******************************************************** ** ** ** IIII NNN NN GGGGG ** ** II NNNN NN GG GG LA PALMA ** ** II NN NN NN GG ** ** II NN NN NN GG GGG INFORMATION ** ** II NN NNNN GG GG ** ** IIII NN NNN GGGGG BULLETIN ** ** ** ** ** ** DATE: 8 July 1996 ** ** NUMBER: 11 ** ** ** ******************************************************** >>>>> LORAL-1 NOW AVAILABLE <<<<< David Sprayberry The first 2k by 2k Loral chip, locally know as LORAL-1, has been commissioned on ISIS and LDSS. Other focal stations will follow soon. Here are some characteristics of the chip: Size: 2048 by 2048 pixels, full frame 2148 by 2148, with 15 micron pixels. Readout Speed: Slow Standard Quick Turbo Gain (e-/ADU) 0.72 0.80 1.22 2.00 ReadNoise (e-) 6.90 6.02 6.74 12.3 Readout Time 7:22 4:18 2:55 2:10 (full 2148x2148, includes ~30 sec to clear chip before readout) Linear to (ADU) >60000 >60000 ~45000 ~30000 Dark Current: 1.6 e-/hr/pixel Cosmic ray hits: ~650 / hr (scaled to full 2048x2048 frame) Fringing: 7.5% over 45 pixels peak-to-trough at 8000 A. 1.6% over 20 pixels peak-to-trough at 7000 A. 0.4% over 3 pixels peak-to-trough at 6000 A. undetectable at shorter wavelengths Charge Spreading in Blue: Central wavelength set: 8000 3420 FWHM of unresolved line: 2.04 2.68 Cosmetic defects: Yes indeed. Hot pixel block: [1723:1726,821:857] Charge trap/bad column: [700:704,1062:2048] Weak (low counts) lines: [1:2048,1137:1145] and [1:2048,652:660] Performance on the blue arm of ISIS with the R158B grating: measurement of AB mags giving 1 phot/s/A wavel 3200 3300 3400 3500 3600 3700 3800 3900 4000 ABmag 17.4 17.7 18.0 18.1 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.3 18.4 wavel 4250 4500 4750 5000 5250 5500 5750 6000 6250 ABmag 18.3 18.2 18.1 18.0 17.8 17.6 17.5 17.3 17.0 wavel 6500 6750 ABmag 16.8 16.6 >>>>> MARTINI-III + WHIRCAM: CALL FOR SERVICE PROPOSALS <<<<< Vik Dhillon This is a call for service proposals to use MARTINI-III + WHIRCAM on the night of 1996 Aug 28. MARTINI-III is an adaptive optics system that provides a seeing-corrected focus to WHIRCAM on the GHRIL optical bench. In its simplest mode, MARTINI has been shown to reliably provide at least a factor of two improvement in angular resolution in seeing as poor as 1.5 arcsec. In seeing better than 1.2 arcsec the resulting image of a point source typically has FWHM of 0.35 arcsec at J and H and 0.4 arcsec at K. In a more advanced (but less tested) mode, MARTINI can provide angular resolution down to the diffraction limit of the primary in the K band (0.13 arcsec). To take advantage of the image improvement, extra optics can be used to change the pixel scale from the default 0.24 arcsec/pixel to 0.08 arcsec/pixel and 0.05 arcsec/pixel. MARTINI requires a wavefront reference, ie. a star or other point-like source ( < 2 arcsec) in the field of view. The reference star has to be at the centre of the field of view of WHIRCAM. Thus the reference must be less than 128x(0.24, 0.08 or 0.05) arcsec from the object of interest (or can be the object of interest itself). MARTINI provides full correction for wavefront references with V magnitudes brighter than 13th (the wavefront sensor works in the optical), and some correction for references fainter than this, the amount of correction depending on the magnitude and the seeing. Due to the extra optics involved, the throughput of WHIRCAM is approximately halved when compared to its use as a direct camera at GHRIL. Note that MARTINI is not a common-user instrument and therefore all observations are performed in collaboration with the Durham team performing the service observations. For further details, please consult Spectrum Nos. 4 and 7 or contact Vik Dhillon (vsd@ing.iac.es). >>>>> FUTURE SCHEME FOR SERVICE OBSERVING <<<<< Rene' Rutten A proposal has been put forward to improve the scheme of service observations at the ING. This proposal has been endorsed by the three time allocation committees in the UK, The Netherlands, and Spain. The key issues of the new scheme are (i) scientific grading of service proposals, and (ii) improving communication with the applicants. Related to these changes submission of service proposals will be through WWW forms only, a bi-monthly deadline will come into effect, and data will primarily be provided through anonymous ftp. With these changes we hope to provide a more professional service to the community and to make better use of the available telescope time. The current plan is to have the new service scheme in operation by the start of semester 97A, on 1 Feb 1997; a more detailed desciption of the new service scheme will be announced well before this date. >>>>> WHO-IS-WHO FOR INSTRUMENT RESPONSIBILITIES ON SITE <<<<< Contact the following persons if you have queries about specific instruments (usernames@ing.iac.es are given in brackets): WHT - Chris Benn (CRB) / Vik Dhillon (VSD) INT - Nic Walton (NAW) / Phil Rudd (PJR) JKT - Phil Rudd (PJR) / Rene' Rutten (RGMR) Imaging - David Sprayberry (DSPRAY) / Phil Rudd (PJR) WHT prime - David Sprayberry (DSPRAY) INT prime - David Sprayberry (DSPRAY) ISIS/FOS2 - Rene' Rutten (RGMR) / Vik Dhillon (VSD) AUTOFIB - Don Pollacco (DLP) / Rene' Rutten (RGMR) WYFFOS - Don Pollacco (DLP) / Rene' Rutten (RGMR) UES - Nic Walton (NAW) TAURUS - Nic Walton (NAW) LDSS - Mike Breare (BREARE) / Rene' Rutten (RGMR) IDS/FOS1 - Don Pollacco (DLP) / Phil Rudd (PJR) RBS - Phil Rudd (PJR) WHIRCAM - Chris Benn (CRB) GHRIL - Vik Dhillon (VSD) >>>>> SERVICE NIGHTS COMING UP <<<<< The following service/discretionary nights are scheduled for semester 96A and 96B: WHT === Jul 8 ISIS/UES Jul 19 ISIS/UES Jul 23 ISIS/UES Aug 12 ISIS/UES Aug 18 ISIS Aug 28 WHIRCAM+MARTINI Sep 5 LDSS Sep 6 WHIRCAM Sep 18-20 LDSS/UES (part of nights) Sep 21-22 UES (half nights) Sep 23 UES/WHIRCAM Sep 26 WHIRCAM Sep 27-28 WHIRCAM (half nights) Oct 4-5 prime focus imaging Oct 17 TAURUS/UES Nov 12 TAURUS/UES Nov 21 TAURUS/UES Nov 22-23 ISIS (part of nights) Nov 26-30 ISIS (part of nights) Dec 20 WHIRCAM/UES/ISIS Dec 26 UES/ISIS Dec 31 ISIS (half night) Jan 1 ISIS/UES Jan 8 ISIS/UES Jan 16-17 UES (half nights) Jan 25-26 WHIRCAM/ISIS/UES Jan 29 UES (half night) Jan 31 ISIS (half night) INT === Jul 9 IDS Jul 12 IDS Jul 16 IDS Jul 24 IDS Aug 12 IDS Sep 10 prime focus imaging Sep 19-22 prime focus imaging (half nights) Oct 10 prime focus imaging Oct 14 prime focus imaging Oct 31 prime focus imaging Oct 15-16 IDS/MUSICOS Dec 4 prime focus imaging Dec 15 prime focus imaging Dec 23 IDS jan 30-31 IDS JKT === Jul 31 CCD Aug 16 CCD Sep 20 RBS Oct 2 CCD Oct 24 CCD Oct 30 CCD Nov 7 CCD Dec 3 CCD Dec 11 CCD Dec 19 CCD Jan 10 RBS Jan 21 CCD Jan 30-31 CCD To apply for service time: 1) Use the html fill-in form on the World-Wide Web at: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/%7Elpinfo/service/service_form.html 2) By emailing the text form to service@ing.iac.es >>>>> NEXT PATT APPLICATION DEADLINE <<<<< September 30, 1996 for Semester 97A between Feb. 1 and Jul. 31, 1997. NOTE: for Dutch applications, according to the latest information, the deadline will be September 15, 1996. March 31, 1997 for Semester 97B between Aug. 1 1997 and Feb. 1 1997. NOTE: for Dutch applications the deadline is March 15, 1997. >>>>> CONTACTING La Palma <<<<< La Palma can best be reached through INTERNET address: user@ing.iac.es ============================================================================== This information bulletin was prepared at the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes. Distribution is by e-mail only. For free subscriptions send your Internet address to: >>>>>>>>>>>>> bulletin@ing.iac.es <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Suggestions regarding content are appreciated. ==============================================================================