Flair on the UK Schmidt Telescope

Abstract

FLAIR is the wide-field, multi-object spectroscopic (MOS) facility at the U.K. Schmidt telescope (UKST). It remains the worlds most powerful such facility in terms of area coverage and multiplex advantage. Recent FLAIR enhancements, including the commissioning of a thinned, blue sensitive CCD, have resulted in dramatic performance gains. A wider range of projects can be envisaged to fainter magnitudes whilst support for exisiting projects can be accommodated with significantly lower impact on UKST time. Results are presented which demonstrate these gains. FLAIR’s major drawback is the laborious semi-manual fibre positioning system which precludes maximum productivity. A more automated facility based on magnetic buttons and derivative AUTOFIB/2dF technology is envisaged and an outline of the benefits afforded by such upgrades is reported.