KPNO & WIYN Target of Opportunity Response

Last modified: 2010 August 04 by Merrill

Background: Target of Opportunity status can be granted to a few observing proposals each semester to allow observations of unpredictable phenomena. An example may be Gamma-Ray Burst targets, where rapid follow-up with ground-based instruments in visible and IR bands can provide important information about the event or the host object.

Because of the rapidly changing nature of such targets, it is important that we be able to react quickly and efficiently to such requests.

In general, the approved programs agree to work to minimize the negative impact on the regularly scheduled programs. This includes trying to make use of existing calibration data (e.g. flat field images etc.), using the instrument set-up of the scheduled program (i.e. not requiring a grating change, etc.). However, the regularly scheduled observers are obligated to obtain calibration frames (e.g. flat fields) if not part of the normal program and if a only a reasonable degree of effort is required to obtain the necessary calibration. The KPNO Director (Saha) or Supervisor of Mountain Scientific Support (Merrill) will be the adjudicator of what is reasonable if there is a need for a definition of "reasonable" in the context of the requested calibration observations. In the case of the WIYN 3.5m, the adjudicator of what is reasonable will be WIYN Director (Martin) or Deputy Director (Knezek) if needed.

Approved 2010B Target of Opportunity Projects:

Astrometric Search and Recovery of Asteroids and Comets Discovered by WISE (Proposal ID: 10B-0405) Dr. Robert McMillan
(PI, email: bob@lpl.arizona.edu),
Address: Lunar and Planetary Lab and Steward Obs., 1629 E. Univ. Blvd, Tucson AZ, 85721-0092, USA, Phone: 520-621-6968
CoIs:James Scotti, Jeffrey Larsen, Amy Mainzer, Joseph Masiero
Summary of McMillan et al. KPNO: The McMillan et al. program is not scheduled for KPNO.
KPNO 4m -- Imaging N/A
Summary of McMillan et al. WIYN: ToO observations can only be triggered during NOAO scheduled nights (Note: on the posted telescope schedule these are designated with a blue, underlined P#; time designated with W,I,Y in the associated PI column is explicitly unavailable ) and only for those nights with the appropriate instrument (MiniMo) scheduled as available.
WIYN 3.5m -- Imaging The McMillan et al. program trigger up to a total of 10 imaging interrupts with MiniMo, each lasting up to two hours (clock time). Interrupts are restricted to no more than one trigger per night and no more than one in a four night period.

Call-up Procedure -- Triggering a ToO Observation

Whom the PIs (or their designate, e.g. Co-Is) should contact to initiate the process of triggering an approved observation for their Target of Opportunity Program depends on the local (Arizona) time at which they are trying to make initial contact and which telescope they wish to use. In general, the goal is to put the ToO program into direct contact with the observers using the telescope and instrument that the ToO program is approved to use. We also want the observatories (KPNO & WIYN) to be able to track the activation of the program. The Observatories also can help with the communication between the teams and in helping to make sure that data makes it from the telescope to the ToO teams.

Before contacting anyone, the PI or contact from the ToO program will check the KPNO telescope schedule to verify that the telescope/instrument they want to use is available (i.e. it is a NOAO scheduled night as described above). They will then follow the procedure below depending on the time/day of attempting contact.

For the KPNO 4m or 2.1m, if making the initial contact to trigger the program needs to be done outside of normal observing hours and falls between 08h00 and 16h00 MST on a weekday, those triggering their program should email Mike Merrill, head of Mountain Scientific, and Abi Saha, Acting Director of KPNO. If a response it not made in a timely manner (< one hour), then KPNO Observing Support office (520-318-8279) or the Mountain (520-318-8600) may be contacted and the request made to be placed in contact with Merrill or Saha. If both Merrill and Saha are not reachable, Steve Howell is an additional possible contact.
For the WIYN 3.5m, if making the initial contact to trigger the program needs to be done outside of normal observing hours and falls between 08h00 and 16h00 MST on a weekday, those triggering their program should email Pierre Martin (pmartin@wiyn.org), Director of WIYN, and Patricia Knezek (knezek@wiyn.org), Deputy Director of WIYN. If a response it not made in a timely manner (< one hour), then the WIYN Administrative Coordinator (Sheryl Falgout, 520-318-8396, sfalgout@noao.edu) may be contacted and the request made to be placed in contact with Martin or Knezek. If both Martin and Knezek are not reachable, the Operations Manager (Heidi Schweiker) (520-318-8140, heidis@wiyn.org) is an additional possible contact.
Between 16h00-08h00 MST weekdays or any time on weekends, they should instead try to contact an Observing Assistant at either the 4m (520-318-8620) or WIYN telescopes (520-318-8760), as appropriate for the trigger (e.g., if observations are being requested from the 4m, call the 4m). If observations are being requested from the 2.1m, please call the 4m OA. If you cannot reach the 4m OA, you may call the 2.1m directly. Note that between 16h00 and 18 degree twilight it is likely that reaching the OA will be difficult, but that if anyone is reachable it will be one of the observers. Even if the ToO program ends up reaching the scheduled observer before one of the OAs, we request that the ToO program contact does follow-up later to make sure the OA knows that a ToO program trigger request has been made. We ask the OA to email both Merrill and Saha (KPNO 4m trigger) or Martin and Knezek (WIYN 3.5m trigger) that such a request has been made, including the name of who requested the ToO and the program ID.
If the OA is the first person contacted by the ToO program and the OA has verified that the request is coming from an approved program (McMillan et al for 2010B), then the OA should put the person representing the ToO program in direct contact with the observer, after explaining to the observer that an approved ToO program observation is being requested. The OA should take care to note the time that observations for the ToO program begin. This is defined to be the time that observing stops for the scheduled program (i.e. start of slew to new position) and when time resumes (end of slew from ToO target back to scheduled program target). These times should be emailed to Merrill and Saha (KPNO 4m trigger) or Martin and Knezek (WIYN 3.5m trigger). If the observations are being taken at the 2.1m, the 4m OA should make clear to the observer that they should note when observations start and end for the ToO program and communicate these times to the OA (who should then pass these times on to Merrill and Saha).
The PI or his designate should email KPNO Director (Saha@noao.edu) each time a request is made for observations, indicating at which telescope(s) observations had been requested. If the request was made for the WIYN 3.5m, the PI or his designate should also email the WIYN Director (pmartin@wiyn.org).

Data Taking

The current observer will be asked to take the ToO data following the detailed recipe furnished by the calling team. If the observer does not feel capable of making the observations, the OA (4m and WIYN only) may be requested to make the observations, assuming that the OA has had adequate experience with the instrument. The appropriate instrument, telescope, and/or observatory scientists may be contacted by the OA for assistance/guidance. Mike Merrill (all telescopes) and/or Abi Saha (KPNO 4m and 2.1m) and/or Martin/Knezek (WIYN 3.5m) may be contacted to clarify any confusion or misunderstanding over appropriate action to take. To avoid extra effort, we recommend that calibration data (such as flat field exposures) taken by the observers be shared with the ToO team.

Any images taken specifically for a ToO program should be identified with the NOAO proposal number (10B-0405 for McMillan) to make it easier to identify in the NOAO data archive. Use obspars or equivalent to put the information in the headers and be sure to restore the Porposal ID for the scheduled observer after the ToO observations have been completed.

If no one is available to take the data, the OA may have to notify the ToO team that we cannot support the request for that night, but should consult with Merrill or Saha (KPNO 4m and 2.1m) or with Martin or Knezek (WIYN 3.5m) before stopping efforts to obtain the data.

The data will be made available the following morning according to the Data Distribution Protocol below.

Guidance for performing ToO observations with specific instruments:

SQIID: SQIID Target of Opportunity
FLAMINGOS: FLAMINGOS Target of Opportunity
NEWFIRM: NEWFIRM Target of Opportunity

Data Distribution Protocol

By the following morning, KPNO staff (OA) will have arranged with the scheduled observer to transfer the Target of Opportunity (ToO) data files to a location from which the data may be transfered by sftp (or other agreed upon protocol) and to notify the ToO requester after the files have been transferred and are available.

The current Protocol for ToO data distribution can be found at Target of Opportunity (ToO) data files and are included below for completeness:

Instructions for Observers

The observer will copy the data files to a computer ("rose") in the Admin. buidling on Kitt Peak. The account on "rose" is "too" with same password as the 4-meter observing password. No password is required from the observing accounts on most of the Kitt Peak observing computers.

Use "scp" or "sftp" to copy the data files. These following examples assume that the three ToO data files are contained in the subdirectory "data-dir".

    4meter@tan% scp -pr data-dir/ too@rose:
    dflat2001.fits       100% |******************************|   133 MB    00:12
    zero2002.fits        100% |******************************|   133 MB    00:12
    obj2003.fits         100% |******************************|   133 MB    00:12
OR
    4meter@tan% cd data-dir
    4meter@tan% sftp too@rose
    Connecting to rose...
    sftp> mput *
    Uploading dflat2001.fits to /data/too/dflat2001.fits
    Uploading zero2002.fits to /data/too/zero2002.fits
    Uploading obj2003.fits to /data/too/obj2003.fits
    sftp> quit

When all the files are copied to "rose", execute the "transfer" command to transfer the files to the downtown ftp computer ("ftp.tuc.noao.edu").

    4meter@tan% ssh too@rose bin/transfer

Overview of the Procedure

The observer copies the ToO data files to "rose".
The observer runs the "transfer" script to copy the files to the "ftp" computer downtown.
The ToO data files are retrieved via anonymous ftp from the "pub/too" directory on "ftp.noao.edu".
NOAO staff delete the files from "ftp" and "rose".

Installation Notes

Setup the "too" account on "rose" and "ftp". The UID is 844.
Set up SSH without a password (Cached)
- From "rose" to "ftp".
- From Kitt Peak observing computers (tan, nutmeg, khaki, sapphire, azure, sand, mrbill, vanilla) to "rose".
install the "transfer" script on "rose" in ~too/bin

KPNO & WIYN Target of Opportunity Response

Approved 2010B Target of Opportunity Projects:

Call-up Procedure -- Triggering a ToO Observation

Data Taking

Data Distribution Protocol

Last update: 2007 April 13