First light of the 6.5-m MMT adaptive optics system

Francois P. Wildi; Guido Brusa; Michael Lloyd-Hart; Laird Miller Close; Armando Riccardi

doi:10.1117/12.507687

24 December 2003 First light of the 6.5-m MMT adaptive optics system

Francois P. Wildi, Guido Brusa, Michael Lloyd-Hart, Laird Miller Close, Armando Riccardi

Proceedings Volume 5169, Astronomical Adaptive Optics Systems and Applications; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.507687
Event: Optical Science and Technology, SPIE's 48th Annual Meeting, 2003, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The adaptive optics system of the 6.5m MMT with its deformable secondary has seen first light on the sky in November 2002. Since then, it has logged over 30 nights at the telescope and has been used with several scientific cameras and a dedicated IR infrared camera. Results so far are extremely encouraging with Strehls of up to 20% in H-band and 98% in M limited in part by the control algorithm that is being improved. Reliability of the deformable secondary mirror (DM) has been remarkable with only one occurrence of a malfunction that required removing the secondary from its hub. In this paper, we review the milestones achieved and the performances obtained in the first year of operation. We will also address the operational constraints associated with the deformable secondary and the steps taken to relax these constraints. We show that despite its apparent complexity, an adaptive secondary AO system can be operated with modest effort from the telescope and AO staff.

Citation Download Citation

Francois P. Wildi, Guido Brusa, Michael Lloyd-Hart, Laird Miller Close, and Armando Riccardi "First light of the 6.5-m MMT adaptive optics system", Proc. SPIE 5169, Astronomical Adaptive Optics Systems and Applications, (24 December 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.507687

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