On-fiber guiding

An implementation was made of the freely available Phyton ``pyguide'' routines. This software is used to improve the accuracy by which an object is kept on the fiber during an exposure by analysing the reflected light from the object around the fiber itself. This ``on-fiber'' guiding routine works in parallel with the telescope autoguider and makes small adjustments to the telescope pointing if the object has moved away from the fiber center. One of the main challenges to this project is to account for the fact that the image of the fiber itself is moving. It has therefore been necessary not only to determine the object position with respect to the nominal fiber position, but also to continuously re-determine the actual fiber position by analysing the fiber viewing images. The on-fiber guiding mode is now offered on technical nights for further testing, and will soon be available for general usage.

The image-analysis software in ``pyguide'' may also be used to automate the first direct-imaging target acquisition step.