Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 11:21:05 -1000 (HST)
From: John Rayner <rayner@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu>
To: cushing@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu, irtfall@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu,
    joseph@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu
Subject: SpeX first light


Well, we finally got starlight into the instrument.

It was a very hectic and long night. Lots of things
worked and a few things didn't although we managed
to get some calibrated data. As expected most of
the problems involved getting the infrared guider
calibrated when used together with the internal field
rotator but by the end of the night we managed to get
some calibrated spectra for some of the observing 
modes. The only significant problem seems to be a loss
of efficiency in the range 0.8-0.9 micron. I suspect
this is due to the anti-reflection coatings not working
well below 0.9 micron but that still leaves us with
0.9-5.5 micron so the overall impact is small.

Over the next couple of nights we'll take data to 
measure the sensitivity in all the observing modes.

You all probably think this is all very exciting.
The trouble is, I just want things to work, LIKE
THEY SHOULD, so there's alot of agonizing and not
much ecstasy because that's what the bloody thing 
is supposed to do.

Anyway, a big thank you to all, again....

John