UKON Users Group Minutes Jan 21st, 2013

Chair: C. Conselice

Location: Nottingham University, UK, Centre for Astronomy and Particle, Theory A113

Attendees: Paul Crowther, Richard McMahon, Simon Morris, Sarah Casewell, Isobel Hook, Will Hartley, Alfonso Argon-Salamanca, Dave Clements, Roberto Mignani, Anne Sansom, Mike Merrifield, Chris Evans, Chris Collins, Pat Roche, Peter Sarre, Chris Conselice

Agenda and Minutes (Presentations linked)

• 11:00-11:15 - Introduction (C. Conselice)
• 11:15-11:30 - Discussion of new Terms of Reference (C. Conselice)
  • the new terms of reference can be downloaded here
• 11:30-12:45 - ESO/UKIRT/JCMT Update (Pat Roche)
  • ESO
    • At the VLT there is some concern that too much is being done, and not basics being covered especially in NIR. Hawk-I being taken off the telescope. Look carefully at issue NACO has more demand. Issues with the instumentation.
    • Clear that we need STC member at meeting, or at least their input - this is currently Rob Ivision. Rob has agreed to attend a telecon to discuss issues before the next STC meeting in April.
    • Some concerns/issues with VLTI affecting other instruments.
    • KMOS looks very good so far, first UK led instrument on VLT
    • 2.2m still offered but not sure for how much longer. Similar oversubscrption to the larger telescopes.
    • Two semesters left for VISTA penalty.
    • E-ELT looks to be approved soon by the UK -- David Willetts in favour, BIS or decision by the "treasury"
    • ALMA - VLBI capability is a high priority of ESO, ALMA oversubscription very high - 1/12. Cycle 2 deadline in mid-summer likely.
  • UKIRT-JCMT
  • STFC is out of UKIRT in 2013 and JCMT in 2014.
  • Prospectus for interest in UKIRT --12 were submitted. Quite a lot of work to do shifting through proposals, credible response with several potentially good cases. Similar process will occur for JCMT soon. STFC evaluating proposals, outcome known possibly by the end of March.
  • Low cost operations of JCMT not possible due to Dutch and Canada leaving.
  • Interest in a one day meeting on Gemini science - perhaps before the summer. Generally agreed that this was worth doing.
• 12:45-1:30 - Lunch
• 1:30-2:00 - Future Wide-Field Spectrographs (R. McMahon)
  • Instrument projects w/UK involvement - DESpec, 4MOST, WEAVE BigBOSS, etc. Very similar projects in some ways. Key is to find the cost per spectrum.
  • Which one will be built? How much does it cost to operate efficiently? Community has to address.
• 2:00-2:45 - E-ELT Telescope/Instrument Update (I. Hook by phone)
  • UK involved in small way with all instruments developed and discussed so far.
  • Some concerns about instruments having high costs. New interest in UK for a HIRES instrument.
  • Want to lead at least one instrument. First light instrument HARMONI in Oxford - a good start.
  • Spending review will help decide this.
  • Decision has to be soon. Things in place to control overruns, but this is still a concern.
  • Can the UK be involved in all E-ELT instruments or should we focus on just a few? Need to address this in future.
• 2:45-3:15 - AAP Report and Discussion (P. O'Brien)
  • Concern about funding in the future - suggestions for how to acheive new projects while continuing with current ones not clear. Slides contain most information.
  • "sustainable astronomy "plan - can fund most facilities of interest to UK astronomers to 2025
  • Will be very hard to join new projects like LSST and/or NGTS.
• 3:15-3:45 - Coffee Break
• 3:45-4:45 - STFC Updates (S. Berry)
  • Needs advice about northern hemisphere telescope access -- what should we do about that? Advice still sought, but no obvious answers.
  • STFC funding ING until at least 2015
  • GTC a possibility -- not great demand to enter into the agreement now. May happen in a few years.
  • Science board message is to stop thinking about the north - hard to change this. A great case has to be made. Having all sky access is not going to succeed as an argument.
  • Big telescopes hard to get involved with. Not looking into trading telescope time currently.
  • Links with Asia/Brazil etc for the future?
• 4:45-5:15 - Discussion/Other Business