Paper 13096-119
Paper 13096-119
Upgrades to the NIRC2 Instrument at WMKO
17 June 2024 • 17:30 - 19:00 Japan Standard Time | Room G5, North - 1F
Abstract
We report on two critical upgrades to NIRC2, the workhorse diffraction-limited infrared instrument in use with the Keck II telescope Adaptive Optics (AO) system at the W. M. Keck Observatory. NIRC2 has been in operation for over two decades and it is one of the most productive instruments at WMKO. The NIRC2 detector is a 1Kx1K InSb Aladdin-3. We have upgraded the detector electronics from the original system based on transputers to a state-of-the-art Archon controller. One of the most demanded NIRC2 observing modes is high-contrast imaging using Vector Vortex Coronagraphic (VVC) masks, which have been available to the NIRC2 observing community since 2015. To maximize the attenuation of the AO-generated Point Spread Function (PSF) core, the star needs to be precisely centered on the vortex mask over the course of an observation. This is achieved with a servo loop control software based on the Quadrant Analysis of Coronagraphic Images for Tip-tilt Sensing (QACITS) technique. We have migrated the original IDL-based QACITS software to Python, including several updates and a new graphical interface. Both Archon and QACITS upgrades are aimed at boosting the NIRC2 observing efficiency.
Presenter
Carlos Alvarez
W. M. Keck Observatory (United States)
Carlos Alvarez is a Staff Astronomer at the W. M. Keck Observatory. Carlos graduated in Solid State Physics from the Universidad del Pais Vasco (Spain) in 1994 and in Astrophysics from the Universidad de La Laguna (Spain) in 1998 and attended Imperial College of London (UK) in 1998. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds (UK) in 2002 with a Thesis on Outflows from Massive Young Stellar Objects. Carlos worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Max Plank Institut fur Astronomie in Heidelberg (Germany) from 2002-2004 and focused on high spatial resolution observations of massive star forming regions. He held the post of Support Astronomer at the Gran Telescopio Canarias at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Spain) from 2006-2015.