CFHT MegaPrime guide and focus control system

James N. Thomas; Gregory Barrick; William Cruise; Tom Vermeulen

doi:10.1117/12.550583

15 September 2004 CFHT MegaPrime guide and focus control system

James N. Thomas, Gregory Barrick, William Cruise, Tom Vermeulen

Proceedings Volume 5496, Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.550583
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope is now operating a wide-field visible camera with a one-degree field of view. We have developed a guiding and auto-focus system that uses two stage-mounted CCD cameras fed by Shack-Hartmann optics providing position and focus error signals to the telescope guiding and focus control systems. The two camera stages patrol guide fields separated by more than a degree, one to the north and one to the south of the main camera field. Guiding generates a 50 Hz correction signal applied to a tip-tilt plate in the light path and a low frequency correction signal sent to control telescope position. During guiding a focus error signal is used to adjust telescope focus. Calibration issues include guide camera focusing, image distortion produced by the wide field corrector, guide stage positioning, and determining ideal guide star positions on the cameras. This paper describes the resulting system, including preselected guide star acquisition, guiding, telescope focus control, and calibration.

Citation Download Citation

James N. Thomas, Gregory Barrick, William Cruise, and Tom Vermeulen "CFHT MegaPrime guide and focus control system", Proc. SPIE 5496, Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy, (15 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.550583

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KEYWORDS

Stars

Telescopes

Cameras

Calibration

Control systems

Charge-coupled devices

Image analysis

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