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Changes in Available Instrumentation (1Mar95) (from CTIO, NOAO Newsletter No. 41, 1 March 1995) The continued cuts in the CTIO budget - described in more detail elsewhere - have forced us to make further restrictions in the instrumentation offered on the various telescopes. We need to provide adequate support for the instruments we do offer, while retaining some resources for upgrading the 4-m telescope, with its associated instrumentation, in order for it to remain competitive over the next decade. We recognize that at this point we are decommissioning instruments that still are scientifically productive, but we simply do not have the resources to support them adequately. 4-m Telescope ASCAP We will no longer support use of the ASCAP on the 4-m telescope. It works reliably on the 1.5-m and 1-m telescopes, where we continue to offer it, but our experience on the 4-m is that it has been used infrequently, and that when it is used there it has persistent electrical noise and other problems that we do not have the resources to track down and solve. We recognize that for certain programs - fast time-series photometry of faint objects - there is no alternative instrument available. For this reason, we will allow use of equivalent visitor instrumentation, with the clear understanding that we can provide only extremely limited assistance in set-up and trouble-shooting. Photographic Plates We will continue to support use of photograpic plates at prime focus, but observers must be prepared to supply all their own plates, unless we happen to have suitable plates left over in stock. We will not restock plates as they are used up or age. Observers wishing to use plates must provide a strong justification for using plates as opposed to PFCCD. Note that the 4-m darkrooms are closed (because of the heat they generate), so all plate developing must be done in the Schmidt darkroom. Plate loading may be done in the ex-darkroom, since the old plate-loading room has been eliminated. CS/CCD + Blue Air Schmidt Continued problems with our Loral 3K chip imply that the Blue Air Schmidt will continue to be offered with the Reticon chip for an uncertain period. We hope to have a working 3K chip by second semester, but this cannot be guaranteed. 1.5-m Telescope CS/CCD The implementation date of the Loral 1200 X 800 chip on the 1.5-m spectrograph is uncertain. We will bring this chip up as resources permit, but since we have not yet even progressed to the point of doing lab testing, we can provide no guarantees as to availability or performance. Plausibly, it will be available by second semester with "typical" Loral performance. 1-m Telescope CS/2DF The 2D-Frutti decommissioning has been accelerated. The instrument was not scheduled for first semester, and the spectrograph will be removed from the telescope in March. The only instrument available on the telescope will be ASCAP, plus appropriate visitor instrumentation (see following). CIRIM We have authorized use of the IR Imager (CIRIM) on the 1-m for a limited program intended to help calibrate faint standard stars suitable for use on the 4-m telescope (and larger). This will be carried out in such a way as to minimize the support burden. Based on experience with this program, we will decide whether it is feasible to offer CIRIM for general use on the 1-m in future, that is in 1996. This may be in the form of a limited service observing program. Some improvements to the 1-m telescope would be required (i.e., a decent focus encoder), so this depends in part on whether they can be carried out this year, as well as whether the FY 1996 budget permits us to provide the appropriate observer support. We regret that we are not in a position to support it for visitor use any sooner. Schmidt Telescope Plates Scientific use of plates on the telescope is discontinued. The only instrument available for use will be CCD direct. Note that the darkroom will be retained, both for possible use by 4-m observers (see above) as well as for engineering tests and plate testing. Visitor Instruments We continue to welcome visitor instruments on the two larger telescopes, as well as on the 1-m. We caution, however, that we can provide only limited support, and that observers with visiting instruments must expect to use the telescopes "as is." This caution applies especially strongly to the 1-m, which may well be unsuitable for some instruments because of their weight or electrical requirements. J. Elias, J. Baldwin, M. Smith
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