Direct Imaging Camera on the Nassau Robotic Telescope sees first light!

What is "first light"? For those not familiar with the lingo of the astronomical community, first light is the event where the instrument/telescope combination is used to record its first images. In reality, it is not quite the gala event you might imagine as it normally occurs late one night whilst the sleep deprived astronomers and technicians struggle to stay awake and keep their new setup from falling to pieces.

First light for the direct imaging CCD camera on the Nassau Robotic Telescope occurred May 27, 1998 at about 11:00pm with a 30 second un-guided exposure of the globular cluster M3. The image is close to in focus, however because the exposure was unguided there is a slight hint of trailing (elongation from left to right).

There was much jubilation in the control room when this image was successfully downloaded from the camera. Improvements to the hardware and software will improve the collection of data from the direct imaging CCD before we go on-line taking observing requests and we expect many more beautiful and striking images to be gathered by the camera but this image will always be near and dear to the hearts of the project staff.