Active Instruments
- Instruments currently active on the Magellan telescopes.
- Instruments currently active on the du Pont telescope.
- Instruments currently active on the Swope telescope.
- CCD Detector development
Technical information on instrumentation can also be found within our information for observers.
Instruments Under Development
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Four StarFour Star is a widefield near-infrared camera for use on the Baade 6.5m telescope. The instrument is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in 2008. Four Star utilizes four 2048X2048 Rockwell HAWAII-2RG infrared arrays in close-packed configuration. |
Carnegie Planet Finder SpectrographThe Carnegie Planet Finder Spectrograph (PFS) is a high resolution echelle spectrograph being constructed for use at the Nasmyth focus of the Clay telescope. Its primary scientific objective is the detection of extrasolar planets through monitoring of stellar radial velocity variations with a precision of 1 meter/second. The spectrograph is currently under construction and is scheduled for commissioning in the second quarter of 2007. |
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GISMOGISMO (the Gladders Image-Slicing Multi-Slit Option) is a 8-fold field reformatter for the entrance aperture of the IMACS spectrograph, based on the concept of an image slicer. GISMO allows one to focus the entire large field-of-view of the powerful IMACS spectrograph on a central region, and gain an 8 times greater density of slits in this region thereby. This will be of great utility for studying objects which are less extended than the IMACS field; for example the cores of galaxy clusters, or the individual conponents of nearby galaxies. GISMO should arrive at Las Campanas in late 2006. |
MagEMagE is an echelle spectrograph for the Clay telescope that is being built in cooperation with Scott Burles of MIT. It will be capable of observing faint targets in the wavelength region in the UV (blueward of 3600 Angstroms), while maintaining high resolution and full wavelength coverage of the visible spectrum. The design incorporates a medium order reflection diffraction grating in combination with a large fused-silica prism to provide cross dispersion. A Schmidt camera with 140-mm focal length will focus the 100 mm collimated beam onto a low noise, back illuminated CCD optimized for UV coverage. |
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