Changes

<!--<span style="color:red">'''NOTE: ''' There is a memory leak in the Quick-Look software, which causes the software's memory consumption to grow larger each time a new spectrum is loaded. We are working to fix this. In the meantime, the work-around is to restart the Quick-Look GUI at least daily, or more often if required. See instructions below for how to do this.</span>-->

== Change Log Recent Updates ==

* Set the The required spectrograph camera focusshould be set automatically after a Hartmann run - check that this is the case.

* Select a target from the target catalogue file so that the object name and coordinates will go into the fits header, and can be read by the TCS.

* At the start of your run, click on the ''Advanced'' tab. In the ''Observer Info'' box, enter your name and increment the run number by +1 from the number that was in there for the previous user. In the past, one would determine the run number by looking in the old triplicate observing log book, but with remote observing and electronic logs in use these days, the last logbook entry may not give the appropriate run number. But the The Quick-Look GUI now keeps a detailed electronic log based on fits header info, but issues have arisen with it mixing up exposures, so users are moving away from keeping a handwritten logadvised to keep their own logs (e. The last logbook entry thus may not give the appropriate run numberg. a spreadsheet).

* Take an arc and check the wavelength range on the Quick-Look extraction that will appear shortly after the image is read out. Note that it is advisable to double check the arc by displaying the spectrum in e.g. pyRAF, as the Quick-Look plot doesn't always display the arc lines at the end of the wavelength range.

* Alternatively, click on the appropriate lamp icon in the instrument schematic - this , where 1=CuNe and 2=CuAr. This will switch on the lamp and insert the arc mirror into the beam. Having taken the arc, simply click on the arc mirror icon in the schematic to remove the arc mirror and switch the lamp off. One can also control the lamps using the ''Lamp/Mirror Settings'' pane of the SpUpNIC Control GUI. Click the appropriate ''Change'' state button to switch the desired lamp on/off, and to move the arc mirror into the beam to take an arc exposure.

====Dome Flatsflat recipe====

Dome flats give a measure of the pixel-to-pixel sensitivity variations over the CCD. The dome's white flat-field screen is not perfectly evenly illuminated by the lamps on the top end of the telescope, but the light goes through the slit, gets collimated, diffracted and re-focussed, so that is not a problem. We do not use the sky for this as you would get spectra of the Sun! '''Configuring the telescope, dome and lamps for flats is now done entirely from the TCS:'''

# First check the observing floor for ladders or obstructions. If you're observing remotely you can use the webcam, or if you're in the dome just pop upstairs.# On the TCS, click the grey "FLOOR" button near the top to change the telescope control to "TCS".# Click the red "Telescope Power is OFF" button on the top left. Telescope power will switch on, the button will turn green, and the various subsystem statuses will be populated.# Click the red "Man" button on the top right to switch the dome to auto. # Click "CLEAR", then "DOME" and select "Mirror open" from the drop down menu.# Click "CLEAR" then "TARGET" and a range of buttons will appear. Click on the "Dome Flat" button toward the right. This will slew the telescope to point to a panel on the ceiling, painted white. Once the telescope has stopped moving, the dome will switch to manual. # Above the date and time info, click the yellow "Flat Lamp OFF" button. It will turn red and the lamps on the top end of the telescope should now be on.# On the SpUpNIC Control GUI, make sure there are no mirrors in the light path (no blue border around the spectrograph schematic) and take some trial FLAT exposures to determine the exposure time required to reach ~40k counts. The lamps are quite red, so blue settings (e.g. G4) will need long exposures. It's fine to crank the slit wide open to let more light in (you do not care about resolution here).# Take e.g. 15 flats by populating the "# Exposures" box accordingly.# Once you're done, go back to the TCS and:## Turn off the flatfield lights ("Flat Lamp ON" button - turns yellow/OFF)## Switch the dome to auto (press "Man" - turns green/Auto)## Park the telescope (TARGET menu - click "Park" button)## Close the mirror covers (CLEAR --> DOME --> Mirror CLOSE)## If you're finishing here, switch the dome back to manual and turn off telescope power (click Telescope Power is ON --> red/OFF), or if you're opening to observe leave dome in auto and power on. <!-- - Behind the control room desk, dial the rheostat fully anti-clockwise to zero [[File:rheostat.jpg|80px]]

- Dial the rheostat up to '''140 V - do not exceed that value as you will blow the lamps''' - this value has decreased from 220 V since new lamps were installed in July 2019 - The lamps on the top end of the telescope should now be on - Open the mirror cover> <!-- - With the telescope vertical, rotate the dome to 127 degrees, so that the white flat-field screen is just to the east of the south pier

- With the telescope at HA ~ 0/12 & Dec ~ -86:30, the telescope should be quite well centred on the flat-field screen - In the control room, take some trial exposures to check the count level, aim for ~40k counts - The lamps are quite red, so blue settings (e.g. G4) struggle for counts - In that case, it is fine to crank the slit wide open to let more light in (you do not care about resolution here) - Take as many flats as you like (say, 11?) once you have established an appropriate exposure time

* # Take an arc to check that the grating angle is correct appropriate for your desired wavelength range, and to get an idea of the required exposure time (aim for at about least ~1000 counts in the weaker lines): in the ''Exposure/CCD info'' pane on the ''Main View'' tab, select "Exposure type" = ARC from the drop-down menu, and enter e.g. 10 seconds in the "Exposure time" box.* # If satisfied with the arc obtained, locate the ''Hartmann focus sequence'' panel in the ''Instrument Setup'' pane on the ''Main View'' tab of the SpUpNIC Control GUI (if not, adapt adjust the exposure time and grating angle as required before proceeding).* # Select the ''Auto'' tab and enter the parameters for the Hartmann sequence: 3.6 7 for the ''initial focus position'', 0.05 for the ''focus increment'' and 9 for the number of ''steps'' - with the system still set up as it was for the test arc (lamp on, arc mirror in beam). A bug in the software causes the Hartmann routine to fail if the camera focus isn't first set to the "initial focus pos", so enter 3.7 in the Camera focus "REQUESTED" box above, then click "Go". Once the focus has changed, click ''Run''to start the Hartmann sequence. * # The slit width will automatically be set to 1.05" and the exposure type will switch to HARTMANN, then the GUI will grey out and not be available during the focus sequence (although you will see the ''Current Camera Focus'' field changing and the Hartmann shutters indicate ''Moving''.* # On completion of the sequence: in the SpUpNIC Quick-Look GUI, in the log box to the right of the spectrum display window, you will see a list of focus positions and their corresponding pixel shifts. Best focus corresponds to a shift of zero.* Enter # The camera focus should automatically be set to the best focus value, but if it isn't, enter the best focus into the ''Requested " Camera Focus'' box on the SpUpNIC Control GUI's ''Instrument Setup'' pane and click ''Go''.* The Hartmann sequence ends with the shutter out of the beam, but for some reason it sends the slit width be sure to zero! So select the desired slit width in the ''Instrument Setup'' pane and click ''Go''. Check that it goes to the required position, click ''Go'' again if it does not do it the first time.

Target names and coordinates get propagated into the fits headers by loading a target catalogue file into the ''Target Info'' pane and then selecting the appropriate target. They can also be read by the TCS, so you don't have to type them in there to slew to your target.

* Select In the appropriate target name from the drop-down list ''Target Name'' box, type any character/number that appears after in the catalogue file has been loadedname of your target, and all targets containing those characters will appear in a dropdown list so you can select the appropriate one.

The purpose of this step is to figure out where on the acquisition image you need to place your star, in order for it to land close to the ideal spot on the slit. Very bright stars can be seen reflected on the slit jaws, and can be placed on the slit directly, but this is not the case for fainter stars, which need the superior reflectivity of the guide mirror in order to be seen on the acquisition camera. This position should be approximately stable throughout your run, but it is worth checking every couple of days that you can fine-tune the red box on target location using the acquisition camera screen still corresponds to the appropriate position on the slit. This is much easier now that the instrument has a rear-of-slit camera!.

* # Move the guide mirror into the beam, either by setting the ''Acquisition'' state in the ''Lamp/Mirror Settings'' pane of the SpUpNIC control GUI (if it says Guide Mirror ''Science'', click ''Change''), or by clicking on the guide mirror in the instrument schematic. * # Acquire a bright star (e.g. ~4th mag from the Bright Stars chapter of the Sutherland Almanac, available in the warm room), roughly centre it in the acquisition camera field and continue exposing. * # Move the guide mirror out of the beam (i.e. centre the mirror so that light can go down the central hole). * # Move the rear-of-slit mirror into the beam (''Lamp/Mirror Settings'' pane, RoS mirror change from ''Out of beam'' to ''In beam''). * # Turn on the slit illumination (in the ''Instrument Setup'' pane, ''Change'' to turn on the lamp). Tune the exposure time/LUT sliders on the TCS until you can clearly see the slit running horizontally across the acquisition image, approximately halfway up. * # Using the hand paddle, move the telescope to place the star on the slit, approximately one quarter of the image width away from the right-hand edge. * # Turn off slit illumination. * # Click on the icon [[File:Potcamicon.jpg|40px]] for the rear of slit camera (on the left-hand side of Monitor 1). * # An image window for the rear-of-slit camera will pop up. This looks up at the slit from below, to enable you to check that your star is centred on the slit. Move the telescope such that the star falls on the centre of the slit image in both x and y. [[File:slit_view.png|thumbnail]]* # Move the rear-of-slit mirror out of the beam and take a test spectrum (e.g. 20 seconds) of the bright star (in the ''Exposure/CCD info'' pane, select ''Exposure type'' = SCIENCE from the drop-down menu, enter ''20'' in ''Exposure time'' and click ''Expose'').* # The resulting image will be displayed on the Quick-Look GUI, on Monitor 2. You are aiming for the spectrum to fall on approximately the central row of pixels within the image area (note that this is a roughly central band that only covers about half the vertical extent of the CCD). If the spectrum is too high or low, move the telescope slightly in RA (the RA- button moves the spectrum downwards in the image), iterate until the star is well positioned.* # Once you are happy with the position of the spectrum on the image, go back to the TCS and add a red marker over the position of the star on the slit (TCS ''Pointer'' pane: ''Markers'', ''Add a red marker'').* # Finally, move the guide mirror into the beam, and add a second red marker at the position of the star. This marker will be used to approximately position stars on the slit that are too faint to be seen reflected off the slit jaws.

* Adjust the slider bars at bar to the bottom right of the image (both most of the way to adjust the left) to set scaling, or hold down the brightness and contrastmouse button while mousing over the image, as in ds9 * Use Using GUIDE speed, use the handRA & Dec arrow buttons on the bottom-right of the TCS GUI (or the hand paddle if in the dome) to position the star near the centre of the slit (in both X and Y)* Adjust the telescope focus with on the TCS (or the hand-paddle if in the dome) in steps of 3-5 units and assess how the star image changes* The star will move around due to the translation of the secondary mirror, so adjust it back into view with the hand-paddle if necessary* Astigmatism in the system extends the star image diagonally and the orientation indicates whether the focus value is too high or too low: Star extended from upper-left to lower-right: focus number value is too high Star extended from lower-left to upper-right: focus number value is too low

Please be sure to inform the instrument technical team of any technical issues you encounter during your run, either by emailing lisa(at)saao.ac.zaphoning the standby technician for problems that need immediate attention, or by means of for issues that can be addressed during the day, submit a report to the SAAO's online fault forum at [[http://faultreports.saao.ac.za/index.php?board=5.0]online fault forum].