The left hand image (1992) was taken with MAGIC, the MpiA General purpose near Infrared Camera. It is not cleaned in any way and shows me in reflected light at a wavelength of 1.25 micrometers (J-band).
The right hand image (2010) was taken with an engineering grade array of FourStar. It is not cleaned in any way and shows me in reflected light at a wavelength of 1.65 micrometers (H-band).

The following instruments and projects keep me busy:

Current Projects

Past Projects

Active Instruments

Retired Instruments

Under Development:

• PFS meta temperature controller
• 4kx4k CCD camera for the Swope (1.0m) telescope
• Upgrade the Swope guider stage software (GDR40) to run under MacOS/X11 (was LynxOS)
• M2FS software (user GUI and CCD-server)
• Re-design the CCD-software for a robotized Swope telescope
• LDSS3 CCD upgrade

Active Instruments:

• FourStar - 4 * HAWAII-2RG IR Camera at the Baade telescope.
• CAPSCam-North - HAWAII-2RG (HyViSi) camera at the Hooker Telescope on Mount Wilson.
• PFS - Planet Finder Spectrograph at the Clay telescope.
• MagE - Echellette spectrograph for the Clay telescope.
• CAPSCam-South - HAWAII-2RG (HyViSi) camera at the DuPont telescope
• B&C - Spectrograph at the DuPont telescope.
• RetroCam - HAWAII-1 IR camera at the DuPont telescope.
• LDSS-3 - Low Dispersion Survey Spectrograph 3 at Magellan
• Carnegie-DIMM - Differential Image Motion Monitor.
• IMACS - 8k*8k CCD mosaic camera and spectrograph at the Baade telescope.
• MIKE - dual channel CCD spectrograph at the Clay telescope.
• GMap - a tool to find guide stars and maintain object lists at the DuPont and Swope telescopes.
• Direct, Echelle and WFCCD instruments at the DuPont telescope.

Past Projects:

• 2011: Mosaic3 - f/4 focus mechanism and and CCD upgrade for IMACS.

• 2011: Upgrade of the MIKE GUI to control the slit, camera focus and calibration lamp via the PLC.

• 2011: Add macro/scripts to the CAPS-Cam software. These simplify standartized calibration procedures and enable automated dithered observations.

• 2011: Adapt the RetroCam software to run at the DuPont telescope.

• 2011: Update the GMap tool for use with the TCS at the DuPont and Swope telescopes.
  'C' -- MacOS-X (Cocoa)

• 2011: Upgrade the Carnegie-DIMM software to control the dome and power-up/down the telescope and CCD camera. Read weather information from the Magellan TCS to allow mostly autonomous operation. Automatic reporting of status and logfiles. (Site Testing)

• 2010: FourStar (4*2048*2048) IR Camera for the Baade telescope.
  'C' -- MacOS-X (Carbon), WindowsXP (Software Documentation).

• 2010: Adapt the PFS software for a new photon counter.

• 2010: CAPSCam-North: Use the guide-window exposures for guiding the 100" Hooker Telescope on Mount Wilson.

• 2010: FIRE: Development of the prototype version of the FIRE-GUI and data acquistion software.
  'C' -- MacOS-X (Carbon), WindowsXP

• 2009: DuPont CCD systems upgrade:
  (1) WF4K/SITE2K arrays for the the Direct+Echelle+WFCCD instruments.
  (2) Upgrade of the B&C GUI to include the functionality of the the Tk/Tcl-GUI.
  (3) Conversion of all serial lines to TCP/IP.
  'C' -- Linux (Software documentation and screenshots)

• 2009: Planet Finder Spectrograph (4064*4064 array, charge-shuffling, time-delayed integration) for the Clay telescope.
  'C' -- MacOS-X (X11) / Linux (Software documentation and screenshots)

• 2009: CAPSCam-North: A copy of CAPSCam for the Hooker Telescope on Mount Wilson.
  'C' -- Linux (Software documentation and screenshots)

• 2008: Mosaic/2: A 2nd dewar for IMACS. This addition avoids dewar changes between the two (f/2, f/4) foci and allows switching between the two cameras within seconds.
  'C' -- MacOS-X (X11) / Linux

• 2007: MagE is an echellette spectrograph for the Clay telescope.
  'C' -- MacOS-X (X11) / Linux (Screenshots)

• 2007: GISMO (Gladders Image-Slicing Multislit Option) for IMACS.
  'C' -- Linux

• 2007: CAPSCam - (2048*2048 HyViSi array 'H2RG', 4 outputs, independent guide-window readout) for the DuPont telescope.
  CAPSCam is used for the Carnegie Astrometric Planet Search.
  Some pictures taken during the comissioning run at the telescope.
  'C' -- Linux (Software documentation and screenshots)

• 2006: MMTF - Maryland-Magellan tunable filter for the IMACS f/2 mode. This picture was taken after the successful installation at the telescope.
  'C' -- Linux

• 2006: B&C (Boller & Chivens) spectrograph upgrade and integration into the DuPont (2.5m) telescope enivironment at at LCO.
  'C' -- Linux, ~20k lines

• 2005: RetroCam: (1024*1024 IR Camera) for the Swope (1.0m) telescope at LCO.
  'C' -- WindowsXP/Windows98

• 2005: LDSS-3 - Upgrade of LDSS-2 using the new CCD controller (cf. IMACS, MIKE), absolute encoders and a new GUI.
  'C' -- Linux, ~23k lines (screenshot)

• 2004: MOE - A combination echellette and cross-dispersing prism for the IMACS f/4 mode.
  'C' -- Linux

• 2004: Carnegie-DIMM (Differential Image Motion Monitor): Site testing for the Giant Magellan Telescope.
  'C' -- Windows XP, ~16k lines (Software documentation and screenshots)

• 2003: IFU - Add software support for the 'Integral Field Unit' into the IMACS control software.
  'C' -- Linux

• 2003: IMACS - (8k*8k CCD mosaic camera and spectrograph) for the Baade telescope at LCO.
  'C' -- Linux, ~87k lines (Software documentation and screenshots)

• 2003: PANIC - (1024*1024 IR Camera) for the Baade telescope at LCO.
  'C' -- Windows2000/Windows98 (~24k lines)

• 2002: MIKE - User interface and data acquistion for MIKE (dual channel CCD spectrograph) at the Clay telescope.
  'C' -- Linux (~14k lines) (screenshot)

• 2001: WIRC/IR4 - Replacement of CIRSI (new dewar, arrays and electronics).
  'C' -- WindowsNT/Windows98

• 2001: LDSS-2: Integration into the Magellan environment. Development of a GUI for mask-, grism-, filter-wheel and focus control.
  'C' -- Linux/Solaris, ~5k lines (screenshot)

• 2001: GMap tool for the calculation and display of guide star positions at the Swope and DuPont telescopes.
  'C' -- Linux/Solaris

• 2001: Compilation of an extensive (~500e6 entries) guide-star catalog from the USNO-A2 catalog by re-indexing and re-formatting, optimized for high-speed access. This catalog is used with the IMACS mask cutting software and the Magellan telescope guider system.

• 2001: Add TCS communication to the CCD instrument software at the Swope telescope.
  'C' -- LynxOS (real-time UNIX) and SunOS/Solaris

• 2000: WIRC : a K-Band extension to CIRSI
  'C' -- WindowsNT/Windows95 (~31k lines)

• 1999: Integration of CIRSI (4*1024*1024 IR camera) into the 100" telescope enivironment at LCO.
  'C' -- WindowsNT and Solaris

• 1999: Add telescope dithering to the software of the IR-camera at the 60" telescope at Mt. Palomar Observatory
  'C' -- LynxOS (real-time UNIX) and SunOS/Solaris

• 1998: Add TCS control to the software of the IR-camera at the 60" telescope at Mt. Palomar Observatory
  'C' -- LynxOS (real-time UNIX) and SunOS/Solaris

• 1998: Add serial communication to the DuPont telescope control system allowing instruments to retrieve telescope status information.
  'Fortran' -- MS-DOS

• 1997: Upgrade the (now retired) CCD software at the DuPont telescope (screenshot).
  • Multiple-subrasters feature added.
  • Add control of the WFCCD filter- and aperture wheels.
  
  'C' -- LynxOS (real-time UNIX) and SunOS/Solaris

Retired Instruments:

• WIRC (from the DuPont telescope)
• PANIC (from the Baade telescope)
• LynxOS CCD software (from the DuPont and Swope telescopes)
• IR-camera (from the 60" telescope at the Mt. Palomar Observatory)

Projects at MPIA

• MAGIC , a near-infrared camera at Calar Alto, Spain
• MAX, a mid-infrared camera for UKIRT, Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
• OmegaPrime , a 1024*1024 prime-focus near-infrared camera at Calar Alto, Spain
• OmegaCass , a 1024*1024 cassegrain-focus near-infrared camera at Calar Alto, Spain

Publications

• Phone: (626) 304-0218
• Fax: (626) 795-8136
• E-mail: birk AT obs DOT carnegiescience DOT edu
• Postal: Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101, U.S.A.