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EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY |
| Re-Engineering Project: Astronomy Operation LSO-PLA-ESO-90000-3/v-0.2 |
| Prepared | Olivier Hainaut | 2002-03-20 |
| Reviewed | Michael Sterzik | 2002- |
| Released | Jorge Melnick | 2002- |
| 0.1 | 2002-03-10 first draft, ohainaut |
| 0.2 | 2002-04-02 2d draft, ohainaut |
This document discusses astronomical aspects of the LSO Science Operation Department. It will eventually become part of a larger document describing the Science Operation Department as a whole.
This document is the result of the discussion that took place on Thu. 2002 Mar. 18 at la Silla and Vitacura. Were present at that meeting, in Vitacura, Emmanuella Pompei, John Pritchard, Leonardo Vanzi, Malvina Billeres, Michael Sterzik, Rene Mendez, and in La Silla, Lisa Germany, Martin Kurster and Olivier Hainaut. Gaspare Lo Curto had sent some written input.
| DMD | Data Management (and Operation) Division |
| MPE | Max Planck Institute |
| MTS | Medium Term Scheduling |
| OB | Observation Block |
| OPC | Observation Program Committee |
| OpA | Operation Astronomer, aka 80/20 Astronomer |
| P2PP | Phase II Preparation Package |
| QC | Quality Control |
| QC | Quality Control |
| SM | Service Mode |
| USG | User's Support Group |
| VA | Visiting Astronomer |
| VM | Visitor Mode |
| VisAs | Visiting Astronomers Department |
| WFI | Wide Field Imager |
The tasks and duties of the La Silla SciOp Astronomers are
It is considered desirable that, in the case of VM, the Phase II (P2PP, strategy, etc) and the night support are provided by the same person, i.e. as done at present. Indeed, having these tasks split between 2 persons would cause a psychological chock on the VA... However, it should be noted that some of the Telescope Introduction could possibly be delegated to the TIO (e.g. tour of the telescope). This has to be experimented with.
The possibility of having the Phase II preparation could take place in Vitacura, e.g. in cases where that would permit the support astronomer to come later on the mountain. This was experimented with success at the NTT. It should however remain an exception.
It is also stressed that the VAs should do their homeworks before the Phase II preparation, i.e. read the manuals and think about what they want to do. This will have to be made clear to the VAs before they arrive.
The possibility of (limited) "remote observing" or "remote
operation" from Vitacura is also considered. This would permit more
flexibility, e.g. in case of trouble-shooting, tests, and even
observations. This is to be experimented with.
Every astronomer (staff and OpA) should belong to one Instrument Force
(cf [2]), and be able to support all instruments in that force (to the
level of a good generic introduction), and be specialist (i.e. be able
to provide in-depth support and good level of trouble-shooting) of at
least one instrument. After some time at La Silla, the Astronomers
should also be able to provide basic support on at least one
instrument of another Instrument Force.
Most astronomers are likely to be at some point Instrument Scientist
(cf [2]) of an instrument.
As stated in [1], it is expected from the Astronomers that they will
remain informed while being in Vitacura, by reading emails and
replying to urgent emails related to their duties, and perform/complete
urgent tasks related to their duties for SciOp. This should take a very
small fraction of their research time.
Every Fellow should be specialist (to the level of providing in-depth
introduction and basic trouble-shooting) of one instrument, and be able
to provide generic introduction on at least one instrument of the same
instrument Force.
The contract of the Fellows include 80n of duties on the mountain, and
35 days of duties in Vitacura. These 35d are used to ensure the
continuity of their service to SciOp (e.g. read SciOp email, reply to
those concerning them directly, complete urgent tasks, etc.), and
perform background tasks such as documentation, analysis, etc. The
Fellows are not expected to keep detailed track of their time in
Vitacura, but experience (+ time record from some template fellows)
shows that this does not amount to 35d. The remainder is considered as
a compensation for possible over-run of their 80n quota on La Silla
(not to be abused, and to be kept at a small level, e.g. no more than
10%), required by emergency situations or schedule impossibilities.
Currently, the ESO Students are not included in the La Silla
Operation, although some experienced was gained from Students who
volunteered to work for the Teams. Students have no obligation (by
contract) to perform duties at the Observatories. It is also noted
that the Observatories are not a training camp so, if they work at La
Silla, the Observatory should get some return from that work.
The current experience with students showed that involving them in
long term project is a failure: they don't come enough to La Silla,
and they are not supposed to work in such project in Vitacura. On the
other hand, they proved to provide very efficient help for very well
defined tasks that can be completed in very short time (few hours to
few days, to be competed before they finish their "turno"),
i.e. "here-and-now" projects.
Based on this, it is proposed that the Students will be proposed to
volunteer to perform a small amount of duties (of the order of
40n/yr). These duties will be of the "here-and-now" kind, i.e. should
be completed at the end of their "turno". These will be decided on a
trimester by trimester bases (i.e. each scheduling period). Once
accepted (i.e. once the schedule is accepted and published), the
Student are committed to perform the scheduled "turnos" and to follow
the instructions they are given.
The implementation of this scheme will be negotiated with the relevant
instances (Science Division, etc), and the budget to cover their
travel and stay expenses will have to be secured for >2002. For 2002,
an arrangement will have to be found between the different parties.
Currently, the staff of SciOps includes 5 Staff Astronomers
(>=105n/yr), 4 OpAs (>=120n/yr, with some variation from contract to
contract) and 7 Fellows (=80n/yr). In the long run (>=2004), SciOp
will have 4 Staffs, 4 OpAs and 2 Fellows (assuming one of the
remaining Fellow position is converted in an OpA, which is the current
plan). This will ensure 980 man-night/yr, i.e. an average of 2.7
astronomer per night. It is therefore not possible to ensure
full coverage of 1 astronomer/night/telescope.
Currently, the OpAs have 1-yr "Paid Associate" contracts with no
retirement benefits, with a duty level varying between 120 and 135
nights/yr.
The duty level should be uniformized for all new contracts, e.g to
125n/yr, which is the number currently used for scheduling
purposes. Also, the OpA contracts should be as much as possible
made similar to those of Paranal, i.e. 3yrs with retirement benefits.
The implementation of this point will have to be negotiated with the
relevant instances (Pers. and Co).
In order to ensure the quality of the support, it will become a
necessity to constrain the program schedule as follow
The implementation will have to be negotiated with the relavant instances.
The following is considered as what SciOp can reasonably and
efficiently support in terms of Service Observations. Its
implementation for P>=70 will be negotiated with the relevant
instances (OPC, VisAs and Co).
Visitor Mode: a Visiting Astronomer to perform his own
observations on defined nights.
Flexible Observing: aka "queued observing": during some
pre-defined nights, observations are selected for execution from a
pool of pre-prepared OBs according to the weather conditions,
instrument availability, priorities, etc.
Delegated Observing: on pre-defined nights, a specific
observing program is executed by SciOp staff. From the scheduling
point of view, this is similar to VM.
Currently, ~3-5% of the time is performed in Service Mode, exclusively
as Delegated Observing. As
the 3.6m does not receive support from DMD/USG for Phase II, QC and
data distribution, this should remain at the ~5% level. As there is no
instrument flexibility, and as the number of night in SM is very
small, Flexible Scheduling is not an option, so the SM should be
exclusively performed as Delegated Observing, and strictly be reserved
to
In particular, programs of >= 2 nights should not be accepted in
Service Mode any more, since there is no justification for this to
happen. More specifically, if the PI does not want to come in person,
he should find an observer and not rely on SM.
A small fraction of the time, about 5-10%, is performed in Service
Mode. Thanks to the fact that, in general, all 3 NTT instruments are
available at all times, this
SM can be offered in full Flexible Mode. Nevertheless, it should be
strictly reserved to
The latter two will constitute the "filler" needed for when conditions
are not exceptional (i.e. the majority of the time).
Programs of >= 2 nights with no specific constraints should not be
accepted in Service Mode any more. More specifically, if the PI does
not want to come in person, he should find an observer and not rely on
SM.
It must be noted that NTT receives no support from DMD for Phase
II, MTS, QC, and data distribution. This is fine provided that the
fraction of SM time remains <10%.
30% of the time belongs to MPE, 60% to ESO. The agreement with MPE is
that 100% of its time is on WFI in SM. It is expected that about 50%
of the ESO time will be scheduled with FEROS.
2.3- SPECIFICS
Obviously, what follows concerns the astronomers after the completion
of their training period.
2.3.1- STAFF ASTRONOMERS AND OPA
2.3.2- FELLOWS
2.3.3- STUDENTS
3- STAFF, MANPOWER & SCHEDULE COVERAGE
3.1- STAFFING LEVEL
3.2- CASE OF THE OpAs
3.3- SCHEDULE
4-SERVICE OBSERVING
4.1- DEFINITIONS
4.2- SERVICE OBSERVING PER TELESCOPE
4.2.1- 3.6m
4.2.2- NTT
4.2.3- 2.2m
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