After a fall accident that occurred in 2018, Subaru Telescope designed and implemented the dome safety interlock system. An access from the Control Building to the dome requires walk between the landing platform at the Elevator Tower and the dome landing platform. These platforms meet only at two discrete angles of the dome and the platforms are not passable when the dome points to other angles. After the accident, we made an extensive investigation and found that at the time of the accident, one of the double doors installed at the landing platform was unlocked and the dome was pointed away from the angle where the platforms are passable. In this paper, we will cover the unique structure of the dome access of Subaru Telescope, the accident investigation, the temporary measures, the engineering of the final solutions and the installation. We also discuss the lessons learned from this accident.
KEYWORDS: Stars, Computing systems, Observatories, Control systems, Telescopes, Data archive systems, Switches, Internet, Data analysis, Solid state lighting
Subaru Telescope has recently replaced most equipment of Subaru Telescope Network II with the new equipment which
includes 124TB of RAID system for data archive. Switching the data storage from tape to RAID enables users to access
the data faster. The STN-III dropped some important components of STN-II, such as supercomputers, development &
testing subsystem for Subaru Observation Control System, or data processing subsystem. On the other hand, we invested
more computers to the remote operation system. Thanks to IT innovations, our LAN as well as the network between Hilo
and summit were upgraded to gigabit network at the similar or even reduced cost from the previous system. As the result
of the redesigning of the computer system by more focusing on the observatory operation, we greatly reduced the total
cost for computer rental, purchase and maintenance.
Subaru Telescope has been in operation for open use for six years. As the first-generation instruments became all operational and as minimal engineering time has been spent for the commissioning of the second-generation instrument, science time counts over 80% of the total telescope time since 2002. Downtime is almost minimized thanks to the stability of the telescope and the instruments and to the dedication of the support staff. Due to overwhelming deficiency in national budget of Japan, Subaru Telescope faces more serious budget cut than expected. This paper presents how the observatory is/will be dealing with the reduced budget with minimum impact to the operation that may pose observers any restriction to use the telescope.
The Fiber Multiple-Object Spectrograph for Subaru Telescope (FMOS) is quite large instrument composed of
the prime focus unit, the fiber bundle unit, and the two infrared spectrographs. Among these units, a part of the
prime focus unit and one of the spectrograph were transported from Kyoto University to the Subaru Observatory
in the middle of 2005. We present the optical and the mechanical components of the spectrograph, which was
reassembled on the new floor of the Subaru dome. We also show the preliminary results of the optical alignment
and the cooling test of the instrument at the summit of Mauna Kea.
The Fibre Multi-Object Spectrograph (FMOS) for the primary focus
of Subaru Telescope is one of the second generation
instruments, aiming at acquiring spectra of faint objects with
target multiplicity of up to 400. The optimised wavelengths span
from 0.9 to 1.8 microns so as to extend our knowledge of galaxy
formations and evolutions at higher redshifts in a systematic way,
as well as of variety of intriguing near-infrared objects.
On the basis of detailed design of FMOS, actual processes of
fabrication are in progress, and some of critical hardware
components have successfully been developed. In this report,
we present the status of the FMOS project, the results of
developed components, and also instrument control systems such
as the new detector electronics as well the related contol
softwares.
More than three years have passed since Subaru Telescope started its Open Use operation. Currently, more than 60% of the total telescope time is spent for scientific observation. Firstly, we define an index to measure how the telescope is effectively used. By using the index, we review the use of the telescope since 2000. Remote observation and queue observation is a long-term goal of Subaru operation because they are believed to be more efficient way to use the telescope and available resource. Control and observation software has been designed and developed to achieve remote observation and queue observation. Currently, about 30% of the telescope time is used as remote observation. We will discuss how much remote observation has contributed to make the use of the telescope effective.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Telecommunications, Astronomical telescopes, Computer networks, Human-machine interfaces, Data analysis, Data acquisition, Computing systems, Interfaces, Control systems
We've implemented remote observing function to Subaru telescope Observation Software system (SOSs). Subaru telescope has three observing-sites, i.e., a telescope local-site and two remote observing-sites, Hilo base facility in Hawaii and Mitaka NAOJ headquarter in Japan. Our remote observing system is designed to allow operations not only from one of three observing-sites, but also from more than two sites concurrently or simultaneously. Considering allowance for delay in observing operations and a bandwidth of the network between the telescope-site and the remote observing-sites, three types of interfaces (protocols) have been implemented. In the remote observing mode, we use socket interface for the command and the status communication, vnc for ready-made applications and pop-up windows, and ftp for the actual data transfer. All images taken at the telescope-site are transferred to both of two remote observing-sites immediately after the acquisition to enable the observers' evaluation of the data. We present the current status of remote observations with Subaru telescope.
The Fibre Multi-Object Spectrograph (FMOS) is a second-generation common-use instrument of the Subaru telescope. Under an international collaboration scheme of Japan, UK, and Australia, a realistic design of FMOS has been already in completion, and the fabrications of hardware components have been in progress. We present the overall design details together with the special features of FMOS subsystems, such as the prime focus corrector, the prime focus mechanical unit including fiber positioners, and the near-infrared spectrograph, etc.
Subaru Telescope has currently achieved the following performances. 1. Image Quality. (1) Subaru Telescope delivers a median image size, evaluated by equipped Auto Guider (AG) cameras, of 0.6-0.7 arcsec FWHM in the R and I-band at all the four foci: Prime (P), Cassegrain (Cs), and tow Nasmyth (Ns). (2) The best image sizes obtained so far are 0.2 arcsecs FWHM without AO in near-infrared (IR), less than 0.1 arcsec FWHM with AO, and 0.3 arcsec FWHM in optical and mid-IR wavelengths. (3) Stable Shack-Hartmann measurement enables one to keep the errors of Zernike coefficients to less than 0.2μm which corresponds to ~0.1 arcsec image size. 2. Tracking and Pointing. (1) Blind pointing accuracy is better than 1 arcsec RMS over most of the sky. (2) Tracking accuracy is better than 0.2 arcsec RMS in 10 minutes. (3) Guiding accuracy is between 0.8 and 0.18 arcsec RMS with 12-18th magnitude guide stars. 3. IR secondary mirror (M2). (1) Chopping performances: typical figures are at 3 Hz, 80% duty cycle with 30-60 arcsec chopping throw. (2) Tip-Tilt performances: Position stability is about 0.030 arcsec RMS for the effective closed-loop bandwidth less than 5 Hz. 4. Others. (1) The reflectivity of the primary mirror has been maintained at higher than 85 and 95% at 670 and 1300 nm wavelengths by regular cleaning with CO2 ice every two to three weeks. (2) The reflectivity of the blue-side image rotator (ImR) at Nasmyth-optical focus was improved after re-coating of mirrors.
Subaru Telescope started its "Conditional Open Use" operation in December 2000. The condition is that general users cannot claim compensation of their lost telescope time due to telescope/instrument problem.
We favored this operation because we anticipated it beneficial for both users and the observatory. Users can have an access to the telescope otherwise they have to wait for at least one more year. The observatory can get feedback from users which help us completing the system.
I will show what we have learned and how much we improved the overall efficiency of the system - the telescope and instruments - out of this unique approach since December 2000. I will also mention how we are working on improving the observation support system - from proposal submission to the science output feedback.
We are about to start building the remote observation system which will enable users to access the telescope from our facility in Hilo, Hawaii and eventually from NAOJ Japan or even from user's institute. I will present our goal and the system toward remote observation.
Design concept of the fiber multi-object spectrograph (FMOS) for Subaru Telescope together with innovative ideas of optical and structural components is presented. Main features are; i) wide field coverage of 30 arcmin in diameter, ii) 400 target multiplicity, iii) 0.9 to 1.8 micrometers near-IR wavelengths, and iv) OH-airglow suppression capability. The instrument is proposed to be built under the Japan-UK-Australia international collaboration scheme.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Control systems, Stars, Observatories, Data analysis, Data archive systems, Adaptive optics, Computing systems, Data storage, Data acquisition
I present all the software that enables us to achieve observation and observatory management with maximum efficiency and with minimum human resource requirement. Also, my presentation will be focused to the policies and specifications for remote observation and proposal management systems that will eventually be a part of 'observatory management database.' Our unified telescope and instrument operation system implies that those who can control instruments can also control the telescope. Since the telescope operation is a sole responsibility of telescope operators, our remote observation system cannot allow remote observers to control instruments. Therefore, our remote observation system will comprise data browser, observation procedure editor and observation monitor. Proposal management system is a must tool for an observatory that accepts hundreds of proposals and handles hundreds of programs for either classical or queue/service observation in a single term. This system will include online proposal acceptance both for science merit nd for technical feasibility, online Observation Data Set builder and online tutorial or help desk for applicants.
Subaru Telescope of National Astronomical Observatory of Japan is now finishing the commissioning of telescope and instruments at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. There will be an announcement for open usage in near future. The proposal management system of the Subaru Telescope (PMSS) which accept and retrieve proposals for open use of the Subaru Telescope is now constructed on the Subaru Telescope Network, the super computer system of the Subaru Telescope. The PMSS is developed on the object oriented data model, a Use Case Model, and a prototyping has been completed.
The Subaru Telescope requires a fault tracking system to record the problems and questions that staff experience during their work, and the solutions provided by technical experts to these problems and questions. The system records each fault and routes it to a pre-selected 'solution-provider' for each type of fault. The solution provider analyzes the fault and writes a solution that is routed back to the fault reporter and recorded in a 'knowledge-base' for future reference. The specifications of our fault tracking system were unique. (1) Dual language capacity -- Our staff speak both English and Japanese. Our contractors speak Japanese. (2) Heterogeneous computers -- Our computer workstations are a mixture of SPARCstations, Macintosh and Windows computers. (3) Integration with prime contractors -- Mitsubishi and Fujitsu are primary contractors in the construction of the telescope. In many cases, our 'experts' are our contractors. (4) Operator scheduling -- Our operators spend 50% of their work-month operating the telescope, the other 50% is spent working day shift at the base facility in Hilo, or day shift at the summit. We plan for 8 operators, with a frequent rotation. We need to keep all operators informed on the current status of all faults, no matter the operator's location.
Subaru telescope of National Astronomical Observatory of Japan is now under the commissioning phase, and there will be installed seven powerful instruments to produce several tens megabytes of data in each second of observations. The total amount of the storage necessary to keep those data becomes about 20TB per year.Here we introduce a concept of the hierarchical data storage system on the super computer system of Hilo Base Facility of Subaru Telescope. Detailed description of the computer system and performance feature is also presented. The computer system is useful for operation support based on advanced information management database, called Subaru Data Base.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Data archive systems, Cameras, Video, Databases, Local area networks, Device simulation, Data communications, Multimedia, Data analysis
Subaru Observation Control System has selected Ethernet and FiberChannel as their standard interface to instruments. Every instrument should connect themselves with at least one of the LANs. Regarding the data transfer to Hilo base, the first concern is that no data must be lost during transfer process, whatever troubles may happen on hardware or network. In the hardware, we provide RAID, tape library at the summit and another RAID at the base facility. As the other measure in software, we have the data file management by Subaru Observation Software System, which enables users to track the location of the file. The hardware configuration of the summit simulation system, which is for the instrument test and so on, is presented. The telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea has been connected to the super computer at the base facility via OC12. This high-speed network is used not only data transfer and IP communication, but also for multimedia communication such as video or telephone. The multimedia project is introduced.
Subaru telescope observation control system is composed of several systems such as a telescope control system, an observation supervisor system, a data acquisition system, and a data archival system. Each system consists of several processes to carry out observation operation in cooperating with other processes by passing control messages and by exchanging their status data. All acquired data is registered in database together with related data such as status and log data of the telescope and instruments. Observers and their observation proposals are registered in the control system as a NIS+ user and NIS+ group. User access to the control. system is managed according to the registered operation level. User interface of the control system is described with some samples of screen displays.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Mirrors, Control systems, Digital signal processing, Signal processing, Electroluminescence, Control systems design, Digital filtering, Servomechanisms, Filtering (signal processing)
On-shop test erection has been carried out at the Hitachi Zosen factory in Osaka since 1996. The purpose of this on- shop erection is to check and adjust the sizes of parts, to minimize the assembling errors, to test the telescope drive and active support system of the primary mirror, and to review the processes of final assembling. The alt-azimuth Subaru telescope structure weighting 500 ton is supported by six hydrostatic oil-film pads and is driven successfully by direct drive. The additional test for the instrument rotator drives, cable wrappers, and other were also carried out. We report the preliminary results of the control efficiency.
Subaru observation software system (SOSS) provides observers with so called high-level user interface, scheduler and data archival system. This paper presents both software and hardware environment for test, debug and development of instrument controller (OBCP) and SOSS. The environment is composed of instrumentation software toolkit, instrumentation software simulator, telescope simulator and summit simulation computer system.
KEYWORDS: Signal processing, Telescopes, Data analysis, Data acquisition, Control systems, Calibration, Data communications, Device simulation, Telecommunications, Data storage
The design of the Subaru observation control system is reviewed. The software of this system is so called high-level and controls both telescope and instruments through their controller. The aim of Subaru observation control system is to utilize telescope time most effectively by scheduling observation from remote sites. The design of data acquisition and simple data analysis subsystems are extensively reviewed.
KEYWORDS: Data acquisition, Control systems, Telescopes, Computing systems, Data archive systems, Control systems design, Local area networks, Data analysis, Databases, Data storage
The control system for the Subaru telescope is designed to consist of distributed workstations, local processors, and data acquisition computers, which are interconnected by control LANs and data LANs. The control software achieves its functionality with message-based communication. Two key processes, a scheduler and a status logger cooperating with any other processes, are designed to perform efficiency and security in observation. Control flow of observation scheduling and functionality of sub-processes which constitutes the scheduler and the status logger are described. For data acquisition from instruments, Subaru control system provides a variety of data highway which enable instruments to transfer data by up to 20 Mbytes/second. Functionality and characteristics of other subsystems which compose the Subaru control system are described.
We started conceptional design of the multi-object spectrograph for SUBARU telescope. As the limiting magnitudes are deeper, number of objects observable in the focal plane is very large. To minimize loss time in observing night and to realize simultaneous observation of 700 objects, we propose modified plug-plate system by using mosaic fiber plate.
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.