; the instrument is still being offered on a shared risk basis. A replacement shutter for the slitviewer is on order (low temperature operation issue).
DIS: Scattered light has leveled off for both the blue and red cameras. For the red camera the throughput is good for a stellar spectrum in the default position, but spectra of extended objects or targets off center on the slit may fall on contaminated areas of the detector. Throughput on the blue camera is about half of what it was earlier in 2021.
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 (mid December).
Echelle: Echelle inter-order light has leveled off.
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.
We expect to be working on the commissioning of two PI-level visiting instruments in Q2.
3) ARCSAT: Recent use has been relatively problem free.
We are still working to understand the unexplained motion of the secondary mirror, which has been happening occasionally (roughly once a month) since December. Now that we have traced this anomalous pointing change issue to motions of the secondary mirror, we have better plan to address it. Observers should tell their observing specialist if they see a noticeable change in pointing (> 15“). This issue is accompanied by a change in collimation but that may be harder to detect. When this issue occurs the observing specialist can do a correction; it takes about 15 minutes.
Sarah Tuttle is working on a test multislit mask for a user; this is a high priority. She is also working on getting a new set of slits made. As was previously reported, the slitviewer camera has a sticky shutter in cold weather. The replacement is on order but has a long lead time. We may be able to get by with the current camera until the fall since the weather is warming up. The new KOSMOS Users Guide (UG) is online; send comments/edits to Russet (https://www.apo.nmsu.edu/arc35m/Instruments/KOSMOS/userguide.html). We installed order blocking broad band filters per the instrument specs. Since this happened very recently this information has not yet been added to the UG; it is included here and will be added to the UG soon:
We are using the r2k and b2k prisms which means we would be using the following blocking filters GG-395, GG-455, OG-530 and OG-570. They can be used for the following instrument bandpasses:
These are loaded into the instrument, filter wheel 1. There is also a large format ND5 filter loaded in filter wheel 2 for very bright objects in spectral or imaging modes.
As mentioned above, we attempted to dim the internal lamps to avoid saturating the flats. We used a bulb with the same wattage as the old one but with a bluer color temperature, which was advertised to have half the lumens of the old bulb. However, we found that this new bulb was brighter in red. To mitigate this we added an ND2 filter at the output of the integrating sphere to reduce the brightness of all bulbs. We plan to add additional ND material to further cut the brightness; tentatively that work is scheduled to take place in ~ 1.5 weeks from now. Moire asked how people can get involved with tests of the multi-slit mask capability or whether requests for such masks are being handled on a case-by-case basis. Sarah replied that the slit mask generation software that came with the instrument is not working, so for now we are doing a simple test with an individual user but the goal is to make it more automated. The generation of slit masks is by its nature case-by-case since they are all designed for a specific and unique application, but if the software can be made to work then the entire process would require less lead time.
The first OPEN/DD time that is available in Q2 is at the end of April; we have already received some requests for it. There is quite a bit of OPEN time in June. The early OPEN time is in B half, whereas there are some A halves available in June. Interested users are encouraged to request any OPEN or DD time through the standard procedure, i.e. by emailing Ben, Russet, Nancy, and their institutional scheduler.
The Q2 ARCSAT schedule is ready to be posted. It is not fully populated so there will be open time that can be requested. Sarah asked whether the Shelyak is available for testing or shared risk use? Bill replied that it requires a lot more access to the computer systems than we have been allowing regular users, but he is open to training 1-2 more people in the current software configuration. In his estimation we are still a long way from being able to turn it over to students, especially if they are unsupervised.
The primary mirror realuminization is scheduled to take place the week of Aug 8-12, so a rough estimate of our summer shutdown dates is Aug 1-19. It may go farther into the following week. We are mainly sharing this information now so that users can plan ahead. There was a question of whether it pays to stay open in July given the weather, and instead perhaps we should try to get ahead on some engineering tasks. The response was that we should not extend the shutdown into much of July for the following reasons: a) Early in monsoon season the bad weather is earlier in the day, so B halves are often still useful. b) Although the chances of a totally clear (half) night are lower than other times of year, they are still better than zero, and we can also get instances of good seeing. c) There are limitations on how much we can get ahead on engineering tasks because several items on Bill's maintenance spreadsheet are still pretty very far away from the rotation of needing to be done this year (although Bill acknowledged that there may be a few smaller items that have been delayed or postponed that we do want to address). d) The last week of July is dark time, and we wouldn't want to give that up.
The 3.5m users wiki needed to be migrated to a different platform because the old one (trak) was not compatible with python 3. We identified a new wiki platform, DokuWiki, which we are migrating to. It should be straightforward to migrate users from the old wiki to the new one, and most of the old content was migrated from trak to DokuWiki.
Because we are in the midst of revamping the wiki, this is a good time to reevaluate its purpose, organization, content, and utility. A quick poll of the Users Committee reps indicated that most people either don't use it or have used it in the past as a reference for data reduction guidance. While it is not intended to supersede information that is on the APO web pages (maintained by APO staff), the user contributed wiki is viewed as a path towards documentation, i.e. a repository where users can report things that work, issues they have had with data reduction, etc.
The UC reps were asked to disseminate the link to the new wiki (http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/apo-wiki/) and ask users for feedback concerning the following:
The UC reps should plan to report the feedback they receive from their department members at our next meeting.
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
None.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday May 3, 10:30 am MDT. The remaining meeting date for Q1-Q2 2022 is June 7.
Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Ben Williams (UW), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Misty Bentz (GSU), Derek Buzasi (FGCU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Eric Bellm (UW), Sarah Tuttle (UW), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Russet !McMillan (APO), Denise Stephens (BYU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Adam Kowalski (CU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU)
Jamey's detailed report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's call.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 2/02/2022 - 3/01/2022
0) Overview
APO is no longer under any staffing or indoor masking restrictions from the State of New Mexico due to COVID. The COVID daily cases are dropping in New Mexico currently, which may indicate that New Mexico is beyond the peak.
Weather for February has been cold with average precipitation.
Q1 in-person training is ongoing with a large group from JHU having just completed on site training. More trainings are scheduled for March (CU) and April (OU), and planning has begun on those. The COVID vaccination policy for ARC/APO has not changed.
1) Telescope
The 3.5m telescope is performing as expected.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Commissioning activities are continuing; the instrument is still being offered on a shared risk basis. A new instrument shutter for low temperature operations was installed and is working; the shutter for the slitviewer is having low temperature issues. A replacement shutter for the slitviewer is on order.
DIS: Scattered light has leveled off for both the blue and red cameras. For the red camera the throughput is good for a stellar spectrum in the default position, but spectra of extended objects or targets off center on the slit may fall on contaminated areas of the detector. Throughput on the blue camera is about half of what it was earlier in 2021.
!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 (mid December).
Echelle: Echelle inter-order light has leveled off.
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. The instrument had a cluster of dropped quads in mid February, but has settled down since then.
We expect to be working on the commissioning of two PI-level visiting instruments in Q2.
3) ARCSAT: Recent use has been relatively problem free.
No major updates beyond what is written in the above report. It has been cloudy recently. CU will be on site next week for training and the observatory staff is preparing for that visit.
Sarah addressed the question of slit masks. They are trying to figure out the process for designing/fabricating multislits. Her group tried to use the software from KPNO that was designed for this purpose but it is not working. The software is needed to figure out where the objects go on the slit mask. If one had a small number of targets (5?) one could figure it out without software, so the ease with which this can be accomplished depends on the application. Mechanically we will still have them cut using the old style (non reflective) slits.
In a recent development, some users and the observing specialists reported seeing some weird effects in the flats with some of the slits. Bill will investigate this to determine if there is a mechanical effect, i.e. whiskering, where one sees fine metal pieces along the slit edges (it is “growing” on the back side, i.e. non-reflective side). Sarah had been getting organized to do a fabrication run of a new set of standard slits but this is on pause until we understand what is causing this mechanical effect. Sarah can take a look at the cals that Joanne recently acquired to investigate further. Bill examined at the .87” and 2.1“ slits under the microscope and both show evidence of whiskering; he will look at others this afternoon and will also try using a camel hair brush to knock it loose. It may be as easy as flipping the slits over and coating both sides. Bill will add this issue to the instrument news web page so that users are aware. [Note added in proof: it appears that this is NOT whiskering, but rather seems to be debris that is sticking to the slits. Mitigation strategies are being investigated.]
In other KOSMOS news, there is a new user guide available for KOSMOS that is linked to from the instrument web page; it's a great resource for on-boarding new KOSMOS users: [https://www.apo.nmsu.edu/arc35m/Instruments/KOSMOS/userguide.html]. Special thanks go to Russet, who did the majority of the work in putting the user guide together.
We have a few remaining unassigned dates: Mar 09B (partial half night), Mar 14A (full half-night, bright time), and March 30B (full half-night, dark time). Interested users are encouraged to request any OPEN or DD time through the standard procedure, i.e. by emailing Ben, Russet, Nancy, and their institutional scheduler.
The ARCSAT schedule is full for Q1. The call for Q2 proposals will come out after the 3.5m Q2 schedule is published.
All requests for Q2 have been received, and Russet is working on the schedule. It is complicated by the addition of two observing campaigns with guest instruments. The OU training visit will be scheduled first.
With a return to on-site trainings we revisited a discussion of the remote training option. The group unanimously felt that retaining the remote training option is highly desirable. Specific feedback included the following points:
Russet had a question about the CU group that proposed for on-site observations in Q2; is that for training or not?
Two of the recent on-site training groups (JHU last week and UVa in Q4 2021) made simultaneous use of ARCSAT and the 3.5m. While this is possible for on-site trainings, it is probably not doable for remote trainings given the (possible) high level of involvement of the observing specialists for ARCSAT operations.
Nancy and Candace had developed an evaluation form for the trainings; we should encourage its use with every group so that we can continue to learn about what works well and where things could be improved. Nancy will discuss this with Candace and distribute the survey (after revising it, if needed) to groups that were trained recently.
Nancy provided an update concerning new instrumentation for the 3.5m. Recall that the Instrumentation Planning Task Force (IPTF) worked last spring/summer/fall on the identification of potential instrument concepts that would enable users to continue to advance their scientific goals. The IPTF solicited community feedback on three instrument concepts (Ocotillo, ASPIRE, and MBASIC), which were synthesized and included in a report about planning for new instrumentation that was presented to the ARC Board of Governors in November. As the next phase of this process, we will be costing various instrumentation options to determine the best path forward, both from the scientific and fiscal stewardship perspective. The IPTF may be reconvened for another meeting, and/or we will identify several smaller groups to focus on specific instruments. Users are encouraged to participate in these activities, both if asked to serve on a focus group and when broader community input is solicited.
Open action items from previous meetings:
* Nancy: start investigations re: short wavelength throughput (climate data, other facilities). Status: OPEN. Nancy reached out to some colleagues at other observatories to ask about short wavelength performance degradation of their optical coatings. Still waiting to hear back. She will consult with Bill to make sure we are asking the right people.
New action items from this meeting:
None.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday April 5, 10:30 am MDT. The remaining meeting dates for Q1-Q2 2022 are May 3 and June 7.
Attending: attendance was not taken at this meeting
Jamey's detailed report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's call.
3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 12/03/2021 - 2/01/2022
0) Overview
APO is no longer under any staffing restrictions from the State of New Mexico due to COVID. COVID daily cases are recently the highest counts seen in New Mexico during the pandemic; they are projected to peak and turn over in the next few weeks. There is a masking mandate while indoors in New Mexico.
Weather for December was warmer with less precipitation than average, while January was colder with more precipitation.
Q1 in-person training has started, with a small group from Colorado that just recently wrapped up (a remote session ran at the same time and was successful as well). More trainings are scheduled for February and March and the planning has begun on those.
1) Telescope
The 3.5m telescope is performing as expected.
2) Instruments
KOSMOS: Commissioning activities are continuing; the instrument is still being offered on a shared risk basis. A new instrument shutter rated for low temperature operations was installed and is working; the shutter for the guider is currently having temperature issues. The slitviewer shutter is currently only spec’ed to operate in temperatures between 0-80 C. We are working with the manufacturer to find an extended range replacement.
DIS: Scattered light has leveled off for both the blue and red cameras. For the red camera the throughput is good for a stellar spectrum in the default position, but spectra of extended objects or targets off center on the slit may fall on contaminated areas of the detector. Throughput on the blue camera is about half of what it was earlier in 2021.
!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 (mid December).
Echelle: Echelle inter-order light continues to improve with the temperatures dropping.
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:
Limited use during December and January. Recent use has been problem free (knock on wood).
As a reminder, the new ARC policy for visitors to the mountain now requires proof of boosters, not just the original COVID vaccine. The new policy is posted on the APO web page.
A new, KOSMOS-compatible version of TUI for Linux is available for users to try. It is still in the development stage and may produce errors but we really need users to test it out. It can be downloaded from the standard TUI repository that is accessible from the APO web pages (in the 3.5m section of the home page: Telescope & Instrument Information → TUI → Downloads, or [https://www.apo.nmsu.edu/35m_operations/TUI-images/]). Shane is working on a python 3 version of TUI, which will be a big step forward.
KOSMOS commissioning is ongoing, and the instrument is available in shared risk mode. An issue with a sticky shutter on the slitviewer camera is being investigated, and additional slits of various widths are being fabricated. Updates are available on the APO webpage.
There are several remaining half nights in Q1. Users who wish to request this time should email Ben, Russet, Nancy, and their institutional scheduler per usual.
The Q1 schedule is fully populated; there is no open time in Q1. The call for Q2 proposals will be issued after the 3.5m Q2 schedule is published.
The proposals for Q2 have been received and the schedule is now being built.
As a reminder, we'd like to know about training trips well in advance of receiving the observing proposal requests. We need advanced notice so that we can arrange for appropriate staffing during the training. We also need to know people's on site vs remote plans EARLY. This is to avoid housing conflicts with other projects on the mountain. We recognize the need for flexibility since the COVID situation is still pretty fluid, but it's easier for us to migrate a planned on site training to a remote version than to go in the other direction.
There is nothing substantial to report since the AAS meeting was canceled. We have no plans to have an APO exhibitor booth at the June 2022 AAS meeting. We will have to see how 2022 shapes up in terms of COVID risks before deciding anything re: the January 2023 meeting.
Open action items from previous meetings:
New action items from this meeting:
None.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday March 1, 10:30 am MST. The remaining meeting dates for Q1-Q2 2022 are April 5, May 3, and June 7.