Troubleshooting guide

I. FLAMINGOS + KPNO 2.1-m Overview
FLAMINGOS is the FLoridA Multi-object Imaging Near-ir Grism Observational Spectrometer. This manual
provides the user with a good portion of the tools needed to successfully take data with FLAMINGOS at the
KPNO 2.1-m telescope. The 2.1-m is a completely hands-on facility. The observer runs both the instrument
and telescope (there is no telescope operator). You should make certain that you are familiar with the following
documents:
• The 2 meter Observer's Handbook, available at www-kpno.kpno.noao.edu/2m-manual/.
• FLAMINGOS at the KPNO 2.1-m: Telescope Console Control Panels & GUIs used for Guiding,
available at http://flamingos.astro.ufl.edu/Manuals/.
You may also be interested in
• Notes on Mask Design, MOS Plates, WCS's, and Loading MOSplates (also available at
http://flamingos.astro.ufl.edu/Manuals/).
FLAMINGOS is comprised of two cryogenic dewars. The MOS dewar, closest to the telescope backplane,
contains a wheel which can position 11 slit plates in the Cassegrain focal plane. The Camera dewar,
immediately following the MOS dewar, contains all of the powered optics, filters, stops, grisms, and the
detector array. A functional diagram showing the relative layout and connections to the various electronics is
shown in Figure 1.
Additionally, an off-axis intensified CCD camera is attached to the instrument mounting adapter; it is meant to
be used for guiding, but also may be used for preliminary focus assessment. It is too far off-axis to be used for
source acquisition. Please refer to the 2.1-m manuals (listed above) for use of this camera, even if you will not
be guiding, as it may be useful for determining initial focus.
Array: Hawaii II 2048×2048 HgCdTe science grade array, divided into four quadrants with 8
amplifiers each (32 amplifiers for the whole array).
Linearity at 1.0 V bias: 0.5% non-linear at 25,000 ADU
2.0% non-linear at 35,000 ADU
>3% non-linear at 40,000 ADU
S' = 1.00425 S – 1.01413×10
-6
S
2
+ 4.18096×10
-11
S
3
(Anthony Gonzalez, UF)
IRLINCOR coefficients: A = 1.00425 B = -0.03323 C = 0.04489
Plate Scale and Field of View: 0.606 arcsec/pixel
20.7 arcmin FOV
Detector Characteristics
Imaging Spectroscopy
Bias Voltage (Volts) 1.0 0.75
Full Well (ADU) ~50,000 ~38,000
Target Count level (ADU) 25,000 – 35,000 15,000 – 20,000
CDS Read Noise without
Differential Amplifier (e)
~40 ~40
Gain (e / ADU) ~4.9 ~4.1
NOTE: The default bias on boot of the MCE4 array controller is 0.776 V, which is not used in any observing
configuration; the initialization script initflam.pl automatically sets the bias to 1.0 V for imaging, but queries the
user if they wish to change the bias.
FLAMINGOS@2.1-m, Ver. 2.39, 2011 May 13 Page 3 of 46