Running a successful public night takes a fair bit of planning and can be derailed in many ways. This webpage points out some of the common problems and ways to avoid them.

TRAINING, OPERATIONS

Who can run a public night? Who can operate the telescopes?
Only faculty may run a public observing night, and only users authorized by the Observatory Director may operate the 16-inch. Undergraduates are not allowed to operate the 16-inch. From time to time, a few graduate students may be certified if they have extensive observing experience with professional telescopes or if they have undergone the rigors of being a TA in the ASTR 230 lab class. Undergraduates may be allowed to operate the C-8s if they have completed the ASTR 230 lab and are trained in the use of those telescopes. Consider how many telescopes you will operate and who is going to run them. You cannot delegate without thinking about it, and you can't be in two places at once. If fewer authorized helpers show up, you will have to operate fewer telescopes.

Why don't we have more public nights?
The primary purpose of the observatory is for our classes, and secondarily for research and outreach. Public nights can create wear and tear on our equipment, and we have no dedicated staff to fix broken equipment or clean up after users. Our equipment has to be well-maintained to allow for complex student and faculty research projects to be done.

Why give a talk and why do I have to be on the terrace?
There are plenty of places around Houston (e.g. the Museum of Natural Science, George Observatory, various astronomy clubs) whose primary mission is public outreach. What we can provide that these others cannot is to have a professional astronomer give them a talk, guide observing sessions, and answer questions. The talk is one way we distinguish our open houses from the other larger and more frequent venues. The organizer of a public night is solely responsible for the safety of the equipment, guests, and helpers. Hence, the organizer should be present on the terrace at all times, and often is the person who operates the 16-inch.

10 DAYS BEFORE
Do these in sequence:

• Weather: Look at the long-term forecast. These go out to 10-days now and have been getting reasonably accurate less than 7 days out. If it looks overcast, consider the weather risks. Open houses can be cancelled but it's better to not schedule in the first place if that will happen. The weather link off the Obsservatory website has some excellent predictive tools. Don't base your decisions on a 'cloudy' or 'sunny' icon on some for-profit weather site.
• Room: You'd be surprised. Double-booking when it happens is a serious problem. 100 people standing around - Now what will you do? Go to the Rice classroom page and assess your options. For a weekend event go ahead and Reserve the Room for Fri, Sat, and Sun if they are open. You will cancel the others later. The Registrar ought to get the room reserved in two business days. This delay is why the reservation needs to be done now.
• Web update: If your date looks like it might work, put a provisional note to that effect on the observatory website (see 'editing the website' link below).
• Talk: Figure out a title for your talk.
• RSI: Ask someone from RSI to post a provisional date-range/time for the event and a talk title

5 DAYS BEFORE

• Make a decision: Pick a date based on the weather forecast, or cancel if need be. If you are canceling notify RSI, update the web page and release the room. Otherwise...
• Rice event: Post it on Rice's events calendar. That way it has official status for RUPD.
• RUPD: Put a request to RUPD via accesscontrol@rice.edu for the duration of the event to
  • open 118 Shipping/Receiving
  • make sure the elevator is unlocked
  • open the room for your talk
• Observatory Web update: Confirm the open house and update the weather information on the observatory page
• RSI update: Confirm the date with a post to RSI's mailing list
• Helpers: Line up your helpers for the smaller telescopes
• Talk: Work on your talk

2 DAYS BEFORE

• Telescope preparation: Be sure
• the 16" is configured for optical observing
• the dome opens and spins
• the dome computer boots up
• the small telescopes you plan to use work, eyepieces are clean, etc.
• If it is clear, it's always a good idea to point at something the night beforehand. The main telescope doesn't have a lot of different users so most of the time the pointing solutions work and finders align with the main scope. But sometimes the UPS batteries die or there is some other issue.
• Verify that whatever smaller telescopes you want will work.
• A/V display in the room: Go to your talk room and verify that your file/computer displays properly. Figure out the microphone. This stuff changes as other people use the podiums. I like to verify this either the night before or well in advance of the talk on the same day. For evening talks don't expect anyone to be available to fix anything. Weekends you are also on your own here.
• Weather update: Update the weather information on the observatory page
• Talk: Finish your talk
• Observing planning: Think about what objects you want to look at with the different telescopes you will use
• Keys: Consider borrowing a key to the workroom from the Director. There is a keypad but the battery on the keypad can die at the worst times. Get a key to the Dome if you don't have one.

DAY/EVENING OF YOUR TALK

• Set up small telescopes: Arrive an hour early to roll out telescopes, weather-permitting. You may have to go to the 4th floor of HBH to close the shades in the Math common room so they don't shine on the terrace.
• Set up your talk: Get into the room and be sure your talk displays. If you do this at least 20 minutes in advance then you can verify the outside doors and the room are unlocked.
• Get everyone up to the terrace: Give your talk, lead people upstairs. Your helpers should have the C-8s running. Do those first, then the 16-inch. When you fire up 'The Sky' make sure the stars it shows make sense. If not, check the date/time on the computer, or even the time zone. Have someone verify that 118 Shipping/Receiving is open. Put out the 'open observatory sign' if you like.

CLOSING UP

• Close up the telescopes:
  • park the 16-inch and disconnect with the software
  • shut down the computer
  • unplug the power to the telescope drive
  • put the dust caps on the finders, main scope and eyepieces
  • shut off the illuminated reticle and reading light if you used them
  • close the dome
  • spin the dome to the east
  • return all the smaller telescopes, power cords, and eyepieces to the work room
  • bring up the 'open observatory' signs if you used them
• Update the web page: Put a short summary of the event on the observatory page.

• The keypad to the workroom or terrace doesn't work!
  The batteries die. We don't control this. If you borrowed a key or know where to unearth one it won't matter. Otherwise you'll have to call RUPD (X6000). Sometimes the right door to the terrace is actually open.
• The dome is locked and I have no key!
  Not much to be done here. Try calling one of the astronomers.
• The UPS battery is dead!
  Sometimes there are spare batteries or even entire spare systems in the workroom. Be sure the battery is actually connected on the inside if you use a spare. Usually this is not a critical failure as there are enough active plugs in the concrete pier
• The dome won't spin!
  This is common when it gets cold. There is a bicycle pump in the dome. Use it to pump up the trailer tire that spins the dome. In a pinch you can stand on a ladder and push the dome while the motor is going. Don't get your fingers caught anywhere.
• The telescope won't slew!
  This can be caused by the clutches not engaging or by having the telescope be confused about where and when it is. Best to talk to someone if you don't know what to do.
• Keep in mind that the smaller telescopes are quite nice. It's not the end of the world to have to close up the main one if there are technical issues.

Editing the Website

The observatory website is the official way to communicate with the outside world about your event. To be allowed to edit the relevant files you will need to go through an ssh protocol activation procedure on your laptop or workstation. See the observatory director for information. From a Rice domain, 'ssh ruco@organization.rice.edu' and log in. 'cd public_html'. The two html files to edit are 'observatory.html' and 'open_houses.html'. These are simple text files, keep them that way. Don't use any web-creation app! Those will make the page unreadable to the next user. Just edit the text as will be obvious from what is already there. As soon as you save the file the page will update. The most popular editors are 'vi' and 'pico'. Most users choose 'vi'. If you need a few minutes training to use 'vi' seek that out.