The NOAO WIYN mirror group completed the laboratory assembly of the active mirror support system, and then connected the mirror to the supports and installed the whole assembly under the optical tower for testing. Interferometric tests using the same null lens used for polishing demonstrated that the redesigned active axial supports perform extremely well when pointed towards the zenith, the only orientation we can test. The support system and mirror cell were shipped to Kitt Peak in early February. Work on the secondary mirror was completed by Contraves, U.S.A. in Pittsburgh, and the mirror has been shipped back to NOAO for installation in the mirror cell. The surface figure of the mirror is 0.030 waves RMS and meets WIYN's secondary mirror image error budget of 0.05 arcsecond.
Work also continues on the tertiary mirror cell and supports.
The rotator assembly that mounts the tertiary mirror on the primary mirror cell is complete and ready to be installed. NOAO has undertaken to write the GUI software as part of the control system hand- off from the UW Controls Group. NOAO involvement at this phase will help assure that the WIYN GUI is reasonably consistent with those at other NOAO telescopes, and that operators and observers will find WIYN operations to be familiar. Thermal testing of the enclosure is underway using the KPNO 10 micron infrared camera and thermocouple probes throughout the structure. Surface temperatures within the chamber generally tracked the air except for those surfaces exposed to the night sky which cooled below the air temperature.