************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ***** ***** ***** THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR OBSERVERS AT THE 0.9M ***** ***** (version 12 MAR 2010) ***** ***** ***** ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ This document is a lightly modified version of observing procedures for the CTIOPI program done at the 0.9m since 1999. Some bits in here may prove useful for your own observing. The most recent version of this document can be found on the GSU SMARTS website at http://www.astro.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/smarts.observing ________________________________________________________________________ SMARTS HELP FOR THE 0.9M ________________________________________________________________________ If you have a concern about what you are supposed to do as an observer at the telescope, contact the following people, in this order (send email to both of the first two): Adric Riedel riedel@chara.gsu.edu Todd Henry thenry@chara.gsu.edu Charles Bailyn bailyn@astro.yale.edu ************************************************************************ ***** ***** ***** BEFORE THE OBSERVING RUN ***** ***** ***** ************************************************************************ To be sure we all know when you will be at the telescope, you should confirm your understanding of which nights are yours by checking the observing schedule posted at: http://www.astro.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/scheduleYYYYA.htm, or http://www.astro.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/scheduleYYYYB.htm ************************************************************************ ***** ***** ***** AT CTIO ***** ***** ***** ************************************************************************ ________________________________________________________________________ HELP ON THE MOUNTAIN ________________________________________________________________________ Observer Support dial 421 Electronics Support dial 417 Computer Support dial 422 ________________________________________________________________________ WEATHER ________________________________________________________________________ To look at recent pictures of the sky, access the SASCA (SOAR All Sky Camera) website by typing 139.229.1.128 into the browser address line. To check recent weather history values for temperature, seeing, etc., type "weat" or look at the website http://www.ctio.noao.edu/htbin/wwweat. To check weather in Chile and the rest of South America go to http://www.ctio.noao.edu/site/environment.html ________________________________________________________________________ COMPUTER ADDRESSES AT THE TELESCOPES ________________________________________________________________________ 0.9m ctioa4 observer's computer with ARCON /ua45 default home directory on ctioa4 ctio36 additional computer /usr/u361 home directory on ctio36 or /home/u361 You can rlogin from anywhere on the mountain to another computer. I have a file of tricks called .alias where I keep some of my favorite quick commands. You can make your own such file and activate it by typing "source .alias" to make your commands work. If the machine locks up, you can reboot by holding the [STOP] and [a] buttons down simultaneously. Then, answer "sync" at the prompt. ________________________________________________________________________ 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 cd /u363/v12 to get to the files is this u361 ??? ________________________________________________________________________ TAPEDRIVE INFORMATION ________________________________________________________________________ 0.9m from ctio36 workstation (not ctioa4!) DAT is /dev/nst0 ________________________________________________________________________ GETTING STARTED, AND IRAF COMMANDS ________________________________________________________________________ A fairly comprehensive list of commands you can then 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]. 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" and stretch the box so that it barely exceeds the edges of the frame when the frame is displayed. 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 finishsmarts when observing for SMARTS, makes .fits files, generates header files, and emails them. 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. hedit is useful if you misname the file -- use it to change the title, or change other parameters of the header. imarith is used to add/subtract/multiply/divide images, i.e. basic arithmetic. 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!!! 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. 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. "object" for a target, "dflat" for a dome flat, "zero" for a bias. use filter "cb" for dome flats, use filter "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" (type "q"), then put the cursor on the star of choice, and it will prompt you for the X,Y to move to. pause allows you to stop integrating to let clouds pass, recapture guide star, etc. (use resume to start again) qlook quick look, displays the last image and puts you in "imexam". resume to start integrating again after pause setdet force+ locks in the setup of the CCD. you need to type this after using "detpars" smarts loads useful scripts for SMARTS, e.g. finishsmarts 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. useful for centering 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 Arturo Gomez can help you get started. Instructions on how to open/close the dome, take calibration frames, etc. can be found at the telescope, in a notebook with plastic-covered pages. ________________________________________________________________________ A FEW TIPS ABOUT THE TCS AT THE 0.9M: ________________________________________________________________________ 1. observer account The 0.9m TCS was restructured in November 2009 to have an 'observer' account that is used by all observers (except Pat Seitzer). If you reboot the the TCS, you will log into the observer account automatically and not be prompted for a password. 2. pointing files All of the pointing files are located in the 'Shared Documents' directory. If you want to save a pointing file for a list of your targets, it will have to be in this directory --- all other directories on the system are write protected in the observer account. 3. zenith pointing file In the Shared Documents directory there is a useful pointing file 'zenith'. Pat Seitzer has compiled a list of bright zenith stars to be used for pointing, unless you'd like to be a real astronomer and use The Astronomical Almanac. ________________________________________________________________________ A FEW TIPS ABOUT THE ARCON ACQUISITION WINDOW AT THE 0.9M: ________________________________________________________________________ TYPE d TO SAVE ANY CHANGED PARAMETERS IN IRAF TYPE flpr 3 TIMES TO CLEAR ANY ERRORS THAT MAY SCREW UP ARCON TYPE ctiopi or smarts TO LOAD THE SCRIPTS FROM CTIOPI OBSERVING If you lose the TCS header information, you can 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. ************************************************************************ ***** THERE ARE TWO ACCOUNTS FOR SMARTS OBSERVING ON THE 0.9M ***** ***** FOR FULL-CHIP OBSERVING, YOU USE v11. ***** ***** FOR QUARTER-CHIP OBSERVING (e.g. CTIOPI) YOU USE v12. ***** ************************************************************************ ________________________________________________________________________ GETTING STARTED, CCD CAMERA SETUPS ________________________________________________________________________ As soon as you login, you should load various observing commands you will need. You must be in the home directory (the "top" directory). If you are using the v11 account for observing, type "smarts". If you are using the v12 account for CTIOPI observing, type "ctiopi". Ask if the filters/dewar window can be cleaned before the first night. If you need to change the setup of the CCD for the night, use type "detpars". Change the parameters to match one of the two setups below. There are only two setups on the 0.9m. The parameters with * are different for the two setups. ************************************************************************ ***** AFTER SETTING UP THE CCD, TYPE "setdet force+". ***** ***** THIS LOCKS IN THE SETUP FOR THAT TYPE OF OBSERVING. ***** ************************************************************************ 1. FULL-CHIP SETUP (used for most programs) Make sure the chip is setup correctly by typing "ccdinfo". The setup has the following parameters: gain = 2 (gain 1 saturates at 40K as of March 2009) xsum = 1 ysum = 1 * xstart = 1 * ystart = 1 * xsize = 2048 * ysize = 2046 extend = "separate" noverscan = 64 xskip1 = 10 xskip2 = 0 * xtrim1 = 0 * xtrim2 = 0 ytrim1 = 0 ytrim2 = 0 * amplifiers = "ul" or "quad" (depends on user preference) preflash = 0 pixsize = 24. nxpixels = 2048 nypixels = 2046 detname = "Tek2K_3" mode = ql After the settings are entered, exit detpars, then type setdet force+. Exit again, and in the blue window you should see the CCD resetting to the new configuration. This gives the full CCD chip, which equals 13.6 arcmin on the sky, centered on chip center. The "quad" amplifier reads out in 25 seconds via four amplifiers. As of 2009, we use gain = 2 because gain = 1 has a well only about 40,000 deep after an "electrical event" in 2009. 2. QUARTER-CHIP SETUP (used for CTIOPI) Make sure the chip is setup correctly by typing "ccdinfo". The setup has the following parameters: gain = 2 (gain 1 saturates at 40K as of March 2009) xsum = 1 ysum = 1 * xstart = 513 * ystart = 513 * xsize = 1024 * ysize = 1024 extend = "separate" noverscan = 64 xskip1 = 10 xskip2 = 0 * xtrim1 = 0 * xtrim2 = 0 ytrim1 = 0 ytrim2 = 0 * amplifiers = "ul" preflash = 0 pixsize = 24. nxpixels = 2048 nypixels = 2046 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 40 seconds via one amplifier, and provides a smooth image with no seams, which might corrupt centroiding. The gain = 1 yields 6 electrons read noise. ________________________________________________________________________ HOW TO SWITCH OBSERVING SETUPS ________________________________________________________________________ 1. log out of v11 or v12 2. log in as v12 or v11 3. "setdet force+" locks in the new setup (simply out) 4. "detpars" to check that the parameters are correct If the parameters are incorrect, change them, log out again, and log back in. ************************************************************************ ***** NOTE THAT IF YOU SWITCH SETUPS AFTER MIDNIGHT, YOU WILL ***** ***** HAVE TO BE SURE THAT YOU ARE IN THE CORRECT DIRECTORY FOR ***** ***** THE DATE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NIGHT!!! ***** ***** (YOU MAY HAVE TO CREATE A DIRECTORY WITH THE CORRECT DATE) ***** ************************************************************************ ________________________________________________________________________ DIRECTORIES/FILENAMES ________________________________________________________________________ Each night has a separate directory. The name of the directory should be MMDD-09, so the directory for 01 FEB 2006 is named 0201-09. The directory name is automatically generated when you login on the v11 or v12 accounts. Note, however, that if you change setups after midnight, you might have to "mkdir" the correct night because the directory name MUST match the local date at the BEGINNING of the night. To get into the desired directory, type "cd MMDD-09". 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" 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 ________________________________________________________________________ Only one set of calibration frames is taken each night. The set of calibration frames should be for either full-chip or quarter-chip mode, BUT NOT BOTH. Science images may still be taken in both modes during one night, but calibration frames from a different night must be used during data reduction. Set the chip to either full-chip or quarter-chip. BEFORE taking calibration frames, 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. To take 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, take a test bias frame using "test" and check the counts by typing "imstat f*". If the counts are 1400-1500, then the controller card installed is for quad amp readout. If the counts are 500-600, then the controller card installed is for single amp readout. Only a few programs, such as CTIOPI, use single amp readout. Be sure to match the controller card to the number of amps used for observations. If there is a mismatch, ask the staff to switch the controller card to the correct one to match the observations for the night. Take the appropriate set of biases and flats desired. Take bias frames before flat frames because the flats take a long time, during which you can go to dinner. Type "observe" and choose "zero" for a series of bias frames. Type "observe" and choose "dflat" for a series of dome flats. 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). To take dome flats, turn on the lamps with the switch in the computer room, then go back upstairs and pull the dark slides out. While you are up there, check that all three lamps are on. If they are not, call Edgardo or Arturo to get burned out ones replaced. Back in the computer room, use the command "doobs" to take the flats. Use "dflat" for the title of the frame --- do NOT add anything else to the title. Taking 11 frames in each filter v,r,i is fine. In doobs, enter 150 for the exposure time (or 150,150,150 for v,r,i and you can change the 150 to 120 or whatever is needed in a particular filter). For both full-chip and quarter-chip setups a set of 33 dome flats at VRI takes about 2 hours. DON'T FORGET TO TURN THE LAMPS OFF WHEN YOU ARE DONE. ************************************************************************ * 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 THREE FILTERS * * TO BE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT FILTERS. * * AT 150 SEC, YOU SHOULD GET ABOUT COUNTS OF 35K, 30K, 25K, FOR V,R,I. * * (THE B FILTER WILL GIVE 18K, AND THE U FILTER WILL GIVE ONLY 1K) * ************************************************************************ If the program that night requires the U or B filters, sky flats must be done. For sky flats, there MUST be an absolute minimum of 3 sky flats per filter for median filtering. If there are fewer than 3 sky flats with a given filter, those flats are USELESS! There MUST also be enough counts in each flat frame --- at least 5000, and preferably more than 10000. There is only a short amount of time when the sky is bright enough, but not too bright, for sky flats. You should try to get 5-10 flats in each filter. Sky flats should be started right after sunset with exposure times of 5 seconds. Always begin with the U filter (if needed) because the sky is brighter at B than at U. As the sky becomes fainter, increase the exposure times to keep the median level of the flats near 20000 counts. When possible, all the flats should have median levels of 20000 to 30000 counts. As the sky gets darker, the median level of the flats can be allowed to drop, but it should not be much lower than 10000 counts. Once you have taken 5-10 flats in the U filter, start taking flats in the B filter with the same exposure time that you used for the final U sky flat. In general, exposure times for sky flats should be quite short, less than 20 seconds. If you need to, you can use longer exposures, but you must be careful not to expose so long that stars begin to become visible on the flats. If you need a very long exposure to get a high enough level in the flat, it is too dark to take sky flats! ************************************************************************ * USE "dia" IN FILTER WHEEL #1 FOR SKY FLATS * ************************************************************************ ________________________________________________________________________ AFTER OPENING ________________________________________________________________________ Make sure that the large fan that ventilates the dome is on (and the door to upstairs is open), and that the fans over the primary mirror are on. The switch for the large fan is in the electrical control box in the northeast corner of the first floor. The switch for the mirror fans is the green cylindrical knob in the observing room (turn it to the vertical mark on the dial). NOTE: We have found that once the temp seems to have equilibrated, it is preferable to turn the big fan OFF. That seems to improve the seeing, although no formal tests have yet been done. Go to a first star, relatively bright to check the chip alignment. Check the CCD alignment to be sure it is oriented properly. Simply turn off the tracking and take a ~60 sec image to check. [display] and [imexam] the image. Go to one extreme of the trail. Position the cursor in the middle of the trail and type "k". This will plot a cut through the trail, and give you the center of the intensity profile on the trail. In order for the command "i" to work properly, zoom the image until you see individual pixels on the frame. Write down the center of the trail. Then go to the other extreme of the trail on the CCD, and type "k" again. Take the difference between the two values for the intensity center of the trail. If you are within ~5 pixels of directly aligned (i.e., if the above difference is smaller than 5 pixels), that is good because 5 pixels corresponds to 0.28 degrees at the 0.9m (1024 pixels). We probably can't rotate the instrument to better precision. Go to the first target star. Focus using IRAF task [focus], which relocates a star image on the CCD so that you get a series of several star images at different focus values. Choose 10 sec integrations at R band with focus increment 50 (30 for seeing of 1.2 arc-sec or better). You have to change the focus by hand at the 0.9m, so change the focus value and then hit to take the next exposure. V and R are expected to have the same focus at the 0.9m. The focus in I is ~35 units toward larger numbers on the readout. When you change focus from a larger value to a smaller value, remember to offset the focus some 400 units "in" (e.g. 18600) and then go "out" (e.g. 19000) to the desired focus value. This way you will always be moving the focus against gravity, to prevent backlash problems that are known to be present in the focusing mechanism. The focus is a strong function of temperature, and somewhat a function of telescope pointing in the sky. It is therefore best to take the first focus just before the observation in a particular filter and telescope pointing. To check the image shape type [imexam], 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. ************************************************************************ ***** FOLLOW THE OBSERVING INSTRUCTIONS ON THE SMARTS WEBSITE ***** ***** FOR THE NIGHT. YOU WILL ALSO FIND THE OBSERVING LIST THERE. ***** ***** IF NOT, CONTACT ADRIC RIEDEL AND TODD HENRY IMMEDIATELY ! ***** ************************************************************************ ________________________________________________________________________ AT THE END OF THE NIGHT ________________________________________________________________________ THERE ARE THREE THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE AT THE END OF THE NIGHT: 1. *** 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 2. *** MAKE .fits FILES *** First, go back to your main directory and change the name of the directory from 0201-09 to 20060201-09. The scripts need that full title to convert the files to .fits properly. If needed, in the home directory for SMARTS on the v11 account, type "smarts" to load the scripts ("ctiopi" on v12). Then, move to the directory that holds your data for the night. 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 "finishsmarts" (or "finishctiopi" on v12). 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". The "finishsmarts" 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 and 20060201.09.002, etc. Therefore, the first file taken on 01 FEB 2006 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 tape. THE FINAL NAME MUST BE IN THE FORMAT 20060201.09.001.fits !!! Once the .fits files have been written to tape, DO NOT IMMEDIATELY DELETE THEM IF THERE IS ANY SERVICE DATA. Wait until you hear from Adric Riedel before deleting anything. In the case of CTIOPI data, wait until you hear from someone in the RECONS group that they have copied data back to GSU before deleting data from the 0.9m computer disks. 3. *** ARCHIVE DATA *** ************************************************************************ ***** CTIO DOES NOT HAVE WRITEABLE DVDS, SO YOU WILL NEED TO ***** ***** BRING YOUR OWN IF YOU ARCHIVE DATA ON DVDS. SONY DVDS DO ***** ***** NOT WORK WELL AT CTIO. TDK AND IMATION SEEM TO BE FINE. ***** ************************************************************************ FOR NON-CTIOPI DATA, i.e. interpolated programs, Adric Riedel at GSU will ftp the data to GSU. He will then notify you that you can delete the data from the computer disks at the 0.9m. FOR CTIOPI DATA ONLY, make one copy of the data to DVD. At the end of an observing run during which CTIOPI data is taken, all CTIOPI data should be written to DVD. Several full nights of CTIOPI data will fit on a DVD. Write one copy of data to DAT tape using the ctio36 workstation. Move to the disk where the data resides (for example, cd /ua41/v12/20060201-09), then get into an xterm window mt -f /dev/nst0 status (to check status) tar -cvf /dev/nst0 *.fits (to write, watch it start writing) mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind (to rewind) note 1: if you get a "write protected" message, go to IRAF and allocate the device [allocate mtd] and then go back to UNIX and proceed note 2: it takes only a few seconds per file to write data to tape YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIT SEVERAL NIGHTS OF DATA ON ONE DAT TAPE AT THE 0.9M BECAUSE YOU CAN FIT A TOTAL OF 869 REGULAR SIZED CTIOPI FRAMES ONTO A SINGLE TAPE. If you took any full chip frames, a lower number of frames will fit on a tape. To add files to a tape that already has data on it: mt -f /dev/nst0 eof (eom = end of media) tar -cvf /dev/nst0 *.fits or, if you are writing more than one night at a time to tape, don't remove the tape from the drive, move to the directory for the next night's data, and just type again: tar -cvf /dev/nst0 *.fits To check that data has been written to tape: tar -tvf /dev/nst0 (for night 1 data) mt -f /dev/nst0 fsf (to get to night 2 data) tar -tvf /dev/nst0 (for night 2 data) mt -f /dev/nst0 fsf (to get to night 3 data) tar -tvf /dev/nst0 (for night 3 data) mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind (to rewind) If for some reason you want to unload data from a tape: tar -xvf /dev/nst0 (for night 1 data) Label the tapes using the following concise format. DO NOT WRITE ANYTHING ELSE ON THE TAPE LABEL. If you are observing on the night with the local start date of 01 FEB 03, write 01 FEB 03 on the tape, NOT 01-02 FEB 03! Examples: For one night of SMARTS SMARTS 0.9m 01 FEB 03 For three nights of SMARTS SMARTS 0.9m 01-03 FEB 03 ************************************************************************ ***** ***** ***** THE END ***** ***** ***** ************************************************************************ ************************************** TCS Pointing File Overview *************************************