1. Jay Elias1 1plus bits plagiarized from Steve Heathcote and others
SOAR Overview
Jay Elias1
1plus bits plagiarized from Steve Heathcote and others

2. Operated by a Consortium
BRAZIL
U. North Carolina
Michigan State University
NOAO
Chile
Partner Time Share
30.7%
12.5%
16.7%
30.0%
10.0% 2

3. Telescope & Site Site properties
Original site survey suggested:
25%: 0.34”
50%: 0.47”
75%: 0.63”
More data + re-analysis indicates (adjusted to 4-m aperture):
25%: 0.50”
50%: 0.62”
75%: 0.75”
Telescope and enclosure should degrade top quartile seeing by no more than 10%
Active optics tune mirror to achieve this DIQ performance, but it is hard to maintain
See later slides….

4. Telescope & Site Sunset at SOAR:
Note Gemini-S just behind, LSST construction site on peak to right

5. Facility Architectural Design by M3
2-story lower enclosure (18-m diameter)
Approximately 300 m2 control & instrument handling areas
Pier (6m diameter & 6-m high)
Mechanical equipment
Receiving & mirror handling

6. Telescope 4.1 m clear aperture
f/16 Ritchey-Chrétian
Active control of M1 & M2
30Hz Tip-Tilt correction using M3
Best possible images over Isokinetic Patch
8.5 arcmin science field
10x10 arcmin guide field
Somewhat larger field potentially possible, but not much
Large Instrument Payload
2 Nasmyth ports
Up to 3 instruments on each
Max weight = Gemini weight limit
3 Bent Cass
Facility wavefront sensor
1 instrument per port
Fiber feed to SIFS
Optical pick-off to STELES
Rapid switching between instruments 6

7. Telescope
Initial commissioning effort completed in 2006 with improvements to primary lateral supports
Recent work:
Upgraded telescope control system (TCS), bring to same level as Blanco/Mayall
Started replacement of older computers associated with the telescope; continuing task
Started upgrade of cassegrain wavefront sensor (needed to tune optics); hoping to complete this year

8. Telescope & Instrument Layout

9. Telescope Performance
DIQ data
Old SOI data from
Should be the same now but we have not re-examined the data (also much less imaging these days)
But still room for improvement – in particular, still see ellipticity in images
WFS guider project intended to help with this along with more consistent focus
Want to monitor DIQ more consistently in future

10. Down Time Technical down time (“failures”) typically close to 4%
Engineering time 12% -> 9%
Weather loss quite variable – 15-30%
Note -
Failures include remote-observing failures – not separated out, but under 1% of scheduled time

11. Instruments (Current)
Four facility instruments currently available to users:
Goodman High-Throughput Spectrograph (optical)
SOI (optical imager)
Spartan (NIR imager)
SOAR Adaptive Module (SAM) + optical imager (SAMI)
“Visitor” instruments with community access
Tokovinin speckle camera (HR-Cam)
SAM + Fabry-Perot (campaign mode)
Decommissioned: OSIRIS IR imager/spectrometer
Failed on last scheduled night in 2016 and computer hardware now spare parts at CTIO

12. Instruments (Current)
Goodman
Offers long slit, MOS mode, and direct imaging, UV to 900 nm+
Multiple spectral resolution – few hundred to few thousand
Second “red” camera now available
Acquisition camera now available
Upgrades underway (blue camera computer, user interfaces, possible reductions in scattered light)
Data pipelines under development (see S. Torres talk)
ADC also available for programs requiring a specific position angle
Most-used instrument – 70% of science time or more
SOI
Available for science since 2005A, working reliably
CCD imager, approx. 5x5 arcmin, variety of filters
But contains obsolescent components, long-term viability requires action
Can it be replaced by Goodman imaging mode?
SOAR External Review

13. Instruments (Current)
Spartan
Available for general user science starting in 2010A
5x5 arcmin NIR (YJHK + narrowband)
High-resolution imaging mode is never used, over-optimistic expectations from site+telescope
Not viable in long-term without electronics upgrade, which is feasible but not trivial
Pipeline to be available “soon”
SAM (only working 2nd gen instrument)
Visible wavelength GLAO over 3x3 arcmin field
Regular science use since 2013B; support has not been difficult but Andrei Tokovinin remains critical on technical side
Demand is variable, has been ~20% of time but usually <10%.
Basic pipeline exists, run by SOAR staff

14. Instruments (Coming Soon)
SIFS (IFU spectrograph)
Delivered in Dec 2009 & installed on telescope; multiple problems requiring re-work; re-commissioning starting mid-2015
About to issue call for SV time for 2 modes (after workshop, 2 nights in May plus maybe also July)
Needs user-friendly pipeline
STELES (2nd gen, Echelle spectrograph)
Tested in lab (LNA)
Delivered to SOAR August 2016
Assembly and alignment with science detectors nearly complete
Need to complete various interface tasks and complete lab testing
Install on telescope before end of semester?
SV possible in 2017B
Will have a pipeline

15. Instruments (Coming Soon)
ARCOIRIS (ex Tspec 4, NIR spectrograph, R~3000)
Currently operational on Blanco
NSF now supports transfer to SOAR
Need to put in place contracts to modify fore-optics
Need NOAO engineering support for interfaces
Availability in 2018?

16. Instruments (Coming Later)
No additional approved facility instruments
“Visitor” instruments in various stages of development: several talks here – including:
SAMOS
SORCERESS
Robo-SOAR
(for these the builders have opened discussions with the observatory)

17. Telescope (Coming Soon)
Wavefront-Sensing Guider
Long time on wish list, now under development
Intended to provide automatic focus and astigmatism correction – should produce better DIQ
Better field of view, user software should reduce acquisition overheads as well
Phase II TCS Upgrades
Support for scripting (observing sequences)
Informational displays
Computer upgrades
Continuing tasks, useful (safe) lifetime for a computer <10 years

18. Telescope (Coming Later)
Mount Control Upgrade
Mount electronics 10+ years old; technology even older
Additional spares increasingly hard to find
Delivered as “black box”
Developing a replacement plan; aiming for more commonality with Blanco/Mayall
Completion 2-3 years?
Active Optics Control
Upgrade to primary could reduce overheads
Tertiary control another “black box”
M1 is higher priority

19. Observing Modes Classical, in-person (on mountain) Classical, remote
At this point, maybe 10% of total time
Classical, remote
Can result in reduced productivity –
Connection problems
Inadequate observing set-up at remote location
Most observing done this way nonetheless
Target of Opportunity
Observer connects remotely – currently used for events with advance notice (days to hours) but faster response possible in theory (done in the past)
Service/Queue
SOAR staffing levels can’t support this

20. Looking Ahead to 2020+
Telescope itself should be viable if the “coming later” projects are completed
Still need to replace computers as they age
Facility (shutter, for example) will need smaller upgrade projects
Realistic expectation is that all of the original electronics should be gone by 2025
Instruments
All of the instruments need reliability upgrades on scales of 5-10 years
This is happening for Goodman and SAM
Partial upgrade for Spartan underway
Decision needed on long-term SOI use
Will be needed in a few years for SIFS, STELES, ARCOIRIS

21. Looking Ahead to 2020+
Previous slide considered only current capabilities – what else?
Additional instruments? Several proposed but these are not general-purpose instruments (go to the talks!)
Are there current instruments that should be replaced (Spartan? SOI?)
Is there a missing general-purpose capability (e.g, optical/NIR low resolution spectrograph)?
Better interfaces for time-domain work
Remember that with fixed staffing anything that gets added requires subtracting something else (increased automation can help some, but only so far)

22. Looking Ahead to 2020+
This workshop is intended to provide input from the general community – this is your (first) opportunity to influence what SOAR does over the next 5-10 years!