GRACE: a controlled environment for adaptive optics at the William Herschel Telescope

The William Herschel Telescope (WHT) has an adaptive optics (AO) suite consisting of the AO system NAOMI, near IR imager INGRID, optical field spectrograph OASIS and coronagraph OSCA. GRACE ( GR ound based A daptive optics C ontrolled E nvironment) is a dedicated structure at a Nasmyth focus designed to facilitate routine AO use by providing a controlled environment for the instrument system. However, GRACE is not just a building; it is all of the systems associated with providing the controlled environment, especially the control of air quality, temperature and flow. A key concern was that adding the GRACE building to the Nasmyth platform would not adversely change the telescope performance. This paper gives the background to GRACE, its specification and design, the building construction and installation, the environmental controls installed and their performance, the services provided, the effect of the new structure on telescope performance, the results of the project, including the effect having a controlled environment on AO performance and its planned use for a Rayleigh laser guide star system.