The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) Local Volume Mapper (LVM) is an ultra-wide field high spatial resolution IFU survey of the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and a sample of galaxies in the local volume. Observations are carried out with the LVM Instrument (LVM-I), a specially designed robotic telescope, instrument, and facility located at Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) in Chile. The LVM-I is hosted in a custom-built roll-off type enclosure that protects the hardware, allows for simultaneous observations towards different directions in the sky by the four LVM-I telescopes, provides a thermally controlled stable and clean environment for the LVM-I spectrographs, supplies all necessary utilities (e.g. power, communications, LN2 detector cooling) to the different LVM-I sub-systems, provides environmental telemetry and information, and integrates with the LVM-I control software to operate in an automated fashion. In this paper we discuss the design of the LVM-I enclosure, its construction, and an evaluation of its performance. The LVM-I was successfully integrated on-site and commissioned during the first half of 2023, with the enclosure design and performance meeting its requirements and allowing for the start of the SDSS-V LVM project science operations.
This presentation highlights the 2024 instrumentation suite in use at the Baade and Clay telescopes of the Las Campanas Observatory. Following two decades of operations, the partnership between the Carnegie Institution for Science, Harvard University, the University of Arizona, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Michigan provides our observing community with seven facility instruments and seven PI instruments. Five of those instruments (IMACS, MAGE, FIRE, FOURSTAR and LDSS3) are mounted permanently at the telescopes and ready to be used every night. The availability of one of the Nasmyth ports and a Cassegrain focus at the Clay telescope, allows a scheduled rotation of the other eight instruments (MIKE, PFS, M2FS, IFUM, PISCO, MAGAOX, MEGACAM, WINERED) according to the scientific needs of the community in each semester. In this presentation we will give a brief introduction for all the facility instruments followed by a status report of their use and performance. We will also present the challenges posed by continuous operations and regular maintenance. Finally, we will outline the future instrumentation projects and upgrades.
The Carnegie Observatories in 2019 celebrated 50 years since Las Campanas in northern Chile was chartered as the site for its large telescopes. Since that time Carnegie has deployed four telescopes, the Swope 1 meter, the du Pont 2.5 meter and, on behalf of the Magellan consortium, the two Magellan 6.5 meter. All telescopes are routinely used producing world class science. In this paper we will review the current science operations that are mainly performed in a classical observing mode, and then present the future strategies needed across the observatory to operate in survey, remote and robotic mode.
Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) of the Carnegie Institution of Science has been operating in Chile for about 50 years, currently operating four main telescopes. Carnegie operates the two 6.5 meter Magellan telescopes on behalf of a partnership that includes a consortium of universities. The Magellan Telescopes were commissioned in 2000 and 2002 and offer the consortium users a suite of twelve instruments. In this paper we will first provide a brief description of the science, technical and administrative structure of the observatory. We will then present an updated review of the Magellan telescopes operations and maintenance. Details on status and performances of the instruments will be given. We will finally cover the operations of the duPont 2.5 meter and Swope 1 meter telescopes including the current and future collaboration with the two hemisphere surveys SDSS-IV and SDSS-V.
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