LBC Software
- Use x2go to open a session onto obs1 or obs2 workstation using your partner account (inaf, lbtb, osurc, az, lbto; note that these must be lower case). You will need to use a MATE session.
- There are two ways to start up the LBCs and related software:
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- Click the LBC button in the Applications -> Graphics menu at the upper left of the robs session, as illustrated here. This will open the following windows/sessions. The windows may need to be resized. The downward pointing caret (“v”) will iconify the window, while the upward pointing caret (“^”) will toggle back and forth between full screen.
- Click the LBC button in the Applications -> Graphics menu at the upper left of the robs session, as illustrated here. This will open the following windows/sessions. The windows may need to be resized. The downward pointing caret (“v”) will iconify the window, while the upward pointing caret (“^”) will toggle back and forth between full screen.
- a chromium browser open to the LBC User Interface URL (lbc_cmu)
- an IRAF session (lbc_iraf)
- an IDL session (lbc_idl) — Starting in 2023B, the preferred method of running dofpia or dohybrid will be from a terminal window.
- an FPIA log monitoring tool (lbc_fpia_monitor)
- RB_Science must be launched from a command line window.
- Open each window/session individually:
- Open a terminal window and type lbc_cmu.
- Open a terminal window and type RB_Science.
- Open a terminal window and type lbc_iraf.
- Open a terminal window and type lbc_idl.
- Open a terminal window and type lbc_fpia_monitor.
LBC User Interface
The LBC User Interface has 5 panels: House Keeping, Power Control, OB Execution, Log Analyzer and Information. By default, it comes up with the House Keeping screen displayed.
- Go to the Power Control page.
- The House Keeping should be on (“ready”). If not, turn it on.
- The “Other Systems” (Cameras, Trackers, Filters and Rotator) should be off, but “enabled” (meaning ready to be turned on). Click the button to turn these on.
- Note: If the ambient temperature is less than 0 C, then click the “Warm Up” button first and wait ~10-min for each degree below 0. Then click the “Turn on” button.
- Note: If the ambient temperature is less than 0 C, then click the “Warm Up” button first and wait ~10-min for each degree below 0. Then click the “Turn on” button.
- Once the operator says that the LBCs are authorized, click the “Connect LBC” button at the top (both sides for binocular, left or right to use LBCB or LBCR only).
IDL
The LBC application will also have launched an IDL session. If you need to launch IDL from a terminal window, then use the command lbc_idl (not just idl). Starting in 2023B, the preferred method of running dofpia/dohybrid will be from a terminal window.
IRAF
- In IRAF, epar LBTtools and set the
- camera to LBC
- archive to /lbt/data/new/
- utdate to the UT date for the night in the format, YYYYMMDD
- :wq to save parameters and exit
- type LBTtools to load the LBTtools package
- type Observe to load the Observe package, which contains lbcrangebal
- type LBC to load the LBC package, which contains allseeing
- create a working directory. It is suggested to create a Scratch/<UTdate> directory under your home directory.
- In IRAF, cd /home/<partner>/Scratch/<UTdate>.
- type prepdir to create the subdirectories under /home/<partner>/Scratch/<UTdate> that are needed by LBTtools tasks.
- Once the LBC software is up and running, take a test bias:
- Test scripts are located in /lbt/lbto/lbc/Calib_OBs/BIASDARK. Use 2Bias_Bino_Checkout.ob or 10Bias_Bino_Checkout.ob (the *_Checkout.ob scripts will write Checkout in the object name so as to distinguish these biases from those taken for calibration purposes, which require lights off and a telescope that is not slewing).
- Follow the directions in the Observing Procedure section.
- Biases should be approximately 300 counts.
RB_Science
RB_Science should be launched from the command window. There are various command-line options, a few of which are listed below. RB_Science -h, –help and –howto will show you, respectively, a list of the available options, a short description of each option and, finally, full documentation on the options and some examples of their use.
RB_Science will open a ds9 window with 2 frames, the first of which will be used to display any new LBCB images and the second, any new LBCR images. By default, RB_Science will look for new images every 5 seconds and it will display only images taken after the program is started. It displays using zscale and zoom to fit. In the launching terminal window, it will print header information for each image, such as the filename, filter, exposure time. The header information that is printed can be controlled with the [blu/red]keys option (see below).
In most cases, RB_Science with no options will be fine, but there are two useful options:
- If you have to reopen RB_Science, then to display the last pair of red/blue images taken use:
RB_Science --starttime -1
2. To use minmax log scaling instead of zscale and to zoom in on the central region instead of seeing the full image:
RB_Science --blucmds 'lbc*.fits:mosaicimage wcs {},zoom 1,scale log, scale minmax' --redcmds 'lbc*.fits:mosaicimage wcs {},zoom 1,scale log, scale minmax'
3. If the DMS is down, then use the nonewdataapi option:
RB_Science --nonewdataapi
To close RB_Science, enter a control-C in the launching terminal. RB_Science will close automatically if there is no new activity after several hours.
Command Line Options:
-h
Prints a short one-page summary of all the available options.
--help
Lists the available options and gives a brief description of each.
--howto
Prints the full documentation for RB_Science.
--src
By default, RB_Science will look for images in /lbt/data/new (equivalent to /newdata on the old obsN machines). If you want it to look elsewhere to the images, then specify that path using the –src option.
--pause
This gives the user the option to pause frame 1 or 2 or both and is useful when more time is needed to examine the last image before the ongoing one is completed and saved to disk.
--starttime
If RB_Science has to be restarted for any reason, this is the command to use.
To display the last image taken before RB_Science was restarted, use:
RB_Science --starttime -1
You may also go back to a specific time by entering it using the ISO time standard, either in full or partially, e.g.
RB_Science --starttime "2021-01-20T04"
or by entering an LBC image filename, e.g.
RB_Science --starttime "lbcr.20210120.045601.fits"
--blucmds or --redcmds
The display commands to be passed to ds9. These are made up of a rule, in which a pattern matching string can be specified, and a series of display commands to be applied to that rule. For example, the default display of LBC images would use:
RB_Science --blucmds 'lbcb.*.fits:mosaicimage wcs {},zoom to fit, zscale, cmap cool' \ --redcmds 'lbcr.*.fits:mosaicimage wcs {},zoom to fit, zscale, cmap bb'
--blutimeout or --redtimeout
RB_Science will display only one frame when only one LBC is being used. However, to reduce resources, the user could indicate a timeout on the side that is not being used. For example,
RB_Science --redtimeout 0 indicates that the search for red images will timeout immediately and this would be appropriate when only LBCB is used. Vice versa, when only LBCR is being used, supply a timeout for the blue side, as RB_Science --blutimeout 0
--blufiles or --redfiles
This allows the user to specify the blue (frame 1) or red (frame 2) image name pattern. RB_Science can display LUCI or MODS images, as well as LBC images, and this option will find the most use when observing in mixed mode, with LBC on one side and either MODS or LUCI on the other. For example, to display LBCB and LUCI2 images, use:
RB_Science --blufiles 'luci1*.fits' --blucmds 'luci1*.fits: fits {}, zoom to fit, cmap bb' \
--redfiles 'lbcr*.fits' --redcmds 'lbcr*.fits: mosaicimage wcs {}, zoom to fit, cmap bb'
--refreshrate, --blurefreshrate or --redrefreshrate
The default refresh rate, i.e. the frequency at which RB_Science looks for new images on the disk, is 5 seconds. This works well, but can be adjusted if you want to see the new images more quickly or at a less frequent interval, though for the latter, the –pause option is more appropriate.
