The ING instrumentation conference discussion - options for a competitive observatory

An expert panel initiated discussion on a number of key questions facing th e role of 4 m and small telescopes in the new era of 8 m telescopes. The pa nel and audience agreed that the 4 m class telescope role would necessarily evolve, hut would still be important in the coming years. The need for an active development programme of competitive instrumentation for Im class te lescope, and in particular the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) was stresse d. In conjunction with this, the need to decommission instrumentation made redundant by 8 m class telescopes was noted. New operational modes, includi ng greater emphasis on survey programmes, and possibly queue scheduling, co upled with changes to the procedures for allocating time were seen as desir able. The panel and audience supported the Isaac Newton Group's emphasis on the development of instrumentation to exploit its imminent deployment of t he WHT's facility Adaptive Optics system. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.