We describe the design of the Commissioning Instrument for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). DESI will obtain spectra over a 3 degree field of view using the 4-meter Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak, AZ. In order to achieve the required image quality over this field of view, a new optical corrector is being installed at the Mayall Telescope. The Commissioning Instrument is designed to characterize the image quality of the new optical system. The Commissioning Instrument has five commercial cameras; one at the center of the focal surface and four near the periphery of the field and at the cardinal directions. There are also 22 illuminated fiducials, distributed throughout the focal surface, that will be used to test the system that will map between the DESI fiber positioners and celestial coordinates. We describe how the commissioning instrument will perform commissioning tasks for the DESI project and thereby eliminate risks.
@article{arxiv.1807.09378,
title = {The Commissioning Instrument for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument},
author = {Ashley J. Ross and Paul Martini and Rebecca Coles and Mark Derwent and Klaus Honscheid and Thomas P. O'Brien and Dan Pappalardo and Suk Sien Tie and David Brooks and Michael Schubnell and Greg Tarle},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1807.09378},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
Presented at SPIE June 2018; Proc. SPIE 10702, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII, 1070280