Good progress has been made on a number of fall 1996 WIYN Queue observing projects after a predictably slow start because of a robust summer monsoon. Only 16% of the available dark time could be used during the six August nights allocated to the WIYN Queue. In contrast, only 30% of the allocated October time has been lost to a combination of weather, technical problems, and the use of one Queue night for Director's Discretionary time. As a result, and keeping in mind that some programs have no targets available until later in the semester, data have been obtained for six of eleven "high priority" programs. In addition, six of sixteen 2hr Queue programs (three high priority; three "best effort") have been serviced. Five of these programs are considered to be complete. Unfortunately, sustained seeing of 0.8" or less has been rare during NOAO nights so far this fall and not as much progress has been made on projects demanding excellent seeing as we would have hoped.
At this writing there are 30 nights remaining in the fall 1996 allocation, giving a total of about 340 possible observing hours (232 dark; 108 bright). Roughly 350 hours of observing still need to be executed, so the substantial (100 hr.) weather buffer incorporated into the schedule has already disappeared before the midpoint of the semester!
As advertised in past Newsletter articles, investigators and other interested parties may follow the progress of the WIYN Queue observing at our Web site (http://www.noao.edu/wiyn/obsprog). The Web site is generally updated within a day after a Queue observing run. Please feel free to contact us if you find any inaccuracies in the Web pages or need to resolve any issue raised by the material posted.
Paul Smith, for the WIYN Queue Team (Di Harmer,
Alex Macdonald, Dave Silva,
Daryl Willmarth)
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Last Updated: 12/30/96, psmith@noao.edu