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Object catalogue handling USER>incl <virgo> - Includes a user catalog named virgo.cat, stored in /int/cat. Check that the catalog has been loaded properly by listing it from the TCS using the command: USER>out term
To add objects to the catalog type:
to move to the object type: However, objects added with the object/add sequence are passed directly to the object catalogue held on the TCS computer, and are not stored on the system computer.
TO write a catalogue back to disk use:
Initial TCS commands
USER>show focal - Show the focal station setup. If not set to
PRIME/WFC, run the command Check that the PF rotator angle is set to 180° from the TCS DISPLAY window. This is the default rotator position. The automatic auto-guiding system will only work for this rotator position and the nominal aperture (object centred on CCD#4). To move the rotator, follow these instructions carefully. USER>show aper - Lists the defined apertures. The list should read:
You can change the default pointing aperture (ap 0) by entering e.g.
New apertures can be defined by entering e.g.:
Apertures > 0 are invoked by entering e.g.: USER>focus 43.95 - Set focus to a 'good' value. USER>calibrate last - Load the last TCS pointing model.
Twilight Sky-flats There is an automatic procedure which, by continually reading the auto-guider chip, tells the observer what exposure time to use in order to achieve about 20000 counts: Goto a blank field. Suitable fields are listed below:
SYS> guide on pixel 1032 512 - To start the auto-guider.
SYS> smartflat & SYS> guide off
Single Star Calibrate
If the telescope pointing the previous night was acceptable, all you need to
type is: However, if you experience problems finding guide-stars, it might be necessary to re-determine the pointing model. The first attempt should be to do a fast (this takes about 5 minutes) single star calibrate with the auto-guider: SYS>agwin acq pos 1032 512 - Readout the auto-guider centre. USER>cal - This sends the telescope to a suitable calibrate star. When the HANDSET menu appears, hit <ctrl-Z> to break out. USER>aper 5 - Centre telescope pointing on the auto-guider. On the auto-guider, mark the window centre by using the menu items on the auto-guider GUI (SETUP/TOGGLE CENTRE CROSS). SYS>autotv on - Turn on continuous readout mode for auto-guider. Use HANDSET to centre star on cross (in XY mode for the 180 deg. rotator position the cursors are reversed). USER>point calibrate
USER>cal anal zero
Seven Star Calibrate After an instrument change or if the single star calibrate isn't giving a satisfactory result a seven star calibrate either automatic or manual is performed (this takes 20 to 30 minutes). Automatic mode using autocal-script:
Before you start calibrate you should enter the parameter which affect
the calculation for the atmospheric refraction e.g.
USER> temp 6.7
press 770
humi 0.1
wave 0.65 (example for Halpha narrow band filter,
if you use B then type 'wave 0.45')
Make sure that the guiding is OFF (remember to turn off after flats).
Start autocal from /home/intobs directory.
SYS>autocal
USER>cal anal Manual mode:
Within normal calibrate you can't apply AP5 to move the stars to the
auto-guider, hence you have to redefine AP 0 to be
USER> enter ap 0 1065 -42 (the sum of the nominal AP 0 and AP 5)
Before you start calibrate you should enter the parameter which affect
the calculation for the atmospheric refraction e.g.
USER> temp 6.7
press 770
humi 0.1
wave 0.65 (example for Halpha narrow band filter,
if you use B then type 'wave 0.45')
On the auto-guider mark the window centre use the menu items on the
auto-guider GUI (SETUP/TOGGLE CENTRE CROSS).
SYS> autotv on Turn on continuous readout mode for auto-guider.
USER> cal faint
Use "handset" to centre all seven stars on the centre cross
(in RaDec mode for the 180 deg. rotator position the cursors
are reversed). If a star is centred press the 'DO' key.
Note the values in the log book and ** most important ** set the nominal
aperture back to the default by:
USER> enter ap 0 -251 326
Focusing the Telescope To determine the best telescope focus the observer should select a suitable field (eg. one of the WFC photometric standard fields) and run a focus script:
Finding Guide Stars Automatic predicting guide stars with rotator at 180 degrees and nominal pointing: SYS>cmd INFODISP PREDICT ON
SYS>gocat 'name' SYS>guide on pixel x y (with x y taken from the prediction) Whenever you use a rotator position different from 180 degrees or an aperture different from nominal you need to run gsc_apm!
The HST guide star catalogue to V of approximately 15.5 magnitude is
stored on /catalogs/hstguide.sun. This 300 Mbyte file contains the complete
GSC catalogue and can be efficiently searched for guide stars for the WFC.
To run the software the following environment variables and alias have to
be set up in an observing system xterm window on LPSS13 or on the TO
window (these are automatically setup by startobssys but if you want to
run it from some other window then type
>setenv GSC_DATA /catalogs/hstguide.sun - pointer to the HST catalogue
>alias gsc_apm '/home/mike/soft/wfc/gsc_apm' - the latest version with 6+Nom
beamswitch options
The program is usually invoked using command line options such as:
SYS>gsc_apm RaDec="10 30 0 -1 0 0" Rotpos=180 Equinox=J2000 Beam=N
SYS>gsc_apm Rotpos=90 Equinox=B1950 RaDec="21 30 11.3 12 10" Beam=C
Command lines arguments are:
RaDec="hh mm ss dd mm ss"
RotPos=angle (180 default)
Equinox=J2000 (or B1950)
Beamswitch=N (or A,B,C,D,E,F)
(A=centre of CCD#1, B=centre of CCD#2,
C=centre of CCD#3, D=centre of CCD#4
E=centre of Autoguider
F=rotator centre, located on CCD#4)
TCS/AutoGuider interface commands
SYS> focus 43.95 - set telescope focus [default best focus] SYS> rotate sky 180 - move PF rotator to 180 degrees [default] SYS> gocat 12+30 - go to faint pointing grid star SYS> gocat N12+30 - go to bright pointing grid star SYS> offset arc -30 30 - offsets telescope from current pointing by -30 and 30 arcsec SYS> autotv [on|off] - continuous readout mode SYS> field - do a field and search for potential guide objects SYS> guide on star n - pick "n"th brightest detected object and guide SYS> guide on pixel x y - guide on at position x,y on auto-guider CCD default is to specify x y = -1 -1 which cause A/G to guide on current guide star location SYS> guide off - turn guiding off SYS> agwin acq pos x y - set centre of field window for acquisition SYS> autotime t - set integration time "t" in ms. Closed loop offsets ------------------- You can offset by some arcseconds you may do this without opening the guide loop using either aperture offsets on the TCS handset or you can use the "tweak" command: SYS>cmd TCS USER "TWEAK 10 10 0" 10 arcsec correspond to 27 pixels on the A/G (0.37"/pix) so you need a guide window which can cope with the offset. Below you find how the star on the AG will move using the TCS handset in x-y APOFF mode: rot mount 180 S rot mount 90 E +---------------+ +---------------+ | | ---> x | | | ---> x | | | | | | | E | v 0.37"/pix | W N | v | S | y | | y | | | | | +---------------+ +---------------+ N W Filter Wheel control
SYS> filter R - change to R filter
SYS>/int/S8-2/bin/wfc_mdb_gui - enable access to WFC filter database (eg. set
telescope focus offsets)
After exiting from gui type:
SYS>cmd MCA RESET - to update the volatile use of the database
and enable the changes.
Command dictionary for UltraDAS Command dictionary for UltraDAS
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