Observing modes at the ATATUC Presentations October 2000
Ray Norris
CSIRO Australia Telescope
National Facility
Overview
• Service Observing mode?
• SEST MOU status
• Queue scheduling
• Millimetre workshop
Service Observing (1)
We currently allow two modes of observing:• Observer travels to Narrabri and does
observing• (In some cases) expert observer observes
remotely from within Australia
There is a de facto third mode:• You get a friend/collaborator/student to do
the observing for you
Service Observing (2)We have received requests from some users for a fourth mode:• User pays someone to do the observing for them
If there was sufficient support and interest in this mode, we could perhaps offer this as a part-time/casual job to astronomy students, or to employ someone at a postdoc level.
Question to ATUC: how would you feel about setting up this mode. (NB: AAO already does something like it)
SEST (Swedish-European Submillimetre Telescope)
• ATNF has built a new correlator for SEST
• Australia (RIEFP) has provided support (Kate!)
• In return, all Australians had access to SEST in 1998-2000
• Travel costs covered by ANSTO/DISR
SEST MOU status• MOU will be renewed for a further two years - continued
access by Australian astronomers in 2000-2002
• We have already partly paid in kind via correlator
• JBW requesting funding for a further 6-month support person from MNRF international
• MOU not actually signed yet (took effect from April 2000)!
• Situation beyond 2002 unclear because of ALMA
Queue Scheduling (1) Overview of earlier discussion (19 September 1997) on
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rnorris/mm_scheduling.htm See also subsequent discussion on
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/_Mail_Archives/MNRF/ ~50% (?) of the observing time will be suitable for millimetre
operation. How do we make efficient use of the telescope?• Assumption: we will have a atmospheric seeing monitor, which
will give us an objective, unambiguous guide as to whether the weather is suitable for mm observing.
Queue Scheduling (2):Options discussed previously
• Just allocate the time and let the observers take the risk– no, because inefficient use of telescope time
• Hire staff to do all the observing– no, because costs too much + other problems
• Observers propose backup programs– no, because such backup programs are of little value
Queue Scheduling (3):In previous discussions, consensus was
for some of form of override queue scheduling
Some compromise between the options above. Observers come for their observations
• If bad weather then switch to a cm project (selected from a backup list)
• In return, extra time is allocated for mm observations and either they or someone* else observes their mm sources for them
Issue 1:What are the backup cm observations?
Backup cm observations proposed by mm observers and suitably ranked in their own right by TAC
Other long-running projects proposed by others
• “Key” projects adopted by ATNF, data from which are public domain, including:– calibrators/system tests
– Magellanic stream HI survey
– Galactic plane HI survey
– CBR/SZ/etc observations
– deep fields (HDF, Chandra, SIRTF, Phoenix, etc.)
– HIPASS follow-up
– etc.
Issue 2:How do you schedule it?
• E.g. schedule 2 week to mm followed by 1 week to cm observing• If all mm time is good then cm observing goes as planned• Otherwise mm time is spread through the three-week period as
weather allows• Details will clearly need more discussion + experience• Need
– reliable objective indicator of mm weather
– good scheduling tools
– modifications to schedule format
– break up schedules into 1 or 2 hour “units”
Issue 3:Who does the re-scheduled mm
observing?• Original mm observers if they’re still at Narrabri• People who propose the fill-in cm observations
Possibly also:• ATNF astronomers/Narrabri staff/DA?• Casual student labour?
Issue 4:Why are we re-inventing wheels?
• Several optical observatories with queue scheduling experience
• But their constraints are sufficiently different that cannot just plug in their model
• Also some experience with BIMA, IRAM• See also ALMA memo #282• Advice has been sought from these other institutions, but only
limited usefulness• Most institutions (e.g. Gemini) still figuring it out.