NHSC Open Time Key Program Planning Workshop

Overview

The NHSC will be offering a hands-on Herschel Observation Planning Workshop oriented toward the Open Time Key Program submission. The workshop will be held in Pasadena at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center on the Caltech Campus in Pasadena, CA. The dates are set for 18 - 19 July 2007. Mark your calendars!

The workshop will include:
- Overview of the Herschel Space Observatory.
- Instrument overviews.
- Discussion of the Reserved Observations List.
- Demonstration and hands on use of HSpot - the Herschel observation planning and proposal submission tool.
- Lots of hands on time!
- Lots of Q and A and time with NHSC experts!
- Suggestions are welcome.

The workshop will be held in the Keith Spalding Bldg. on the campus of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, CA, USA, with break-out sessions in the Morrisroe (IPAC) building. The workshop consists of presentations on the Herschel Observatory, its instruments and capabilities. Participants can expect to gain hands-on experience with the main AOR preparation tool HSpot (similar in flavor to the Spitzer SPOT tool). The workshop will provide an opportunity for members of the astronomical community to interact with members of the NHSC instrument support staff, many of whom are closely involved with the day-to-day ground-testing of the three main instruments on Herschel, as well as being an integral part of the data processesing and analysis software effort that will support the first observations with Herschel at the Instrument Control Centers (ICCs). Due to the level of personal interaction to be offered, registration for this workshop is limited to approximately 35-40 participants, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Participants are strongly advised to bring a notebook computer (DHCP-enabled and with SSH protocol version 2) to get the best out of the workshop. Before arriving at the NHSC, participants should install (and test for basic functionality) the Herschel-Spot (HSpot) software (http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/Herschel/hspot.html) and be familiar with some of the documentation also described on that page. This software tool runs under Solaris, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.

For those participants who are unable tobring their own laptop, we expect to have a few computers available at the workshop. However, these will be in limited supply. If you are unable to bring your own laptop, please let us know in the comment field of the registration form (see below) so we can plan ahead.

Access to Observer's Manuals

Participants are also strongly encouraged to have read the specific Observer's Manuals of interest to the Herschel mission (available from http://herschel.esac.esa.int/ao_kp_documentation.shtml), as well as the documentation also posted on the NHSC instrument web pages http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/Herschel/instr.shtml.

Presentations from the Open Time Key Project Workshop held earlier in the year in Noordwijk, NL can be found at http://herschel.esac.esa.int/OT_KP_wkshop.shtml. Experience from previous IPAC workshops has shown that those participants who do even a small amount of pre-workshop preparation are able to get started faster on the first day they attend the workshop, and achieve the maximum benefit from the workshop.

Participants are required to handle their own round-trip transportation and accommodations in Pasadena. The workshop will be held in the same building that houses our sister institution, the Spitzer Science Center. Suggested transportation to and from area airports to the Keith Spalding building can be found on the sister SSC web-pages http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/visitorinfo/airportbus.html. A list of local accommodations can be found at http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/visiting/accommodations. We urge participants to use an interactive mapping service, such as Google-Maps, to gauge the distances from available accommodations to the meeting venue at the Keith Spalding Building, which is located at 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125. Many hotels and motels are a long walk from Caltech, and some participants may wish to rent a car. Anyone driving to the Caltech campus must obtain a parking permit from us for the days of their participation in the workshop. Please indicate your need for a parking permit in the comment field of the registration form (below) Local transportation (e.g., the free Pasadena ARTS bus) is also available, but with limited geographical coverage within the area. If you have any questions please feel free to submit a ticket to the NHSC Helpdesk.

Agenda

The FINAL agenda for this workshop is available here.

Feedback Form

We appreciate your feedback! You may submit via this form (note: the feedback form link will be activated on July 20 2007.), or send your responses using regular email to the special workshop address: NHSCwork@ipac.caltech.edu.

Registration

Registration is NOW CLOSED.

Registration is open to all, first-come, first-served, up to the facility capacity. Registration will remain open through June 30 or until all spaces are filled (whichever comes first). There is no fee associated with this workshop. We look forward to your participation.