A shared approach to supporting remote observing for multiple observatories

The University of California (UC) began operating the Lick Observatory onMount Hamilton, California in 1888. Nearly a century later, UC became a founding partner in the establishment of theW. M. Keck Observatory (WMKO) in Hawaii, and it is now a founding partner in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project. Currently, most UC-affiliated observers conduct the majority of their ground-based observations using either the Keck 10-meter Telescopes on Mauna Kea or one or more of the six Lick telescopes now in operation on Mount Hamilton; some use both the Keck and Lick Telescopes. Within the next decade, these observers should also have the option of observing with the TMT if construction proceeds on schedule. During the current decade, a growing fraction of the observations on both the Keck and Lick Telescopes have been conducted from remote observing facilities located at the observer's home institution; we anticipate that TMT observers will expect the same. Such facilities are now operational at 8 of the 10 campuses of UC and at the UC-operated Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL); similar facilities are also operational at several other Keck-affiliated institutions. All of the UC-operated remote observing facilities are currently dual-use, supporting remote observations with either the Keck or Lick Telescopes. We report on our first three years of operating such dual-use facilities and describe the similarities and differences between the Keck and Lick remote observing procedures. We also examine scheduling issues and explore the possibility of extending these facilities to support TMT observations.