There are a number of complex interactions that take place during a TAURUS Instrument observing run, therefore
operation of  these interactions are vitally IMPORTANT and need extensive testing when TAURUS is scheduled
on the Telescope. Further more when the Observing has completed, a number of actions must be taken to maintain
the current condition of each optical component when the instrument is stored. They may be, removal of optical filters,
aperture masks, the LDSS vph and visitors own ETALONS.

In each case care must be of prime importance.

The following checklist will help you fulfill the main objectives.
The checklist is divided into two sections, the first is

"WHAT TO DO AT THE START OF A TAURUS OBSERVING RUN" and the second
"WHAT TO DO AT THE END OF A TAURUS OBSERVING RUN".

In all cases the actions below should be carried out by technical staff ONLY and ONLY re-instated by technical staff.
This is to avoid possible chances of damage to mechanical and optical and electronic components.

"WHAT TO DO AT THE START OF A TAURUS OBSERVING RUN"

TELESCOPE
 

• Check the Optical Path,  Turntable Orientation, Gaseous Supplies and Calibration Lamps.

 

Check Coude 3 is stowed if following a UCLES/UHRF run.
Rotate the CASS turntable to 180 degrees.
Check the Deuterium lamp cables and connections. The remote lead from the small blue switch box in Control room (plugged into Telescope BNC co-axial connector No. 70 T/S & Control room),  is used to operate a relay in the Deuterium power supply which sits on the top of the centre section. The YELLOW mains lead from the power supply must be plugged into the variable transformer (rheostat) and set to maximum 260v setting. This must be connected to RAW mains at all times and be powered ON.
Check the operation of the Ne/D chimney arc lamps, by inserting the flap and selecting Neon on control box and blue switch box. Peer into the chimney to see them lit. With the Deuterium lamp, a sequence of ON 20 seconds, OFF 5 seconds then ON again will make the lamp strike correctly (needs to be warm before it strikes correctly) Do this sequence by using the blue switch box.
Check the Telescope Nitrogen supply 500Kpa is available. Connect to TAURUS in line connector.

• Check the TV system for CASS operation.

 

Check the Cass Acquisition camera This maybe the Quantex or Apogee camera.  Follow the startup instructions at the following URL: ../sl/private/apogee_doc.html
Remove the RED VIDEO input lead from POSITION 15 of  the TV memory system if following a Coude run and re-instate the lead with the number 15 on it .
Change the VIDEO WINDOW settings for Camera B to 1 and Base of 0 (if Quantex).
Power up the TV memory system and test the camera  (QUANTEX only) check only connection to Apogee PC functions.

• Connect up the Instrument

 

Connect the TAURUS cables to the electronics rack chassis PLEASE NOTE: Always remove the cables from the electronics NOT from the Instrument.
Plug in the electronics rack power lead into the "Essential Supply" socket.
Connect the "DECSERVER" communications cable to the micro RS232 port.
Connect the Instrument Sequencer connector P102 to the micro PIA port.
Connect the CCD shutter control cable (2 pin small Lemo connector) to shutter socket on the lower electronics chassis.
Connect the TAURUS shutter cable (Green connector Shell) to the CCD controller shutter port.
Connect the Instrument sequencer (2 pin Lemo) to the CCD controller o/p synch port.
Switch on the Electronics Rack by operating the switch behind the keyboard.

•  Check out the Instrument

 

Log in to aat40a as Observer. Type the following: xon aatxtk, deckeyshmx, rvtaurus ccdn (where n is 1 or 2).
When Observer shows the Taurus  startup window, press return which will take you into the startup menu. Select ccd or ccd shuffle and reset micro and then press PF1 soft key. This will then start down loading the SMS TAURUS SOFTWARE. The TAURUS MONITOR WINDOW will load showing the state of the filter wheels, etalon etc. etc.. When this has been achieved TAURUS will be ready to configure for the CCD rotation, focus, test out shuffle and test out step modes.
ROTATION: To rotate the ccd we need to have the following setup hardware and software. Load  the programme DISK$USER:[OBSERVER.ICL_LOAD]ROTATE.ICL The CCD will require the following window: win mitll_1024. This will show the central portion of the MITLL chip. The image should be of the long slit and the slope  will give you some idea of the rotation required. To determine the amount of rotation required use the routine TROT. Using TROT will advise you of the rotation correction.  At the moment TROT is only on the VAX. TROT will be  a global symbol accessible from the DCL prompt in any account and will start up FIGARO and perform the calculation. After rotation, focus can be checked.
FOCUS: Load the programme DISK$USER:[OBSERVER.ICL_LOAD]FOCUS.ICL. Nominally the camera focus for the MITLL2a with the blue spacer plate will be 425.  At 425 the fwhm of the dots should be around 2.4 for the central 9 dots. If this is greater then a series of runs at different camera readings will allow you to determine the new focus position. TAURUS is now ready for a SHUFFLE and STEP run.
SHUFFLE RUN: This procedure is well documented in the TTF webpages.  The URL is  ../AAO/local/www/jbh/ttf/start_aat.html and going to the SETTING UP TAURUS -2 section.
STEP RUN: Again this procedure is well documented in the TTF webpages.  The URL is ../AAO/local/www/jbh/ttf/wave_cal0.html and going to the wavelength calibration for Intermediate band filters section. At this stage you will have a number of files and you will then be able to determine the line centres (wavelength calibrations)  as shown in the above section of the TTF webpages.
In times of problems which causes the system to hang up either for ccd, instrument sequencer or Taurus, follow the recover guidelines found at URL: ../AAO/local/www/jbh/ttf/recover.html

• At Observer's Terminal "AATXTK" in Control Room

 

Check to see if the TAURUS software window set is still up and running. See if there are any instructions from the Observer regarding visitors Etalons. In any case unless instructed by the Instrument Support Astronomer, all visitors Etalon's and the LDSS vph will be removed. If the system has been logged off, follow procedure shown in the AT INSTRUMENT table.
Select Control menu in Taurus ICL window. Select Detents and then change the state of the detent to OUT, to remove the detent(s) from the required instrument wheel, such as pupil wheel, etalon wheel if you need to remove an etalon or the vph. This will allow you to rotate each wheel freely to the required position.
After the removal and the access doors have been closed, re-instate the detents for those you removed. If they do not successfully operate it means that you have not aligned correctly the wheel(s) and it will time-out. Have someone or yourself open the hatches) and nudge the wheel until the detent locates.
After completing the removal you can close down the TAURUS software by continuing to press the PF4 action key until the question "DO YOU MEAN TO EXIT SMS (y/n)" you type YES and then logout, shutting down tidily the system.

• At Instrument if remaining at Cass.

 

In some cases Taurus (2df or Coude runs) will remain at Cass during the next Observing period. Unless instructed by the finishing Observer, all optical components will remain intact. Since exiting from SMS does not reset the Taurus micro, the instrument will be fully operational, ie. the gas valves will be open and the Etalon will be servoing. Check that this is the case. If not do the following at the rack terminal:
Remove the DECSERVER RS232 cable and connect up the local terminal to the micro RS232 port.
Press the micro reset button (red) twice in quick succession. This will reset closing down the system.
The terminal screen will have st 0 showing. Type st Return, iv 1 Return, ov 1 return. This is the minimal requirement, any other operations with their commands are available if required but to be under the supervision of a experienced technician.

• At Instrument if removing from Cass.

 

In cases where the LDSS vph or visitors Etalon is in the etalon wheel, turn off the Electronics rack by using the switch behind the keyboard. Place the local terminal connector into the RS232 port and switch on. You'll notice on the terminal st will appear. Type st which is the reply to obtain local control. Type Di 3 which is the local command to allow you to open the Pupil port and Etalon port hatches. Move the pupil wheel and etalon wheel to the desired positions to enable you to remove either the LDSS vph or visitors etalon or both. This is achieved by the following commands Since you have swtiched off the electronics before, the etalon you are removing will be disconnected electrically from the CS100 etalon controller.
You'll need to be able to move the pupil wheel and etalon wheels freely to allow you to unplug the etalon. Enter pd 0 and ed 0 to remove the detents from the pupil and etalon wheels. After the removal enter ed 0, nudge the wheel to allow the detent to locate, then pd 0 for the pupil wheel, again nudge to locate. Then close the access ports.
Switch off the rack and dis-connect all the cables from the electronics Rack.
After removal from the Telescope, position the Instrument in the Instrument storage area. Re-cable up again and power up. Connect up the Nitrogen Bottle gas line and open up the bottle valve. Enter st Return, iv 1 Return and ov 1 Return to open up the inlet and outlet gas valves. This should have a small flow (about 1litre/minute) into the Instrument to keep everything dry.

 

You have successfully finished any actions required for TAURUS. Tick this box and give it to the Night Assistant on 1st night of Observing or Operations Manager on completion of observing run and telescope removal.

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last updated by ejp on 11th August 2000