APASS south is up and running, using a new controller board for the filter wheel. Apogee sent the board out quickly, once they were notified of the problem. Everything seems to be working well, and we have a couple of nights of new data. APASS south has also been taking monitoring data for two southern novae and T Pyx.
APASS north is also working well. The new mirror has solved the image problems, and everything is functioning properly. The main problem is continuing clouds following the monsoonal pattern. Normally these clear out in early September, so we are not making much progress on the survey. Hopefully the pattern will change soon and we can get busy finishing the northern sky.
There was considerable interest in APASS at the recent IAU 285 symposium on Time Domain Astronomy. Several professional groups are now expecting to use APASS for calibrating their projects.
The next data release is tentatively scheduled for January 1, 2012.
Arne