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ATNF ATUC Memorandum

To: ATUC
From: Jessica Chapman
Date: 25 November 2004
Subject National Facility Report


1. TAC statistics and processes

As requested by ATUC, TAC statistics are provided on the ATNF website at
the address

http://www.atnf.csiro.au/observers/tacstats.

Detailed statistics are also provided in the ATNF annual reports.

The 2004 OCTS currently underway is the first full six-month semester. For
this semester, 95 proposals were received for the ATCA, 30 for Parkes, two
for Mopra, five for VLBI and one for Tidbinbilla. For the ATCA the
oversubscription rate of 1.8 was fairly high, but lower than the
exceptionally high rate of 3.0 for the previous winter term when millimetre
facilities were available (plots C1 - C3 on the above web page). The
oversubscription rate for Parkes was ~ 1.1. The average oversubscription
rate for Parkes has been fairly constant over the years 2000 - 2004 (plot
P2).

Typically 40% of scheduled time is allocated to proposals with overseas PIs
with the other 60% allocated to proposals with PIs at the ATNF and other
Australian institutions. In 2004 the allocation of time to proposals with
PIs at other Australian institutions was lower than in previous years, with
an allocation of 15% for the ATCA and 22% for Parkes.

The number of ATNF publications for 2004 is exceptionally high. For 2004,
at least 120 papers with ATNF data have been published in refereed
journals. This number is a lower limit for the calendar year, with an
expected total of at least 130. This compares to 103 National Facility
papers for 2003.

For the 2004 December meeting the TAC members will be Lister Staveley-Smith
(acting chair), Wilfred Walsh, Anne Green, Simon Johnston and Ravi
Subrahmanyan. Members are selected by the Steering Committee to cover a
broad range of astronomical expertise and geographical distribution. The
TAC now uses a triage system that has been found to be very effective.
Following feedback from ATUC, the TAC attempted to improve the comments
sent out after the previous meeting for the 2004 OCTS.

2. Australia Telescope Online Archive

We have developed a system called the ATOA (Australia Telescope Online
Archive) to allow users direct access to the Compact Array archive data
files. The ATOA was initially set up as a collaborative project between
ATNF and the ICT Centre in Canberra with the data files installed in
Canberra. To facilitate the querying of data files, metadata is extracted
from the RPFITS file headers and stored in an Oracle database together with
other information.

In August 2004 a decision was made by the ICT Centre to withdraw support
for the ATOA. The ATNF then decided to transfer the full system, including
the data files to the ATNF Marsfield.

Over the last three months, we have transferred all the data file to the
ATNF in Marsfield and have installed the hardware and software that will
allow users to access the files. This includes 'standard' data access for
data that was taken at least 18 months ago with access and downloading of
files via an easy-to-use web form. We are also providing access to 'own'
data by allocating a project-based password on request to the PIs, for
projects observed within the most recent 18 months. The project-based
passwords will be sent by email following entry of a web request form.

At the time of writing the ATOA is being tested and is due for public
release by end-November. I would like to thank Christopher Owen and Vince
McIntyre especially for their successful work on this project and Peter
Lamb, Rob Power & Colleagues in Canberra for setting this up initially.

RPFITS metadata

The ATOA system will later be connected to the pipeline data reduction
system currently being developed by Tara Murphy (see separate report from
Neil Killeen). To facilitate the retrieval of data and the pipeline data
reduction, some additional information is now written to the RPFITS file
headers. Other changes to the RPFITS headers have been suggested but not
yet implemented. In particular it would be helpful to modify the scheduling
program, sched, so that observers are required to enter and distinguish
between the different types of calibrator observations (phase, bandpass,
flux). Multiple calibration categories could be used for a single source.

3. Electronic Proposal System

The ATNF plans to replace the current antiquated proposal system with a new
fully electronic proposal system from June 2005. The start date for work on
this project has been delayed due to the transfer of the ATOA system from
Canberra to Marsfield described above. We now plan to begin work on the
specification statement in December 2004. The release date is unchanged.
ATUC will be consulted on the specifications for the EPS once this is
underway.

4. Outreach Report

Public outreach continues to have a high priority with many outreach
activities held since the last ATUC meeting. Some recent highlights
include:

Sport in Space Competition - for National Science Week - August 2004
For this competition we received nearly one hundred entries from primary
and high school students from across Australia. The three winners (for
different age categories) were taken on a trip to Parkes where they had an
extensive tour of the telescope and a wonderful time.

Parkes Open Day 28 - 29 August 2004
The Parkes Observatory received around 1150 visitors during an open weekend
in August. The weekend was a great success and it is clear that Open Days
at the Observatories are a highly effective form of outreach.



Outreach website
The new ATNF Outreach and Education website (http://outreach.atnf.csiro.au)
is having an impact on the teaching of astronomy to senior students in
Australian High Schools. The site provides extensive material for high
school teachers and their students and now includes all of the content
needed for the Astrophysics option (9.7) in the NSW Stage 6 (HSC) Physics
syllabus. Teacher feedback has been highly positive and the site, which
also includes content for media and the general public, will be submitted
for an international Webby Award.

The development of an outreach website and the provision of HSC content
were both key objectives discussed at the ATUC November 2003 meeting. It is
good to see that these have been achieved within a year.

ATNF calendar
In place of a Xmas card, we have produced an ATNF 2005 calendar which has
been posted to colleagues and partners. Copies can be bought locally from
Vicki Drazenovic.

Narrabri Visitors Centre Redevelopment
Plans for the redevelopment of the Visitors Centre at Narrabri are
progressing well. Following a call for expressions of interest, we have now
signed a contract with a company called Convergence Design. In consultation
with ATNF staff, Convergence will design and build new displays and
exhibits for the grounds of the visitors centre. Convergence, based in
Melbourne, specialise in the development of displays for museums and
visitors centres and were involved with the development of the Energy
Technology exhibit for CSIRO Discovery featured in Monday Mail on the 15
November (http://www.csiro.au/mailarchives/csiro-all/msg00342.html).


Advice sought

. ATUC is asked whether it would support modifications to the sched
program so that observers are required to enter enter and distinguish
between the different types of calibration observations (phase,
bandpass, flux).
. ATUC is asked to comment on whether there has been any improvement in
the response from proposers to the last round of TAC comments.