What's New (for Observers)
- At the start of the night, ask the telescope operator to zero all mirror corrections and then give Z11 = +1000nm to SX.
- The Repository directory where dofpia looks for the latest image is mounted in a new configuration to speed up image access. To insure maximum efficiency, edit the line in your .cshrc file which sets the LBCFPIA_DATADIR, to replace Repository with TestRepo.
- The IDL procedure lbcfpia has been replaced with another one, dofpia, which obtains and analyzes the pupil images automatically until convergence is reached. More information on the procedures it follows and its use are in the Focus and Collimation section of the LBC User Manual
- In LBTtools package, if a task fails with a parameter 'missing' not found error, "unlearn hselect" and try again.
News and Updates
- Sep 2008 - July 2009: Shared-risk Partner Observing for 12 nights/month; see schedule here.
- July-Sep 2008: Summer shutdown
- Feb-July 2008: Shared-risk Partner Observing
- 7-14 Jan 2008: LBC-Red Commissioning Run
The Large Binocular Cameras (LBCB and LBCR) are two prime focus cameras for the Large Binocular Telescope that were built in Italy: one is blue-optimized (LBCB) and mounted at the prime focus of the SX (left) mirror while the other (LBCR) is red-optimized and is mounted above the DX (right) mirror. The LBC home page in Italy contains links to historical documents as well as up-to-date versions of LBC-related software and initial commissioning results.
Each camera uses 4 2k x 4k EEV chips arranged to provide an approximate field of view of 27' x 27' (0.23"/pixel) with small (20") gaps. LBCB has Bessel U, B, V, Sloan g', r' and a special U filter (Italy:PI), while LBCR has Bessel V, R, I, Sloan r',i' and z', and 2 "PI" filters. More details are below in the Description of LBC.
Description of LBC
Preparing for Observations with LBC
Basic Guide to Operating the LBC (includes LBC User Manual)
Instrument Web Pages at Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Monte Porzio