Gemini staff contributions
News for Users
Technicians address several key instrument issues during the April
FLAMINGOS-2 (F-2) maintenance stand-down, while adverse
weather continues to wallop Gemini South. We note that all new
installations of Gemini’s data processing software be performed
using Astroconda. A new version of GMMPS is now available
to support both the new GMOS-N and F-2 detector arrays, and
Gemini introduces its new GMOS WaveMapper tool, which
predicts accurately where a certain wavelength will fall on the
GMOS detector.
F-2 Stand-down Completed
FLAMINGOS-2 was removed from the telescope on April 4th for its annual maintenance
stand-down. One imminent problem affecting operations: a filter wheel failure forced us to
move the stand-down forward from its original schedule. With the instrument in the lab, we
took the opportunity to resolve other instrument issues (Figure 1), including the outstanding
problem with the On-Instrument Wavefront Sensor. During previous interventions, we in-
spected and improved the base mechanism; this time we inspected the pick-off drive mech-
anism and replaced its motor. While the instrument was still open, we also installed several
new K-band filters. As a pre-
ventive measure, and ac-
cording to the mainte-
nance scheme, several
cryogenic motors were re-
placed as well. After nearly
three weeks of hard work,
we successfully pumped,
cooled down, and installed
the instrument back on the
telescope.
July 2017
GeminiFocus
Figure 1.
Several instrument fixes
were made during the
annual FLAMINGOS-2
maintenance stand-down,
including those shown here.
Left: K-band filters
installation.
Center: New pick-off motor
under torque testing.
Right: Cryogenic motors
replacement.
Photo credits:
Left and Right, Brian Chinn;
Middle, Gabriel Perez
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