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8th June 2004 Obs meeting room 12.00 - 13:30
Present: JRL, PSB (transiting), MJI, DWE, WJS, STH, RGM
(+ Paul Hirst visiting from JAC)
Agenda
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1. Actions from last meeting
2. Comments on WFAU minutes
3. JAC telecon
4. UKIRT board meeting
5. MSB design issues
6. CASU job applications (closing date was 31st May)
7. APM building news
8. AOB
Minutes
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1. Actions from last meeting
STH has made no progress regarding the spatial systematics in the UFTI
standards data and new test data. STH said that it should only take
about an afternoon to do. Ongoing. <<<<
There was a small discussion regarding extinction and how to deal with
this. This is a work package, so no separate action was noted.
MJI no further progress on comparison of FIRES project reduced data with
ours - catalogue comparison tests still ongoing <<<<
MJI have written and submitted their paper for SPIE Glasgow. All three papers
JRL related to VDFS (overview, pipeline and archive) can be found in
STH http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~wfcam/internal/papers/
The respective talks will be given on Friday 25 June.
ALL sent in their monthly reports. The VDMT meeting will be later this
afternoon.
STH have given Simon Dye access to the FIRES image data (raw and processed)
MJI
DWE have added links on our web pages to the JAC on-sky characterization
STH and WFCAM web pages.
ALL only a few minor comments were passed on to MJI regarding Andy Adamson's
WFCAM Survey Operations web page (it having covered most things). Steve
Warren and Simon Dye will be visiting Cambridge tomorrow to have a
meeting with Paul Hirst (PH) and MJI, JRL, STH, where this may be
discussed further.
STH sent in comments on Oxford meeting minutes.
JRL has started drafting a more detailed list of the functionality required
in CPL/QFITS. He said that he was halfway there. Ongoing <<<<
MJI obtained figures from Paul Aslin regarding the CASU grant-line since
1998.
STH obtained costings for upgrade of Observatories Meeting Room facilities
PSB and had them ready for the DAC. STH and RGM reported that the need
for a better meeting room in the Obs building was agreed. One
possibility is to move the meeting room to Library Room H.
Most of the changes requested were agreed, but might take some time
due to having to consider the long term plan. Regarding the details:
Projector: fine, but not fixed to the ceiling (listed building)
Tables: to have a number of small tables cf. Hoyle Committee Room
Wireless: there seem to be a number of security issues with this that
might cause delays.
2. Comments on WFAU minutes
It was noted that Ian Bond is leaving Edinburgh. We wish him well in his new
lecturing post.
There was some discussion regarding what documents were required for the UK
VDFS PDR. It is currently scheduled for these documents to be sent out by
mid-August - a tight timescale given the lack of a final version of a
UK VDFS URD . This would be further discussed at the VDMT meeting this
afternoon.
3. JAC telecon
The last JAC telecon was on 28th May with MJI, JRL and PH taking part.
PH reported on this and provided further up-to-date information on WFCAM.
PH is over in the UK for the WFCAM acceptance tests at the ATC, which take
place next week. The latest WFCAM news is that the complete camera system
(including corrector plate) has been assembled and cooled down a few days
ago with the detectors the 2 engineering arrays and 2 multiplexers. The
full science array is also cooled down and operating in the test cryostat.
All 4 science grade arrays are at 80K in the test cryostat. The linearity
of these chips are said to be within 1% to 90% of full well. Apart from
a possibly minor problem with one channel all the science arrays are working.
There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding certain aspects of
the Data Acquisition System (data capture and non-linearity), but these
seem to have largely been resolved.
MJI had asked for clarification and confirmation about where the
non-linearity correction would be done and PH reiterated that this will be
done in the DAS.
4. UKIRT board meeting
MJI and Nigel Hambly attended the UKIRT board meeting on 25th May in Durham
and gave presentations on the pipeline and science archive. These appear to
have been well received and the question and answer sessions lead to
several interesting and illuminating discussions.
5. MSB design issues
CASU and JAC provided some guidelines for MSB design and there followed a
meeting in Oxford of the UKIDSS survey heads to come up with a draft design.
GPS, DXS and GCS have sent in responses in iteration with UKIDSS and CASU.
LAS and UDS have not so far. The two main issues raised were the frequency
of offset skies for the low latitude surveys and issues relating to random
dithering patterns for the deeper surveys and the order of observations
within an MSB to minimise low level artefact contamination of the deep
stacks.
6. CASU job applications (closing date was 31st May)
A reasonable number and variety of applications for the advertised CASU
position have been received. The applications have been made available
within the group for comment and a shortlist is being drawn up. <<<<
Invitations to inverview the shortlisted candidates will be sent out by
the end of the week via email, the remaining candidates will be informed
by letter. <<<<
7. APM building news
MJI reported that last week he and PSB attended another meeting with Paul
Aslin, and representatives from Estate Management and from the firm of
architects.
There has been a suggestion that the building name should be changed to the
CASU building. There was a general preference within the group that it
should retain the APM building name. MJI has suggested a compromise by
calling it the CASU APM building and will raise the issue at the next
Staff meeting. <<<<
The building work has been costed and a split between Estate Management
(refurbishment) and the Institute (revamp) agreed. The current detailed
plans are still being worked on. MJI, PSB and Paul Aslin will attend
the next meeting between the architects and Estate Management to ensure
the plans are steered in the right direction.
The current timescale is to have the building completely cleared of
ancillary equipment by the end of August. Removing the APM itself will
be integrated into the building work plan. Work is scheduled to start
early September, to last 3.5 months and hence finish just before Christmas.
Among other things, this means that a lot of active computer equipment
will have to be rehoused, together with the current staff who occupy the
building, for a period of ~4 months.
8. AOB.
There have been a number of drafts of JPE's document on Survey Planning
and Progress which PSB and MJI have commented on. PSB was asked to place
the latest version in internal for other CASU members to look at. <<<<
There will be a PPARC data curation review on 10th June for which JRL will
be giving a presentation. RGM and MJI said that they will provide some
input for this and also get input from NAW . <<<<
Continuing Actions
------------------
STH finish looking at the spatial systematics in the UFTI standards data and
new test data. This needs to be bumped up even more on the STH priority
list!
MJI compare FIRES project reduced data catalogues with ours
JRL finish detailed list of the functionality required in CPL/QFITS
New Actions
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ALL review the applications for the CASU job and draw up shortlist
MJI invite shortlisted candidates for interview, letters to remainder
MJI raise issue of APM building name at next staff meeting
PSB place the latest copy of the survey planning and progress description
document on our internal web pages
RGM provide some input to JRL for his presentation to the PPARC data curation
MJI review and ask NAW for his views on this
