Starting the software
- on the mountain: login to obs1 or obs2 using your partner account credentials.
- Select “MATE” (not Gnome or any other) as the type of session.
- in the Tucson remote room:
- login to a rm507 workstation as observer (ask LBTO support staff for the password)
- from the Applications menu in the bottom left corner, select x2go.
- enter your partner account credentials.
- You are now essentially working on the mountain obsN machine.
To copy your scripts to the mountain workstation:
This command will copy the entire directory, myscripts, to obs1 and put it under the directory /home/partner where partner is one of the partner account names (az, inaf, lbtb or osurc).
mods2 status (for MODS2)
In the terminal window type:
mods1 start gui
to open the MODS Control Panel for MODS1, or type:
mods2 start gui
to open the equivalent panel for MODS2.
Setup the…
- On the right side of the Setup Screen, click Get Date to update the UT date in the image filenames. Make sure it is the correct UT date for the night; if it is before 1700 MST (00 UT), you should manually increment the number to reflect the UT date for the night. Click “Apply”.
- Check the filenames (i.e. mods1b.20130915.0001.fits) to ensure the index numbers are as expected. If you or someone else has taken files earlier during the same UT day, you may have to manually adjust the index number to reflect this. The Refresh button would do this, unless someone has clicked “Apply” already. As a rule, avoid the Refresh button.
While many scripts will set the Partner Name, PropID and PI Name (in blue below) automatically, it is important to enter default values for data taken “by hand” or for scripts in which it is not specified:
- Observer Names (can be separated by commas and spaces). This goes into headers as the value for the keyword, OBSERVER.
- Enter the Partner Name: OSURC, AZ, INAF, LBTB, LBTO. The name entered here goes into the headers as PARTNER and determines how the data will be archived. (Multiple partners can be listed, separated by commas but no spaces.)
- Enter PropID
- Enter PI Name,
- Support (SUPPORT),
- Telescope Operator (TELOPS) and a
- Comment describing the run.
Once all the necessary updates have been made, click Apply, then Save. The Partner, PropID and PI Name will be overridden later by the parameters in the “Archive” blocks of subsequent MODS observing scripts.
Launch modsDisp (mods2Disp)
Preparing for the night
Wake up MODS
Type modsWake [bino|1|2] to wake up both MODS (bino), MODS1 only (1) or MODS2 only (2).
“Waking up” a MODS involves turning on the IR laser, setting it to the correct power level and enabling it. The CCD settings are also reset and any internal devices that should be on during observing are turned on, while what should be off is turned off.
Take test images
Type modsSimSnap [bino|1|2] or modsSieveSnap [bino|1|2] to take a set of test images. “SimSnap” will take a pair of blue and red channel images through the Sieve Mask and then remove it from the focal plane to take a second set which is useful to check for and monitor debris on the optics. “SieveSnap” takes only the set of images through the Sieve Mask.
Put MODS into observing mode & “Home” the AGw stage
- Click the “Observing” button near the top left of the MODS User Interface. The text on this and other buttons will be orange while mechanisms are moving. Once they have finished moving,
- Click the “Home” button to the right of the AGw stage X, Y, focus and Filter positions to “Home” the guider stage.
Open ancillary monitoring tools
GCSGUI
