There and back again: sharing a major instrument between hemispheres

Ronald G. Probst; Timothy M. Abbott; Rolando Cantarutti; Jack Carlson; Philip N. Daly; James R. George; Brooke Gregory; Edward Hileman; Dave Mills; Andrés Montané; Esteban Parkes

doi:10.1117/12.857572

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20 July 2010 There and back again: sharing a major instrument between hemispheres

Ronald G. Probst, Timothy M. Abbott, Rolando Cantarutti, Jack Carlson, Philip N. Daly, James R. George, Brooke Gregory, Edward Hileman, Dave Mills, Andrés Montané, Esteban Parkes

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Proceedings Volume 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III; 77353Z (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857572
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

As astronomical instruments have increased in complexity, cost and production time, sharing a major instrument between telescopes has become an attractive alternative to duplication. This requires solving technical and logistical problems of transportation, transferring operational support knowledge between on-site staffs, and developing effective responses to in-service problems at a different site. The infrared camera NEWFIRM has been operated for two years on the 4-m Mayall telescope of Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. We have recently temporarily moved it to the 4- m Blanco telescope of Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile for a limited period of operation. We describe here our solutions to the challenges involved in relocating this major in-service cryogenic instrument, with an emphasis on "lessons learned" to date.

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Ronald G. Probst, Timothy M. Abbott, Rolando Cantarutti, Jack Carlson, Philip N. Daly, James R. George, Brooke Gregory, Edward Hileman, Dave Mills, Andrés Montané, and Esteban Parkes "There and back again: sharing a major instrument between hemispheres", Proc. SPIE 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III, 77353Z (20 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857572

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