Planned HET downtime: March 14-17

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Steven Janowiecki

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Feb 16, 2022, 12:10:19 PM2/16/22

to HET Observations & Science Support, het...@het.as.utexas.edu, HET Astronomer, Anita Cochran, Michael Eracleous, Maximilian Fabricius, Wolfram Kollatschny, astro_het_us...@utlists.utexas.edu, Taft Armandroff, Herman Kriel, Schneider, Donald P, Greg Z

Dear HET PIs,

I'm writing to let you know that we plan to do some engineering work on the HET's tracker during the week starting March 14th. This work requires us to lift part of the tracker bridge off of its bearings so that the bearings can be replaced, and will result in the telescope being offline for a few nights while the work is in progress.

We expect Sunday March 13th to be the last night of observing before work begins on Monday morning, March 14th. We should return to on-sky operations by Friday night at the latest, possibly earlier in the week, depending on how the work proceeds.

I don't see any synoptic observations currently scheduled for that time period, and we'll have to hope that Betelgeuse doesn't go supernova or anything like that. Let me know if you have any questions about this downtime and its impact on your science.

Steven

Steven Janowiecki

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Mar 20, 2022, 2:07:59 PM3/20/22

Dear HET PIs,

I am writing to let you know that we resumed normal science operations with the HET last night, following the completion of the tracker work. We have 12 nights left in the 22-1 trimester and will do our best to complete as many of your programs/observations as possible. The new 22-2 trimester observations will begin on Friday April 1st, no fooling!