Posted Jan 11, 2025
Jan 09, 2025
The DX LUCI WFS experienced an issue with one of the filter wheels. This filter wheel is used for very bright targets only with an R magnitude brighter than 8th magnitude. LUCI full AO and LUCI ESM is released in shared risk. PI’s with bright targets are encouraged to reach out to the science operations team to verify configurations.
Posted Sep 10, 2024
As of Sept. 9, 2024, LBTI’s camera cryostat (NIC) remains off the telescope for ongoing maintenance and upgrade work, with some major uncertainty on the observing modes that will be available for 2024B and 2025A. PIs of accepted 2024B programs will be notified of the status as soon as possible and the LBTI team and LBTO will work with them to update their projects accordingly. Observers planning on proposing for LBTI time in 2025A should check this page or contact S. Ertel (lbtipi@lbto.org) for updates. Operations of the SHARK-NIR, SHARK-VIS, and iLocater instruments remain unaffected.
Posted Aug 30, 2024
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Posted Jun 28, 2024
LUCI2 G200 Available – problem understood! (June 28, 2024)
The G200 tilt issue is now understood. The “in position” switches turn on just before the grating wheel engages the detent. With a few dropped steps this can leave the grating wheel out of position, though the software thinks it is correct. It won’t be possible to fix this until the next time LUCI2 is opened, but it should be reliably correctable.
Recovery requires LBTO personnel to move the grating wheel motor +10 steps to bump it into the detent. Calibrations have been updated. I don’t consider this shared risk anymore.
LUCI2 G200 Available – shared risk (June 25, 2024)
We are releasing the G200 grating in shared risk for science observing. While the problem described below persists and we continue to investigate, it seems to work most of the time and there is a workaround we can try if it is out of position. This requires involvement of the LBTO support person assigned to your run as it involves working with the low-level LUCI engineering GUIs, so please notify them if you plan to use the G200 grating.
LUCI2 G200 Unavailable (June 2, 2024)
An issue was noted with the G200 calibration during checkouts. While this is being investigated the G200 will remain unavailable for science. All other modes are released.
LUCI2 Commonly Used Modes Released for Science (May 30, 2024)
The G200 with the N1.8 has completed calibration. The repairs to the tilt sensor recently made appear to have resolved the issues experienced with the G200 tilt sensor, and it now is reliably going to the requested wavelength. N375 Imaging, N375 & N1.8 G210, and N1.8 G200 are released for science with the following caveats:
The AO system has been checked out and a first pass of NCPA tables has been generated. The NCPA amplitude has changed with the recent thermal cycling and further work is needed to refine the NCPA tables. Work is underway to improve these NCPA coefficients. Full AO for bright sources remains unavailable until these tables are refined. ESM is fully available in all modes.
LUCI2 Installed and Released for Science with Caveats (May 24, 2024)
LUCI2 was installed on the telescope on May 23rd. The functional checkout on the telescope was successful. The instrument was released for Imaging with the N375 and spectroscopy with the G210 N1.8 on May 24th with the following caveats:
LUCI2 Removed for repairs (May 7, 2024)
LUCI2 was removed from the telescope for repairs on May7th. The repairs will take place in the lab over the next week with an expected reinstall date of May22 and return the instrument for science readiness around May 28th.
LUCI2 Schedule Repairs (Apr 29, 2024)
LUCI2 is schedule for removal from the telescope on May 7th or 8th for repairs to the G200 Grating. Testing has shown that the problem lies within the LUCI2 instrument, with the LUCI2 tilt sensor. This intervention was deemed necessary for instrument safety and longevity.
This intervention will address the LUCI2 tilt sensor, with plans to reinstall LUCI2 around May 22nd and return the instrument for science readiness around May 28th.
LUCI2 G200 Displaced Spectra (Apr16, 2024)
The LUCI2 G200 grating has been having increasing trouble reliably reaching the central wavelength requested. Users/observers should frequently check the grating position for both science and calibration exposures by comparing to known good data or between LUCI1 and LUCI2. Troubleshooting notes and recovery suggestions have been added to the LUCI pages (here). If the problem persists after trying to recover, it may be necessary to switch to programs not using G200. The problem could be in the external electronics or the internal tilt sensor at the grating. Testing to determine this should be done in the next few weeks.
Note that the G210 grating is unaffected by this problem. Programs using the G200 grating in LUCI2 could be redesigned to use G210 instead, with the obvious trade-off of higher reliability of G210 vs. extra time to observe two bands for programs that require the full wavelength coverage.
Posted Jun 11, 2024
DX Adsec Removed – June 12, 2024
DX Adsec will be removed before SSD24 to address a potential issues with a board in crate3. The rigid secondary will be installed for the remainder of the semester. The unit has maintenance planned for this summer already. There is no AO observations planned beyond this week with the DX side.
Posted May 31, 2024
DX LUCI2 AO and ESM unavailable (June 3, 2024)
A detached mirror in the pyramid modulator of the LUCI2 WFS was discovered. LUCI 2 full AO and ESM will remain unavailable until a repair can be made. This repair will require the procurement of parts, as well as the removal of the instrument. As such, it will likely take place during the summer shutdown period.
DX LUCI2 DL and ESM unavailable (May 31, 2024)
During daytime testing, a blockage was discovered on the DX WFS that was blocking the light going to the pyramid (possibly a moth). Diffraction-limited full AO or ESM on DX-LUCI2 is unavailable until an intervention can be performed and the blockage removed.
