Changes

For detailed information about the TCS and instrument softwareinstruments, please refer to the manuals listed below, which are available in the warm room, the hostel library, and are linked to on the 1.0-metre section of the following web page:  http://www.saao.ac.za/observing/operating-manuals * "1.0-m Telescope Control Software: A User's Guide" by Stephen Potter & Hannah Worters * [https://www.saao.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/SAAOCCDmanual.pdf "SAAO CCD Camera Control Program, version 1.2" by J. W. Menzies] * [https://shoc.saao.ac.za/Documents/ShocnHelpful.pdf "SHOC User Guide", by Rocco Coppejans] – contains useful instrument info, but new software described on SHOC wiki

* '''For STE3 or STE4''', a monitor at the leftright-hand end of the desk labelled '''imag40''', running the CCD Camera Control software.

* A thin client with monitor labelled '''ltsp''' that saves the data from the instrument PC and can be used to run a web browser, ds9, etc. '''For SHOC''', it can be used to run the instrument control software via a web browser. It is possible to download your data to a laptop on the network from this PC (use '''scp''' or '''sftp ccd40@ltsp.suth''' - the monitor is labelled with the password).

At present there There are no DVD writers, USB ports or DAT drives in the dome for copying data from ltsp, this should be done using scp.

==== Operational resources ==== * A '''duty technician''' phone number list, on the wall.* Laminated facility '''start-up and shutdown recipes'''.* Assorted notices providing information on '''telescope limits, weather resources''', etc.  ===== Log books, almanacs, etc. ===== In the warm room, in labelled boxfiles on a shelf above the TCS monitor, you will find the following resources to help with your observations:

* '''Observing Floor Control Panel.''' On the North wall by the North pier there is a grey box labelled "Dome Shutter and Windblind Control", which has red buttons for opening/closing the dome shutter and raising/lowering the windblind. One must first switchon the telescope power (blue console) and press the top button labelled "Request Local Control" to activate the panel. The redindicator will illuminate when the panel is active. To open/close the dome, push and hold the appropriate button until the shutters stop moving and you hear a beep. To raise/lower the windblind, push and hold the appropriate button until the blind reaches the desired height. '''Do not raise the windblind while pointing into the wind; first rotate the dome by 180°, raise the blind then rotate back. '''There is also a switch for the upper dome lights.* '''Dome flat lamp switch.''' On the North wall, just above and left of the monitor, is a dimmer switch that controls the incandescent lamp used for taking [[#Dome flats|dome flats]].

* '''SHOC''' does not require liquid nitrogen; it is peltier-cooled. It has no Merlin crate. The control PC ("shocnawe" or "shocndisbelief" ) is mounted in a crate below the primary mirror cell.

You will have been allocated the appropriate wheel(s) for your run based on Throughout 2022, the filters specified in your observing proposal. A the 1-m wheels will be as follows: {| class="wikitable" border="1"|-! Wheel! 1! 2! 3! 4! 5! 6! 7! 8|-| Geneva A1| U| B| V| R| I| BG38| Empty| Empty|-| Geneva B1| u'| g'| r'filter wheel rota| i'| z'' can be found pinned to the notice board on the South pier. It details the filter in each position of each wheel and the name of the wheel| Hα (s20nm) you have been allocated. If the incorrect wheel is in the telescope, please contact a technician. Please direct any other filter-related enquiries to hannah at saao.ac.za.| [O III] 501nm| Empty|}

11. Switch '''dome to AUTO''' by clicking the red "MAN" button (top right of display). It will turn green. At times, it is necessary to either rotate the dome or point the telescope to Zenith so that the dome is able to locate its poisition and avoid the possibility of the dome not correctly following the telescope .

1. Follow the start-up procedure described in Sections 1 and 2 of the [https://wwwcloudcape.saao.ac.za/wp-contentindex.php/uploadss/sites/5/SAAOCCDmanual.pdf9QgG2QpI3GSnoO8|SAAO CCD Camera Control Program, version 1.2", by J. W. Menzies].

If sky conditions are photometric during morning/evening twilight, you will be able to take sky flats. See Section~\ref{sec-domeflats} if you need dome flats. Sky flats can be obtained in the following way:

==== Sky flat recipe for STE3/4: Modules ====

# Click the small grey "On" button below the SAAO CCD image display.

If you have trouble finding your target -- and you have checked the equinox and coordinates have been entered correctly into the TCS -- the problem may be the pointing. An offset can be determined for that part of the sky using the following procedure: #Follow the facility [[#Start-up recipe|start-up procedure]].

 '''At the blue console by the North pier:'''# Switch Click "TARGET" and type the central toggle switches to FAST.# Use the yellow RA \& Dec buttons to slew to of the bright starinto the appropriate boxes, watching both ends of then click "Auto" for automatic slewing. If nothing happens, check that you have completed the telescope as well as the coordinate display monitor. You should point to within 30s (RA) and 1[[#Start-up recipe|start-2 arcmin (dec) of your target coordinatesup procedure]].# Switch The auto slew can be cancelled by clicking the central toggle switches to SLOW to commence tracking"Manual" or "Stop Tel. + Dome" button.  '''Back at the TCS:'''

# Use the hand paddle arrow buttons in the lower left of the TCS display for fine adjustment of the telescope to the star's coordinates, while watching the image display for to centre the bright star to appear.# If the bright star is not apparentdoesn't appear, first check the equinox and coordinates are correct, then adjust "Exp Time" to ~10s and look for light from the star beaming in from one side of the image, revealing its position. Looking through the finderscope might help determine in which direction to move the telescope. If this fails, reduce the exposure time and scan the field systematically in RA & Dec.# Once the bright star appears, select the minimum exposure time, centre the star on the image and click "P" by the target Target button.

# The RA & Dec zeropoints will be displayed in the message box. Note them down with the HA \& Dec as you will need to re-enter them using "ZERO POINTS" → "Enter Zeros Directly" if the TCS software is restarted, or if you return to this part of the sky after using different zeropoints in a different position. You do not need different zeropoints for different equinoxes. There is no need to note the collimation coefficient as it is ignored by the pointing model.

=== Acquiring a target ===

 '''At the blue console by the North pier:'''# Switch Click "TARGET" and type the central toggle switches to FAST.# Use the yellow RA & Dec buttons to slew to of the targetinto the appropriate boxes, watching both ends of then click "Auto" to slew. (If you cannot see a "TARGET" button, click the telesope as well as "O" in the coordinate display monitor. You should point to within 30s (RA) and 1left-2 arcmin (dec) of your target coordinates.# Switch hand corner below the central toggle switches to SLOW to commence tracking"SET EQUINOX" box.  '''Back at the TCS:''')

# Use the hand paddle arrow buttons in the bottom left of the display for fine adjustment of the telescope to the target's coordinates while watching the image display for to centre the target field to appear. Comparison with an 8x8 arcmin finderchart is most helpful.

# Once the target is identified, move the guide mirror out of beam and position it on the image display such that it falls target on the centre of the science CCD(STE3/4 or SHOC).

* Take a snapshot (STE3/4) or preview (SHOC) to check the positioning of the target on the detector and adjust using the handsetarrow buttons on the TCS.

* '''For a long run or for exposures ≥100s, you should locate a guide star and setup set up the autoguider before integrating on your target.

=== Finding a guide star & autoguiding ===

'''On the ltsp PCTCS:# Move the '''guide mirror out of beam'''.* Open a terminal # In "Exposures & Guiding" set "ExpTime" ~2s (adjust as necessary).# Ensure that the XY slides have been initialised (click "Initialise" under XY slides control).# Open the guide star software (the black screen icon of a star with a long tail).# Enter coordinates of the field and click "GET IMAGE". A window should appear displaying a DSS image.# Click on a bright star outside of the top menu panelgreen circle in the DSS image. NOTE: this chart is centred on the given coordinates. If you have adjusted the position of the target to be away from the centre of the acquisition frame, there will be the same offset in the selected guide star.# Under "XY Slides Control," click "GoTo GS". The star should appear in the acquisition image. If not, try a different star.# Under “Pointer" click "Guide Star" , then click on the chosen guide star in the acquisition camera FOV. This will put a blue box around the star and begin guiding. NOTE: if the star is near a hot pixel, that could cause trouble with guiding. Click "Move XY" and click on the star: this will center it (just moving the XY stages, and not affecting the science target).* Type '''cd /usr/local/saao/40inGuiders'''# To stop or restart guiding (e.g. after brief intervals of cloud), press GUIDE.* Type '''source runit'''# To change exposure times, select exposure time from the drop down menu under Expose.

'''In the DS9 interface that pops up:'''* From the "Analysis" pull-down menu, select "DSS Server".* In the "DSS Server" window, click on the "DSS Server" menu and select either "DSS@STSCI" or "DSS@ESO". SAO no longer connects.* Enter RA & Dec of target (using colons to separate coordinate units) in 20'x20' field of view and click "RETRIEVE". * Once the field image loads with the target in the centre, choose a relatively bright star outside the circle. Place the mouse cursor over the star and read off the {\bf XY slide} coordinates in the grey info area above the image. '''On the TCS:'''* With the '''guide mirror in beam''', click on "Move XY", then on the target star position in the acquisition image, then on "Zero XY". This centres the field on the target so that the XY slide coordinates will be compatible with those you read off DS9 for the guide star.* Move the '''guide mirror out of beam'''.* In "Exposures & Guiding" set "ExpTime" ~2s (adjust as necessary).* In "XY Slides Control", click "Go To" and enter X and Y slide coordinates of chosen guide star from DS9.* In "Pointers" click "XY+Win+G" then click the chosen guide star. This will centre the guide star on the image, window the chip and begin guiding.* To stop or restart guiding (e.g. after brief intervals of cloud), press "GUIDE".  === TCS operations at the end of an observation ===

If observing in Sutherland (if working remotely this will be done by on-site technicians): , '''on wall-mounted mimic panel:'''

If using STE3 or STE4, please fill in the triplicate CCD Camera log book for each image obtained, pressing hard enough for your words to register on all three sheets. If you are using SHOC, there is no such logso you should note all the relevant information in e.g. a spreadsheet for your records.

Dec zeropoint ("): 41  ==Webcam==There is a webcam display that should be visible at all times for viewing and listening to the telescope while observing.

 This is the account you will need to login with using the Download and install Foscam appfrom here:

'''Username:''' adminoperator

'''PW:''' Ask IT40incam