1. Astronomy 920 Commissioning of the Prime Focus Imaging Spectrograph
Meeting 1
Organization; Intro
Ken Nordsieck
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

2. Goals
Learn of capabilities of Southern African Large Telescope and PFIS. Submit practice (or real) observing proposals.
Become familiar with large telescope spectrograph design
Learn IRAF mosaic CCD reduction
Reduce and analyze data in support of commissioning: ~4 projects with ~2-member teams
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

3. Roster Here is the roster as it stands today Laura Beth Chomiuk
Claudia Jane
Cyganowski
Kelley Michelle
Hess
Alex S.
Hill
Karen Tabetha
Hole
Amanda Ann
Kepley
Thomas John
Nelson
Louis Michael
Nigra
Kyle Brian
Westfall
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

4. Materials PFIS website http://www.sal.wisc.edu/PFIS/index.html
PFIS Observer’s Guide (Eric Burgh)
Instrument Model “PI Planning Tool” (Jeff Percival; Daniel Harbeck)
SALT IRAF package (Me) on MADRAF, see Stephan Jansen
Lab and Commissioning Data, to be downloaded as it comes
For next week: access materials, form teams
Meeting format: lecture for <40 min/ discuss for inputs for discussion
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

5. Syllabus Intro (today) Instrument Model Project Definition
Optics
Detector
Signal/ Noise Model
Project Definition
Reduction/ Analysis
CCD Bias/ Crosstalk/ Gain
Geometry
Spectroscopy
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

6. SALT site at Sutherland
SALT Overview
SAAO HQ Cape Town
SALT site at Sutherland
280 km ~ 175 miles
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

7. SALT Cutaway View
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

8. Getting a big telescope for cheap – Tracking with a fixed telescope
HET/ SALT – Annulus centered overhead
Arecibo – Circle overhead
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

9. Sky Coverage Observing period: 1 “Track”. +/- 6 deg = 50 min – 2.5 hrs
Entirely queue scheduled
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

10. Payload Tracker “Payload” equipment Ports
Spherical aberration corrector (“SAC”). 4 Mirrors. Defines entrance pupil.
Calibration System
Moving baffle
Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector
Ports
Acquisition/ Imaging camera (“SALTICAM”)
Fiber Feed Port
Auxiliary Port
PFIS (500 kg - 50% of weight budget)
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

11. First Light
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

12. PFIS Overview Major Prime Focus Instrument
Multimode/ remote controlled
Narrow-Band Imaging 3200 – 9000 Ang
Multiobject (slitmask) grating spectroscopy 3200 – 9000 Ang
Fabry-Perot spectroscopy 4300 – 9000 Ang
All modes: polarimetry
3-CCD mosaic
High-Speed rapid readout
Schedule
ship to Sutherland in a week
install late Sept
commission Oct - Nov
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

13. Optics Layout
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

14. Collimator
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

15. Camera
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1

16. VPH Gratings
Sept 9, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 1