B&C SPECTROGRAPH USERS!
A Steward 1024x512 CCD Guider Camera
masked to 512x512 pixels and run in frame-transfer mode,
used both for the acquisition of targets and guiding.
It offers numerous advantages over past cameras used as it is much more
sensitive.
Observers should be able to see V = 21-22 mag objects in a dark sky
with a 10 sec exposure. The CCD also shows the extent of
low surface-brightness
objects such as galaxies much better that the old camera.
The field of view can be zoomed as before.
A zoom that shows the entire length of the slit (about 4.5 arcmin)
has a scale of 0.5 arcsec/pixel and will be the default setting.
The observer can zoom and focus the lens that images the reflective
aperture plate through a port on the side of the adapter that encases the
zoom lens. Of course, the higher the zoom, the smaller the area of the sky
that will
be available for possible guide stars.
As with the old camera system, the camera should be focused so that the
jaws of the slit are as sharp as possible and the staff that mounts the
instrument will focus the lens.
If you decide to change the zoom during your run, please insure that the
image of the slit is still in focus.
Another advantage of the new slit viewer/guider is that it supports
accurate telescope offsets to place targets in the slit.
In the event that there are no suitable guide stars in the field, the
offset guide camera is still available for use. Note, however,
that the slit cannot
be viewed while the offset guider is in use.
The new CCD camera can guide on extremely faint stars.
It has been found that in a 1-second exposure, G191 B2B (V = 11.8) yields about
11,000 ADU.
The guider has no problems guiding at flux levels of 200-300 ADU
providing that the
guiding parameters (set by the telescope operator) are appropriately set.
Therefore, in a 5-second exposure (which is a guide speed that is
not too slow
given the accurate tracking characteristics of the telescope), one can
expect to be able to guide on a V ~ 17.9 star.
Special thanks go to Gary Schmidt, Gary Rosenbaum, Bill Wood, Howard
Lester, Mike Lesser and the Steward Observatory Machine Shop
for making this new powerful tool available to the B&C
Spectrograph user community.