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KPNO Operations in 1995 (1Mar95) (from KPNO, NOAO Newsletter No. 41, 1 March 1995) This year's budget for KPNO operations represents a 9% cut in level of effort compared to FY 1994. During the period 1987-1994, level funding had already reduced KPNO's resources some 29% as inflation eroded the base budget. In spite of these cuts, major new instrumentation has arrived on Kitt Peak (Hydra, SQIID, COB, 2048 2048 CCDs, etc.) bringing increasing complexity and raising support requirements. During FY 1995, a major new facility, the WIYN telescope, is coming on line and will start science operations within a few months. In past years KPNO has struggled mightily to minimize the impact of budget cuts on our users. Telescopes are now operated with a "leaner and meaner" staff while training has been postponed; facility maintenance has been deferred in the hope of better budgets in future years; the balance of our engineering effort has shifted from projects and upgrades to telescope maintenance, endangering our program of telescope improvements to achieve better image quality; the scientific staff has absorbed a heavier and heavier burden of visitor support at the cost of new programs within the observatory. As one lean year followed another, our situation has become more and more serious. Our effort on the mountain has become diffused by trying to run too many telescopes, instruments, and programs with too few people. The purpose of the changes described below is to shift the resources we have to focus on the larger telescopes, to improve training, and to invest in modernization so that we can both continue to provide access and lower our operating costs. By making these changes now rather than next year or the year after when times are even tougher, I hope we can provide a better overall program to the community for the longer term. The level of operations and support provided by KPNO for the last 5 years can no longer be sustained with our present budget. Radical changes are needed in the style of operations at Kitt Peak to reach a level which can be maintained with the current budget. The Big Telescopes Our highest priority for operations in FY 1995 is the new 3.5-m WIYN telescope, for which KPNO receives a 40% share of observing time. This year we will assume responsibility for WIYN operations and begin to carry out scientific programs for the community through queue scheduling. Both the Hydra Multi Object Spectrograph and the WIYN CCD Imager will be available for observations. Our second priority will be continued operation of the Mayall 4-m telescope. Increased block scheduling and further restriction of the number of instruments offered will be necessary to reduce instrument changes. During dark time, the prime focus CCD imager and either the R-C Spectrograph or the Cryogenic Camera will be available. Only one instrument will be mounted at Cassegrain during each bright run. The selection of instrument offered during each half lunation will be determined by those proposals of highest scientific rank based on TAC review. The remaining time during each bright or dark run will be allocated to other programs approved by the TAC; time that cannot be scheduled in this manner will be allocated to the KPNO staff to carry out service observing for the community. Opportunities for service observations will be announced in the Newsletter and over the World Wide Web. The Small Telescopes More fundamental changes will take place for the 2.1-m, the 0.9-m, the Coude Feed, and the Burrell Schmidt. Instrument changes on the 2.1-m will be limited to no more than one per month; instrumentation available on the 2.1-m telescope will be limited to GoldCam and a selection of IR instruments. Note that this restriction will blur the distinction between bright and dark time somewhat. Run lengths on the small telescopes will be increased, and observers will be asked to use up to 25% of their clear time for service observations for shorter observing programs. We will no longer require minimum run lengths, but encourage proposals ranging from a few hours through many nights on all our telescopes. We will no longer be able to provide personnel for observing starts on small telescopes. Technical assistance will be available during the day to install filters or gratings and to provide safety briefings. Observers must take the initiative to come prepared for their observing runs. All observing teams at the small telescopes must include at least one observer who has used the telescope within the previous four semesters. Lists of recent users of each telescope are available over the World Wide Web via the NOAO/KPNO home page http://www.noao.edu (or give us a call and we'll send you a copy). If you or someone on your team has not used the telescope recently you must arrive a night or two early for your observing run to "observe" the previous observer, or make arrangements to come along on someone else's observing run. All small telescope observers are encouraged to be on the mountain a night early to become familiar with any new features or "bugs" at the telescope. Telescope operators will no longer be available at the 2.1-m telescope starting with the fall 1995 semester. Observatory staff will be available at the beginning and end of the night to open and stow the telescope. At least two observers must be present for each observing run for safety reasons. Nighttime technical staff will be reduced; technical problems which cannot be resolved easily by the staff available at night will be addressed the following day, if possible. Priority for technical assistance will be given to WIYN, the 4-m, and the smaller telescopes by aperture. We believe these changes are in the spirit of the recommendations of both the OIR Panel and the KPNO Users Committee. We hope that our users will bear with us in the transition to this new style of operations on Kitt Peak. At the current budget level, the alternative to these changes is to close one or more small telescopes. Caty Pilachowski
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