The Large Binocular Telescope, with its expansive collecting area, angular resolving power, and advanced optical design, provides a robust platform for development and operation of advanced instrumentation for astronomical research. The LBT currently hosts a mature suite of instruments for spectroscopy and imaging at optical through mid-infrared wavelengths, supported by sophisticated adaptive optics systems. This contribution summarizes the current state of instrumentation, including upgrades to existing instruments and commissioning of second generation instruments now in progress. The LBT is soliciting proposals for next generation instrument concepts, with participation open to consortium members and others interested in participation in the Observatory.
We summarize the operational realities of re-aluminizing 8.4-meter primary mirrors in-situ on the Large Binocular Telescope. We review the evaporative coating system design, and summarize its performance in the 16 coatings since 2005. A mostly manual system with long-handled mops and traditional chemicals is used to remove the old coating and to clean the glass surface. After cleaning, the telescope is moved to horizon-pointing orientation and the aluminizing belljar is mounted to the primary mirror cell using the overhead crane internal to the enclosure. We report on the multi-year struggle to understand variations in deposition rate among the 28 crucibles that evaporate the aluminum. We describe the challenges of making operational improvements to a system that must reliably coat one of the two primary mirrors every year, and we report on some lessons learned along the way.
Facility Instruments at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) include the Large Binocular Camera (LBC), a pair of wide-field imagers at the prime focus, the LUCIFER (or LUCI) near-infrared imager and spectrograph pair, and the Multi-Object Double Spectrograph (MODS), a pair of long-slit spectrographs. The disciplines involved in instrument support are reviewed, as well as scheduling of support personnel. A computerized system for instrument maintenance scheduling and spare parts inventory is described. Instrument problems are tracked via an online reporting system, and statistics on types of instrument problems are discussed, as well as applicability of the system to troubleshooting.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.