Magellan SAC/Pasadena 1

Magellan F/5 StatusEavesdropping

PISCO

Andrew Szentgyorgyi25 Apr 2011/Pasadena

4/25/11

Magellan SAC/Pasadena 2

Magellan F/5MMIRS and Megacam in routine science operations.2011a run soon 26 Apr – 4 Jun

Mega - MMIRS - Mega

2011b run at Nov- Jan 2011 – scheduling possibilities MMIRS – Mega – MMIRS MMIRS – Mega – MMIRS – Mega Mega – MMIRS - Mega

Oversubscription in CfA community: Megacam - 2:1 MMIRS - 3:1

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Magellan SAC/Pasadena 3

MMIRS Thermal Background

• MMIRS has suffered from excess thermal background.

• Deployed a retractable baffle in 2010a– Residual thermal.

background that was still out of spec.

– Unanticipate light path.– Baffle not reliably deploying.

• Have redesigned baffle and mechanism.– Engineering team is currently

installing new baffle.4/25/11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhR2UbZ__6o&feature=related

Magellan SAC/Pasadena 4

Planning for the Future• AO arrives in 2012a, will change landscape.• Demand for F/5 instrumentation is high, but will have

to see if it continues.• Tractability of reduction may become an issue.– May depend somewhat on availability of reduction tools for

MMIRS.– Megacam data is “big” but reduction is “straightforward”.

• Moving F/5 instruments North has cost and labor implications.

• An ansatz – might think about moving Mega/MMIRS in 2014.– Return to Magellan in 2018 (when GMT will be approaching

first light & I will be 64).4/25/11

Magellan SAC/Pasadena 5

Status of “Over the Shoulder Observing” The Magellan Consortium purchases round trip travel to LCO

~365 times a year for observers.• We love to come, but perhaps we could use some of the

money spent on travel for other things we desperately need?• Some of us are better than others about sending one person

or team to do queued observations.• And yes, students need to be educated about observing.• We don’t want to turn the telescopes into pure data factory.• It’s important for the whole community to stay in touch with

LCO community and know what’s going on at LCO.

Perhaps we could recover some of the money spent on travel with “over the shoulder observing”.

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Magellan SAC/Pasadena 6

Eavesdropping is Easy• If a queue scientist is present in the dome, there are many

ways to share a screen and participate in observing remotely ….. Skype, VNC, &c.

• We are investing in high speed connectivity back to the US, so DS9, &c. will work well.– Old microwave system could be unusable for screen

sharing during the day.• CfA runs it’s instruments remotely for testing and debugging.

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Instruments are becoming increasing complicated – observers who spend 5-7 nights on an instrument take better data than observers who drop in for one night.

Magellan SAC/Pasadena 7

But …• Old Internet connectivity dropped out quite a

bit. Maybe the new fiber is better– … but risk of not being able to connect is real.

• Stronger security makes it increasingly difficult to “drop in” through the net.

• CfA does not operate F/5 instruments currently in a mode that enables remote observing.– No mechanism in place to screen share with

observing computers in the dome.

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Magellan SAC/Pasadena 8

PISCO

• There is evidence of forward motion• No update from PISCO team however.

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