Mainland Observing Policies

Background

All Keck science instruments have been used routinely for "remote observing" from Keck Headquarters in Waimea for several years, and the observatory now supports observing from selected sites on the U.S. mainland as well.

Procedure for Requesting Use of Mainland Facilities

You may request use of the mainland observing facilities two ways:

Specify a mainland observing location on your proposal coversheet form. This is the preferred method, as it gives us enough advance notice for us to arrange appropriate testing and support for your run.
Contact WMKO prior to your run. If you decide to observe from a mainland facility after submitting your proposal, you must contact WMKO's in advance of your run (4 weeks for mainland-only observing, 2 weeks for mainland eavesdropping mode). Please tell us the following in your email:
- The date(s) for which you want to observe remotely.
- The telescope and instrument you intend to use.
- The mainland site from which you want to observe.
- The mode in which you wish to observe:
  - eavesdropping with polycom video only
  - eavesdropping with polycom plus guider windows only
  - eavesdropping with full instrument software suite
  - mainland-only mode with no observer present in Waimea
- Which personnel (if any) are expected to be present in Waimea and which will be at the remote site.
- The number of times the remote observers have used the requested instrument; only experienced observers are permitted to observe in mainland-only mode.
As stated above, all requests are contingent on:
- availability of the mainland site
- approval from the mainland site
- approval of your WMKO Support Astronomer
WMKO will notify you within 2 business days regarding the status of your request.

Modes of Operation

Please note that two modes of operation are available:

Eavesdrop mode: At least one member of the observing team (who is experienced in using the scheduled instrument) observes from Waimea, while other members of the team observe from the mainland. Control of the instrument is shared between the two sites, with Waimea having primary responsibility for operating the instrument. Requests to eavesdrop must be made at least two weeks prior to the run.
Mainland-only mode: The entire observing team observes from the mainland, with remote support from the instrument scientist in Waimea. WMKO currently requires that at least one member of the mainland team have previous (and preferably recent) experience with operating the scheduled instrument.

Caveats

Interferometer not supported. Mainland observing is currently possible with all of the classical Keck instruments, but not the Keck Interferometer.
Sites are limited. Eavesdrop mode observing is currently supported at Caltech plus all UC campuses (including LBNL). Mainland-only mode operation is possible from certain sites.
Support is limited. WMKO Support Astronomers will be available as usual at Waimea HQ for consultation during the hours they would normally be available if the observer were here. Instrument and session setup occurs during the normal setup time (2:00pm to 5:00pm HST).
Experience is required. Because interaction between the observers and their Support Astronomer will be limited to the videoconference connection, at least one experienced observer must be present and supervising operations at the mainland site when operating in the mainland-only observing mode.
Consent is required. Requests for use of the mainland observing facilities will be granted only upon unanimous consent of the observers, support personnel at the local site, and WMKO. Each request for mainland operations will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
Observer assumes risk! If you use the mainland-only option, you risk losing observing time if the Internet fails (although fallback communication systems are provided at certain sites, they are considerably slower than the Internet).

Pre-run Checkout

Remote observers are responsible for scheduling a time with the local site manager to perform checkout of the video and VNC sessions prior to the run. Please consult the telescope schedule to determine which observing account you have been assigned, which determines which VNC servers you should connect with. Be sure to complete the test at least one business day before the start of your run in order to ensure that both video and VNC are operating correctly. Contact your support astronomer if you have any problems.

Internet Outages

Although Internet outages are now less frequent than in the past, they can still occur without warning and may affect your run. As mentioned above, observers accept the potential risk of lost observing time when agreeing to make use of remote sites. In an outage, your options depend on your operating mode:

Eavesdrop mode. The observers in Waimea will be responsible for operating the instrument until an Internet connection is re-established.
Mainland-only mode. As long as phone service remains functional, the ISDN backup lines at your mainland site should activate and restore partial connectivity within a couple of minutes. Although the ISDN interface will not be nearly as responsive as the Internet, it should still be usable.

If the Internet connection fails, you may ask the OA to contact Keck software personnel to determine whether or not the fault lies within the Keck network. If the Keck network is the problem, then we will do our best to fix it. If the problem lies within your network, you will need to contact your local site manager to diagnose the problem. If the problem lies outside the local networks, then we may not be able to assist.

NOTE: It is not appropriate to ask the your Observing Assistant or Support Astronomer to operate the instrument for you in case the Internet fails. By using the mainland site, you accept the risk that you may lose observing time to Internet outages.

Further information

To schedule observing from the mainland or get additional information on this option, please contact the .