MOP Programmers' Guide

Contents

Files

A list of the files that make up mop, with a brief description of the content of each.

Global variables

A list of the global variables specific to mop (and others used heavily by mop), with a description of the content, purpose, and use of each.

Procedures

A list of the procedures specific to mop, the files they can be found in, and a very brief description.

Files

baseDFMcode.tcl

contains the lowest level routines available for communicating with the DFM telescope control computer.

baseFWBcode.tcl

contains the lowest level routings available for communicating with the filter wheel box.

cameraGUI.tcl

contains procedures used to control the camera and filter wheel box using teh GUI.

logGUI.tcl

contains the procedures that make up the GUI that assists the observer in keeping the manual log.

mopGUI.tcl

contains routines used by all of MOP's Graphical User Interfaces (GUI's).

mopStartup.tcl

contains commands to be processed immediately upon starting mop, particularly the sourcing of the other mop files.

PTcalibration.tcl

contains procedures used to create diagnostic and calibration images, such as flat fields (both dome and twilight), bias frames, and focus frames.

PTcontrol.tcl

contains procedures for commanding the telescope on a lower level than routies found in PTobserving.tcl.

PTheader.tcl

contains a routine which fills out the header in the DA, which then puts it into place for each image.

PTinitialization.tcl

contains routines to open and close the connections to the DFM computer and filter wheel box, initialize the telescope and CCD, and set the pointing of the telescope.

PTobserving.tcl

contains procedures typically used when observing standards with the command line interface. (Many such commands are also contained in PTtarget.tcl.)

PTtarget.tcl

contains routines for using and manipulating the target list.

PTutils.tcl

contains a few procedures which do not fit well anywhere else.

PTtwilight.tcl

contains procedures related to modeling the twilight

targetGUI.tcl

contains the procedures that make up the GUI with which the observer chooses targets for observation.

telescopeGUI.tcl

contains the procedures that make up the GUI that controls the telescope.

Global variables

availableTargets

is used only by the target selection GUI. It contains a list of targets fitting the criteria of the observer. updateAvailableList creates this list. chooseTarget then uses it to identify which targets have been chosen.

cameraData

is an array containing a variety of information about the camera. Of particular interest is the program field, which varies with the size of the image being read from the CCD. If the full CCD is being read, the value will be pt_stare; subarray reads will be pt_1024, pt_512, pt_256, pt_128, or pt_64, depending in the height (in pixels) of the subarray being read. This value should only be changed using setSectionSize, which also resets necessary elements in cameraSet.

cameraSet

is an array containing information on the camera, including the size and locations of the bias, overscan, and data regions. Most commands which manipulate cameraSet can be found in iop/etc/camera.tcl.

chosenTargets

is used only by the target selection GUI. It contains a list of targets the observer has chosen to observe. chooseTarget adds elements to the list, unchooseTarget removes elements from the list (without observing them), and doNextChosen removes the first element in the list and then observes it. Other procedures, such as updateAvailableList, use chosenTargets but do not alter it.

dfmData

is an array which contains information about the state of state of the telescope. The array is set in dfmCoords, and only represent the state of the telescope as of the last time dfmCoords was run; it is not automatically updated. (Many procedures call dfmCoords after changing the state, however.) The elements of the array are:

ha

the hour angle

ra

the right ascension

dec

the declination

epoch

the epoch

airmass

the airmass

st

the siderial time

ut

the universal time

year

the current year

zendist

the zenith distance

az

the azimuth

focus

the focus position

domeaz

the dome azimuth

ratrach

the track rate in R. A.

dectrack

the track rate in declination

aratrack

?

adectrack

?

rahms

R. A. in hours, minutes, seconds

hahms

H. A. in hours, minutes, seconds

dechms

Dec in degrees, minutes, seconds

sthms

siderial time in hours, minutes, seconds

uthms

universal time in hours, minutes, seconds

DFMNODEFILE

is the node to which the DFM telescope control computer is attached. If the telescope is not connected, it should be unset.

FWBNODEFILE

is the node to which the filter wheel box computer is attached. If the filter wheel box is not connected, it should be unset.

mopGUI

is an array containing information needed to run the GUI. Most elements in the array contain widget names, although a few elements (FFlampOn, controlMOPbusy) determine what controls are to be presented to the user.

targets

is an array holding information about prospective targets. The element targets(name,parameter) holds the value of parameter parameter on the target named name. (The names of targets contained in target should be listed in global variable targetList.) This array (together with the corresponding targetList global variable) is loaded from the current MT product by loadStandards, or from a text file by loadTargets. Targets can be added interactively with addTargetToList. saveTargets saves a list of targets to a file in a format which can be read by loadTargets. The paremeters found in targets are:

RAdecDegrees

the R. A. of the field, in decimal degrees

DeclDecDegrees

the declination of the field, in decimal degrees

RAhours

the hours of right ascension

RAminutes

the minutes of right ascension

RAseconds

the seconds of right ascension

DeclDegress

the degrees of declination

DeclMinutes

the minutes of declination

DeclSeconds

the seconds of declination

stripe

the survey stripe in which the field is found

eta

the survey coordinate eta of the field

lambda

the survey coordinate lambda of the field

number

the number of primary standard stars in the field

bright

the magnitude of the brightest target object in the field

faint

the magnitude of the faintest target object in the field

red

the color of the reddest target object in the field

blue

the color of the bluest target object in the field

flavor

the flavor of the target (Pri, Sec, FK5, or Man)

epoch

the epoch of the coordinates supplied (should be 2000)

filterList

the list of filters in which to take images

exposureList

the list of exposure times corresponding to the filters listed in the filterList field

observedAirmasses

the airmasses at which the targets has been previously observed in the current night. If mop has been exited previously this night, getObservedAirmassesFromReport must be run to restore this field.

priority

the priority of the target, if loaded and a secondary patch

targetData

is an array with a few parameters of the next object to be observed. This array should be set properly before takeSequence is run.

targetGUIparms

is an array containing a variety of values needed by the various routines which implement the target GUI.

targetList

is a list of targets contained in the targets global array.

Last updated July 6, 2001 by EHN