UPDATE:Check with staff about the upcoming PypeIt Workshop on June 11. (2024Apr24) UPDATE: The 2021A 2024B LDT schedule Call for Proposals has been released. (2020Dec012024Apr11) UPDATE: The DeVeny spectrograph is back in operation. (2020Nov06The 2024A LDT Schedule has been released. (2023Dec08) UPDATE: NIHTS is again available for use. (2020Oct08)UPDATE: The GG495 blocking filter has been replaced in the DeVeny spectrograph. (2020Oct02 The new VPN platform is now required for connection to the Lowell network. All remote observers MUST update their VPN settings: Watchguard SSLVPN Installation. (2021Sep06)
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title | UPDATE: The LMI User Manual updated updated. (2020Sep302023Sep27) |
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| The LMI User Manual has been updated to reflect modified focusing instructions and information about fringing when using the z' filter. (2020Sep30) |
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title | UPDATE: TCS The DeVeny Spectrograph User Manual has been updated, ephemeris tracking is again working. (2020Feb192023Nov16) |
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| The telescope control system (TCS) has been updated, and several issues fixed. One item of particular note to observers is that ephemeris based pointing and tracking is now functioning again. If you plan to use an ephemeris, please be in touch with staff ahead of your run to ensure that things work as expected. The ephemeris file format has changed slightly. For ephemerides extracted through the TCS, there shouldn't be an issue; if you generate your own ephemeris file, then you will need to make sure it conforms to the revised format. (2020Feb19)new version (v1.8 – 16 November 2023) updates to the PypeIt instructions and introduces the LDT Observer Tools python package. It is available on the LDT Observer Information Confluence page. |
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title | UPDATE: NIHTS User Manual updated. (2019Jan302021Apr26) |
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| An updated version of the NIHTS User Manual (v1.4 - 20190137) has been released and is available on the LDT Observer Information confluence pagepages. Per the authors, NIHTS User Manual v1.4 adds 7 includes a description of blind target acquisition using LMIcouple of revised figures from the NIHTS Commissioning paper. |
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title | UPDATE: LDT Observer Information Pages released. (2021Mar22) |
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| The new LDT Observer Information Pages were released, replacing the prior DCT Observer Information Pages. |
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title | UPDATE: LMI shutter delay. (2018Dec05) |
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| We have looked into quantifying the delay between when a user requests an image with LMI, and when the shutter actually opens. Details can be found in the write up under the LMI link about the shutter delay. The bottom line is that: The exposure times are as recorded to within a few hundredths of a second, based on the star streaks. The shutter throw time in each direction is between roughly 0.1 and 0.2 seconds, meaning that there is also a temporal gradient across all the images. Formal uncertainty on the measured time offsets are an underestimate of the true variation. The shutter throw time alone means the mid-time varies across the frame systematically by at least 0.1second (added as the systematic uncertainty below). The shutter opens 2.05 +/- 0.06 (ran) +/- 0.1 (sys) seconds later than the UTCSTART in the image header. The shutter closes 0.19 +/- 0.06 (ran) +/- 0.1 (sys) seconds earlier than the UTCEND in the image header.
Exposure times should be computed as: Start time = UTCSTART + 2.05sec End time = UTCEND - 0.19sec Mid-time = UTCSTART + 2.05 + EXPTIME/2 or Mid-time = [(UTCSTART + 2.05) + (UTCEND-0.19)] / 2
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| UPDATE: DeVeny User Manual updated v1.5 (2018Jul11) | The DeVeny Spectrograph Reference and Operations Guide has been updated for the new release of the slitviewing camera GUI application. Version v1.5 (10 July 2018) of the manual is now available on the LDT Observer Information confluence page. |
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