Starting up a TTF observing run at the AAT

Have you familiarized yourself with SMS command set used to control TAURUS-2?  If not, please scan the quick-and-dirty SMS guide  now. . . .

Next, log in to OBSERVER on aat40a and do a quick system check. This is all you should see. If you happen to catch OBSERVER_1, it does not hang around for very long. If you suspect there are errant processes, type tidy and say yes to any questions. You might want to quickly check that the observer processes you are killing do not belong to some poor sap in coude west, or wherever.

aat40a>      sh sys

VAX/VMS V5.5  on node AAT40A  30-AUG-1998 13:36:06.91   Uptime  5 02:18:19
  Pid    Process Name    State  Pri      I/O       CPU       Page flts Ph.Mem
20400101 SWAPPER         HIB     16        0   0 00:00:37.32         0      0
20400106 CONFIGURE       HIB      9       27   0 00:00:00.04       106    183
20400107 IPCACP          HIB     10        7   0 00:00:00.04       105    173
20400109 ERRFMT          HIB      8     3987   0 00:00:12.61        85    146
2040010A CACHE_SERVER    HIB     16      150   0 00:00:00.10        64    121
2040010B CLUSTER_SERVER  HIB      9       17   0 00:00:02.85       122    295
2040010C OPCOM           HIB      7     5358   0 00:00:13.55       456    180
2040010D AUDIT_SERVER    HIB     10      114   0 00:00:00.67      1365    451
2040010E JOB_CONTROL     HIB      9     4554   0 00:00:06.10       160    296
2040010F SMISERVER       HIB      9       34   0 00:00:00.25       284    502
20400110 NETACP          HIB     10      230   0 00:00:01.10       161    376
20400111 EVL             HIB      6       91   0 00:00:01.78    110797     63  N
20400112 LES$ACP         HIB     10      144   0 00:00:00.85       317    684
20400113 REMACP          HIB      8       23   0 00:00:00.05        80     74
20400114 LATACP          HIB     14       11   0 00:00:00.96       271    288
20400115 SYMBIONT_3      HIB      5    58682   0 00:00:08.39       290    177
20400116 SYMBIONT_4      HIB      6       12   0 00:00:00.26       340     96
20400117 BULLCP          LEF      6   141215   0 00:07:40.50       876    849
20400118 MULTINET_SERVER HIB      5    46465   0 00:00:48.06      1431   1065
20400119 SMTP_SYMBIONT   HIB      4    10182   0 00:00:47.54     84196    117
2040011A SYMBIONT_6      HIB      5      394   0 00:00:02.21      1963     76
20400376 QUEUE_MANAGER   HIB      9    21779   0 00:01:45.22       752   1081
2040057E _VTA70:         LEF      8     1676   0 00:00:07.46      2475    400
204006A5 OBSERVER        CUR      5      950   0 00:00:06.56
 

aat40a>      xon aatxt?      (? is a letter like k; check name at top of terminal)
aat40a>     deckeyshmx   (or "deckeys" if not HMX workstation; only need after terminal reboot)
aat40a>      rvtaurus ccd?(? is either 1 or 2; check whiteboard in control room)
 

What should greet you now are two windows: a CCD control window and a TAURUS-2 (SMS) control window. When the CCD window has returned to the idle state, ensure that the cursor is at "startup:" and hit the ENTER key within the TAURUS window.
 
startup: setup- run- operate_ccd-
panic_recovery refresh maintenance- finished
This brings up the "startup:" window:
 
detector NONE          CCD         CCD_SHUFFLE
reset_micro YES          NO
simulation OFF              ON           INTERNAL_ONLY
taurus_status_display_terminal DECW$DISPLAY:
taurus_micro_terminal_line TAURUS_SIF:
instrument_seq_terminal_line INSTSEQ_SIF:
 We set this running with PF1.

Select ccd_shuffle and hit the ENTER key. It will take about 5 mins for the main TAURUS-2 report window to come up. In the meantime, type the following commands in the CCD control window.The colours refer to the TAURUS-2 control window or the CCD control window. Recall that the obeyw and load commands are typed after hitting "." (DEL) on the keypad. Of course, you can perform all the same actions with cursor clicks in the SMS control window.

The unix_server command should already be activated by default. Ensure you are logged in on aatssf as "obsred" (p/w on whiteboard behind you) and that you have typed  "xhost +" in one of the windows. It makes sense to leave this terminal logged in for the duration of your entire run.
unix_server on     (a full description of unix_server is given here)
A quick guide to setting up an account on aatssf is given at the bottom of this page.
Setting up TAURUS-2

There is a start up file to set up the most commonly used TAURUS parameters. Hit "." (DEL) on the TAURUS window keypad, and after the ":" prompt, type

Please be sure to check this file. Here is a copy of the file which includes a command sequence to name all of the slots in all four wheels. There is a lot of useful information within it reminding the user to check which TTF, which CCD, which filter and so on. JBH tries to maintain all of the .icl files with the latest camera focus and etalon settings. It is trivial to make a copy and to customize to your own requirements.

The startup.icl file is a little too generic for my taste and may need a lot of editting. What I do is to look for the last start up file that was used, e.g.

This reminds me of the most up-to-date values on camera focus, xset/yset, CS100 time constant/gain and so on. I simply copy one of these files, to bttf_oct00.icl or whatever.
 

We will now do a quick system check to ensure that the CCD, instrument sequencer, TAURUS micro and CS100 are all cross-linked correctly.

In the SMS control window, click on run / run_ccd / shuf_multi which brings up theshuffle window. Ensure the following parameters are set. Check that the lightpath lamp is on, the diffuser disk is in, the central dust cover is open, and the TV is in main focus at the control panel.

CCD charge shuffle multi line
Csr_Default disk$user:[observer.cs_files]*.csx
Csr_Filename eighty
Preexpose_info 3_1000_100
Cycle_count 1
Bias True     False
Setup_Array True     False
Etalon_Start 0
Etalon_Increment 7
We set this running with PF1.

And this is what you should see:



Figure: Ne lamp through R0 (668/21) filter and BTTF at high resolution (Zc=+1, Zf=0).The RTTF image with the same blocker is essentially identical.

You may be interested to see how we use these image to monitor instrumental stability and to measure six basic system parameters.

Here are more 80-shuffle examples.
 


Figure: CuAr lamp through R1 (710/26) filter and RTTF at high resolution.
 


Figure: D lamp through R0 (668/21) filter and RTTF at high resolution (Zc=+1, Zf=0).
 

The next step is to check the camera focus and plate parallelism.

Setting up aatssf for data analysis

Fast route.   Under aatssf, type the following:

cd /data_ssf/obsred
mkdir ttf
cd ttf
cp ~ttf/iraf/TAR .
tar xvf TAR
chmod +x *
xgterm &
(move into xgterm window and type "cl")
Step by step. Under aatssf, you have access to big scratch areas such as /data_ssf/obsred or /data/ssf/1/obsred. Make a subdirectory called "mkdir ttf", followed by "cd ttf". Now set up iraf with "mkiraf" and answer "xgterm" to the preferred terminal. You will now see the directory "uparm" and file "login.cl" appear in your subdirectory. Edit the latter file and insert a few helpful extra lines. Towards the top of the file, insert "set $stdimage = imt2048" which sets the display window size for "ximtool". At the end of login.cl, and just before the last command, include the word "onedspec" on a line by itself. This pulls in the package with "splot". Of course, you can type all of the commands above within iraf, but then you would need to do this repeatedly every time you enter iraf. Now activate "ximtool &" and iraf using "cl" from the same subdirectory, preferably from an "xgterm" window so that splot works properly, and wait for unix_server to transfer your files.