Status of the Robotic P60

Aperture	60 inches / 1.5 m
Field of view	11 x 11 arcmin
CCD size	2048 x 2048 pix
Pixel scale	0.378 arcsec per pixel
Gain & Read Noise	Amp 1: 2.2 e-/ADU & 2.4 ADU
	Amp 2: 2.8 e-/ADU & 2.8 ADU
Readout	30 sec (full frame)
Exposure times	<180 sec normal (1.5'' seeing)
	<90 sec excellent (1.0'' seeing)
Broadband filters	UBVRIgriz
Narrowband filters	H-alpha (6564.76/20.9 or 6564/100)
	H-alpha off-band (6584.65/17.5)

Summary

The new camera has experienced night-fatal malfunctions on two successive nights. We are investigating options for dealing with these malfunctions. In particular, it seems that we need the capability to cycle power on the camera system when these anomalies occur. At the same time, it would be helpful to identify the root causes of each anomaly and ameliorate them. The anomalies are: (1) Striping of images; (2) Scrambled images; (3) Non-dark images with shutter closed.

Chronology

12 April 2004: The camera crashed on each of two successive nights. In each case after bringing the system back up we were unable to establish a connection with the TCS, and so the night was lost. We are investigating possible options.

6 April 2004: We think we are ready to refine the focus routine and begin taking regular observations for outside observers.

3 April 2004: One-night run for Don Hoard completed without taking any data (dome closed due to rain). OSS now accepts a "Time window" specification which zeroes the target priority outside of the specified window.

22 March 2004: Run for Stan Metchev was completed tonight and he is happy with the data. We learned to offset the telescope to put small targets away from the amplifier boundary and in a cosmetically nice part of the CCD. The OSS can now do random dithering in-a-box, and also pre-specified dithering (this is specified on a per-exposure basis). Stan has observed that 3-minute exposures are a challenge for the telescope tracking under good conditions (PSF ~ 1.2 arcsec).

13 March 2004: The new camera has been installed. With a 30-s readout we can now execute a full bias and dome-flat sequence in the afternoon (7 images each), and also perform a more ambitious focus run at the start of the night (7 exposures).

Derek Fox (derekfox [at] astro.caltech.edu)

Last modified: 6 April 2004.