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SMARTS History

We are trying to reconstruct some of the history of SMARTS, but it is incomplete.  Please help us fill in the details!  Contact victoria [dot] gardneratyale [dot] edu (subject: SMARTS%20History) (Victoria Gardner) if you have any information that could help us.
 
  • 19??:  The YALO consortium was formed by Yale, AURA, U. of Lisbon, and Ohio State University to operate the Yale 1.0m telescope at CTIO.
  • 1998B:  YALO queue observations with the optical detector ANDICAM began
  • July 1999:  the IR array was installed on ANDICAM, enabling simultaneous optical and infared imaging
  • ??  The University of Lisbon left YALO.
  • ?? NOAO announced that it would no longer operate the other small telescopes at CTIO (<2.0m)
  • ??  Charles Bailyn, PI of YALO, approached the community with the idea of forming a larger consortium to maintain the small telescope capabilities.
  • October 2001:  The SMARTS consortium was born at a meeting at the American Museum of Natural History.  The product of that meeting was a commitment on the part of the consortium members to write a proposal to the NSF.
  • ??? The NSF proposal was accepted, with the second and third year of operations to be awarded based on the success of the first year's effort.
  • 24 September 2002:  The YALO 1.0m project finished operations.  ANDICAM moved to the 1.3m for the 2003A observing semester by a team led by Darren DePoy.
  • October-November 2002:  New cameras were installed at the 1.5-m and 0.9-m.
  • 1 February 2003:   SMARTS officially began its operation of the CTIO 0.9-m, 1.3-m and 1.5-m telescopes
  • March 2003:  OSU installed a new 12-position filter wheel and CCD at the 1.0m.
  • 12 May 2004:  SMARTS operations at the 1.0m telescope began with the first visiting astronomer.
  • 28 May 2004:  The first SMARTS queue/service observing block began at the 1.0m telescope.
  • April 2005:  A new Telescope Control System for the 0.9m was installed.
  • 7-8 July 2005:  The Y4KCam began regular observing operations at the 1.0m telescope.
  • 9 January 2006:  The SMARTS2 Consortium Agreement took effect.
  • 2006B:  The SMARTS 1.5m telescope begins to run in full queue mode for the RC Spec and the CPAPIR.

History and pictures of the SMARTS telescopes [1]

SMARTS Telescopes' Histories

 

The 0.9-m telescope [2] (also called the 36" telescope) was constructed in 1965 by Boller and Chivens. It is a closed-tube Cassegrain design which has a visible-light imaging capability (with a 2K CCD). It has found a great deal of use as a stable photometric and astrometric instrument. The mounting is a single-arm equatorial.  Click here for more details of the history of the 0.9m... [3]

 

pointnine_3.gif [4] point9_2.jpg [5] point9_1.jpg [6]

 

The Yale 1.0-m [7] telescope, originally sited in Bethany, CT, was moved to CTIO in 1972. Between 1998 and 2002 it was run by the YALO consortium. The 1.0m has a very similar design to the 0.9m in optics and mounting. As pictured, the 1.0m sports the ANDICAM [8], which takes pictures simultaneously in the optical and infrared, however ANDICAM [8] has been moved to the 1.3-m [9]. The 1.0-m [7] currently uses a 4K optical imager called Y4KCam [10].

one_1.jpg [11] one_andicam.jpg [12]

 

The 1.3-m telescope, [9] formerly the southern-hemisphere 2MASS survey telescope, is a much more modern design than the other SMARTS telescopes, using a split-ring altitude-azimuth mount and an optical design optimized for work in the infrared. It fits very neatly into its dome. Here it is shown without the ANDICAM [8].

oneptthree_1.jpg [13] oneptthree_2.jpg [14]

 

The 1.5-m telescope [15] is an open-tube Cassegrain, again on a single-arm equatorial mount. It has been operated with both an imaging and a spectroscopic detector, and the option of two secondaries giving f/13.5 and f/8.  Currently, its instruments are the R-C Spec [16] and CHIRON [17].

oneptfive_1.jpg [18] oneptfive_2.jpg [19] oneptfive_3.jpg [20]

We are also working on compiling a history of the SMARTS Consortium [21].

0.9-m History

The CTIO 0.9m [2] was originally constructed in 1965 by Boller and Chivens.

Since (at least) 1999, the 0.9m [2] has utilized a single instrument, an optical camera with a CCD detector that is 2048 pixels on a side. The scale of the CCD is 401 milliarcseconds/pixel, thereby providing a full field of 13.69 arcminutes, or about 46% the width of the full Moon. The stability of the instrument configuration permits long-term studies that are impossible to do on most telescopes, including one of the largest astrometric programs in the world.


The 0.9m [2] dome, located at Cerro Tololo Inter-american Observatory (CTIO) in the foothills of the Chilean Andes.

Constructed in 1965 by Boller & Chivens, the 0.9m [2] is a closed tube design telescope, with instruments attached at the bottom at the Cassegrain focus.

 

The 0.9 meter = 36 inch "eye" of the 0.9m [2] can be seen, with its attendant secondary mirror support.

 

The golden dewar contains the CCD detector used for science observations. Electronics and filters are housed in the surrounding black, silver, and gold boxes. The dewar is filled with liquid nitrogen, which has a temperature of 77 Kelvin, in order to keep the "background" low on the detector. The background is comprised of electrons, which are also used to detect light on the detector. So, if fewer electrons are free because of a lower detector temperature, faint signals that generate few electrons in the detector can be better measured.

 

The CCD can be seen through the final optical element in the light path, the dewar window. Occasionally, the dewar is disconnected from the black box that holds filters and additional optics used to focus images onto the CCD, primarily to clean the window.

 

The observing room is cozy, with a new floor as of 2006. Universities using the 0.9m [2] and involved in the SMARTS Consortium, which operates the 0.9m [2] and three other telescopes at CTIO, are always present in spirit.

 

Source URL (retrieved on 02/09/2013 - 12:28): http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/node/146

Links:
[1] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/smarts-telescopes-history
[2] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/09-m-telescope
[3] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/09-m-history
[4] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/pointnine_3.gif
[5] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/point9_2.jpg
[6] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/point9_1.jpg
[7] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/10-m-telescope
[8] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/andicam
[9] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/13-m-telescope
[10] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/Y4KCam
[11] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/one_1.jpg
[12] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/one_andicam.jpg
[13] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/oneptthree_1.jpg
[14] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/oneptthree_2.jpg
[15] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/15-m-telescope
[16] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/r-c-spectrograph
[17] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/chiron
[18] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/oneptfive_1.jpg
[19] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/oneptfive_2.jpg
[20] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/telescopes/smarts/oneptfive_3.jpg
[21] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/es/content/smarts-history