Observatory Operations and Activities

VATT Maintenance, Upgrades, and Servicing SWIFT (Steward Observatory/VATT technician) is completing his training for facility maintenance and preparation. He is now handling most of the routine operations at the VATT. He is occasionally trading duties with NELSON (Steward Observatory/VATT principal scientist), but he is in overall charge of monitoring the observing schedule and preparing the facility for observers.

Much of the fall was taken up with mechanical study and improvement of the telescope before FRANZ (Steward Observatory) was transferred to the Large Binocular Telescope project. The primary effort went into understanding the encoder mounts at the VATT. This involved testing and evaluation of the current system to finalize the design of the new encoder mounts. The result was the resetting of the encoder drive disc on the azimuth (it was warped and tipped) and a careful alignment of the encoders. A new pointing map was produced along with improvements to the pointing model itself. Open loop pointing was substantially improved, and many observers report a significant reduction in "initializations" of telescope pointing.

Another improvement to the mechanical system was the installation of a full suite of primary mirror metrology sensors. Their installation makes possible a full rigid body measurement of the displacement of the primary mirror. Data analysis of the results from monitoring in the fall has not yet commenced. Installation and calibration of the dome encoder is now complete. Final release is waiting on the concurrent release of other new user interfaces to the telescope control system (TCS).

Prototyping of a new catalog interface for the TCS and new user interfaces has been accomplished and accepted by CORBALLY and BOYLE. Permanent installation is scheduled for 2003. Related to this was the acquisition of two new guide cameras for the VATT. The new Lesser-Schmidt guide camera was delivered in August, and an SBIG ST-V was acquired as a backup. It is expected that the ST-V will go into service first as the engineering crew deals with the substantial heat generated by the Lesser-Schmidt camera and its related power supplies and controllers. Software interfaces for both new cameras are well in hand and are being integrated with the new effort toward the catalog-TCS interface.

A large Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) from the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab was recently installed at the telescope to handle increasing power loads from electronics critical to the telescope. An effort is being made to see if the original UPS can be installed as well so that each UPS will both split the load and, in the case of failure of one, take up as much of the full load as it can handle. A detailed study of available capacity is being made by SWIFT.

The primary mirror was re-aluminized during the summer. The effort to disassemble the telescope and get it working again for the fall went smoothly. The secondary mirror was not recoated at this time. The mirror vibration fix installed last fall on the secondary seems to have adhered to both the mirror and the secondary mount. Mirror cleaning with CO ₂ snow has now become a routine part of telescope maintenance.

The project to provide VATT with a medium-resolution optical spectrograph, known as the "VattSpec," has made steady, slow progress. HARMER (National Optical Astronomy Observatories) has tested the camera lens assembly and determined that, while the lens spacing is not perfect, the camera will certainly suffice for the job. He now joins CORBALLY, CROMWELL, and NELSON in getting the mechanical and control aspects of VattSpec specified and manufactured.

HARMER has almost completed the optical design for a wide-field corrector to match the field of the coming 4K×4K CCD camera for the VATT. He has had the input and help of BOYLE, CORBALLY, CROMWELL, FRANZ (Steward Observatory), and NELSON. This corrector is expected to have greatly reduced ghost images compared to an earlier corrector, and so to produce more precise photometry.

Visiting astronomers from Wheeling Jesuit University and Pittsburgh University gather for an informal consultation in the VATT telescope control room. Monitoring the short-term brightness of QSOs were, left to right: Michelle Belfort, Pittsburgh undergraduate; Joseph Busche, WJU faculty; Chris Tartamella, WJU undergraduate; and Dan Nester, Pittsburgh faculty. (Photo by Chris Corbally, S.J.)

VATT Scheduling BOYLE, chair of the VATT Telescope Allocation Committee with COYNE and CORBALLY, schedules the observing runs on the VATT. This is done three times a year in synchronization with the trimester scheduling done by the University of Arizona Telescope Allocation Committee. In addition to Vatican Observatory astronomers, regular users of the VATT include astronomers from the University of Notre Dame, Wheeling Jesuit University, New Mexico Highlands University, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University.

Castel Gandolfo Telescope Upgrade Last year we reported on the renovation, under the guidance of MAFFEO, of the dome of the Zeiss visual telescope at Castel Gandolfo. A project is now under way to replace the electrical system and, under contract with the firm Astromeccanica di Luciano dal Sasso (Aprilia, Italy), to install the following: a computer-commanded, micro-stepping system on the right ascension motor; a computer command on the declination motor; and a CCD autoguide system with a flip-mirror on the guide telescope to permit alternating between visual and CCD usage. This work is being supported by generous donations from the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio della Banca di Roma, the Compagnia di S. Paolo di Torino, the Banca d'Italia, and SARAS, Raffinerie Sarde.

VO Meteorite Laboratory

In the past year the Meteorite Laboratory at Castel Gandolfo has acquired a Meiji ML 9300 model petrographic microscope with a digital camera and appropriate accessories. Petrographic microscopes are as important to geologists and meteoriticists as telescopes are to astronomers; this new instrument allows analysis of the Observatory's ever-growing collection of meteorite thin sections. Observing with cross-polarized light, both the identification and characterization of samples can be performed. This instrument also provides a way of giving digital images of sample sections to others wishing to borrow them for scientific research.

Cyber Activities

OMIZZOLO and BARBIERI (Department of Astronomy, University of Padua) are working on an international project to digitize astronomical archival plates. The aim of the project is to produce high quality images of astronomical plates to offer to the international astronomical community through the World Wide Web. The method being used was tested through photometric studies in selected areas, and the results are satisfactory. Thus far about two hundred plates from the Astrophysical Observatory of the University of Padua at Asiago and about the same number of plates from the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo have been digitized. The first results of this project are scheduled to be presented at the meetings of the International Astronomical Union in Sydney, Australia in 2003.

The functioning of the Observatory depends strongly on rapid and reliable internet connections with major centers on two continents and with collaborators spread widely around the world. To this end, IGEA, BOYLE, and ROSSI have planned a major upgrade to the local area computer network (LAN) at Castel Gandolfo. A fast ethernet network with backbones in fiber optics to protect it from the effects of lightning has been installed. This increases the number of network points for use at the Vatican Observatory Summer Schools and for other visitor use and allows faster communications among the computers and workstations in the Observatory. Meanwhile, the need to be able to communicate during European business hours, which are early morning hours in Arizona, means that efficient internet connections at the Lee Street Jesuit Residence are also essential. To this end, CONSOLMAGNO has installed a "WiFi" wireless network with dual base stations at the Lee Street residence, with connections to a local broadband internet service provider.

CORBALLY continued to maintain the website of the Vatican Observatory and its Foundation. A talk by COYNE in streaming video, edited by MARUSIAK (EyePopMedia), gets regular requests, and more such postings to the website are planned. NYLUND (Steward Observatory) worked with CORBALLY and KNOCHE to produce a suitable web-based form for those interested in information about the Vatican Observatory. The website is at the URL http://clavius.as.arizona.edu/vo/