Previous Article Next Article Table of Contents
Oversubscription at the 4-m and 0.9-m Telescopes (1Jun93) (from KPNO, NOAO Newsletter No. 34, 1 June 1993) The oversubscription for the fall 1993 observing season for these two telescopes was one of the worst in recent history, and it is an unfortunate fact that many excellent observing proposals could not be granted time. This oversubscription rate is a direct result of a reduction in available observing time for these telescopes, and this in turn is an immediate consequence of the reduced funding levels that KPNO has experienced during the last ten years. As was announced in previous Newsletters, it is the goal of KPNO to continue to improve the performance of all telescopes on the site so that the image quality and observing efficiency will be the best that the site itself can deliver. A major part of this program is an upgrade of the 4-m telescope control system, and a significant portion of this multi-year project will take place during the summer 1993 shutdown. Shutdown dates were announced in the NOAO Newsletter, where it was stated that the telescope will be closed for approximately four months. This extensive shutdown period is required because the engineering and technical staff now available to perform the renovation has been reduced to the point where work must be carried out in series and not in parallel. For example, many of the tasks requiring electronic technicians must be done one after another because reduced manpower levels forbid their being performed simultaneously. These constraints necessarily mean that any given project will take longer to complete. At the 0.9-m it has become clear that data from the large format CCDs are being compromised because of limitations near the edges of the field. The need for a corrector for this telescope was seen some time ago, and a project was initiated to design, produce and install a corrector at this telescope to solve this problem. This project has proceeded as planned, but it soon became apparent that the installation of the corrector could not be done during summer shutdown in 1993. The reason again is that there were simply not enough technical personnel available to install the corrector and to perform summer shutdown work on the 4-m at the same time. Hence the corrector will be installed at the 0.9-m in the fall of 1993, causing this telescope to be closed to observing programs for about three weeks. We very much regret that the continued budget constraints at KPNO have now reached the point where highly rated scientific projects cannot be carried forward. David De Young
Previous Article Next Article Table of Contents