Speckle Interferometry Camera Checkout on the 100-Inch Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory
Abstract
A new speckle interferometry camera system was checked out during a four-night run on the 100-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson observatory in June 2024. The primary purpose of the checkout was to evaluate the camera system, software, and operational procedures in preparation for subsequent science production runs. Although the new camera system described in this paper worked, we recommend a potential upgrade. Our observations tend to be of known or potential new binary stars with late (red) components. Thus, we recommend that the QHY 600 camera be replaced with a red sensitive ZWO 462 camera. The format of the 462 camera is small, and with the long focal length of the 100" telescope and a Barlow to reach full resolution, the field-of-view is very small, much smaller than the pointing accuracy of the over 100-year-old telescope. Thus, we also recommend the addition of a second, wide-field camera.
