The La Serena engineering group, together with scientific staff, plays a major role in NOAO-wide projects and also supports improvements in CTIO facilities. Over the past several months our main efforts have been (1) the delivery and integration of Arcon controllers for a CCD mosaic imager, which will initially be used on Kitt Peak; and (2) the commissioning of COB and the f/14 tip-tilt system for the Blanco 4-m, as detailed in a separate article. Other projects nearing completion include a ventilation system for the 1.5-m dome. During October-December 32 doors were installed at the base of the 1.5-m dome to provide better air flow through this telescope enclosure. Electrical installation is proceeding in January-March.
The new SITe 2K CCD, mentioned in Newsletter No. 45, was successfully commissioned and has been in routine use since October. This has allowed us to have four telescopes on Tololo taking data with 2K chips on occasion, and has provided an invaluable backup to our heavily used 4-m and 0.9-m systems.
The BTC mosaic camera is heavily scheduled this semester at the Blanco prime focus, following a successful engineering run in December. This quad-2048 CCD system, produced by Tony Tyson and Gary Bernstein, was described in Newsletter No. 47. Technical information is available in that article and on the web (http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/btc/btc.html and http://www.ctio.noao.edu/pfccd/btc_arw.html).
Save-the-Bits has been implemented on the 1.5-m and 4-m Arcon CCD systems, in addition to the 0.9-m and Schmidt. The implementation for the IR Wildfire and BTC systems is pending.
Other projects underway for the Blanco include the conversion of the IRS to the f/14 focus, additional thermal control projects, and design of the R-C focus ADC corrector system for the Hydra spectrograph.
Bob Schommer, Chair, ACTR