MOSAIC

What Is Mosaic-3?

Mosaic-3 is a new detector package for the Mosaic prime focus camera at the Mayall telescope on Kitt Peak. The old CCDs in the Mosaic-2 dewar (the version of the Mosaic instrument used at CTIO) have been replaced with four new 4k x 4k, 15 micron pixel, 500-micron thick LBNL deep-depletion CCDs and are now operated using new controllers developed by LBNL. The new detectors have excellent quantum efficiency at red wavelengths (i.e., >85% at 7500-9200 Angstroms).

The primary purpose of the upgrade is to almost double the z-band sensitivity of the Mosaic camera system and to carry out the Mosaic z-band Legacy Survey (MzLS). MzLS is a public imaging survey that will use the Mosaic-3 camera to obtain z-band images of ~5,000 deg² of the extragalactic sky at DEC > +30 deg.

The only new elements in the Mosaic-3 system are the CCDs and controllers; the rest of the elements (prime focus corrector, filter track, shutter assembly, instrument housing and control software) remain the same. Hence, all filters available for Mosaic1.1 can be used with Mosaic3.

Rules for Observing with Mosaic-3

IMPORTANT!!! Due to the sensitivity of these devices we have instituted rules for observing with Mosaic-3. Prior to your observing run please ensure you read these thoroughly. During your run you will be required to adhere to these rules.

General Information for Observers

• Instrument Manual for Mosaic-3 (Version 1.2, 10 February 2016)
• Dome Flat Calibrations - Checklist
• NGUI Readme file and Tar bundle.
  All observations with Mosaic must be executed via a script. Scripts are straightforward to create using NGUI. Observers can download a copy of the NGUI via the link above (right click and save link as). Please download a copy and try making some observing scripts in advance of your observing run, but note that any script created with this demo version will not be usable at the telescope (due to filter location). NGUI is available at the telescope for creating scripts on-the-fly.
• MOSAIC Filter Properties
• Properties of the new LBNL CCDS in Mosaic-3 (QE, read noise, gain)
• Get the lastest version of mscred either by downloading the package from the IRAF Community Distribution site or by using dynamic package loading with IRAF v2.15.

Tools And Reductions

• Calculate exposure times (CCDTIME)
• The upgraded Mosaic, Mosaic-3 is more sensitive than Mosaic 1.1 in the red. We will be upgrading the CCDTIME exposure time calculator as new calibration observations have been processed.


• IRAF Software and Documents
• Buell Jannuzi's Guide to NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey MOSAIC Reductions, Updated for version 2.12 of IRAF and MSCRED 4.7
• This guide is geered toward processing the older Mosaic 1.0 images with software pre 2010.
• Getting the MSCRED Reduction package
• The link above refers to the pre-November 2010 version of MSCRED. A new version is also available (see above under "General Information for Observers").
• The NOAO Data Handbook is a guide to accessing and using data from major NOAO instruments, currently addressing the Mosaic and NEWFIRM wide-field imagers. The Data Handbook describes the formats and characteristics of raw data, and the pipeline processing applied to all recent and current observations and its data products. It also describes how to access these data in the NOAO Science Archive.
• Information about the previous version of Mosaic, Mosaic 1.1, can be found via the older web pages.
• Information about the previously previous version of Mosaic, Mosaic 1.0, can be found via the (even older) old web pages.

Newletter Articles

• New Galaxy-hunting Sky Camera Sees Redder Better - Lawrence Berkely Labs Newsletter, February 2016