Running a modern queue: lessons learned from the first three years of NEID operations

Heidi Schweiker; Sarah E. Logsdon; Mark Everett; Jayadev Rajagopal; Erik Timmermann; Eli Golub; Diego Gomez; Pipa Fernandez; Jesus Higuera; Yatrik Patel

doi:10.1117/12.3020650

25 July 2024 Running a modern queue: lessons learned from the first three years of NEID operations

Heidi Schweiker, Sarah E. Logsdon, Mark Everett, Jayadev Rajagopal, Erik Timmermann, Eli Golub, Diego Gomez, Pipa Fernandez, Jesus Higuera, Yatrik Patel

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13098, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems X; 1309808 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020650
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Abstract

NEID is an optical, Extreme-Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) spectrometer installed at the WIYN 3.5 m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ, USA. Primarily designed to find, confirm, and characterize planets outside of the solar system, NEID was built as part of the joint NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research Program (NN-EXPLORE). Through the NN-EXPLORE program, ~50% of WIYN science time is made available to the public through standard NOIRLab bi-annual proposal calls. The other approximately 50% of WIYN science time is available to WIYN institutional partners. NEID entered full science operations in 2021B and is operated in queue mode, with a team of dedicated NEID Queue Observers carrying out nighttime operations. Currently, the NEID queue makes up approximately 70-80% of the available WIYN telescope time, with the other approximately 20-30% of the time made up of a combination of classically and queue scheduled time on other instruments. Operating NEID in queue mode is crucial for executing high cadence programs such as the publicly available NEID Standard Star program. Here we discuss the lessons learned in the early years of instituting and running a modern queue at a telescope that maintains some classical observing. We will give an overview of the software and staffing required to effectively run the queue and how we have both upgraded the software and modified operational procedures to increase efficiencies.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

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Heidi Schweiker, Sarah E. Logsdon, Mark Everett, Jayadev Rajagopal, Erik Timmermann, Eli Golub, Diego Gomez, Pipa Fernandez, Jesus Higuera, and Yatrik Patel "Running a modern queue: lessons learned from the first three years of NEID operations", Proc. SPIE 13098, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems X, 1309808 (25 July 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020650

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