The QSO Project   Project Scientist/Manager: Pierre Martin ESPaDOnS Main Coordinator: Nadine Manset System Programmer: Tom Vermeulen Database Specialist: Billy Mahoney Senior Service Observer: Todd Burdullis Service Observers: Mary Beth Laychak, Peter Forshay, Adam Draginda, Rachael Zelman

Welcome to the QSO Page! This section presents the most recent news regarding the QSO mode with MegaCam, WIRCam and ESPaDOnS! Come back often and stay informed on the progress made in our QSO endeavor....

Last update: 07/08/2008

• The phase 2 for accepted 2008B programs for MegaCam, WIRCam and ESPaDOnS is now opened! The deadline for completing your phase 2 is July 24, 2008, 14:00 (HST). Thank you for preparing your observations! The first run starts on August 1st, 2008.

• IMPORTANT NOTE FOR 2008B (I): Following a recommendation by the SAC, the MegaCam Large Programs and part of the CFHTLS programs will have priority over ANY MegaCam programs for the Canadian and French Agencies for the semester 2008B.

• IMPORTANT NOTE (II): For communicating with the QSO Team, it is very important to use the alias qsoteam@cfht.hawaii.edu (or better, use the PH2 Helpdesk). In the past, a large fraction of emails have been only sent directly to QSO Project Scientist, Pierre Martin. However, Pierre will be leaving CFHT soon so if an immediate reply is needed, the alias should be used... Thanks for your cooperation!

• The QSO Schedule for MegaCam, WIRCam and ESPaDOnS for 2008B is given below.
  

• The QSO Schedule for MegaCam, WIRCam and ESPaDOnS for 2008A is given below.
  

• The report for semester 2007B with MegaCam and WIRCam is now available here.

• The report for semester 2007A with MegaCam and WIRCam is now available here.

• (07/08/2008) The second ESPaDOnS run went extremely well! The weather was nice and the observing was very efficient. The scheduling constraints of several programs remain a challenge but when weather is good, things are possible! We made spectacular progress on A and B programs. Balance of the agencies is a bit off but not critically so. The reduction pipeline has also been performing really well and data are available to PIs very shortly after an observing night. Excellent! And for yours truly, this was my last shift as queue coodinator at CFHT. It was fun! - Pierre

• (06/24/2008) The WIRCam run was a mixed bag, with some great nights and some very bad ones due to unstable weather. We made good progress on a lot of programs and we hope that the stats will be incredible by the end of the last run in July!

• (06/12/2008) The last run for MegaCam went really well! We lost some time to weather but it was a very productive run. We were able to finish a lot of programs. The statistics for the semester are outstanding, maybe one of the best "A" semesters ever! A side note is that we took the last data for SNLS during that run. What a success story! The QSO Team is very proud of this achievement! The experience acquired will help a lot during the implementation of the large programs. As a personal note, this was my last run of coordination with Megacam since I will be leaving CFHT to take charge of the WIYN Observatory at the end of September. Mostly good memories are coming with me! ;) - Pierre.

• (05/27/2008) Another WIRCam run done! It went very well. Weather was cooperative so we made progress on a lot of programs. At this time, A programs are essentially done and B programs are progresing well. The only negative point is the agency time balance being off but we hope to fix that during the next runs. It should be another stellar semester for WIRCam! Stay tuned..

• (05/15/2008) The third MegaCam is over and it went well. Some weather was lost to cirrus and some thick clouds but it was a productive run as a whole. The camera bahaved very well, no time lost at all! Good progress made on a lot of programs so there is hope after all!

• (05/02/2008) The second run with WIRCam went well despite again some significant time lost to bad weather (some day, our luck will turn...). We made good progress on A programs but the stats on B programs are not so good. The balance of the agency time is a bit off but we will correct that during the later runs.

• (04/14/08) The run with MegaCam is over. It was a mixed bag again. The beginning was productive but then weather was quite bad during the last week. Progress was made on several programs though. We had some technical issues with MegaCam but not impacting too much on the science. Not too bad!

• (03/28/08) The first ESPaDOnS run ever went quite well! Except for a setup problem, due to a software bug, at the beginning of the run and quite a bit of time lost to bad weather, we were able to get a lot of data. Observing efficiency is quite high already and when weather is good, nights are just very productive. However, as expected, the challenge with ESPaDOnS comes from the numerous time-constrained programs, which often conflict with each other. It is going to be challenging to make that works while respecting some of the fundamental rules of QSO. At the moment, the time between the agencies is not balanced at all for instance but we are hopeful to be able to improve that in the remaining runs. In any case, this run went well, the system is already very efficent. We are still learning but that's a good start!

• (03/14/08) The second MegaCam run is now over. It was much better than the first one, although we have had to fight periods of terrible seeing (5"!) at times. We made some very good progress on a lot of programs, including CFHTLS. The camera worked really well too!

• (02/25/08) The first WIRCam run for 2008A was excellent. The weather was mostly good, except for a few periods of bad seeing. Good progress has been made on several programs. So, a good start for WIRCam and let's hope it continues!

• (02/16/08) The first MegaCam run of 2008A was unfortunately very poor. Most of the run was lost to winter conditions on Mauna Kea, fog or clouds. We got a handful of decent nights. So, not much progress made... Hopefully, the rest of the semester will be better...

• The report for semester 2006B with MegaCam and WIRCam is now available here.

• The report for semester 2006A with MegaCam and WIRCam is now available here.

• The report for semester 2005B is now available here.


• The report for semester 2005A is now available here.


• The report for semester 2004B is now available here.


• The report for semester 2004A is now available here.


• The report for semester 2003B is now available here.


• QSO Run Summaries (starts in 2004A)

As with all the other types of CFHT observing programs, the first step for applying for time in a queue mode is to submit a proposal to the Time Allocation Committee.  For the Canadian, French and Korean communities, this must be done through CADC's Web interface, Poopsy.  All the necessary information for queue proposals with MegaPrime, WIRCam and ESPaDOnS for the semester 2008B can be found in the Web documents below.  It is STRONGLY recommended to carefully read the relevant document before starting to work with Poopsy.  Investigators should spend some time to familiarize themselves with the QSO concept, the characteristics of the instruments, and the general procedures.

For more information concerning the QSO Project and for any help during the preparation of your queue proposal, contact the QSO Team.

The phase 2 period for accepted proposals for 2008B with MegaCam, WIRCam and ESPaDOnS is now OPEN!! The deadline is July 24, 2008 at 14:00 (HST). Thank you for taking the time to prepare your observations! The QSO Team is really looking forward again to carry out your observations with all the attention that they deserve. We will not spare our efforts in this undertaking.

QSO MegaCam Programs for 2008B.  The following table presents all the approved QSO proposals for MegaCam for the semester 2008B.

QSO WIRCam Programs for 2008B.  The following table presents all the approved QSO proposals for WIRCam for the semester 2008B.

QSO ESPaDOnS Programs for 2008B.  The following table presents all the approved QSO proposals for ESPaDOnS for the semester 2008B.

QSO MegaCam Programs for 2008A.  The following table presents all the approved QSO proposals for MegaCam for the semester 2008A.

QSO WIRCam Programs for 2008A.  The following table presents all the approved QSO proposals for WIRCam for the semester 2008A.

QSO ESPaDOnS Programs for 2008A.  The following table presents all the approved QSO proposals for ESPaDOnS for the semester 2008A.

PH2. PH2 is a sophisticated Web based tool designed specifically for the Phase 2 submission of observations with CFH12K, MegaCam, WIRCam, and ESPaDOnS. It is available from the CFHT Web site, with also a replicated backup site intalled at the summit, through an UserID/Password system. Although it is simple to use, we suggest that you spend some time reading the respective tutorials below. The tutorial is basically divided into two parts: an overview and a detailed description.  Most of the questions related to the tool can probably be answered by first looking at these sections. However, any questions related to PH2 or the QSO program in general can be communicated through the HelpDesk system available through PH2.

 

You need to contact the QSO Team? The HelpDesk within PH2 saves all the email exchanges between the investigators and the QSO Team.  During the Phase 2, we recommend that you use this tool to communicate with us, if necessary.  During the semester, this HelpDesk is still available.  To access it, just select one of the link below. If you are accessing from the same machine used during the Phase 2, you should be able to see all of your relevant forums. If a different machine is employed, you will have to type your User ID and password. During a QSO run, communication between the investigators and the QSO Team will be done exclusively through the QSO Coordinator (one of the Resident Astronomers), not the QSO observer.  For the status of your program, please refer first to the Web night reports (below).

HelpDesk

HelpDesk

The QSO mode is well-adapted for target-of-opportunity programs.  If you want to submit unpredictable TOO observations to be carried out in a queue mode with the MegaCam, WIRCam or ESPaDOnS during the current semester, you must fill up a special Web form.  Following this information, the CFHT Executive Director will review your proposal. If telescope time is allocated, the QSO Team will extract the necessary information from the Web form, prepare the observations and include your program in the queue database. If you have already received telescope time from the TAC for your TOO program, you do NOT have to fill this form...

The complete CFHT TOO policy and the proposal submission form are available below:

During a semester, night reports are available from this page, after data evaluation performed by the QSO Team (done following each observing night).  The night report page allows the user also to extract the current status on the QSO programs. Thus, you will not have to contact us to know what's happening with your observing program.  We are also publishing some statistics on the QSO mode during a given semester (see next section). More information, notably regarding the weather conditions and data distribution, have also been added to these reports. Suggestions are also welcome!

The current statistics on the QSO mode are now available on this page. This includes the time distribution for the different Agencies as well as some global numbers on the programs. NOTE: We are currently reviewing some of the definition algorithms used for certain calculations, notably for the queue efficiency. Some statistics might be wrong in those pages.  

A special procedure is taking place regarding the proprietary period for data obtained with MegaCam and WIRCam in the QSO mode. From now on, the proprietary period of QSO data will by default extend to 1 year + 1 month starting at the end of the QSO semester. For instance, data taken for the 2008A semester (February 1 - July 31) will have a default release date set to 08/31/2009. The extra month is allowed because of possible delays introduced for the Elixir analysis and data distribution of observations carried out near the end of a semester. If an extension is requested in Poopsy during the Phase 1 period and is approved by TAC, a new date will be set for this program through the QSO system. This release date for the QSO data is indicated in the fits headers by the keyword REL_DATE. This system applies only to the QSO mode for MegaCam. Note: Since data can be taken at almost any time during a semester in a queue mode, it will not be possible to change the release date after the beginning of a semester. For snapshot programs, the proprietary period is three months following the end of the semester. The CFHTLS data have a different release date, regarding the proprietary period system supported by the Board of Directors.

QSO Project Technical Documentation/Reports:
 
 

New Documents

Reports of Previous Semesters:

• QSO Report for Semester 2003A.

• QSO Report for Semester 2002B.

• QSO Report for Semester 2002A.

• QSO Report for Semester 2001B.

• QSO Report for Semester 2001A.