The Rochester Mark IV is back in its little shed again, after a prolonged visit indoors to avoid the snow this winter. With the aid of Thomas Schwarting, one of the Physics majors here at RIT, I've managed to get the camera mostly ready for action:
You may recall that the TE coolers were a bit of concern. I've tested them during two hot summer nights, and they have brought the cameras down to about -3 degrees C. Since the coolant temperature was about 28 C, this is a bit more than 30 degrees C below ambient. It's probably good enough for most purposes. I still need to measure the dark current precisely.
Just to prove to you that the camera can take pictures, here are shots of a random patch of sky centered near RA = 17:59:53 and Dec = +12:49. I've rotated the images so that North is up and East to the left. The pictures are raw -- no dark subtraction or flatfielding. An airplane left a trail near the bottom edge.
V-band image:
I-band image:
Now, let's take a closer look near the center of the image, around the star PPM 134098, field about 0.5 degrees on a side. Here's a chart, first, with Tycho V-band magnitudes marked:
Now, the V-band and then I-band closeups:
One thing that worries me is the "measles" which appear in the I-band frame. I'm not sure how well they will subtract ...