Autofib--2: an automated fiber positioner for the prime focus of the William Herschel Telescope

Ian Robert Parry; Ian J. Lewis; Ray M. Sharples; George N. Dodsworth; John Webster; David W. Gellatly; Lewis R. Jones; Frederick G. Watson

doi:10.1117/12.176708

1 June 1994 Autofib--2: an automated fiber positioner for the prime focus of the William Herschel Telescope

Ian Robert Parry, Ian J. Lewis, Ray M. Sharples, George N. Dodsworth, John Webster, David W. Gellatly, Lewis R. Jones, Frederick G. Watson

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 2198, Instrumentation in Astronomy VIII; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.176708
Event: 1994 Symposium on Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation for the 21st Century, 1994, Kailua, Kona, HI, United States

Abstract

We are currently testing an automated fibre positioner for the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope (WHT). This instrument, known as Autofib-2, operates at the prime focus where it is able to utilize the full 1 degree field provided by the prime focus corrector (PFC). The robotic positioner is able to place 160 optical fibres in the focal plane of the WHT which feeds the light to a dedicated spectrograph (WYFFOS) located on the Nasmyth platform. This paper contains a description of the instrument which highlights the new techniques demanded by the prime focus plate scale and the scale distortions due to the PFC and its atmospheric dispersion compensator. These include robot vision to help achieve the high positioning accuracy and the use of two sky viewing probes to accurately determine the time dependent transformation from celestial coordinates to instrumental Cartesian coordinates. Also presented are the initial technical results on the performance of the instrument and the operational results of particular interest to the astronomical observer.

Citation Download Citation

Ian Robert Parry, Ian J. Lewis, Ray M. Sharples, George N. Dodsworth, John Webster, David W. Gellatly, Lewis R. Jones, and Frederick G. Watson "Autofib--2: an automated fiber positioner for the prime focus of the William Herschel Telescope", Proc. SPIE 2198, Instrumentation in Astronomy VIII, (1 June 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.176708

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