Observing Stars

Calibration Stars

1. Set the minimum and maximum airmasses of the stars you would like to consider.
2. Check Fund and Pri, uncheck others (FK5, Sec, Man).
3. Hit the Update button.
4. Click the middle mouse button on the star to observe next. It will appear in the "selected targets" list in the lower window.
5. Hit Update again. The airmasses and hour angles listed in "Considered targets" are updated to values at the estimated finish time of the last star if the list were started now.
6. Choose the next star. It will appear as the next entry on the "chosen targets" list. Hit update again.
7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 as desired. Stars can be added any time, even while observing.
8. Ensure that the "Dome frames" and "Bias frames" are 0 and "Stop after this object" is unchecked.
9. Hit Observe. The log is updated as exposures finish.
10. To stop after the star being observed, check "stop after this object."

Secondary Patches

1. Set the "Sec. stripes" field to the list of stripes you wish to observe.
2. Set the minimum and maximum airmasses of the fields you would like to consider.
3. Check the Sec box and uncheck the others (FK5, Fund, Pri, Man).
4. Hit the Update button.
5. Click the middle mouse button to select a field. That field will appear in the "selected targets" list in the botton half of the window.
6. Hit Update again. The airmasses and hour angles listed in the "Considered targets" list are updated to the estimated finish time of the last field if started now.
7. Choose the next field. It will appear as the next entry on the "chosen targets' list. Hit update again.
8. Repeat steps 5 through 7 as desired. Fields can be added any time, even while observing.
9. Ensure that the "Dome frames" and "Bias frames" are set to 0, and "Stop after this object" is unchecked.
10. Hit Observe. Exposures are logged as they are observed.
11. To stop after the current field, check "stop after this object."

Automated Observing

1. Ensure the "use mopdb" check box is checked in the target selection window.
2. Ensure the "Sec" and "Pri" check boxes are checked for the flavor.
3. Set the airmass range to a minimum of 1.0, and a maximum of 99.9 (or some other large value) to ensure all targets are displayed.
4. Hit the "update" button to list all primary and secondary patches.
5. Hit the "pick" button 5 or 6 times to generate a list of targets to be observed.
6. Check the "autopick" check button.
7. Ensure that the "Dome frames" and "Bias frames" are set to to 0, and "Stop after this object" is unchecked.
8. Hit Observe. Exposure are logged as they are observed. After each target is completed, a new target (based on their current priorities in the database, the airmasses at the projected time of observation, and the current needs for standards) is picked.
9. To stop after the current field, check the "stop after this object" button.

Keeping the log

The log window is automatically updated as exposures are taken and objects are observed.  It is a good idea to regularly save the log. This is done by hitting the save key. The log is save to the file: /data/mt/MJD/manualLog.txt.

Clear: Deletes all entries in the log from memory. If you now save it, anything saved will be overwritten.

Save:  Saves the log to the file /data/mt/MJD/manualLog.txt.

Load:  Loads the log from /data/mt/MJD/manualLog.txt and appends it to the log in memory. If you wish the file on disk to replace what is in memory, hit clear first, then load.

Append:Places the current log on the end of ~/ptlog/ptlog.txt. This should only be done once, at the end of the night.

Mail:Mails the log to the mailing list, with the appropriate format, subject line, and destination. Again, this should only be done at the end of the night.

Display selected image: This button loads an image and displays it in an saoImage. To display the image mdR-000NNNNN.fit, highlight NNNNN in the log and hit the display button. Ensure no extra spaces or characters are included in the highlighted text.

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