Summer Shutdown 2024 Wraps up on Aug 30, 2024 with the first on-sky checkout of our instruments taking place Aug 30 weather permitting.
Update Sept 2 2024: On UT Sept 1 the Telescope experienced a water intrusion event. The SX ASM experienced liquid gap contamination of the thin shell during this event. The unit was removed for repairs Sept 2nd. The rigid secondary remains installed in place of the DX side while the DX ASM campaign wraps up. The SX side of the telescope will remain without a secondary mirror until the DX ASM is installed later this month.
Update Sep 9, 2024: Assessments of the SX ASM continue. Additional information can be found here.
The DX ASM installation has been delayed as the focus continues on the SX ASM to minimize the water damage. A projection for installing the DX ASM will be provided as soon as possible.
Overview of SSD 24 Telescope Activities
The SX mirror was recoated this summer. This year’s SX11 coating is better in the blue than we have seen in recent years. The SX M3 was also recoated.
DX Adaptive Secondary underwent an extensive campaign to address issues and critical maintenance with the help of Microgate. This service mission included work to address electronics issues at extreme temperatures, replacements of aging glycol hoses, and return of several actuators into service.
Instrument Status
LUCIs
Both LUCI’s remained closed this summer. Work to understand and resolve the LUCI2 G200 instability issue was completed before summer shutdown and the problem is understood and considered resolved for science operations. Some general maintenance to helium lines was completed, and computer software upgrades done. Both items transparent to the users.
LUCI’s have both been installed on the telescope and have passed their cold functional checkouts. LUCI2 onsky checkouts have been completed. LUCI1 onsky checks are pending the install of the SX secondary.
MODS
MODS optics were cleaned this summer while they were off the telescope including: collimator mirrors, camera corrector lenses, field lenses, red fold flats 1 &2, and dichroics.
Both MODS are on the telescope, with the closed dome checkouts completed. MODS2 on-sky checks have been completed. MODS1 checks are pending the install of the SX secondary.
LBCs
Filters and lenses were cleaned for the LBCs. The instruments have been cooled and reinstalled on the telescope with basic checks completed. All on-sky checks have been completed.
TMS
The TMS system was down for a large portion of 2023B-2024A due to a failure of laser1 (see here). A new replacement laser was installed in June of 2024. The system was installed and aligned. Basic closed dome tests have been completed and the system has been released and checked on sky during the recent restart period.
PEPSI
The PEPSI team completed a campaign to install a new fiber injection unit, as well as a new polarimeter CMOS camera.
After several challenges during installation, The Fiber injection unit V3.0 was installed instead. The new fiber injection unit V3.0 (Svend Bauer) is based on the original V1.0, but modified to make the grooves for ferrules shorter. The transmission profiles from closed dome testing show improvement, and PEPSI is ready to be tested on sky as well for science operations. We plan to exercise PEPSI on sky during the ECD night on UT Sept 17.
AO
The SX Adsec was installed. Seeing limited science has been released, and the majority of the checkout has been completed for LUCI AO science with the SX side.
SX Adsec experienced a Liquid gap contamination event on Sept 1. This critical event has forced the removal of the secondary on Sept 2. Additional details can be found here:
DX ASM underwent an extensive campaign this summer. During the verification process an issue was found which has delayed the install. The rigid secondary remains on the DX side. The team is investigating the issue recently discovered and an updated timeline for installation is expected to be available soon.
Computers and communication upgrades
The mountain observing workstations have been updated. This includes two headless remote observing computers, robs1 and robs2, running X2Go servers, and five on-summit work stations, obs1-5, each with two 4K monitors. Member login credentials remain the same but there have been a few changes to the organization of these machines. The robs# and obs# computers have been set up to include a “share” directory that is visible to all workstations.
Directories:
/home/<partner> is _local_ on each machine. Files are not visible on other machines.
/home/<partner>/scratch is also _local_ on each machine, available for temporary work.
/home/<partner>/share is an nfs disk cross-mounted on all computers.
Use the shared space for persistent information like scripts, finding charts, and other observing materials, and the scratch space for quick reductions, modsAlign, etc. It has been common practice to make a symbolic link, e.g. 2024B, in the /home/ directory for observing materials, just be aware that this link is local to the machine you are working on.
For security, VPN accounts will now automatically age out every semester, so any previous VPN account is unlikely to work. If you will need VPN access for remote observing or preparation work in the coming semester contact SciOps_at_lbto.org with sufficient advanced notice that we can get it set up and tested before your run begins.
