Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassnut
Wow, awesome Trevor. The CNC mask machine was a shock, how is that used (OK it makes masks, but how are they used, and why?, please expand the explanation on the pic)
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Bill Healy, the Keck guy that took us through the observatory told us that milling the masks was a specialist job and just the one guy does it, he does nothing else but the masks. I had a good look at the miller and obviously the tool that was in it was tiny and would have run at relatively high RPM.
There are several different spectrograph's available to visiting astronomers, they are capable of observing multiple targets simultaneously.
For Duncan's team the slots were for multiple globular clusters associated with four different galaxies. I think they use images of each field to design that particular mask, to determine the positioning of the slots to obtain spectra and the cutouts for the alignment stars in that field.
I am unsure of the design characteristics of DEIMOS, regarding how the light from the individual targets is directed, not sure if it is by fibre optic or not.
The masks are made from aluminum sheet and I also was surprised that they were milled. The slots need to be very accurate with no burs.
Much of the equipment at the observatory is original so is about 15 yrs old , funding for astronomy, like science in general is a bit of a problem.
Regards
Trevor
