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Taking Data - the Data Acquisition System

A typical command specifies a channel (PFIP or AUX); an exposure time t (sec); a title; an observation type obstype (e.g., FLAT, BIAS, TARGET, etc); and sometimes the number num of the output file in a scratch area. The DAS commands are:

 ¯¯¯TRUN 		 chann 		 t 		 title 		 Take an exposure of
an astronomical target

TARGET chann t title Same as RUN

FLAT chann t title Take a flat-field exposure

SKY chann t title Take a sky-flat exposure

DARK chann t title Take a dark exposure (shutter not opened) [4mm] BIAS chann title Take a 0-sec exposure

FLASH chann title Ditto with preflash [4mm] GLANCE chann obstype t A `quicklook' - put data in DMS only (no headers)

KEEP chann title Keep a GLANCE file [4mm] SCRATCH chann num obstype t  title.   As RUN, but data saved as file num in scratch area

WINK chann num obstype t title.   As SCRATCH, but no headers are collected

PROMOTE num Promote scratch file num to normal RUN file status [7mm] It is possible to take a set of n identical exposures with the command [1mm] MULTRUN chann n title [2mm] and there are similar commands MULTFLAT, MULTARC, etc.

DAS commands to modify or end exposures are:

 ¯¯TPAUSE 		 chann 		 		 Pause an exposure

CONTINUE chann Continue a paused exposure

FINISH chann End an exposure and save the data

ABORT chann End an exposure and discard the data

NEWTIME chann t Set a new exposure time

There is a special ICL procedure,

FOCUSIMAGE,

to find the best telescope focus; see Sections 4.5 and 6.4 for more details.

There is an ICL procedure,

GSSEARCH,

to automatically find a guide star from the HST Guide Star Catalog, and move the guide probe to the appropriate place (see Sections 4.6 and 6.3 for more details).

The command
DIR
lists the RUN and SCRATCH files taken during the night.


next up previous contents
Next: Setting Up The CCDs Up: Quick Reference Guide Previous: Focal Station Setup

manuals store
Wed Sep 17 12:36:20 BST 1997