NOAO Abstracts for SPIE Meeting in March

The WIYN Queue: Theory Meets Reality

Authors:

T. A. Boroson, D. L. Harmer, A. Saha, P. S. Smith, D. W. Willmarth, and D. R. Silva

Abstract:

During the past two years NOAO has conducted a queue observing experiment with the 3.5m WIYN telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona. The experiment was designed to test a number of beliefs and hypotheses about queue scheduling, including:
  1. Efficiency of the telescope can be increased by combining programs to accomodate the lunar phase, position of source, instrumental setup, etc.

  2. Efficiency can be greatly increased in the case of observations requiring rare conditions (excellent seeing).

  3. It is possible to facilitate unusual modes such as short programs or synoptic observations that are ordinarily difficult to schedule.

  4. Efficiency of operation can be increased by having observations made by a staff of expert observers, and eliminating the "learning curve" for visiting astronomers. From a practical point of view, the experiment relied upon the development of procedures and techniques that are the focus of an accompanying talk. However, the issues of learning how to request appropriate information to carry out observations, developing strategies for dynamic scheduling, and generally, convincing the community of the effectiveness of this approach were also an important part of this experiment.

    In this talk, we describe various measures and statistics aimed at evaluating the success of the experiment. We explore quantitative estimates of the gains over other potential approaches, and we discuss modifications planned for the experiment to further maximize the scientific return from this program.

    [NOAO at the SPIE Meeting in March]
    National Optical Astronomy Observatories, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726 Phone: (520) 318-8000

    Posted: 02Mar1998