2019 Dec 31 - Zorro runs in 2020A have been scheduled between March 10 and 18, and June 29 and July 5. Phase II deadline has been set for February 17th.
2019 Oct 05 - 'Alopeke spent the weekend in the Hilo lab where Nic installed a new pickoff arm position sensor and realigned the optics in preparation for using the new mounting spacer ring.
2019 Aug 02 - Both 2019A Zorro science runs were successful, with high level of completion for all its programs. 2019B runs will be on September and January. Additional dates may be available through Fast Turnaround. Check the FT call for proposals.
2019 May 21 - Zorro saw its first light last Thursday, and despite some poor seeing, the first science run has started.
2019 May 16 - Zorro has been installed at the telescope and commissioning is ongoing.
2019 Apr 25 - Zorro has safely arrived to Cerro Pachón.
2019 Apr 12 - Zorro has been shipped and it is on its way to Chile!
2019 Mar 19 - Updated overheads have been published for 'Alopeke and Zorro.
2019 Feb 22 - Zorro is currently being built at NASA Ames. Its commissioning at Gemini South has been scheduled between May 13 and 16, while the first science run will follow from May 17 to 23. A second science run is scheduled between July 13 and 20.
2019 Feb 20 - The February 'Alopeke run was nearly weathered out due to a winter storm on Maunakea, reducing the nominally 8-night run to ~2.5 nights. On the positive side, the new Linux 'Alopeke control software is working well and was used throughout the run!
2018 Oct 18-28 - 2018B 'Alopeke observing block, including testing the new Linux control software.
2018 Apr 5 - The repaired 'Alopeke red camera arrived!
2018 Mar 28 - Apr-4 - The second 'Alopeke run went smoothly, although the second half was lost to bad weather.
2018 Mar 31 - Observations of MAXIJ1820+070 / ASASSN-18ey in wide-field mode are available in the GOA.
2018 Mar 7 - A replacement red camera has arrived!
2018 Feb - The red camera was returned to Andor to diagnose an issue running at the highest frame rate.
2017 Dec 13 - The second 'Alopeke commissioning run had poor weather, but the instrument performed well. Below are two ~18.5" images in the center of the globular cluster M15 taken in poor conditions (~1" seeing and very windy). The left image is a simple stack of all 1000 x 60 millisecond images, while the image on the right is a speckle reconstruction yielding FWHM~0.15".
2017 Oct 26 - 'Alopeke first light!
2017 Oct 24 - 'Alopeke installed on it's mounting tube.
2017 Oct 18 - The 'Alopeke mounting tube is installed between GCAL and the ISS.