I is unavailable after the end of October. I time is limited to 30 nights total for all the partner countries. Approximately five nights of queue-scheduled observing time will be available to the community for new programs during the 2001B semester. Due to delays in the start of science operations with the new 6.5-m telescope of the MMT Observatory, some programs approved in previous semesters will be held over and carried out during the 2001B semester. It should also be noted that due to the removal of the old console room, operation of visitor instruments from the observing floor is no longer possible, thus cable runs to the ground-floor console room are mandatory.
Early consultation is encouraged.
This instrument is due to be retired at the end of 2001B, subject to the success of an Integral Field Unit feed to the Hydra bench spectrograph. 2Kx4K CCD are expected to be available on the Hydra spectrograph. The new combination reduces vignetting and allows the use of more fibers. Narrow slit plates are also available to allow higher spectral resolution with 300 micron fibers. The IR array has been replaced with one which does not exhibit severe ramping at quadrant boundaries and which has deeper full well capacity.