Instrument Announcements

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November 2022 GHOST Update

November 1st, 2022

After successfully assembling and testing the spectrograph and enclosure from April through June, the team was able to observe with GHOST on-sky for only two good nights at the end of June due to poor weather conditions. A few more good nights in September resulted in further commissioning progress. Presently, the team is working on improving the data deduction pipeline software and the telescope control software to remedy issues determined during these commissioning runs. These improvements are expected to be complete by early 2023.

Reduced blue sensitivity of GMOS-N B600 grating

September 9th, 2022

It has recently been noticed that the sensitivity of GMOS-N B600 observations at wavelengths blueward of 500 nm is significantly lower than predicted by the Exposure Time Calculator. Historic data of spectrophotometric standard stars show that this reduction in sensitivity is largely attributed to a decrease of the B600 grating response, which started to develop around 2013 to 2014. 

GMOS-S CCD2 issues

August 12th, 2022

The repair attempted during July was not successful, and the problem on CCD2 (amplifier #5) persists. On the other hand, the noise patterns on CCD2 and CCD3 are gone.

The situation will remain like this during semester 22B since the only possible solution requires a major intervention, which is not planned for the current semester.

IGRINS available

July 28th, 2022

After the heavy snowtorms that affected Pachon, telescope operations have resumed, and IGRINS will be available for a short time starting tonight until the beginning of the yearly engineering shutdown.

Zorro run extended

July 15th, 2022

Heavy snowfall at Cerro Pachon has completely wiped out the Zorro run originally scheduled between July 11 and 17th. We expect the telescope can be operating again on Monday 18th, and the Zorro run has been extended until Friday 22nd.

GNIRS returns to telescope and IFU status

July 8th, 2022

GNIRS has been reinstalled on the telescope and is ready for science use as of July 4th, 2022. All issues with the filter wheels have been fixed and other refurbishment projects have been completed. All slit spectral modes are now available in addition to imaging. The Low Resolution (natural seeing) IFU is installed and is undergoing commissioning. It will be released for science use at a later date. Fabrication of the High Resolution (AO-assisted) IFU is ongoing and is expected to arrive in Hilo at the end of 2022.

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