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CTIO Instrumentation (1Sep93) (from CTIO, NOAO Newsletter No. 35, 1 September 1993) Another important milestone in the ArCon CCD controller project was achieved in May with the successful completion and testing of ArCon 3.2, which was set up to control one of CTIO's two Tektronix 1024 x 1024 CCDs. This combination was used for 10 nights of essentially trouble-free observations with the Folded Schmidt camera on the 4-m telescope R-C Spectrograph. The Tek1024 #2 CCD, like several others in use at CTIO, has four good output amplifiers, and thus is able to be operated in quad readout mode with the ArCon controllers--which in turn results in a substantial increase in observing efficiency for the astronomer. After some further optimizing of the ArCon 3.2/Tek1024 #2 combination, work has proceeded on ArCon 3.3, which is scheduled to be mated to the Tektronix 2048 x 2048 CCD sometime in August. The new Large Format Prime Focus CCD camera (LF PFCCD) performed flawlessly in its first visitor usage in June, allowing observations to be made for the first time at the prime focus of the 4-m telescope with the Tektronix 2048 x 2048 CCD. For this run, the LF PFCCD was used behind the triplet corrector, but hopefully in September the new Prime Focus Atmospheric Dispersion Compensating (PF ADC) corrector will be available. For this same September run, the Tek2048 CCD should also be under the control of ArCon 3.3, providing more efficient, reliable operation and also improved data quality. The f/7.8 secondary mirror was removed from the 4-m telescope in early-June and immediately shipped to Contraves Goerz for optical testing. These tests should be completed by the end of July, at which point the secondary will be shipped to Kodak for ion polishing. Fingers were crossed as the secondary left the mountain by truck for Santiago, but within a few days word was received that the mirror had arrived at Contraves without mishap! In the meantime, work continues intensively on improvements to the secondary mirror support system that will allow more precise and efficient alignment of the mirror, and also on a Shack-Hartmann image analyzer which will be mounted in the Cassegrain guider to allow frequent monitoring of the performance of the 4-m optics. Mark M. Phillips
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