(Click image for a larger version.)
The Maryland-Magellan Tunable Filter saw first light in the IMACS spectrograph at the Magellan Baade telescope on June 9, 2006.
This image is a 300 second exposure in the H-alpha emission line (Balmer alpha, 6563 A) of the galaxy NGC 4945. This is a screen grab of the quicklook display image (not bias subtracted or flatfielded). The full, 8-CCD mosaic image is 8192x8192 pixels and 27 arcmin across, and the MMTF was set to 18 A bandpass. North is to the left and east is up.
Special thanks to the technical staff of the Carnegie Observatories and Las Campanas Observatory for their help and hard work during MMTF commissioning.
These images are subsections of a 15 minute exposure
of the peculiar elliptical galaxy and radio source Centaurus A
(NGC 5128) with MMTF/IMACS/Baade on June 10, 2006.
Conditions were moderate cirrus and 0.7'' seeing.
The mosaic image has been bias-subtracted and flatfielded;
some artifacts remain due to imperfect CCD bias
subtraction.
The central region of Centaurus A (NGC 5128) seen at 6575 A; the filter admits both H-alpha emission, and continuum light from the underlying elliptical galaxy, with a huge dust lane running across it. This image subsection is about 5 x 2.5 arcmin (Brighter=white).
The jet of the radio galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) seen in H-alpha emission, about 20 kpc from the galaxy nucleus. (Brighter=black). This is a different subsection of the same overall 8K image.
(Click images for larger versions.)
Participants and supporters of the MMTF commissioning run included: Maryland: Sylvain Veilleux, Ben Weiner. Carnegie: David Osip, Alan Dressler, Tyson Hare, Christoph Birk, Alan Bagish, Alan Uomoto. Las Campanas: Gabriel Martin, Mauricio Navarrete, Geraldo Valladares, and the entire mountain staff. Many others also helped!
The Maryland-Magellan Tunable Filter project is a collaboration between the University of Maryland and the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Construction of the MMTF is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Advanced Techniques in Instrumentation program, NSF AST-0242860.