Re: [Tzdist] shepherd review and issues for draft-ietf-tzdist-caldav-timezone-ref

[Rob Seaman <[e-mail]>]

Presumably for the same reason as other observatories.  Data are batched by the calendar date at the beginning of each observing session.  For nighttime observatories this begins with calibration data taken in the afternoon in preparation for science observations taken in twilight and overnight. At our observatory we have long had a noon local time pivot, but have recently moved to 9 am (with a few at 10 am) since sometimes calibrations start early.  A different observer may be using the telescope the following night and you want to wrap up the logistics of closing out data management (and authorization, as Steve says), as early as possible to move on to the next observer.

These are generally local time conventions. This impacts observing modes that use multiple telescopes for co-observing, follow-up, etc. Recent trends include several observatories (such as http://lcogt.net) that operate a network of facilities that may be scheduled together using complex policies. In these cases UTC is more likely to be used, but some components in the science and logistics stack will remain tied to local time.

Rob
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—


> On Jun 11, 2015, at 9:16 AM, Cyrus Daboo <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> Hi Steve,
> 
> --On June 11, 2015 at 9:12:40 AM -0700 Steve Allen <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
>> I think this situation will happen indefinitely.  The Lick Observatory
>> telescope schedules have always operated in a time zone where the new
>> day begins at noon PST, or 20 hours behind Greenwich.  This will never
>> be a standard timezone, but the de facto practice is unlikely to change.
> 
> As a matter of interest, do you know the reasoning behind that choice?
> 
> --
> Cyrus Daboo
> 
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