Telescope loading: A problem reduction approach

Abstract

This paper presents a problem reduction approach to telescope loading. To study time-varying celestial behavior, astronomers submit periodic observation campaigns which involve a sequence of observations at a given sampling frequency over months or years. The loader's task is to generate an assignment of observation tasks to each night in the time window such that resource demand does not exceed resource capacity and such that the observations usefully contribute to the campaigns' scientific purposes, in a manner that is fair to all participating astronomers.