A new telescope control software for the Mayall 4-meter telescope

Abareshi, Behzad; Marshall, Robert; Gott, Shelby; Sprayberry, David; Cantarutti, Rolando; Joyce, R. R.; Williams, Doug; Probst, R.; Reetz, Kristin; Paat, Anthony; Butler, Karen A.; Soto, Christian; Dey, Arjun; Summers, D. L.

doi:10.1117/12.2233087

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…NOAO also purchased a new z-band filter, matched to the DECam filter bandpass, in order to minimize any differences between the DECam and Mosaic-3 z surveys. In addition, the KPNO 4 m telescope control system and the imaging camera software were upgraded for improved operational efficiency (Abareshi et al 2016;Dey et al 2016). Mosaic-3 saw first light in 2015 October and underwent further on-sky commissioning runs in 2015 November and December.…”

Section: Mzls: the Mayall Z-band Legacy Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

Dey¹,

Schlegel²,

Lang³

et al. 2019

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1,185

815

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The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys (http://legacysurvey.org/) are a combination of three public projects (the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey, the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey, and the Mayall z-band Legacy Survey) that will jointly image ≈14,000 deg 2 of the extragalactic sky visible from the northern hemisphere in three optical bands (g, r, and z) using telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The combined survey footprint is split into two contiguous areas by the Galactic plane. The optical imaging is conducted using a unique strategy of dynamically adjusting the exposure times and pointing selection during observing that results in a survey of nearly uniform depth. In addition to calibrated images, the project is delivering a catalog, constructed by using a probabilistic inference-based approach to estimate source shapes and brightnesses. The catalog includes photometry from the grz optical bands and from four mid-infrared bands (at 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 μm) observed by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite during its full operational lifetime. The project plans two public data releases each year. All the software used to generate the catalogs is also released with the data. This paper provides an overview of the Legacy Surveys project.

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Section: Mzls: the Mayall Z-band Legacy Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

Dey¹,

Schlegel²,

Lang³

et al. 2019

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815

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“…In preparation for DESI installation, the Mayall telescope control system (TCS) recently underwent a significant upgrade. 15,16 This effort yielded excellent pointing and tracking performance for the Mayall telescope with its pre-DESI top end. Prior to TCS modernization, the Mayall's pointing accuracy was ∼10-20 RMS.…”

Section: Pointing and Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of Kitt Peak's Mayall 4-meter Telescope During DESI Commissioning

Meisner,

Abareshi,

Dey

et al. 2021

Preprint

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In preparation for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a new top end was installed on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The refurbished telescope and the DESI instrument were successfully commissioned on sky between 2019 October and 2020 March. Here we describe the pointing, tracking and imaging performance of the Mayall telescope equipped with its new DESI prime focus corrector, as measured by six guider cameras sampling the outer edge of DESI's focal plane. Analyzing ∼500,000 guider images acquired during commissioning, we find a median delivered image FWHM of 1.1 arcseconds (in the r-band at 650 nm), with the distribution extending to a best-case value of ∼0.6 arcseconds. The point spread function is well characterized by a Moffat profile with a power-law index of β ≈ 3.5 and little dependence of β on FWHM. The shape and size of the PSF delivered by the new corrector at a field angle of 1.57 degrees are very similar to those measured with the old Mayall corrector on axis. We also find that the Mayall achieves excellent pointing accuracy (several arcseconds RMS) and minimal open-loop tracking drift (< 1 milliarcsecond per second), improvements on the telecope's pre-DESI performance. In the future, employing DESI's active focus adjustment capabilities will likely further improve the Mayall/DESI delivered image quality.

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“…2 NOAO also wrote new software for telescope control. 3 The new system has been in operation for well over a year, and was used to conduct the Mayall z-band Legacy Survey. The pointing errors of the new system are about 3 ′′ RMS, which is more than a factor of six improvement relative to the previous system.…”

Section: Telescope Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

Martini

Bailey

Besuner

et al. 2018

Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII

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The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is under construction to measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation technique. The spectra of 35 million galaxies and quasars over 14000 square degrees will be measured during the life of the experiment. A new prime focus corrector for the KPNO Mayall telescope will deliver light to 5000 fiber optic positioners. The fibers in turn feed ten broad-band

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A new telescope control software for the Mayall 4-meter telescope

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Overview of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

Overview of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

Performance of Kitt Peak's Mayall 4-meter Telescope During DESI Commissioning

Overview of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

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