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Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Bill Ketzeback (APO), Ben Williams (UW), Aleksandr Mosenkov (BYU), Michael Hayden (OU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Zach Berta-Thompson (CU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Misty Bentz (GSU), Eric Bellm (UW), Gordon, Kevin Schlaufman (JHU),

  Russet McMillan (APO),  

• BYU - nothing to report
• Colorado - trainees having a great time
• Georgia State - nothing to report
• JHU - no report
• NAPG - no report
• NMSU - nothing to report - curious about ARCSAT camera
• Oklahoma - meeting with OU Astro group & VPR to discuss SoonerCam
• Seattle - nothing to report
• UVa - nothing to report
• Washington - nothing to report
• Wyoming - no report

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

3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 2/05/25 – 03/03/25

1) Overview

Weather wise, it was a milder and drier than average February. There was one on-site astronomer but no instrument teams visiting APO in the month of February. The first of two groups of students from CU were scheduled for their first night on the telescope last night.

2) Operations

There is a new version of TUI available: v. 3.1.8. Visit the TUI Downloads page from the APO website for this newest version.

3.5m Telescope: Telescope is working as expected.

0.5m Telescope: Telescope is working as expected.

KOSMOS: The disperser and mask wheels have been struggling with multiple failures. We are evaluating the problem but in the meantime, moving them by hand is the quick resolution when they get stuck.

ARCTIC: Maintenance on the diffuser mechanism is scheduled for the upcoming engineering time. We have had three failed ion pumps in the past many months. We were sent the wrong model. The manufacturer recognized that this was their error and they are replacing them. Once we get the correct model in stock we will swap out the one on the instrument.

Agile: The camera is back at the repair house as the testing with APO software revealed a failure to select gain settings within the software; the demo camera they sent along for testing also did not work during recent bench testing on site. They confirmed they received the equipment we sent back. We are waiting to hear back from the repair house if both cameras work or do not work with their software and our controller.

ARCES: System is currently up and usable. There was a recent report that flat fields are shifting. The orders appear to shift a few rows from image to image. The cause is unknown at this time especially since the instrument had been so stable for years. It is advised not to use super flats in your reductions unless you carefully compare individual raw images you are combining.

DIS: System is cooled and usable.

NICFPS: System is cooled and usable.

TripleSpec: System is cooled and usable.

APOLLO: The system is operational. The team is currently undergoing a campaign to find and receive returns off of the Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR-1) on the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost Lander.

One onsite user of 3.5m in Feb. First of 2 groups from CU arrived Sun evening, had first night of training last night.

We are continuing to have troubles with ARCTIC vacuum system. Warmed camera up yesterday. Today should be getting replacement ion pumps - wrong model sent to us. Prepared once they come in to change them out and pump/cool before next scheduled use. Off the schedule of rnext 1.5 weeks. Also hope to service the diffuser rotation mechanism.

Agile is back at repair facility; frustration with trying to get camera working. Performs there but not here. Have longer term plan for replacement of Agile w/different camera.

Other instruments performing nominally. Mask wheels had multiple failures during commanded moves - get stuck when moved often. Can be moved by hand - happens once or twice a night? Does it always fail visibly? Shows up in TUI as non-completed command.

APOLLO operational.

New TUI available.

ARCES flats - reduction software is choking on super-flats. Flats taken throughout the beginning of an observation may be shifted versitcall on chip compared to later flats. When orders are combined the signal is smeared out. Not clear if the grating itself has moved - probably not a thermal effect.

UPDATE: Almost full now - a couple of short slots still available but have received requests for them already. But will not assign them until next week (Mar 19 and 22) - still taking requests if there is something time critical.

We have some unassigned time in Q1 (mostly B halves) - most urgently Feb 08B, but there are a few others in February and March as well. We have received some requests for this time already but if there are any urgent requests or high priority (e.g. students) programs please let us know ASAP, otherwise we will allocate time (at least the slots in the first few weeks of February) to the people who already made requests. This time is listed as OPEN on the Q1 schedule. 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).

Got everyone's requests for Q2. Amanda working to put together - complicated (short slots, conflicts). Should be going out next week. This quarter - got requests for training without a lot of notice.

One open week, but request came in this morning (last week of March). After 3.5m schedule goes out next week will send out Q2 ARCSAT request.

Update on camera - Bill changed from FLareCam to other spare we had. Hasn't completed resolved library support error problems but has significantly reduced the frequency of them. Set for Moire to use. Q: pixel scale, FOV, same? Yes.

UPDATE: No new announcements. Lots of work is going on behind the scenes.

We still have heard no news from NSF regarding the pre-proposal that was submitted for ASPEN. The UW Telescope Engineering Group has been working on their response to the Ocotillo Critical Design Review report. Preliminary discussions are ongoing about the possibility of replacing Agile with a more modern and capable high-speed imaging camera. We will keep this group posted as things develop.

UPDATE: Nancy has drafted an instrument decommissioning document that she and Bill are working on. The hope is to have this general document finalized before the end of the month so that it can be applied to DIS. The first order of business will be to issue a formal notification to all stakeholders about our plans to decommission DIS.

Open action items from previous meetings:

• Nancy: get Mt. Cuba Foundation proposal for new KOSMOS grisms submitted. STATUS: OPEN. The proposal is done; Nancy needs to distribute it to the users who requested the grisms to ensure that their science cases are adequately described. She plans to submit it before the next Users Committee meeting.
• 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.
• UC reps: remind your users to review the Q1 schedule and request OPEN/DD time if they can make a good case for it. STATUS: OPEN.

Open action items from this meeting:

• None.

None

The next meeting will be on April 1 (no foolin'!), 2025 at 10:30 MDT.