Mosaic of six 2048 × 4096 pixel SITe SI-002 thinned, backside illuminated,
AR coated CCD located at Hale Telescope's prime focus (f/3.3)
Field diameter: 24′
Pixel size: 15 µm
Pixel scale:
0.18″/pixel binned 1×1
0.36″/pixel binned 2×2
Minimum exposure time: 0.6 sec
Gap between CCD chips: ~ 15″
Readout (mosaic) options:
Mode (mosaic command)
Chip numbers used
Binning value (pixels)
Raster value
Field size
Readout/write time (sec)
lfc / lfc2
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
1 × 1
No raster
25.3′ × 24.8′
115
lfc2bin
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
2 × 2
No raster
25.3′ × 24.8′
56
lfcfour
0, 1, 2, 3 (central 4)
1 × 1
No raster
12.5′ × 24.8′
111
lfczero
0 (chip 0)
1 × 1
No raster
6′ × 12.3′
105
lfczerobin
0 (chip 0)
2 × 2
No raster
6′ × 12.3′
45
lfcfind
0 (chip 0)
2 × 2
[0–1024 × 1024–2048]
6′ × 6′
31
Image file size: ~ 17 Mb per CCD at 1 × 1 binning
LFC guider: partially vignetted 512 × 512 SITe chip located in the open
area between chips 3 and 5. See focal plane schematic.
Capable of guiding down to mV ~ 18
The six LFC CCDs are SITe SI-002 chips, 2048 wide by 4096 pixels tall.
Each pixel is 15 microns square, which corresponds to ~ 0.18″/pixel
(0.175″/pixel at the center of the mosaic; 0.185″/pixel at the field edge).
Added logic to filter wheel movement so that the filter wheel will correctly move to the
requested position in both extreme cold and extreme hot ambient temperatures.
Created two new backup MCDCOM programs in case the hot/cold logic fails:
mcdcom_hot to be used in hot temperatures
mcdcom_cold to be used in cold temperatures
When mcdcom is started, 3 scripts are automatically copied to the user's working directory
(if none exist):
focus_coarse
focus_fine
dither5
A test version of the lfcguider (lfcguide_ns) is now available which attempts
to guide at non-sidereal rates. Target rates are entered in the File/BlackBelt
menu popup window.
MCDCOM program update (April 28, 2005)
The iraf command now works. When toggled ON, files are written
as signed integer FITS.
The istat command now works correctly, displaying the mean of
chip 0.
A new command fs has been added. This adds a filename suffix
(eg: .fits). To clear this at
any time, issue fs "".
New commands have been added to turn lamps on and off from the command line,
useful in domeflat scripts:
telescope lowlamp
telescope highlamp
telescope arclamp
telescope lampsoff
Fixed the header bug in the guider program. All fits files should now have proper telescope header
information, regardless of when a go is issued.
Added narrow band filters (Nov. 2007)
Karl Stapelfeldt has supplied two new narrow band filters from Asahi Spectra.
The filter plots are linked above, and are named H-alpha and S-II.
More narrow band filters (2008 & 2009)
Ted Wyder and Brian Siana have added the following filters which are listed and
linked above: 6610/100,6650/100,6700/100,3800/200. All are available to the public.
Questions? We've answered many common observing and operations questions in our observer FAQ page. Please share your feedback on this page or any other Palomar topic at the
COO Feedback portal.
LFC Specs / v 2.0.3
Last updated: 28 March 2015 ACM/AFB