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DESI Sky Continuum Montitor

DESI Sky Continuum Montitor

The DESI Sky Continuum Monitor System tracks the night sky brightness as part of a system that dynamically adjusts the spectroscopic exposure time to produce more uniform data quality and to maximize observing efficiency. The DESI dynamic exposure time calculator (ETC) combines sky brightness measurements from the Sky Monitor with data from the guider system to calculate the exposure time to achieve uniform signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the spectra under various observing conditions. The DESI focal plane system includes 17 sky fiber that are split into two groups that are fed into two identical Sky Monitor units to provide redundancy. Each Sky Monitor unit uses an SBIG STXL-6303e CCD camera with an eight-position filter wheel. Both units have been in operation at  the Mayall 4-m Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory supporting on-going DESI science survey operations since 2020.

Instrument Specification

  • Project type: Technical instrument (sky monitor) 
  • CCD Camera: SBIG STXL-6303e
  • Filter Wheel: SBIG FW8S-STXL 8-position filter wheel
  • Reimaging Lens: Nikon 50 mm f/1.2 lens,
  • Filter Format: 50mm round, 3mm thick
  • Filters: SDSS r, diffuser/ND filter stack
  • Additional Systems: internal LED back illuminator (460nm LEDs)
  • Telescope: Kitt Peak National Observatory 4m Mayall telescope, AZ, USA
  • Years active: 2020- present
  • Reference: Tie et al. 2020, SPIE, 11447, 85T

Instrument Facts

  • Two identical sky monitors are used in tandem, dividing the 17 sky fibers into two groups to provide redundancy if one unit fails.
  • The Sky Monitor is required to deliver sky images every 60s during (lunar) bright time and every 200s in dark
    and gray time
  • The LED fiber back-illumination system allows the sky fibers to be imaged by the DESI fiber viewing camera to know precise locations on the sky.
  • There are 20 sky fibers, 2 per DESI fiber positioner "petal", but 3 of the 20 are broken so only 17 are imaged by the Sky Monitor
  • The Sky Monitor project was part of the PhD dissertation of OSU graduate student Suk Sien Tie.

Instrument Team

Suk Sien Tie (Project Lead)
Paul Martini (DESI project scientist)
Daniel Pappalardo (Electrical Engineer)
Jon Shover (​​​​​​​Senior Instrument Maker)