Increasing observing efficiency by modeling telescope focus positions

Sarah Gajadhar; Derrick Salmon; Gregory Barrick

doi:10.1117/12.787667

23 July 2008 Increasing observing efficiency by modeling telescope focus positions

Sarah Gajadhar, Derrick Salmon, Gregory Barrick

Proceedings Volume 7018, Advanced Optical and Mechanical Technologies in Telescopes and Instrumentation; 70183W (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.787667
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2008, Marseille, France

Abstract

With the advent of Queue observing at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), much emphasis has been placed on minimizing the overheads in the observing process. Ensuring telescope focus is a necessary overhead, but taking the focus sequences required to keep focus during the night adds significant time. In order to nearly eliminate this overhead without sacrificing good telescope focus, the necessary focus position for each instrument has been modeled as a function of telescope temperature and position on the sky. The correct focus position is calculated instead of measured, so focus updates are practically instantaneous. The model coefficients are updated with new data regularly. Automatic focus using calculated focus positions has been implemented for MegaCam, WIRCam and ESPaDOnS.

Citation Download Citation

Sarah Gajadhar, Derrick Salmon, and Gregory Barrick "Increasing observing efficiency by modeling telescope focus positions", Proc. SPIE 7018, Advanced Optical and Mechanical Technologies in Telescopes and Instrumentation, 70183W (23 July 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.787667

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KEYWORDS

Telescopes

Data modeling

Image quality

Temperature metrology

Instrument modeling

Databases

Eye

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