2015A schedule, programs, and run summaries

List of 2015A programs for: MegaCam, WIRCam, ESPaDOnS.

QrunID Instrument HST Dates Number of Nights Status Run Summary
15AQ01 WIRCam Feb 01 - 11 11 Done An unusual amount of time was lost to high winds. About 100 hours, or the equivalent of almost 10 nights, were affected by high winds, or high humidity. A little less than one third of the 15A nights have been used, but only 6% of the hours in A and B-ranked programs have been validated.
15AQ02 MegaCam Feb 12 - 25 15 Done The first MegaCam run of the semester went relatively well. Three full nights were lost to weather, and the total amount of time lost to high winds, high humidity, and clouds was 50h. About 8 hours of sky time were used to calibrate some the new filters and to continue engineering tests for the new TCS.
15AQ03 ESPaDOnS Feb 26 - Mar 15 18 (originally 12) Done The winter weather has prevented observing for the majority of the run. The equivalent of fewer than 2 nights was used to collect data until March 9. The winter weather prevented the staff from accessing the summit for a week and pushed the MegaCam exchange. Due to all the uncertainties regarding the weather, access, and condition of the summit facility, it was decided to keep ESPaDOnS until Mar 15/16. The summit facility became accessible Mar 14, and the observatory cleared for observing later that afternoon. A little under one and a half night of Espadons data were obtained, and a little more than half a night was dedicated to TCS engineering.
15AQ04 MegaCam Mar 16 - 23 8 Done Due to the severe winter weather, the exchange to MegaCam was postponed until the summit became accessible again (Mar 16).
15AQ05 ESPaDOnS Mar 24 - Apr 09 17 Done An excellent run, with only a handful of hours lost to clouds. Around 155h of observations were obtained, which is a little over 9 hours per night.
15AQ06 MegaCam Apr 10 - 27 18 Done The main loss of time for this run was due to weather (mostly just clouds), with about 31 hours lost. From a technical point of view, the run was relatively smooth. Some more engineering time was spent to tweak the new version of the Telescope Control System.
15AQ07 WIRCam Apr 28 - May 11 14 Done About 33h were lost to weather, and only a few minutes were lost to technical issues. Half the nights were photometric (mostly in the middle of the run), and the other half was affected by various degrees of cloudiness. With 25 nights behind us and 13 left, 65% of the hours for A-ranked programs have been validated, and 32% of B-ranked hours were validated.
15AQ08 MegaCam May 12 - 26 15 Done The weather was variable and sometimes poor at the beginning of the run, and until the last 6 nights. There were no major technical issues and most of the time list was due to bad weather (thin or thick clouds, some bouts of high humidity). The Image Quality has been excellent, and routinely below 0.8" in r, down to 0.5" at times.
15AQ09 WIRCam May 27 - Jun 08 13 Done Very little time was lost to weather (5.5h) or technical issues (<1.5h) during this 13-night run. The completion rate of programs is very good for this semester, with 96% of the A-ranked hours validated, and 56% of the B-ranked hours validated.
15AQ10 MegaCam Jun 09 - 22 14 Done A very good run with about 20h lost to weather, and no time lost to technical issues. When the sky was clear, the seeing was below 1", down to 0.45" in the r filter a handful of nights!
15AQ11 ESPaDOnS Jun 23 - Jul 04 13 Done The weather has been excellent during this run, with clear skies most of the nights, and seeing down to 0.5-0.6" on quite a few nights. A block of about 4 hours was used to test the new Telescope Control System on the first night of the run. A couple of hours was lost to technical issues, mostly during the first few nights.
15AQ12 Sitelle Jul 06 - 08 3 Done A very successful run, debugging hardware and software issues, doing focus sequences and pointing model, and taking some data.
15AQ13 MegaCam Jul 09 - 20 12 Done The last MegaCam run of the semester went relatively well. There were no technical issues. Time was only lost to bad weather (it snowed). About 90% of A-ranked hours for PI programs have been validated, and 70% for B-ranked hours.
15AQ14 ESPaDOnS Jul 21 - 31 11 Done The semester ended with a very good ESPaDOnS run, despite a power fault at the summit and a database issue that resulted in 8 hours of time lost. The weather was excellent, with most nights photometric.