ARC 3.5-m Instrument News Page

html> ARC 3.5-m Instrument News Page

Apache Point Observatory
New Mexico, USA

ARCTIC

2024-03-18: The instrument is performing nominally exceptfor the water spots still exist on the fore optics.

2024-03-11: The instrument had a partial warmup and softening of the vacuum last night. Attempting to resolve without needing to pump on the dewar. Otherwise instrument is performing nominally exceptfor the water spots still exist on the fore optics.

2024-03-04: The instrument is operating nominally except for the water spots still exist on the fore optics.

2024-02-26: The instrument is operating nominally except for the water spots still exist on the fore optics.

2024-02-19: The instrument is operating nominally except for the water spots still exist on the fore optics.

2024-02-12: The instrument is operating nominally except for the water spots still exist on the fore optics.

2024-02-05: The instrument is operating nominally except for the water spots still exist on the fore optics.

2024-01-29: The instrument is operating nominally except for the water spots still exist on the fore optics.

2024-01-22: The instrument is operating nominally except for the water spots still exist on the fore optics.

2024-01-15: The instrument had a failure of the filter wheel controls. Repaired hall effect sening board.

2024-01-08: The instrument had a failure of the filter wheel controls. Implemented a temporary fix today but will continue to troubleshoot tomorrow. A dropped quad occured while troubleshooting over the weekend and was recovered last night.

2024-01-02: The instrument had a failure of the filter wheel controls. Implemented a temporary fix today but will continue to troubleshoot tomorrow. A dropped quad occured while troubleshooting over the weekend and was recovered last night.

2023-12-18: Instrument experienced a problem with the filter wheel controller last night. After things were restarted it resulted in a dropped quad. I was able to partiallywarm and recover the quad during the day today. It should be available for tonight. The filter wheel problem may have been an unbalanced wheel. We have not been able to confirm with certainty.

2023-12-11: Instrument underwent a vacuum softening last week when we recovered the dropped quad. It did not recover. CCD temperatures are still at temperature setpoint. Planning on warming and pumping on the instrument starting tomorrrow. Not able to disassemble the optics or diffuser for cleaning until late spring or summer.

2023-12-04: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2023-11-27: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated. This maintenance has been rescheduled until the spring of 2024.

2023-11-20: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-11-13: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-11-06: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-10-30: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-10-23: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-10-16: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-10-09: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-10-02: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-09-25: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-09-18: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-09-11: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-09-04: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-08-28: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-07-14: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-07-10: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-07-03: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-06-26: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-06-19: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-06-12: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-06-05: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-05-30: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-05-22: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-05-15: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-05-08: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-04-24: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable at some point while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-04-20: Installed new opticalbaffle on the NA2 mirror cover petal that will now allow for taking dome flats with ARCTIC. Disregard the warning at theend of this section from 2021 about cover flats.

2023-04-17: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable this week while the components are cleaned and relubricated.

2023-04-10: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. The diffuser will be unavailable this week while the componentsare cleaned and relubricated.

2023-04-03: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. There was a dropped quad over the weekend that was recovered.

2023-03-27: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2023-03-20: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2023-03-13: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2023-03-06: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. Was a report that the diffuser was not spinning. Investigation revealed could not reproduce the problem. Maybe cold weather related.

2023-02-27: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier. There was a quad drop this weekend that the obs-spec was able to recover from.

2023-02-20: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2023-02-13: Dropped quad this weekend that has been difficult to recover from. If tonights operator still is unable to bring it back I will attempt to recover it this week. Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2023-02-06: Dropped quad this weekend that has been difficult to recover from. If tonights operator still is unable to bring it back I will attempt to recover it this week. Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2023-01-30: Dropped quad this weekend that has been difficult to recover from. If tonights operator still is unable to bring it back I will attempt to recover it this week. Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2023-01-23: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2023-01-17: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2022-12-12: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2022-12-05: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2022-11-28: Instrument is operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2022-11-21: Instrument has hada few quad dropouts around the time of end of servicing the vacuum last week. It appears to be operating nominally except for the few water spots still on the fore optics mentioned earlier.

2022-11-15: Camera is been cooled after a last minute ion pump change. Have balanced the bias levels on all 4 quadrants in the three readout modes.

2022-11-14: Camera warmed and on vacuum pump to address soft vacuum and poor behaving ion pump. It is not available for use until servicing complete early next week.

2022-11-10: Camera warmed and on vacuum pump to address soft vacuum and poor behaving ion pump. It is not available for use until servicing complete early next week.

2022-11-07: The camera dewar vacuum appears to have softened some. CCD temperatures are still stable but I may need to put the camera on the pump this week. There are condensation droplets, possibly on the back side of L1 or the front of L2. We have increased the purge air but there still are residue visiable in the UL quadrant of an image. Unfortunately, the water droplets can notbedone at the same time as the vacuum servicing this time. There is currently no schedule for when the next servicing of the instrument and cleaning of the optics will take place. We do not recommend you use flats from previous runs (as the condensation pattern may be changing) and take new flats if possible. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle isinthe process of a redesign.

2022-10-31: There are condensation droplets, possibly on the back side of L1 or the front of L2. We have increased the purge air but there still are residue visiable in the UL quadrant of an image. There is currently no schedule for when the next servicing of the instrument and cleaning of the optics will take place. We do not recommend you use flats from previous runs (as the condensation pattern may be changing) and take new flats if possible. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle isinthe process of a redesign.

2022-10-24: There are condensation droplets, possibly on the back side of L1 or the front of L2. We have increased the purge air but there still are residue visiable in the UL quadrant of an image. There is currently no schedule for when the next servicing of the instrument and cleaning of the optics will take place. We do not recommend you use flats from previous runs and take new flats if possible. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle isinthe process of a redesign.

2022-10-17: There are condensation droplets that appeared last week. We have increased the purge air but there still are residue visiable in the UL quadrant of an image. We do not recommend you use flats from previous runs and take new flats if possible. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle isinthe process of a redesign.

2022-10-10: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle isinthe process of a redesign.

2022-10-03: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle isinthe process of a redesign.

2022-09-26: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle isinthe process of a redesign.

2022-09-19: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle wsinthe process of a redesign.

2022-09-12: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle was installed but we found an interference issue with the eyelid. Back to redesign.

2022-09-06: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle was installed but we found an interference issue with the eyelid. Back to redesign.

2022-08-29: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle was installed but we found an interference issue with the eyelid. Back to redesign.

2022-08-22: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle was installed but we found an interference issue with the eyelid. Back to redesign.

2022-08-15: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. The supplemental baffle was installed but we found an interference issue with the eyelid. Back to redesign.

2022-08-01: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-07-25: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-07-18: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-07-11: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.
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2022-07-05: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-06-27: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-06-20: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-06-13: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-06-06: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-06-01: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-05-23: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-05-16: Instrument is operating nominally. There was one occurence of a dropped quad this week. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-05-09: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-05-02: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-04-25: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-04-18: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-04-14: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-04-04: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-03-28: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-03-21: Instrument is operating nominally. There was a quad drop last evening (UL and LR). The instrumentwas used for a few hoursin single amplifer mode and the LR quad self recovered. Raising the bias levels did not improve the recovery process. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-03-14: Instrument is operating nominally. No recent dropped quadrants. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-03-07: Instrument is operating nominally. No recent dropped quadrants. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-02-28: Instrument is operating nominally.No recent dropped quadrants. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-02-21: Instrument is operating nominally.No recent dropped quadrants. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-02-14: Instrument is operating nominally however last night there were 2 dropped quadrants. It took the observing specialist more than a dozen attempts to recover while warming the CCD to 199K. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-02-07: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-01-31: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2022-01-26: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2021-12-20: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2021-12-13: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. Tried to balance the bias levels for the four quadrants this past Saturday as well as restoring a dropped quad.

2021-12-06: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. Tried to balance the bias levels for the four quadrants this past Saturday as well as restoring a dropped quad.

2021-11-29: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. Tried to balance the bias levels for the four quadrants this past Saturday as well as restoring a dropped quad.

2021-11-22: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. Tried to balance the bias levels for the four quadrants this past Saturday as well as restoring a dropped quad.

2021-11-15: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. Tried to balance the bias levels for the four quadrants this past Saturday as well as restoring a dropped quad.

2021-11-08: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. Tried to balance the bias levels for the four quadrants this past Saturday as well as restoring a dropped quad.

2021-11-01: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later. Tried to balance the bias levels for the four quadrants this past Saturday as well as restoring a dropped quad.

2021: APO does not recommend taking dome flats with ARCTIC. We are working on designing a supplemental baffle to correct the problem with cover flats. Currently cover flats produce a gradient across the flat field that is dependant on telescope position (altitude) and rotator angle.

2021-10-25: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2021-10-18: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2021-10-11: Instrument is operating nominally. For those using the new diffuser interface in TUI, the command "arctic status" may be needed to update your window after changing instrument configurations. We are looking into a soultion. The diffuser upgrades are available in 2.6.1a2 and later.

2021-10-04: Instrument is operating nominally.

2021-09-27: Instrument is operating nominally.

2021-09-20: Instrument is operating nominally.

2021-09-18: Instrument is operating nominally. Software modifications are complete. All new functions (instrument cover status, true in/out status, RPM good status, rotation control, in/out control) of the new duffuser are available. If you request use of the diffuser please send an email to the Telescope Engineer or Observing Specialists for instructions on how to patch your TUI for the controls. Changes will be released in a new TUI with KOSMOS TUI release.

2021-09-16: Instrument is operating nominally. Software modifications are complete. All new functions (instrument cover status, true in/out status, RPM good status, rotation control, in/out control) of the new duffuser are available.

2021-09-13: Instrument is operating nominally. Installed diffuser modifications (hardware and electronics) last week. Software modifications are still on going. Diffuser can be used in/out only at this time. Rotation is not functional even after the upgrade.

2021-09-06: Instrument is operating nominally. Installed diffuser modifications (hardware and electronics) last week. Software modifications are still on going. Diffuser can be used in/out only at this time. Rotation is not functional even after the upgrade.

2021-08-30: Instrument is operating nominally. Installed diffuser modifications (hardware and electronics) last week. Software modifications are still on going. Diffuser can be used in/out only at this time. Rotation is not functional even after the upgrade.

2021-08-09: Instrument is operating nominally. Moved the ionpump to the gamma vacuum controller (off of the varian controller).

2021-08-02: Instrument is operating nominally.

2021-07-27: Instrument is operating nominally.

2021-07-13: Instrument is shutdown for annual maintenance.

2021-07-12: Instrument is operating nominally. Ion pump currents are elevated but still in operating range. Instrument servicing begins tomorrow.

2021-07-06: Instrument is operating nominally. Ion pump currents are elevated but still in operating range.

2021-06-28: Instrument is operating nominally. Ion pump currents are elevated but still in operating range.

2021-05-24: Instrument is operating nominally. Ion pump currents are elevated but still in operating range.

2021-05-17: Instrument is operating nominally.

2021-05-11: Instrument is operating nominally.

2021-05-04: Instrument is operating nominally.

2021-04-21: While installing the diffuser upgrade we ran into a few interference and balance issues that may require some time to fix. While attempting to reinstall the diffuser optic back in original diffuser table the retaining ring became jammed. Until we can remove the optic from the new table and install back in the original table the robotics needs to remain powered down and the instrument is unavailable.

2021-04-19: The instrument is operating nominally.

2021-04-12: The instrument is operating nominally.

2021-04-05: The instrument is operating nominally. The diffuser in/out motion has been repaired and no longer requires rotating the instrument for gravity assist.

2021-03-29: The instrument is operating nominally. The diffuser in/out motion has required turning the instrument upside down/ or zero rotation respectably for gravity assist. Investigating the problem.

2021-02-22: The instrument is operating nominally. Users are reminded at ambient temperatures below -10C the shutter becomes unreliable and sticks open/shut. Please inspect your data carefully and report any issue found. There is a manual reset that the observing specialist can activate.

2021-02-15: The instrument is operating nominally. Users are reminded at ambient temperatures below -10C the shutter becomes unreliable and sticks open/shut. Please inspect your data carefully and report any issue found. There is a manual reset that the observing specialist can activate.

2021-02-08: The instrument is operating nominally. Users are reminded at ambient temperatures below -10C the shutter becomes unreliable and sticks open/shut. Please inspect your data carefully and report any issue found. There is a manual reset that the observing specialist can activate.

2021-02-01: The instrument is operating nominally. Users are reminded at ambient temperatures below -10C the shutter becomes unreliable and sticks open/shut. Please inspect your data carefully and report any issue found. There is a manual reset that the observing specialist can activate.

2021-01-25: The instrument is operating nominally. Users are reminded at ambient temperatures below -10C the shutter becomes unreliable and sticks open/shut. Please inspect your data carefully and report any issue found. There is a manual reset that the observing specialist can activate.

2021-01-18: The instrument is operating nominally. Users are reminded at ambient temperatures below -10C the shutter becomes unreliable and sticks open/shut. Please inspect your data carefully and report any issue found. There is a manual reset that the observing specialist can activate.

2021-01-11: The instrument is operating nominally. Users are reminded at ambient temperatures below -10C the shutter becomes unreliable and sticks open/shut. Please inspect your data carefully and report any issue found. There is a manual reset that the observing specialist can activate.

2021-01-05: The instrument is operating nominally. Users are reminded at ambient temperatures below -10C the shutter becomes unreliable and sticks open/shut. Please inspect your data carefully and report any issue found. There is a manual reset that the observing specialist can activate.

2020-12-07: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-11-30: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-10-26: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-10-19: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-10-12: The instrument is operating nominally. Improvements were made to the FITS headers EXPTIME, DARKTIME and instrument temperatures.

2020-10-04: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-09-28: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-09-04: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-08-28: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-08-17: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-08-11: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-08-03: The instrument is undergoing vacuum servicing. It is not available for use.

2020-06-22: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-06-20: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-06-01: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-04-06: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-03-30: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-03-23: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-03-09: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-03-02: The instrument is operating nominally. We have lowered the operating temperature to 175K to further lower the dark current.

2020-02-24: The instrument is operating nominally. We have lowered the operating temperature initially to 180K and have installed the new temperature controller power amplifier.

2020-02-17: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-02-10: The instrument is operating nominally.

2020-02-03: The instrument is operating nominally. There was an issue this weekend with the filterwheel but it was quickly resolved. We are still working on a safer way to recover from dropped quadrants so we can lower the operating temperature and reduce dark current.

2019-11-04: The instrument has been operating nominally

2019-10-21: The instrument has been operating nominally

2019-10-14: The instrument has been operating nominally

2019-09-23: The instrument has been operating nominally

2019-09-09: The instrument has been operating nominally, but we lowered the CCD temperature setpoint a few degrees to 182K. This has improved biases and darks somewhat. Please take new calibrations and do not rely on archiced cals.

2019-08-26: The instrument has been operating nominally

2019-08-20: The instrument underwent vacuum servicing. It is cold again.

2019-08-16: The instrument has been warmed for servicing.

2019-08-12: The instrument has been operating nominally

2019-08-05: The instrument has been operating nominally

2019-07-08: The instrument has been operating nominally

2019-05-16: The instrument has been operating nominally

2019-01-02: The instrument has been operating nominally

2018-12-03: The instrument has been operating nominally

2018-10-15: The instrument has been operating nominally

2018-10-08: The filter wheel slips when moved bidirectionally about 30 pixels. Users should be warned that if you change directions then your flat fields will not line up as accurately.

2018-09-27: The homing problem has been resolved. We are testing a new drive wheel today and tomorrow. Otherwise the instrument is operating nominally.

2018-09-10: The instrument was vacuum serviced over the summer and its ion pump was replaced. Extensive testing on the filter wheels was done and software was updated. Currently, filter wheels need to be homed if there is a shift seen in filter position from many moves. A home needs to be commanded twice to complete successfully. We believe this is a software bug that Conor can address. Bias levels for all readout rates were also balanced

2018-04-02: The CCD temp is near or slightly below operating temperature, however the heaters are running at 100% so the temperature is being unregulated and is following ambient temperature swings.

2018-03-19: The CCD has been running colder than expected. Cause is unknown but we have been investigating. Expect a slightly better dark current performance however there is a risk that a reset / init of the camera electronics for other issues will trigger a dropped quadrant.

2018-01-24: The instrument is operating nominally.

2018-01-22: The instruments PCC had lost its charge and was slowly warming up. It was recharged and is back working. There likely is a slow leak in the system pressure that may be difficult to service or find until sumer months. Will continue to keep an eye on this.

2017-06-19: The instrument temperature has purposesly been raised to alleviate a 2 hour recovery time from frozen preamp boards and the dropped quadrant problem on instrument resets. Because of this dark current is noticable. The dark current scales linearly with exposure times for exposures longer than 10 seconds and can be removed due to traditional methods. Users should be taking darks. For short exposures shorter than 10 seconds, seek the advice of Russet McMillan.

2017-06-12: Investigating increased dark current, new preamps that might be able to run colder, and image transformations based on amplifier choosen. More on this later.

2017-03-11: Diffuser installed (stationary only)

2017-02-23: Replaced the filterwheel hall effect sensor which was damaged when too long of screws were inserted in the filterwheel. Downtime minimal (less than one half night).

2017-02-16: After some experiments running the detector colder to increase performance it was decided that running it at 186K was a more proper setpoint to minimize downtime on loss of a dropped quadrant if an init needs to be preformed.

2017-02-10: More problems with the diffuser. Not spinning properly. HAve decided to ship it to UW to see if Jason Lozo can identify any troubles. It is not available until further notice.

2017-02-02: The diffuser is operational and has been tested extensively. We have implemented improvements to hardware and software to make it somewhat more reliable.

2017-01-15: The cold strap removal was successful and the instrument is running stabily at 186K.

The instrument will be taken out of service January 5-12 to fix the fixed dropped quad problem. Some of the cold strapping will be removed forcing the instrument to run warmer (within spec of the preampifier boards).

2016-11-14: We have discovered the dropped quad problem is temperature related. The preamp boards are running much colder than specification. The recovery is to restart the controller while the temperature is above 185K. We can trigger a dropped quadrant reliably and recover from it reliably. The time however for cool down and stability in CCD temperature is about 3+ hours. We are discussing methods to fix this long term in the future but it requires going into the cryostat.

2016-11-01: Diffuser table modifications still ongoing. Hopefully they will be complete by the end of the day and the diffuser will be ready for Wednesday observations.

2016-10-27: Removed the Diffuser from the front of the instrument to incorporate several modifications and changes.

2016-10-24: The UL quadrant was again blank when in Quad mode. The instrument was warmed slightly (to 180K) this past Wednesday and reset. This brought back the UL quadrant. The instrument seems to be behaving as expected.

2016-09-25: The instrument was not maintaining temperature and vacuum values were fluctuating on an hourly rate. Tracked down the problem to low system pressure on the cryotiger. Recharged yesterday at noon. Temperatures normalized later in the day. The problem was resolved.

2016-08-01: Joe has raised the CCD temperature. This appears to have fixed the issue of the ramps in the bias frames in single amplifier read mode. We will continue to monitor for conflicting issues.

2016-05-01: Users should be aware of the different modes and the issues with each. Single amplifier read mode has a gradient in the bias overscan that is different than the row to row differences in the image but does track it. Quad amplifier readout this problem is gone but there is an issue where high energy cosmic rays or very saturated stars can cause trailing along the same row (or multiple rows) or the readout. For more information contact Joe Huehnerhoff or Russet McMillan.

2016-03-09: New set of Johnson-Cousins 5 inch round filters have arrived and are available for use.

2016-01-26: Several instrument issues have been resolved off the punch list. Quad readout is working after we have replaced the preamp boards. The larger 5 inch sloan filters an a set of 4 inch square UNM filter are available for a larger field of view from SPIcam. Holders for 3 inch and 2 inch square filters are also available for use. A Johnson-Cousins UBVRI set is expected to arrive in March.

2016-03-09: 5 inch round Johnson-Cousins filters are on site and available for use.

2016-01-26: Several instrument issues have been resolved off the punch list. Quad readout is working after we have replaced the preamp boards. The larger 5 inch sloan filters an a set of 4 inch square UNM filter are available for a largerafield of view from SPIcam. Holders for 3 inch and 2 inch square filters are also available for use. A Johnson-Cousins UBVRI set is expected to arrive in March.

2015-10-20: The Instrument is behaving well. There are a few items that users should be aware of.

1. Quad readout is currently not recommended due to an issue with one of the preamp boards amplifiers. Please use single mode readout.

2. Current filters that are available: SDSS u,g,r,i,z and UNM 4" H-Alpha set (657/3,658/3,659/3,660/3,661/3). We are currently making a number of 3 inch filter holders. Those should be available by November 1.

3. WCS cards have been fixed for full frame imaging but are not correct for subframing.

4. Aborts and stops of exposures now work.