********************************************************************** ***** THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR OBSERVERS AT THE 0.9M ***** ***** WHO ARE OBSERVING FOR CTIOPI ***** ***** (version 2014.0614) ***** ********************************************************************** The most recent version of this document can be found on the CTIOPI website at http://www.astro.gsu.edu/~thenry/CTIOPI/ctiopi.observing.YYYY.MMDD ********************************************************************** ***** WE HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED A STABLE ACCOUNT FOR CTIOPI, v12 ***** ***** ALWAYS USE THAT ACCOUNT! ***** ***** (password can be found inside the CTIOPI notebooks) ***** ********************************************************************** ______________________________________________________________________ CTIOPI HELP FOR THE 0.9M ______________________________________________________________________ Todd Henry thenry @ astro.gsu.edu Wei-Chun Jao jao @ astro.gsu.edu Jen Winters winters @ astro.gsu.edu ********************************************************************** ***** ***** ***** FIRST STOP, LA SERENA ***** ***** ***** ********************************************************************** Upon arrival at the La Serena airport, you will most likely be met by someone arranged by CTIO to whisk you to the dorms in the AURA complex. You will sign a piece of paper and be billed later for the trip. If no one meets you, you can catch a cab, and ask them to take you to the "AURA/CTIO Recinto." It should cost about 5000 pesos or $10. Make sure to enjoy La Serena while you are there. Say hello to folks at CTIO you know, and make new friends with those you don't (yet) know. Always be sure to stop by to thank Ximena Herreros for her help coordinating your trip. Buying her flowers is an excellent idea. Go to the beach! Have pisco sours! Buy souvenirs at La Recova! ********************************************************************** ***** ***** ***** NEXT STOP, CTIO ***** ***** ***** ********************************************************************** You will take the carryall up the mountain on the first day of your observing run. As of June 2014, the carryall departs from the reception area in La Serena two times per day with the times depending on the day and drops you off at the round office building or down by the cafeteria. For the carryall schedule, check www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/Visiting-Astronomers-Travel-Guide Note that the travel time from CTIO to the airport is about 1.5 hours, so plan accordingly to catch your flight to Santiago. After checking in (and perhaps having lunch if you took the early carryall), go up to the telescope and find the large plastic CTIOPI PIBOX (with a red top) and the smaller PIBOXito, both of which are kept in the 0.9m observing room under the table with the microwave, refrigerator, etc., on top. In the PIBOX, you should find four 0.9m setup notebooks for CTIOPI targets (00-06H, 06-12H, 12h-18H, 18-00H), the 0.9m logbook, and a photometry notebook. DVDs and other useful items are found in PIBOXito. Please return all items to the boxes after your run and put them under the table, as the next observer will need them. ______________________________________________________________________ HELP ON THE MOUNTAIN ______________________________________________________________________ Observer Support dial 421 Electronics Support dial 417 Computer Support dial 422 Medical Center dial 454 ______________________________________________________________________ WEATHER ______________________________________________________________________ To check weather conditions at CTIO go to 139.229.115.231/web/CTIO/environ.php To check weather in Chile and the rest of South America go to www.eldoradocountyweather.com/satellite/misc/s.america-ir-sat.html ______________________________________________________________________ RADIO ______________________________________________________________________ As of AUG 2009, good radio stations (at least by TJH's standards) include 88.9, 100.9, 101.5 and 102.1 (Horizonte). The second one has been known to play the Pet Shop Boys, so listen at your own risk. ______________________________________________________________________ COMPUTER ADDRESSES AT THE 0.9m ______________________________________________________________________ ctioa4 observer's computer with ARCON /ua41/v12 directory on ctioa4 /ua44/v12 directory on ctioa4 /ua45/v12 (defunct as of APR 2014) ********************************************************************** * * * CHECK THE DISKSPACE AVAILABLE ON THE 3 DISKS BEFORE * * STARTING YOUR FIRST NIGHT BY TYPING df * * * * EACH DISK IS 8 GB IN SIZE, * * WHICH HOLDS AT LEAST 1000 CTIOPI FRAMES AND .fits FILES * * * * YOU MAY DELETE ANY OTHER DATA YOU FIND FROM PREVIOUS OBSERVERS * * (they can get it from the archive if they didn't take a copy) * * * ********************************************************************** ctio36 additional computer /usr/u361/v12 home directory on ctio36 or /home/u361/v12 /usr/u363/v12 storage location for CTIOPI data You can rlogin from anywhere on the mountain to another computer. TJH has a file of tricks called .alias where some favorite quick commands are kept. You can make your own such file and activate it by typing "source .alias" to make your commands work. If a machine locks up, you can try rebooting by holding the [STOP] and [a] buttons down simultaneously. Then, answer "sync" at the prompt. The root password for ctio36 is on a piece of paper in PIBOXito in case you need it to reboot. ______________________________________________________________________ REMOTE ACCESS ______________________________________________________________________ La Serena ssh -l v12 ctio.noao.edu 0.9m ssh -l v12 ctio36.ctio.noao.edu cd /ua41/v12 to get to the files from ctioa4 cd /ua44/v12 to get to the files from ctioa4 cd /ua45/v12 (defunct APR 2014) cd /u363/v12 to get to the files from ctio36 du /ua41/* to find out where space is being used ______________________________________________________________________ GETTING STARTED, AND IRAF COMMANDS ______________________________________________________________________ A quick list of how to get information about the telescope and instrument setup: lpar telpars telescope parameters, e.g. focus lpar detpars detector setup parameters, e.g. pixels used, gain lpar instrpars instrument parameters, e.g. current filter positions lpar wheel1 assignments for filters in wheel 1 (epar to edit) lpar wheel2 assignments for filters in wheel 2 (epar to edit) motor init to get it to spin filter wheels to slots 8 and 8 (you may need to do it more than once) lpar obspars observing parameters, e.g. observers, frame # A fairly comprehensive list of commands you can use for observing is given here: ccdinfo tells you how the detector is currently set up, but does not allow you to change anything --- to change a parameter, use [detpars]. ctiopi loads useful scripts for CTIOPI (note: smarts loads similar scripts for SMARTS observing, e.g. finishsmarts) detpars allows you to change parameters on the detector. You must use this if you are changing setups during the night. You must type "setdet force+" after using this. display is the command that puts the image in the ximtool box. It is best to [epar display] and make sure that the parameter "fill" is set to "yes" so that the image fills the ximtool (or saoimage) box. There are a million subtleties to [display] that you can pretty much ignore for data-taking purposes. To fit Ximtool display box, use "set stdimage=imt800" or perhaps "set stdimage=imt2048" and stretch the box so that it barely exceeds the edges of the frame when the frame is displayed. ***** need to check stdimage=imt800 command --- Jen used stdimage=imt2048 typed into both the red and blue windows in AUG 2010 ***** doobs is used to set up a series of observations and is very useful for flats (take 11 exposures each in the filter sequence "v,r,i"). epar is the command you type to get inside each package to change parameters. You keep the changes and exit the package by typing d. filter in blue window, changes the current filters finishctiopi when observing for CTIOPI, makes .fits files, generates header files, and emails them. The script is located at /ua41/v12/ctiopi on the a4 machine. flpr resets window commands after aborting or stopping. Type it three times to be sure. focus is used to focus the telescope at the 0.9m. The charge is transferred along the CCD so that you get several star images in a line to inspect for focus. All you have to do is adjust the focus between each exposure and hit when you are ready for the next one. Remember to delete the file and 'epar obspars' to reset the frame count when you are done. hedit is useful if you misname the file -- use it to change the title to one of the following formats: STAR0088 at R for pi STAR0088 at R for phot STAR0088 at R for refraction STAR0088 at R for pi, phot, refraction STAR0088 at R --- bad frame imarith is used to add/subtract/multiply/divide images, i.e. basic arithmetic. imcopy is used to copy images in a way that keeps the header and pixel files linked together imexamine is very useful when taking data. Type [imexamine] to get a cursor on the image in the imtool box. Type "r" to get a radial profile to see if a star is saturated (64,000 counts) or has enough counts, and to check the FWHM/seeing. Type "e" to get a contour plot to see if the focus is ok. Type "a" to get a readout of the peak value. Type "m" to get counts in a 5x5 box to get a sky noise estimate. Type "v" twice to get a plot along a vector where you mark the two ends. Type "s" to get a surface plot. NOTE THAT YOU MUST HAVE A SQUARE BOX FOR THE IMEXAMINE WINDOW TO LOOK AT THE SHAPE OF THE IMAGE --- A RECTANGULAR BOX WILL FLATTEN THE IMAGE AND MAKE IT LOOK OUT OF FOCUS WHEN IT IS NOT!!! Use a box size of [550,450] for a square display region. imhead typed alone, this will give you short header names for each file taken and show them on the screen. Typed as "imhead f* > look" will make a file called look that lists all of the frames taken. If you [epar imhead] you can change "longhead" to "yes", d out of it, and then get all the details of the observation. Or, just type "imhead f001 long+" to see the full header of a single file. imrename renames the specified image. imstat is useful to see what the mean is in a flat/bias/image. lpar can be used to list the parameters without going inside the package. mkdir creates a directory. more repeat the previous observation. motor init in blue window, this reinitializes the motor controller; do this when you get a message that says "SMC not responding" motor stat in blue window, returns location of the two filter wheels observe is the command used to take data. Use "object" for a target, "dflat" for a dome flat, and "zero" for a bias. Use filter "cb" for dome flats and "dia" for objects. obspars gives basic observing parameters. Use to set the file name for the night or adjust the incremental number of the frame being taken. File names should simply be "f" offset displays the last image taken and computes the offset necessary to move a star selected by the cursor to a specified X,Y. "offset" first puts you in "imexam", then put the cursor on the star of choice, hit q, and it will then prompt you for the X,Y to move to. Type "q" to get out. pause allows you to stop integrating to let clouds pass, recapture guide star, etc. Use "resume" to start again. qlook displays the last image and puts you in "imexam" in quick look mode. resume to start integrating again after pause. setdet force+ locks in the setup of the CCD. You need to type this after using "detpars" stop to get out of a sequence of exposures. tchange can be used to adjust the length of the integration once you have already begun integrating. "tchange -30" would shorten the exposure by 30 sec, "tchange 30" (no + sign!) would add 30 sec to the exposure. tcs info (must be typed in the Arcon Console window, NOT the Arcon Acquisition window) tells you if the TCS (telescope control system) is talking to the observing computer. temp sets the telescope temperature. test lets you take a frame but does not increment the frame number. This is useful for centering an image, testing integration time, etc. (i.e. any frame that you are likely to throw away). weat gives a weather update on the mountain. zero takes a bias frame with exposure of zero seconds. ********************************************************************** ***** ***** ***** TIME TO OBSERVE ***** ***** ***** ********************************************************************** ______________________________________________________________________ BEFORE OPENING ______________________________________________________________________ You will not have a night assistant at the 0.9m. So, you are on you own for most of each night, although Telops can provide support when needed --- you are looking for Manuel Hernandez or Hernan Tirado. Others who may help are Humberto Orrego, David Rojas and Javier Rojas, who are electronic engineers. Basic instructions on how to open/close the dome, move the telescope, etc. can be found in the black binder "0.9m Tel. Manual". The directions are given on the white pages covered with plastic in the OBSERVING section. More detailed instructions are given in the blue binder "OBSERVING PROCEDURES". ______________________________________________________________________ A FEW TIPS ABOUT THE ARCON ACQUISITION WINDOW AT THE 0.9M ______________________________________________________________________ cl> d TO SAVE ANY CHANGED PARAMETERS IN IRAF cl> :q TO SAVE ANY CHANGED PARAMETERS IN IRAF cl> flpr 3 TIMES TO CLEAR ANY ERRORS THAT MAY SCREW UP ARCON cl> ctiopi ANY TIME YOU REBOOTED ARCON, TO RELOAD THE SCRIPTS FOR CTIOPI OBSERVING ______________________________________________________________________ GETTING STARTED, CCD CAMERA SETUP ______________________________________________________________________ First, it is usually quite dry at CTIO, so TURN ON THE HUMIDIFIER (high setting) in the observing room. This will help prevent ARCON crashes due to static charge. Second, log out of ARCON and come back in for a fresh start. This resets directories accordingly. Answer "yes" (the default answer) to "Do you want to synchronize parameters?" Next, load various observing commands you will need. You must be in the home directory (the top directory, e.g. /ua41/v12). In the v12 account for CTIOPI observing, type "ctiopi" in both the ARCON Acquisition (blue) and ARCON Reduction (red) windows. Make sure the chip is setup correctly by typing "ccdinfo" in the ARCON Acquisition window. You should get the following parameters, which are also given in /usr/remote/ua41/v12/ctiopi/setup.ctiopi): gain 2 (gain 1 saturates at 40K starting March 2009) xsum 1 ysum 1 xstart 513 ystart 513 xsize 1024 ysize 1024 extend separate (method of extending ROI to include overscan) noversc 64 (Number of overscan pixels (binned)) xskip1 10 (x pixels to skip a start of overscan (binned)) xskip2 0 (x pixels to skip at end of overscan (binned)) xtrim1 0 (x pixels to trim at start of data) xtrim2 0 (x pixels to trim at end of data) ytrim1 0 (y pixels to trim at start of data) ytrim2 0 (y pixels to trim at end of data) amplifi ul preflas 0 (preflash time (seconds)) pixsize 24. (pixel size in microns) nxpixel 2048 (detector size in x) nypixel 2046 (detector size in y) detname Tek2K_3 mode ql This gives us one quarter of the array, which equals 6.8 arcmin on the sky, centered on chip center. The "ul" amplifier reads out in 50 seconds via one amplifier and provides low noise. To change the parameters, type "epar detpars", fill out the correct settings, followed by "setdet force+" to activate the new chip settings. ______________________________________________________________________ DIRECTORIES AND FILENAMES ______________________________________________________________________ Each night has a separate directory that you create, e.g. "mkdir n1" for the first night. To move into the desired directory to take data for the night, type "cd n1". To make your .imh and .pix files land in the same directory (always a good thing, in any new directory you create), type reset imdir=HDR$ Eventually, the name of the directory should be YYYYMMDD-09, i.e. 20060201-09 for 01 FEB 06. At the end of the night, the directory name MUST match the local date at the BEGINNING of the night. The name of the files MUST have the single letter name "f". Type "epar obspars" to setup the file name and number 1 (at the start of the night). Once you have entered this, type " d" or ":q" to save the parameters in IRAF. Numbers will be appended during the night, so that the first frame will be f001, the second will be f002, etc. ______________________________________________________________________ CALIBRATION FRAMES --- BIASES AND DOME FLATS ______________________________________________________________________ Only one set of calibration frames is taken each night. The set of calibration frames should be for either the full-chip or quarter-chip mode, BUT NOT BOTH. Science images may still be taken in both setups during one night, but calibration frames from a different night will be used during data reduction. BEFORE taking the biases and flats, repeat three times the command "preview 1". This takes a frame of 1 sec exposure, but does not save the image. This "flushes" the CCD from any remaining charge traps or electronic noise accumulated during the CCD idle time. For both the full-chip and quarter-chip setups, bias frames and VRI dome flats should be done. You should take 17 bias frames, 11 V dome flats, 11 R dome flats, and 11 I dome flats. This makes a total of 50 calibration frames. Before taking any type of calibration frame, it is best to take a test frame (type "test" in the blue window and answer the questions) to see if everything is working as expected. Type "imstat f*" to get the number of counts in frames to see if everything is ok, or load them in qlook and use the v command to look at the counts. Use "imhead" to check the frame size --- you should end up with a file size of [1098,1024] starting 2013.0401 or (usually) [1118,1024] before 2013. We don't understand why this has changed. It doesn't seem to affect reductions as the differences seem to have to do with the location of the bias columns. Use "imstat" to check the average counts in a frame --- you should get about 1440 counts for biases and 30-20K counts for oVRI flats. BIAS FRAMES Take bias frames before flat frames because the flats take a long time, during which you can go to dinner. To take the bias frames, go upstairs to the telescope and push the dark slides in --- there are two of them and they have gold-colored "handles". Then, back in the computer room, type the following into the blue ARCON acquistion window: > observe Exposure type (|zero|dark|object|comp|pflat|dflat|sflat|focus): zero Number of exposures to take: 17 Title of picture: bias ********************************************************************** * * * FOR THE BIAS FRAMES, YOU SHOULD GET ~1440 COUNTS. * * * * WE USED TO GET 500-600 COUNTS, BUT BECAUSE OF THE HASSLE OF * * SWITCHING ELECTRONICS CARDS, WE HAVE ADOPTED THE ONE USUALLY * * USED FOR QUAD READOUT. * * * * THE DATA ARE FINE, BUT WE HAVE LOST 1000 COUNTS OF WELL DEPTH * * * ********************************************************************** DOME FLATS In the control room, turn on the flatfield lamps using the toggle on just under the red time readout on the tall white tower. Go upstairs, pull out the dark slides, check that all three flatfield lamps are on, make sure the mirror cover is off the telescope, and check that the telescope is pointed at the white spot. If the telescope is not pointed toward the white spot, back in the control room you can do it by turning on the power to the telescope via the TCS by pushing the red HALT MOTORS button so that it is lit up --- and keep all of the toggle levers off (TRACK, AUTO DOME, EXTERNAL COMPUTER, DOME TRACK) except DRIVES, which you flip up to turn them on. Up in the dome, you may have to turn on the Master Power toggle on the old green console on the platform --- there will be a scary noise and the dials will shimmy when you do that, but it's ok, that's normal. You point the telescope to the white spot using the Offset/Zenith tab on the Movement panel on the TCS screen. Choose Set Punto Blanco/Flat Field and click Start Slew. As of August 2009, we again use the oV = old V = Tek#2 V filter, which has a large crack in one corner. We had switched to the nV = new V = Tek#1 V = replacement V filter, which as of June 2014 also has a small crack in one corner. The nV filter is the standard one used for SMARTS programs because most people (a) don't care which V filter is used and (b) we don't know for sure if the crack in the corner affects FULL CHIP observations, which most people do. So, both filters are in the UBVRI wheel. The filter wheel that holds the standard optical filters should therefore be in the following configuration for the 8 available slots: slot1 slot2 slot3 slot4 slot5 slot6 slot7 slot8 named u b nv r i ov U B nV R I oV - - Tek1 Tek2 Tek2 Tek2 For dome flats choose an exposure time that gives about 30000 counts in each filter (a range from 20000 to 40000 counts is acceptable). Integrations of 120-180 sec are usually fine, giving about 30000 counts in the flats (highest in V, lowest in I). It is a good idea on your first night, and any time ARCON loses track of the filter locations, to take test frames while spinning through the filters. You should get the following count ratios: ********************************************************************** * * * USE THE COLOR BALANCE FILTER "cb" IN FILTER WHEEL #1 TO BALANCE * * THE QUARTZ LAMP EMISSION TO SKY COLOR * * * ********************************************************************** * * * CAREFULLY CHECK THE DOME FLAT COUNTS FROM THE oV,R,I FILTERS * * TO BE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT FILTERS. * * FOR 120 SEC ON 2013.0518, THE FOLLOWING WERE THE COUNTS * * (AFTER SUBTRACTING THE BIAS COUNTS) * * *** THE RATIOS MATTER MUCH MORE THAN THE NUMBER OF COUNTS *** * * * * U 342 1.6 % * * B 10945 50.6 % * * nV 21065 97.3 % * * R 19941 92.2 % * * I 18272 84.5 % * * oV 21629 100.0 % * * * ********************************************************************** Back in the computer room, use the command "doobs" to take the flats. > doobs Exposure type (|object|dflat|sflat|): dflat Number of exposures to take in each filter: 11 Title for pictures: dflat List of filters in wheel1: cb List of filters in wheel2: ov,r,i List of exposure times: 120,120,120 For both full-chip and quarter-chip setups a set of 33 dome flats at VRI takes about 2 hours. If ARCON crashes during the dome flats, you can restart just the parts you missed. Remember to "epar obspars" to reset the frame counter. DON'T FORGET TO TURN THE LAMPS OFF WHEN YOU ARE DONE. ______________________________________________________________________ WRITING DOWN THE OBSERVATIONS ______________________________________________________________________ For CTIOPI observations, keep the log in the logbook from the CTIOPI box, as has been done since 1999. ______________________________________________________________________ AFTER OPENING --- SCIENCE TIME! ______________________________________________________________________ ********************************************************************** * * * GENERAL SCIENCE GOALS FOR OBSERVING RUNS --- 12 nights * * * * 1000 total science frames --- 100 science frames/night * * 9 nights of astrometry --- 20 objects/night ~ 180 objects/run * * 3 nights of photometry --- 20 objects/night ~ 60 objects/run * * * ********************************************************************** 1. Turn on the fans over the primary mirror using the green cylindrical knob in the observing room (turn it to the vertical mark on the dial, around 30). 2. Make sure that the large fan that ventilates the dome is on (and the door to upstairs is open). The switch for the large fan is in the electrical control box in the northeast corner of the first floor. There are pieces of tape labeled FAN to guide you. 3. Make sure the dome lights are off, the windscreen is down, the slit is open, and the platform has been lowered. 4. Turn Tracking, Drives, Auto dome, and Dome Track on. Make sure Track/Aux Track (green) is set to Track (it has tape on it to keep it there). Be sure that the Halt Motors light is ON (glowing red) for the telescope to be able to move. 5. Zero the pointing of the telescope by setting up on a bright star. You can either choose a star from the The Astronomical Almanac book in the observing room, or use the zenith file on the TCS computer. To get to the zenith file, click on the Shared Documents icon on the desktop, then click on the file called zenith. Take exposures and center the star on the chip at (512,512), using "offset" as needed. 6. Initialize the telescope by using the TCS (Windows) machine. Use the Telescope tab and choose Initialization. Adjust three things, as needed: (a) time --- match it to the red digital readout on the white tower, (b), zero point (fixes the pointing of the telescope --- be sure you are using the correct epoch!), and (c) dome initialization. ********************************************************************** * * * WHEN USING ZPOINT, BE SURE THAT YOU HAVE THE CORRECT EPOCH * * FOR THE COORDINATES OF YOUR ZPOINT STAR. IF YOU DON'T, THE * * TELESCOPE WILL POINT INCORRECTLY. * * * ********************************************************************** 7. To see if all is well with the telescope pointing, choose a second bright star, slew to it, and take a frame. You can skip this step and go to the next one if you are confident that the telescope is pointing properly. 8. Reset the Epoch readout on the TCS to 2000.0 by clicking on the Telescope tab, pulling down to Misc. and use the Display Epoch / Side of Pier tab to set to 2000.0. 9. Go to the first target star. 10. Focus using [focus], which relocates a star image on the CCD so that you get a series of several star images at different focus values. Choose seven integrations of 10 seconds in the filter of choice with focus increment of 30-50, depending on how well you think you know the focus already. You have to change the focus by hand at the 0.9m, so change the focus value using the small gray metal box with the two black buttons and then hit to take the next exposure. V and R are expected to have the same focus at the 0.9m, while I is approximately 35 units to larger numbers. When you change focus from a larger value to a smaller value, remember to offset the focus about 400 units "in" (e.g. 15000) and then go "out" (e.g. 15400) to the desired focus value. This way you move the secondary mirror against gravity, and prevent backlash problems that are known to be present in the focusing mechanism. The focus is a function of temperature and telescope pointing. It is therefore best to check the focus for each target before taking observations that you plan to keep. To check the image shape, type [ql], put the cursor on a non-saturated but well-exposed single star, and type "e" --- this will display a contour plot on the graphics window, look for elongations in X or Y. Take special care to be sure that the focus is excellent --- the parallax reductions are much better with round images! 11. During twilight, you can take science frames once the counts in the background drop below 5000 counts, for whatever exposure time you need. Note that during twilight, the sky is darker at I than it is at R or V, so it is best to have the first/last object of the night be one you are observing in I. ********************************************************************** * * * DELETE ALL FOCUS FRAMES TO MAKE DATA ORGANIZATION EASIER * * * ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** * * * 0.9m TARGETS HAVE R = 9 to 16 * * * * MAXIMUM ASTROMETRY INTEGRATION TIME SHOULD BE 600 SEC * * MINIMUM ASTROMETRY INTEGRATION TIME SHOULD BE 30 SEC * * * * MAXIMUM PHOTOMETRY INTEGRATION TIME SHOULD BE 1200 SEC * * MINIMUM PHOTOMETRY INTEGRATION TIME SHOULD BE 5 SEC * * * ********************************************************************** ______________________________________________________________________ GOLDEN RULES FOR ASTROMETRY OBSERVING ______________________________________________________________________ MAKE SURE FILTER 1 IS dia, NOT cb !!!!! MAKE SURE FILTER 2 IS ALWAYS ov, r, OR i 1. Plan your observing strategy, depending on the quality of the night: CONDITIONS SPECIAL CONCENTRATION < 1.0" seeing, clear faintest targets, close binaries 1.0-2.5" seeing, clear regular targets > 2.5" seeing, clear photometry < 1.0" seeing, cloudy regular targets, close binaries 1.0-2.5" seeing, cloudy regular targets > 2.5" seeing, cloudy sleep! High humidity often comes with poor seeing. We rarely not use frames with seeing worse than 2.4" = FWHM of 6.00. We also delete frames that have ellipticity > 0.20. A good goal is to keep the focus good enough so that the ellipticity is < 0.10. seeing < 1.0"? do faintest targets seeing > 2.0"? try I band, V band bright objects Moon? try I band 2. In general, use the hours between 10pm and 2am for ASPENS stars, stars with perturbations, or binary star programs, and the rest of the night for parallaxes. Middle of the night parallax frames are useful for high declination targets, proper motion determination, and perturbation searches (e.g. ASPENS stars). 3. Stay within 30 minutes of the meridian for parallax frames. This reduces the need for differential refraction corrections. Choose the next target when it is 20-60 minutes to the east to allow time to set up. Note the following guidelines for parallax reduction: a. > 180 minutes from transit, frames kicked out by code b. 120-180 minutes, you're asked if you want to keep it c. < 120 minutes, ok, but ... d. < 30 minutes ideal, especially at V to reduce DCR effects 4. Choose an object. Make sure to check the observing list to see if more frames are needed, and what kind of frames are needed --- evening or morning. The goal is to have at least 30 evening frames and 30 morning frames on each target, and to keep the number balanced. There will be few "golden opportunities" to observe a target. These are times when the star is at high parallax factor and crosses the meridian within an hour of opening or closing. Try to take at least 5 frames when you get a chance like this. Consider observing it again several nights later if you have a long observing run. 5. Check the notes on individual objects in the observing list to see if there are any special observations needed for that object. For example, close doubles may require some special short integration frames. Plan your set of observations accordingly. ********************************************************************** * * * FROM HERE ON OUT, YOU CAN USE THE FFF RULE --- "FORMATION" TO GET * * THE PROPER POSITIONING ON THE CHIP, "FOCUS" TO GET GOOD IMAGES, * * "FLUX" TO MAXIMIZE THE NUMBER OF COUNTS IN THE STAR THAT SETS THE * * EXPOSURE. * * * ********************************************************************** 6. If it is the first observation of a star, take short integrations to find the target and set up a reasonable reference star field. Choose a set up that has at least 5 reference stars. You can use the IRAF task [test] instead of [observe] to take frames but not increment the frame number. Remember that the astrometry is best with the target near the frame center. If this is a new setup for a star, write down the name and PI filter on a piece of scrap paper --- you'll need it later. ********************************************************************** * * * IF THIS IS A NEW SETUP FOR A STAR, SEE SECTION BELOW ENTITLED * * "NEW SETUPS AND HOW TO MAKE SETUP SHEETS FOR BINDERS" * * * ********************************************************************** 7. If it is not the first observation of a star, place the parallax star within 5 pixels (2.0 arcsec). In the red Arcon window, use [offset] to calculate the offsets needed to put it in the final location. 8. Estimate an appropriate filter/integration time to reach about 50000 counts for the target star or brightest useful reference star. 65536 counts is saturated (use "imexam" and "r" to get the peak value). Try to get at least 1000 counts in the target and all reference stars. The star that sets the exposure should be marked on the finder, or a comment at the top stating "pi star sets the exposure." R is the first choice of filter, although V might be used for bright stars and I for faint red stars. If the star has already been observed, the filter choice should be clearly marked on the setup frame, as well as a guideline for the integration time. USE THAT FILTER ONLY, UNLESS DOING PHOTOMETRY. IN GENERAL, 30 SECONDS IS THE MINIMUM INTEGRATION ALLOWED, IN ORDER TO PREVENT ASTROMETRIC ERRORS CAUSED BY SEEING EFFECTS ON THE STAR IMAGES. We have a few bright stars that require shorter integrations that are important enough for us to try anyway. 9. Check the positioning, focus, and counts. Using [imexamine], type "r" for a radial plot to check the counts. Remember that you must choose the integration time so that the faintest useful reference star has SNR > 100, while the brightest useful star (target or reference) is not saturated, but has about 55,000 counts at the peak. To estimate the noise level type "m" in imexamine on a part of the image with no sources --- the standard deviation of the pixel values is an estimate of at least the sky noise. Maximize the counts in the target star or the brightest useful reference star. Be willing to let possible reference stars saturate and be discarded because the final error in the parallax is dominated by the SNR of the target star. ********************************************************************** * * * NOTE THAT YOU MUST HAVE A SQUARE BOX FOR THE IMEXAMINE WINDOW TO * * LOOK AT THE SHAPE OF THE IMAGE --- A RECTANGULAR BOX WILL FLATTEN * * THE IMAGE AND MAKE IT LOOK OUT OF FOCUS WHEN IT IS NOT!!! * * * * Resize the box to [550,450] to get a square display region. * * * ********************************************************************** 10. If the exposure is longer than 300 sec, find an appropriate guide star on the AUTOGUIDER. If the exposure is shorter, you typically don't need a guide star. If you are having problems with the AUTOGUIDER, you can reboot it using login: camera2000 password: ev500gate The autoguider controls are simple. Use the arrow keys to move the white box around a bright guide star, hit F9 to start guiding, and F8 to stop guiding. The 0.9m's tracking is usually perfect for exposures of 300 seconds or less. The 'Camera Head Controller' window is useful for the following items. It is accessible from the CTIO PC GUIDER 5.0.1' window, under the 'Window' menu. If the arrow keys control the mouse, click the 'snap' button. If you cannot see stars in the autoguider, set 'Erase' to 'off'. Alternately, try LOWERING the gain on the guider camera. Try to avoid integration times longer than 1000 ms. 11. Sometimes you need to change the display parameters in IRAF in order to see, e.g., a faint source next to a really bright star. You can do this by typing "display xxx 1 zr- zs- z1=aaa, z2=bbb" in the red Arcon window, where xxx is the frame name. You get aaa and bbb by setting them, typically, to the z1 and z2 values displayed when doing a normal "display xxx 1" (i.e., you have to do this first in order to get the approximate values for aaa and bbb). This will help supress the large wings from a nearby bright star, while keeping the target visible. For more info on controlling z1 and z2 do "help display" in IRAF. 12. Take a series of parallax frames, typically 5. Name the star in the frame header with all capital letters and no blanks EXACTLY AS IT IS GIVEN ON THE OBSERVING LIST, i.e. WT0001, GJ0752B, LHS4009, G041-014AB, CE207-061, SCR0000-0000. CONSISTENCY HERE IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL FOR CATALOG GENERATION SOFTWARE! The maximum number of characters for target names is 16. ********************************************************************** * * * ALL FRAMES SHOULD HAVE NAMES IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT: * * * * STAR0088 at R for pi * * STAR0088 at R for phot * * STAR0088 at R for refraction * * STAR0088 at R for pi, phot, refraction * * STAR0088 at R --- bad frame * * * ********************************************************************** 13. IF THE SEEING IS CONSISTENTLY MUCH WORSE THAN 2" IT IS PROBABLY BETTER TO BEGIN DOING PHOTOMETRY INSTEAD OF ASTROMETRY, IF IT IS CLEAR. See the photometry directions in the next section. 14. Unless otherwise specified in the observing list or on the setup finder (fainter targets often specify only two or three frames), you'll take 5 frames. Try to time the observations so that the target passes through the meridian some time during the sequence. Check for saturated stars in the raw frames using [imexamine]. Note any saturated target or reference stars in the logbook. Keep all frames that have the parallax star near the correct position, even if it's just a setup frame more than one hour from the meridian, or if a reference star is saturated. ********************************************************************* * * * NEW SETUPS AND HOW TO MAKE SETUP SHEETS FOR BINDERS * * * ********************************************************************* You should have a list of stars needing setup sheets for the binders that you dutifully kept on a piece of scrap paper during the night. 1. After running finishctiopi, you should have .fits files for all stars observed. Copy the .fits files to the ctio36 machine (this has to be done at some point anyway to write data to DVD). The directory for these data is at /u363/v12/ctiopi/. Make a new directory for each night using format YYYYMMDD and place the data in there. Then, go to bed. Note that if the ctio36 machine freezes, try ALT to get it back. 2. The following afternoon, once the calibration frames for that evening are happily under way, you're ready to generate digital pointing setups. We have decided to use accurate, proper motion adjusted, epoch and equinox J2000.0 coordinates for the pointing setups. In some cases, these are not the values in the observing list (though, ultimately we hope to populate the observing lists with only these values). If you are so inclined, you could search the various lists on the protected website for good coordinates. This is easiest done by ssh'ing into GSU and going to the protected directory and doing a grep (e.g., grep LHS0123 *). Jot down the coordinates on your scratch sheet next to the star name and setup filter. 3. On ctio36, open a terminal window via the Fedora icon (blue button f) and select ... System Tools ... Terminal 4. Type 'xg' (not xgterm) to open an xgterm window. 5. Type 'ctiocl' to start an iraf session that includes all of the ctiopi packages. Note: there is no need to open a ds9 window --- the script will do that for you and size it just right. 6. cd to the directory that has the night with the data you want to use for the new setup, e.g. /u363/v12/ctiopi/20100303 in your iraf window. Using the logbook, select a frame that you would like to use as the setup frame for a given object (perhaps the one that was best exposed or had better seeing - typically the one whose representative exposure times and seeing you plan to quote). 7. Type 'setpoint' in the IRAF window. This will launch a ds9 window (you can move it if need be but don't resize it). If you cannot see the entire field in the ds9 display, it means the screen resolution is not set properly. You will probably have to reset the screen resolution --- go to the Fedora icon (blue button F) and select ... System ... Preferences ... NVIDIA X Server Settings. In there select 'X Server Display Configuration' on the left-hand side. On the right hand side, you'll see a drop-down menu next to 'Resolution'. Select 1400x1050 and click 'Apply' and 'Quit'. This should stick as long as you don't log out of the machine. 8. The script will prompt you for a number of different pieces, outlined here: A. "Choose the setup frame ...", this is the .fits file you have chosen to use as a setup. B. "Evaluate possible reference stars ...", this executes 'imexam' so you can cycle through all possible reference stars by using routine commands (e.g., r for radial plot, e for contour plot). At this stage, you'll want to make a mental note of the exposure setter if not the PI star. You can make a printout of the field to mark up as you draft the field. C. When you know which stars you want, type 'q' to quit. D. "Tag reference stars ...", here you will tag the reference stars that you selected using the space bar --- TAG THE PI STAR(S) LAST. It's good to tag the exposure setter (if not the PI star) first so you don't forget. When done tagging, type 'ctrl-z' to exit. E. "Enter size of circular star marker ...", use option 2 as a default. Only in the cases where there are a number of reference stars (or more importantly, the PI star very near reference stars) would you select option '1'. Option '3' produces obnoxiously large circles, so I don't imagine it will be necessary (but a "feature" nonetheless). If you don't like option 2, don't worry, you will immediately have the option to change your mind (just type 'y' when prompted for "Do you want to change ..."). When you are happy with the apertures, type 'n' to continue. F. "How many resolved pi stars ...", in most cases, this will be 1. For multiple systems (that are resolved, i.e., each received an aperture), enter the number of apertures assigned. If more than 1, read below. Otherwise proceed to step F. I. If your system has two components, each with an aperture in your field, select 2. "Enter number corresponding to primary ...", select the aperture number that belongs to your primary component(s). "Enter label of primary ...", enter the label you want, i.e., A, AC, etc. "Enter number corresponding to secondary ...", select the aperture number that belongs to your secondary component(s). "Enter label of secondary ...", enter the label you want, i.e., B, BC, etc. II. "X position of PI component labels", this is the pixel offset for the A, B, AC, BC label with respect to the center of the aperture you tagged. You can change the offset after looking at a draft that will appear. "Y position of PI...", same thing as above. For example, if you enter '18' and '18' for X and Y, respectively, your labels will be diagonally up and to the right of the stars. Find a position where the labels do not interfere with other reference stars (don't worry about the aperture numbers, they are not printed out in the final setup, they're just there to identify important stars). When you're happy with the placement of the labels, type 'n' to continue. G. "Enter number of exposure ...", here you enter the aperture number of the star that sets the exposure (typically, either the value of the PI star or number 1, if you tagged the exposure star first. H. "Enter number of star for pointing ...", because we are no longer using the PI star (which almost always has a proper motion) as our pointing reference, we need to select a reference star to act as our pointing reference. It is best to pick a star near the center (and near the PI star) so that it shows up when you first point the telescope at the field. It also helps to choose a star for which the label for the (X,Y) position fit cleanly without covering other reference stars or landing on the bad column. This will become instinct after the first few setups so don't worry if you don't get it right the first time (unfortunately for this step, if you select a bad star, you will have to start from the top). I. "Enter X pixel coordinate...", drag the cursor over the center of your pointing reference star and take the X (and Y) value from the ds9 window (at the top, labeled 'Image'). Enter the X value then press enter. Do the same for the Y pixel value when prompted. J. "X position of pointing star label...", again here, as with the labels for a multiple system, there is a lot of flexibility as to where you can place the actual label in the image. Just as a reference, the following values work great for the four cardinal positions around the aperture center (assuming both x and y are pixels numbered in the 100s, e.g., not '37'). Again, if you don't like the position, there is the option to change it as many times as you like. When you are happy with the label's position, type 'n' Position X Y ------------------------- Above -55 20 Below -55 -32 Right 18 -7 Left -125 -7 K. Now the ds9 window will close and you'll be prompted for details that will be printed on the page outside of the setup image. These are outlined below. I. "Enter star/system...", enter the star name, as it appears on the observing list. II. "Enter accurate J2000.0 coordinates...", as mentioned above, this should be accurate, proper motion adjusted, coordinate - NOT the ones from the TCS that you have written down in the logbook. III. "In which filter...", enter the filter used for the setup (capital letter). IV. "What is the exposure time...", enter a representative exposure time (only numbers, don't type 'seconds'). V. "What is the seeing...", enter a representative seeing (again, only numbers, no '"'). VI. "Enter any short notes...", this is useful for setups that require, for example, only "3 Frames at 600 sec". Also, if the exposure setter does not reach ~50K counts(i.e., very faint targets), it is helpful to state what the peak counts one can expect are. This can be done by typing, for example, "PI star counts $\\sim$30K" without the quotes. You need two backslashes for the '~' character to work because bash script uses one backslash as a special character. If you have no notes, just hit enter. 9. You should now have a pair of files in the directory called 'starname'.point.ps and 'starname'.ps. The important file is the .point.ps file (the other one is just the marked up image). Print out each of the .point.ps files to be filed into the setup binders, using the command "lpr -Pnp36 filename.point.ps". 10. The setup files are being stored on the ctio36 machine at /u361/v12/ctiopi/Setups. Type 'mv *.point.ps /u361/v12/ctiopi/Setups/' to transfer those over. The rest of the .ps files can then be deleted (i.e., 'del *.ps). Also, the tempfile* can be deleted (del tempfile*). All that should be left in the data directory are the fits files (ready to be burned to DVD and/or ftp'd to GSU). When all of your setup .point.ps files are in the Setups directory, it is a good idea to ftp those back to GSU. This can be done in the terminal window (in directory /u361/v12/ctiopi/Setups/) using rsync. Type 'rsync -avz *.ps 'yourname'@joy.chara.gsu.edu:/nfs/recons2/setups.dir/'. 11. At the end of the run, an e-mail should be sent to TJH outlining all of the new setup frames that are now in /nfs/recons2/setups.dir/ and need to be printed to add to the setups binders at GSU. OLD WAY OF MAKING SETUP FRAME FOR BINDER: XX. If it is the first observation of a star, print out a finder of the final setup for other observers to use. To make a printout, configure the Ximtool window so that there is very little black around the edges of the frame --- when you print out the setup frame there will then be lots of room to write at the top and bottom. Use the drop-down menu on the File button on the Ximtool window and choose Print Setup. Change the Image Scale from 100% o 85%. Then, in the top box, type lpr -Pnp36 (for the 0.9m printer) and hit the Print button in the lower left. Once it's printed, write the necessary information on the setup chart. An example is given in the front of the 0.9m notebook. Most important are the pixel coordinates for the target star and the filter selection. ______________________________________________________________________ GOLDEN RULES FOR PHOTOMETRY OBSERVING ______________________________________________________________________ MAKE SURE FILTER 1 IS dia, NOT cb !!!!! MAKE SURE FILTER 2 IS ALWAYS ov, r, OR i 1. It must be clear! No clouds of any kind are tolerated. This is the most anxiety-ridden decision of observing. Don't forget to use weather maps on the web to try to predict the future. Also, don't be afraid to ask around at dinner to see what others think. Best of luck! 2. Photometry should be done all night when it is photometric. You might do a few parallax frames at the beginning and end of the night, when you're already pointed at a star that also needs photometry. 3. There is a separate PHOTOMETRY binder that gives setup charts, finder charts, and magnitudes for standard stars. The setup charts for the standard stars are useful to see how to arrange fields on the 0.9m chip. There is also a PHOTOMETRY WORKSHEET that will help in planning observations. Use it to make your life easier. In the same binder there is a cookbook of observing methods to get good photometry. 4. In the TCS directory called "Shared Folders" there is a folder called "ctiopi" that includes a list of coordinates for our photometric standard stars. This file has been write protected to prevent other users from modifying the file. If you are observing for CTIOPI and want to update the coordinates (perhaps to avoid an offset every time you slew to that standard), you'll need to click on the Start Menu -> My Computer. From there, go to the Shared Documents -> ctiopi folder. The file is called CTIOPI_standards, right click on it and go to Properties. In Properties at the bottom (labeled Attributes), unclick the Read-only box. Please remember to click it back to Read-only before you leave. 5. You must take at least 20 total observations of standards each photometry night in each of the VRI bands. These 20 observations must include one or two very red stars done 3 times each for the color transformations. The red standards are marked on the standard star observing list. One way to easily get the 20 total observations is to do a Landolt field that has several stars in it, e.g. one Landolt field with 5 stars done at three different airmasses = 15 observations. 6. We MUST do extinction curves every night we want to do photometry. Arlo Landolt has data illustrating that the CTIO extinction at 2.00 airmasses changes from 10% to 33% regularly. So, we cannot assume a standard extinction curve for a given night. For extinction corrections, observe standard stars from airmass about 2.00 up to as close to 1.00 as possible. Do each field at least 3 times and preferably 4 times as it moves up in the sky during the night. ********************************************************************** * * * YOU MUST OBSERVE EACH FIELD AT LEAST THREE TIMES FOR THE STARS * * THE FIELD TO BE TRULY USEFUL FOR EXTINCTION CURVES. * * * ********************************************************************** 7. THE PLAN FOR 0.9M ASTROMETRY TARGETS IS TO DO VRI PHOTOMETRY FOR ALL STARS AT THE 0.9M. In all cases, you must position the telescope carefully to be sure that the target and all reference stars are on the chip. You must also be sure that neither the target star nor any of the reference stars saturate! The counts should be at least 30,000 for the target star or brightest useful reference star. There are some rather faint stars for which it would take hours to get that many counts. The longest integration in any filter for a photometry frame should be 1200 seconds --- we will take whatever counts we can get for these faint stars, but integrate no longer. 8. If you are doing photometry of a star that's already been set up for parallax, align the field according to that setup, so the relevant frame can also be used for parallax. ______________________________________________________________________ GOLDEN RULES FOR REFRACTION OBSERVING (RARELY DONE) ______________________________________________________________________ MAKE SURE FILTER 1 IS dia, NOT cb 1. The seeing must be better than 2.0 arcsec. 2. It works best if a series of refraction frames on a field is done in a single night. You can probably do only one to three fields in one night. It is a very time-consuming process because you have to do refraction frames at VRI and and photometry (VRI), including standards, in the same night. 3. Observe each star 4 or 5 times for a series. One observation should be made about 4 hours east, 3 hours east, 2 hours east, 1 hour east and on the meridian. Each observation should be done as if it were a parallax frame --- properly positioned, focused, and with about 55,000 counts in the target star or brightest useful reference star. A complete sequence of frames on a field would be: VRI at 4 hours east, VRI at 3 hours east, VRI at 2 hours east, VRI at 1 hour east, VRI on the meridian --- the last meridian set is crucial, so plan accordingly. 4. It is possible to use the refraction frames taken in the parallax filter for parallax, as well as doing photometry for the field because you must do standards as well. 5. There is a refraction worksheet in the notebook that will help in planning observations. Use it to make your life easier. ______________________________________________________________________ TROUBLESHOOTING ______________________________________________________________________ --- WHEN ARCON CRASHES (and it will): Symptoms of an ARCON crash are: * a painful zap * the countdown timer freezes * trying to take pictures spits out endless errors. The solution is to right click, exit from windowing system, and log out of ctioa4. When you log back in as v12 (password can be found inside the CTIOPI notebooks), choose option 2 (IRAF with ARCON acquisition) and once OpenWindows starts, answer yes when it asks if you want to synchronize parameters. From there, run ctiopi in both iraf windows to load the ctiopi tools, and move into the current night's directories in both iraf windows. Type "reset imdir = HDR$" to make sure the .pix files end up in that directory as well, but that clutters your directory. *** Make sure you preview 1 a few times to reset the chip, as we have discovered that post-crash, the counts are not always accurate. *** --- IF YOU LOSE POINTING (a) Make sure you are entering the correct epoch for the coordinates into the TCS for your bright star during pointing. If you are using the Almanac, use 2012.5 (or whatever) instead of 2000.0. (b) Use the plumb-line that is hanging on the side of the telescope tube. Once vertical, type in the RA = Sidereal Time and DEC = -30d 10m 09s. (c) Point the telescope at a bright star and center it on the finder scope, then on the CCD. Use Sirius, Betelgeuse, alpha Cen, Antares, alpha Crux, etc. They are all the alpha stars in their constellations and mag 1 or brighter. You can't miss them in the sky (even through the slit) and they are easy to find in the book. At least one is always up. What you do is lie on the floor below the telescope and eyeball the star along the finder scope. You can usually get close enough that way to see a glint in the finder so you know which way to paddle around to find the star. Once you get the star centered in the finder scope, you can usually get it on the chip (unless someone has really screwed up the finder scope). Then, offset to center and type in the coords into the TCS. --- IF YOU HEAR A SOUND LIKE A CIRCUIT BREAKER SLAMMING This is the auto-dome controller not quite moving the dome. It happens most often when pointing near the horizon, or while the telescope is parked. Move the dome manually with the dome L/R controls on the telescope control hand paddle (in either the dome or the telescope control room) so the dome error is reduced. Dome error is displayed on the DFM controller. --- IF THE DOME STOPS MOVING If the dome stops rotating, (1) use the hand paddle to figure out which way the dome is trying to spin (it will stop moving when you hit the button for the OTHER direction), (2) stop dome tracking, then (3) use the hand paddle to spin it the other way. --- IF THE DOME WON'T CLOSE The most likely cause is that the toggle on the handpaddle up in the dome has been left in the "OPEN" position. Move it to the neutral position and the dome will likely close. --- IF THE FOCUS STOPS WORKING If you can't get the focus mechanism to change numbers, it is likely stuck. If it is, you should not hear any sound when pressing the buttons. You can sometimes unstick the focus mechanism by moving the telescope away from your current position to change the weight-bearing vectors on the secondary. Slew away, then slew back and see if it starts working. --- IF YOU RUN OUT OF LIQUID NITROGEN Full tanks can be found on the bottom floor of the 1.5m dome. Grab one and head back to the 0.9m to fill the dewar. --- IF YOU LOSE TCS HEADER INFORMATION Type "tcs info" in the blue ARCON Console window (NOT in the ARCON Acquistion window). If you get a bunch of numbers, you are ok --- only the last frame had a problem. It is wise to take a test frame after any TCS problem to make sure the TCS header is being written. If the problem persists, a logout/login of ARCON is worth trying, perhaps three times. If that doesn't work, call for help. The definitive method involves turning off/on the entire TCS using the switches below the guider. ______________________________________________________________________ AT THE END OF THE NIGHT ______________________________________________________________________ THERE ARE THREE THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE AT THE END OF THE NIGHT: 1. *** SHUT DOWN THE TELESCOPE *** In the computer room: * Turn track and dome track off (TCS black box below guider) IF YOU DO NOT, THE TELESCOPE WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE WHILE YOU'RE FILLING THE DEWAR. * Turn down the fans over the mirror (dial above ARCON) In the hallway: * Turn off dome fans (in the circuit breaker box) In the dome: * Slew to the cover position (button on Windows computer), replace the cover. * Close the slit and windscreen (old console, or hand paddle) * Slew to Zenith position (button on Windows computer) * Fill the dewar * Push in the two dark slides * Make sure the platform is down. * Turn off master power * Turn off all the lights In the computer room: * Turn off drives, autodome, and hit red button Halt Motors * Fill out end-of-night report * Log out of ARCON * Turn off all the lights 2. *** CHECK HEADERS *** Check header titles using [imhead f*] to make sure they are correct --- use IRAF task [hedit] to change titles, just type "title" when it asks which fields you want to edit. In particular, make sure that the names of the objects are perfect --- the software that does the catalog requires exact matches. Delete unwanted frames, such as focus frames. To make it easy to identify what kind of frames were taken (pi, photometry, refraction) or bad frames (bad) during reduction, make sure all frame titles have the following format: STAR0088 at R for pi STAR0088 at R for phot STAR0088 at R for pi and phot STAR0088 at R for refraction STAR0088 at R --- bad frame 3. *** MAKE .FITS FILES, SEND HEADERS *** If needed, in the home directory for CTIOPI on the v12 account, type "ctiopi" to load the CTIOPI scripts (originally written by Pat Seitzer). First, rename the directory so it has the name of the local date at the beginning of the night, using the format YYYYMMDD-09, i.e. 20060201-09. Then, move into that directory. Type "df" to check that there is enough room to write .fits files for all the frames you took. Each .fits file on the 0.9m takes up 2301120 bytes. Type du /ua41/* to find out where space is being used on the disk. Type "finishctiopi". Enter your name, hours observed/lost and the number of parallax fields you setup. Enter the name(s) of the star(s) and their PI filters, using your list that you dutifully kept on a piece of scrap paper during the night. Note that the finishctiopi script is located at /ua41/v12/ctiopi on the a4 machine. You will be asked for a file name --- USE THE EXACT FORMAT OF THE DATE AND TELESCOPE, USING THE LOCAL DATE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NIGHT, i.e. "20060201.09" (note there is a period not a dash in this name). The "finishctiopi" task makes .fits files (takes about 2 seconds/file on ctioa4, about 16 seconds/file on ctio36), generates header files and emails them automatically to GSU. The only questions you will have to answer are about who was observing, and how many hours were observed/lost due to the weather and the telescope. The files will be renamed with the date and telescope so that they will be 20060201.09.001.fits, etc. Therefore, the first file taken on 01 FEB 06 is found in directory 20060201-09, has the name f001.imh during the night, but has the name 20060201.09.001.fits when written to DVD. THE FINAL NAME MUST BE IN THE FORMAT 20060201.09.001.fits !!! Once the .fits files have been written to DVD, DO NOT IMMEDIATELY DELETE THEM. The GSU folks will get the headers via email automatically, and will then rsync the data back to GSU. Do not delete the files until someone from GSU confirms that the .fits files have been rsync'd. If you wish to rsync them yourself (not recommended): * Open up a terminal on ctio36 and cd to your folder (should be /ua41/v12/YYYYMMDD-09) * type the following: rsync -avz *.fits @ssh.chara.gsu.edu:/nfs/recons/disk3/SMARTS/YYYY.MMDD/ This will only work if you have permission to write there as a member of the RECONS group. It is also prone to hanging, so if no file has transferred for a while, c and retry the command. It will pick up where it left off. You will probably want to go to bed rather than wait for it to finish. Note that if you do this, GSU people will not be able to restart it for you. ______________________________________________________________________ AT THE END OF THE RUN ______________________________________________________________________ *** BURN A DVD OF ALL YOUR DATA FROM THE ctio36 COMPUTER *** 1. On the ctio36 computer, login as v12 and move to /u363/v12/ctiopi. Create a directory for the night you observed and copy over the .fits files from the ctioa4 computer: copy /ua41/v12/20101021-09/*fits . Verify that all files are there to write to DVD. 2. On ctio36, open the Fedora start menu (blue button with f in it in lower left corner), go to 'Places', slide right to CD/DVD Creator, open it. 3. on the Fedora start menu pull down on Places ... Computer ... and a new window pops up 4. click on Filesystem ... click on u363 ... click on v12 ... click on ctiopi 5. click on folder name ... drag it to CD/DVD Creator window 6. Put a blank DVD in the top of the ctio36 computer in the back room. It's the tower with a black mesh front that says "Cooler Master" at the top. The DVD tray button is near the top. 7. click on Write to Disk once data all there and DVD loaded 8. click on the CD/DVDW SH-S182M 9. name disk for the format "CTIOPI 11-17 MAR 2010". 10. Verify that your data volume does not exceed disk size of 4.7 GB. 11. click on Write 12. Label the DVD with a felt-tip pen (ex. CTIOPI 11-17 MAR 2010). If you are not with GSU, put the finished DVD in a case, and leave it in the PIBOX. Someone at GSU will collect it. If you are from GSU, check the PIBOX for burned and labeled DVDs to bring home with you. ______________________________________________________________________ NON-SIDEREAL TRACKING --- FOR SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS ______________________________________________________________________ Non-sidereal tracking is a three-step process. 1.) Confirm whether you have the non-sidereal tracking rate, or the CORRECTION to sidereal tracking rate. 2.) The tracking rates are controlled on the DFM control window (Windows computer) under the Telescope -> Rates menu option. The entire non-sidereal rate should be entered in the bottom set of boxes, not just the correction. Hit apply. For reference, the sidereal tracking rate is 15.0411 arcsec/sec (RA) and 0 arcsec/sec (DEC) 3.) On the black TCS control box, flip the green tracking switch to 'Aux Track' ********************************************************************** ***** ***** ***** THE END ***** ***** ***** **********************************************************************