m region at resolutions of 7000 and 44000. This rather informal
setup on the very stable spectrograph regularly yields radial
velocities to better than 1 km s
on bright objects.
For approximately two years, we have offered the
University
of Massachusetts NICMASS HgCdTe imager for use at the Camera 5 location at
the coudé spectrograph on a shared-risk basis. A number of observers
have successfully used this configuration for spectroscopy in the
1.0-1.7 m region at resolutions of 7000 and 44000. This rather informal
setup on the very stable spectrograph regularly yields radial
velocities to better than 1 km s on bright objects.
As readers will note elsewhere in
this Newsletter, the high-resolution
spectrograph Phoenix
is being commissioned for use at the 2.1-m
telescope. The 512 x 1024 array in Phoenix yields twice the spectral
coverage at twice the resolution as the NICMASS system at the Coudé
Feed, provides higher quantum efficiency and lower read noise, is
cosmetically cleaner, and provides coverage of the entire 0.9-5.5 
m
response range of InSb. For these reasons, beginning with the spring
1997 semester we will be restricting the use of NICMASS at the Coudé
Feed to continuing programs for which uniformity of the data set is
critical, or to programs for which the extended spectral coverage
afforded by the R = 7000 configuration is crucial to the scientific
goals of the program.
Dick Joyce, Ken Hinkle