New point calculation for special requests

lukas_demetz

Hi there,

after some thinking I decided to change the way how we charge for two special situations of imaging reuqests. This has become necessary as some observations occupy alot of telescope time, but effectively consume very little imaging time ending up in low charges. Basically this happens in two situations:

Imaging plans with very short (< 1 minute) exposure time per frame
Imaging plans with RBI preflashing

In the first case, between slewing, guiding and postprocessing, it takes about three minutes for a single frame of for example 30 seconds.
In the second case, RBI preflashing takes about 2 minutes of additional time.

We are now charging an additional 1 points per RBI observation, and 0.5 points for short observations. Let me know if I should change anything here. I hope this improves fairness towards all users.

chrislinyy

How exactly will sub-1min exposure be charged. Will this make 59s exposure cost more than 1min (1min cost 1/60*35=0.58 but 59s would cost 0.58+0.5=1.08)?

lukas_demetz

Hi Chris,

at the moment, sort of. The current result is kind of stupid, because as you say 1 minute exposures would cost less. I am waiting for a little more feedback from the users. Probabily the "right" thing to do is to simply charge for 60 seconds minimum per frame... 🤔

chrislinyy

Hi Lukas,
I think rounding up anything below 1min to 1min is better. Otherwise it would be unfair when sub-1min exposure are needed but they cost more for less time on the system.

Chris

lukas_demetz

Hi Chris,

I agree. I didn't think this through 😅
I changed it now: Any exposure time below 1 minute will be rounded up. As for RBI exposures, we add 1 minute to the charged exposure time.

fernandoyang

lukas_demetz

So, RBI exposures will be add 1 minute but not 1 point, is it correct?

lukas_demetz

fernandoyang Correct! Now it works like this:

RBI exposures: Will be automatically charged 60 seconds more than the effective exposure time (RBI preflashing at 1 MHz readout speed takes about 80 seconds, plus the longer readout time)
Exposures of less than 60 seconds will be charged for 60 seconds

lukas_demetz

Update:

I removed the penalty for short exposures (since quite a few days, actually). It seems that it was something happening only on rare occasions, so no need to make it more complicated. SO exposures shorter than 60 seconds will again be charged the real duration.
The RBI surcharge still applies