Multi-object spectroscopic operations with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V

José R. Sánchez-Gallego; Conor Sayres; John Donor; Andrés Almeida Toro; Ricardo Araujo; Luzius Kronig; Loïc Grossen; Richard Pogge; Stefanie Wachter; Solange Ramírez; Joel Brownstein

doi:10.1117/12.2561810

13 December 2020 Multi-object spectroscopic operations with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V

José R. Sánchez-Gallego, Conor Sayres, John Donor, Andrés Almeida Toro, Ricardo Araujo, Luzius Kronig, Loïc Grossen, Richard Pogge, Stefanie Wachter, Solange Ramírez, Joel Brownstein

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11449, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VIII; 114490O (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561810
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) is an all-sky spectroscopic survey of more than 6 million objects, designed to decode the history of the Milky Way, reveal the inner workings of stars, investigate the origin of solar systems, and track the growth of supermassive black holes across the Universe. SDSS-V presents significant innovations in both hardware and software, chiefly due to the introduction of a robotic Focal Plane System (FPS) that replaces plug-plate operations. This new mode of operations introduces new challenges with respect to target scheduling, fibre robot positioner reconfiguration optimisation, telescope guiding, observer interfaces, and observatory operations. During normal operations SDSS-V will observe a new field every 15 minutes. For each field requiring a new telescope pointing the FPS will reconfigure 500 robotic fibre positioners with feedback from an external Field Viewing Camera (FVC) in less than two minutes. Six CCD cameras mounted on the FPS will be used to automatically acquire the field and maintain the necessary guiding accuracy. These strict requirements highlight the need for streamlined operations software and procedures to minimise the time spent during FPS reconfigurations. We describe the overall design and implementation of the SDSS-V survey operations, with special emphasis on software development, conventions, and observing procedures. While specific to SDSS-V, the solutions we describe can be readily applied to other astronomical surveys and are of special interest given the rapid increase in projects employing robotic fibre positioners.

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José R. Sánchez-Gallego, Conor Sayres, John Donor, Andrés Almeida Toro, Ricardo Araujo, Luzius Kronig, Loïc Grossen, Richard Pogge, Stefanie Wachter, Solange Ramírez, and Joel Brownstein "Multi-object spectroscopic operations with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V", Proc. SPIE 11449, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VIII, 114490O (13 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561810

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