4MOST Wide Field Corrector optics delivered

by Joe Liske on 2020-11-27

The 4MOST Wide Field Corrector (WFC) and Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector lenses have been manufactured and tested at KiwiStar Optics, New Zealand. These are large lenses that represent a significant part of the overall hardware budget for 4MOST. The Project Manager, Joar Brynnel, is pleased to report that five of the six WFC lenses have just arrived safely at the UCL laboratory, where they will be integrated with the WFC mechanics and aligned with high precision in order to meet their tight specifications. The sixth lens is still at KiwiStar in the final stage of manufacturing. It is a great relief for the project that the lenses have arrived without damage. Peter Doel (UCL) reports: "The crates have arrived safely and are under lock and key in the lab. No external shock indicators were triggered and there was no visual damage of the boxes. We very briefly (and without taking them out of the boxes) did a visual inspection of the lenses before resealing them. The lenses look fine."