16 May 2003 Present : JRL, STH, MJI, PSB, DWE Agenda ------ 1. Actions from last meeting 2. Photometric calibration plans 3. Model data for tests: catalogue and pipeline 4. Report on AA, SJW and DWE meeting 5. Discussion of what we need to prepare for June UKIDSS meeting 6. Status of e-science II bid 7. AOB. Minutes ------- 1. Actions from last meeting STH has started looking into photometric calibration (see item 2). DWE has contacted Ian Bond regarding his difference imaging software. This has not arrived yet. Will pursue. <<<< MJI has found that the mosaicing requirements are just to produce a tile or a little bit more than this (but not the whole sky). JRL has come up with a partial solution to the naming of the master calibration files. This will be similar to the WFC survey, but it's not fully worked out yet. STH has looked at the ESO naming conventions for documents and understands 80% of it. He is working on a report for us. Summary: Project-DocumentType-Source-WorkPackageNo-NumberWithinWPN The first three are 3 letters and the last two are 4 digits. The project should be VDF rather than WFC=WFCam (to avoid confusion). Source should be IOA rather than CAS=CASu This should not be used for internal documents, only for external ones. STH will be the Document Wrangler in charge of the numbering. PSB has carried on with the VDFS PDR documentation. A problem is that the science/user requirements document is quite old. This is OK for doing a helping with a draft, but more input is needed. MJI will contact JRE and WJS to organize a science committee meeting so that the science/user requirements document can be updated. <<<< MJI&JRL have tested the effect of lossy Rice compression on parameter estimation. There is no loss of real info in the output catalogue. The conversion of real to integer numbers in the test data was more of a problem than the compression. A few more tests on the randomness of the noise is needed. PSB wanted stacking tested. <<<< ALL have sent comments re. Observing Strategy meeting to MJI who has contacted Mark Casali. (see item 5) JRL has carried out tests on J-band twilight sky flats. The 10-30,000 counts needed can be obtained in a 2-2.5 minute window. This is a bit tight but doable. JRL really wants to get H and J flats as well - AA has promised these. There is also a need to acquire the dark sky flats in order to compare with the twilight ones. <<<< PSB has contacted local supplier re. Ultrium tape systems. This is an ongoing action. The LTO2 tapes seems to be about £100 pounds each. The drives are within what we have budgeted for. Perhaps we should wait a little bit to see what the price does (but not too long since we want to backup the RAID arrays). MJI has contacted NCH to see if we can get a quote from their supplier. MJI is still trying to acquire the 2MASS data. CDS has run out of tapes. <<<< DWE has placed the DR1/UKIDSS plots on web and sent them to SJW. DWE has had a meeting with SJW and AA to discuss survey planning (see item 4) DWE has reorganized the internal directory structure STH&MJI are continually revising the WP spreadsheets MJI commented on the VDFS management team meeting. The document that CASU had supplied was found by some not to be suitable. It was then converted into a 20 page spreadsheet which was accepted. The other decision was that the completed percentages we have to provide can be quantized to 0%, 10%, 50% and 100%. 2. Photometric calibration plans STH reported that a preliminary document has been written. On June 6th there will be a meeting between SJW, PCH and STH. At this meeting all calibration aspects will be discussed - 2d and photometry. It was suggested that JRL should also attend this meeting. It was decided that the next CASU meeting would be on 3 June (Tuesday), so that some further discussion on this document could be had before the meeting on the 6th. The calibration WG have reached the following conclusions: * It is now thought that the UKIRT standards should be used. * Fields were wanted rather than single stars. * Mesostepping should be used to checkup on the uniformity of the photometricity of the field of view. * 2MASS data would not now be used mainly due to the filters being significantly different. There was also the point that the errors on the 2MASS data would be too large for WFCAM calibration. Although there was no requirement to observe standards with UFTI, STH still wanted to use the service night that was on offer. Secondary fields would be needed. They would be decided upon before the survey start and would be built up during the survey. STH should finish off the document by the next meeting so that we can discuss this before the meeting on the 6th. <<<< 3. Model data for tests: catalogue and pipeline It has been decided that the simulated data that we require for a number of tests should be done via using WFC data and degrading it to WFCAM characteristics. This is a lot simpler than doing a full simulation. JRL will do this. <<<< In a few months time, we might need a full simulation. Many groups have done this sort of task, so reusing their software would be our goal. 4. Report on AA, SJW and DWE meeting DWE reported on a meeting he had with SJW and AA. His notes on this meeting are in the internal directory. Considering the work that had already been done by SJW and AA it was felt that it was not necessary for DWE to carry out simulations of his own on the observing strategy and survey completion. AA said that due to the link between the Query Tool and any simulations, the best place for any further simulations would be at JAC. DWE agreed with this. There is a new plan regarding the survey manager. This will now be 2 x 0.5 posts. One based at JAC and the other in the UK (presumed CASU or WFAU). MJI seemed unsure about this idea. He will contact AA about this. <<<< There seemed to be differing opinions (between JAC and CASU) as to what constituted an MSB. JRL said that photometric calibrations need not be included in an MSB (but could be). The main point was that an MSB contained enough data to remove the instrumental signature. Concerns were expressed about the QT by STH and MJI. They wanted to know a lot more detail about it. These will be raised with AA at the Edinburgh meeting. STH queried the comment regarding the high sky values for J (not H) at sunset. Plots were shown (from the UKIRT web site) to show that this was the case. One of the main points of the meeting was for SJW to form sensible questions to ask the survey heads so that the survey definitions could be finalized. 5. Discussion of what we need to prepare for June UKIDSS meeting Various reports were being prepared for the meeting. JRL will look into booking a hotel for us. DWE will check up on our flight options. <<<< 6. Status of e-science II bid An e-science bid needs to be put in by the end of the month (NAW is organizing this). This will be for 2 more years after our current 2 years ie. to 2007 (1 year after VISTA commissioning). This is a super-bid for VISTA-Eddington-GAIA-SuperWASP ~£2M, which is supposed to minimize management overheads and maximize the synergy. 7. AOB. PSB and JRL have had a quick look at the Astrowise documents, but have found it difficult to get anything out of them. They are in PowerPoint which does not show up the detail. STH will see if he can get better versions of these documents (or the proceedings). We ritually asked about any news concerning our grants and received the usual response of no. It was suggested (after the meeting) that the next meeting be started at 10:30 so that we wouldn't overrun into lunch. We would have a quick break (10-15 minutes) at coffee time. ============================================================================== Continuing actions ------------------ DWE obtain Ian Bond's difference imaging software MJI Acquire 2MASS data. New actions ------------ MJI contact JRE/WJS to organize a science committee meeting so that the science/user requirements document can be updated. MJI carry on with Rice compression tests: randomness of the noise & stacking JRL JRL obtain and test H and J flats. Also acquire dark sky flats in order to compare with the twilight ones. STH finish off the photometry document by the next meeting so that it can be discussed before the meeting on the 6th. JRL produce simulated data (using WFC data and degrading it to WFCAM characteristics). MJI contact AA regarding new plan for survey manager (2 x 0.5 posts). JRL look into booking a hotel for us for Edinburgh meeting. DWE check up on our flight options for Edinburgh meeting.