This manual provides an overview of the hardware and software systems at the 1-meter. It is intended to be a starting place. In some cases, it will point you to places where you can find more information about a subject. In other cases, complete documentation will be here in the manual.
Other possibly useful documentation include an overview of the telescope/instrument design and performance , and the telescope operation manual.
The manual is organized into five primary sections covering the following:
Telescope Mechanical Systems: Includes information about encoders, motors, etc.
Telescope Optical Systems: Includes information about mirror cleaning, mirror covers, and mirror removal for service.
Instruments: Documents information about the Princeton Camera, filter wheel and guider.
Observatory Dome: Includes documentation of the upper and lower slit as well as dome rotation.
Auxiliary Systems: Includes information about Liquid Nitrogen Autofill system
There are a few notebooks and manuals that one should be familiar with. The primary notebooks are the yellow binders entitled, "Autoscope Model TCS-200 Telescope Control System" and "Autoscope Model TCS-200 Observatory Control System." These are referred to as "The yellow telescope binder" and "The yellow observatory binder" respectively in this document. Most of the electrical drawings for the telescope are documented there. Beware... not all drawings supplied by Autoscope are for as-built systems. Perhaps more important than the drawings, the notebooks contain vendor contact information. There are copies of these notebooks in the Astronomy Department and at Apache Point Observatory.
There is a set of blueprints for the telescope in the 1m control room at APO. As with the documentation, there is no guarantee that this accurately represents the as-built system.
There is another notebook that was maintained by Dave Summers when he was working on the 1-meter. It is a large blue notebook with a label reading "Dave Summers' 1-meter notes." In this manual it will be referred to as "The Blue Notebook" There is only one copy of this notebook and it is located at NMSU.
There is a blue photo album located in the 1m control room at APO that includes photo documentation of some procedures. I'll refer those photos at points in this manual. There are also digital photos at http://control1m.apo.nmsu.edu/1m/docs/photos/
Finally, there is a manual entitled "Filter-Guider Module & Interchangeable Filter Wheel for New Mexico State University." This is documentation provided by Dr. Peter Mack of Astronomical Consultants and Equipment in Tucson, Arizona that I've edited to reflect the as- built state of things. It will be referred to as the "Guider book." This has been included in the main notebooks.