AMBER Template Manual
Contents
1. OCS DET ROWO WLENMAX 9999 OCS DET ROWO WLENMIN 0 e Use longer than normal DITs up to 6s for conditions in Table 2 Note though that the DIT must be the same on the Calibrator as on the Science object e See the AMBER webpages for limiting magnitudes in various set conditions e Stabilize the fringes in low resolution so that higher quality data can be recorded 2 3 6 Summary Table Table 2 summarizes the current AMBER AMBER FINITO limits and possible configurations assuming nominal weather conditions 2 3 7 High SNR spectral calibration In the two MRK modes an added high SNR observation will be performed at the end of the final observing template Its purpose is to allow later correction of the spectra by the user in the offline data reduction This observation covers the full MRK band in question and is delivered automatically and requires no user input 2 3 8 Execution time The execution time for one uncalibrated visibility is fixed to 20 minutes Users interested in obtaining visibility measurements at several spectral positions inside the range when FINITO is not used allowed by each configuration should add 15 minutes for each additional spectral band Each band will be defined by its minimum and maximum wavelength with a span AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 10 Table 2 Summary of available spectral configurations telescopes Tel limiting K and H correlated magnitudes K and Ho li2. lt 7 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 3 0 LR AT no K lt 4 0 H lt 4 5 gt 0 05 gt 0 05 lt 2 0 Full 0 025 LR AT no 4 0 lt K lt 5 0 4 5 lt H lt 5 5 gt 0 05 gt 0 05 lt 2 0 Full 0 05 LR AT no 5 0 lt K lt 6 5 5 5 lt H lt 6 5 gt 0 05 gt 0 05 lt 2 0 Full 0 1 LR AT yes K lt 6 0 H lt 5 gt 0 05 gt 0 15 lt 1 5 Full 0 05 MRH AT yes NA H lt 2 NA gt 0 15 lt 1 5 Full 0 2 MRH AT yes NA 2 lt H lt 4 5 NA gt 0 15 lt 1 5 Full 0 5 MRK AT yes K lt 6 0 He lt 5 gt 0 05 gt 0 15 lt 1 5 Full 0 2 HRK AT yes K lt 0 5 He lt 5 gt 0 05 gt 0 15 lt 1 5 Full 0 2 HRK AT yes 0 5 lt K lt 1 5 He lt 5 gt 0 05 gt 0 15 lt 1 5 Full 1 0 HRK AT yes 1 5 lt K lt 2 5 He lt 5 gt 0 05 gt 0 15 lt 1 5 Full 3 0 HRK AT yes 2 5 lt K lt 6 0 He lt 5 gt 0 05 gt 0 15 lt 1 5 Full 6 0 AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 11 of 0 04um in MRK 0 032um in MRH and 0 008um in HR A maximum of 3 bands can be accommodated within one observation ie at total execution time of 100 minutes for a CAL SCI sequence Each change of configuration or a number of bands exceeding 3 will require a new acquisition ie 20 minutes per uncalibrated visibility Note The calibrator has to be observed with the same configuration and thus the total execution time for one calibrated visibility spectrum is 60 minutes for one calibrated visibil
3. MAN ESO 15830 3523 __000 14 AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 15 seeing at 500nm coherence times long K band Strehl ratio 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 40 guide star R magnitude Figure 1 The predicted Strehl performance in K band is shown on the following figure for some seeing cases 0 6 to 1 2 at 500nm and high altitude wind speeds of 11m s long 22m s medium and 33m s short The main uncertainty in the conversion between optical seeing and IR Strehl ratios is the undefined coherence time of the atmosphere An example one would read from the figure that the Strehl ratio at seeing of 0 8 may vary between 0 16 and 0 33 for a 14th magnitude AO guide star for different coherence times An estimate of the high altitude wind speed for the coming week can be obtained from the Long term predictions for Paranal In the figure above a high altitude wind speed of 33m s was used to obtain the graph for the short coherence times
4. MAN ESO 15830 3523 v Contents 1 INTRODUCTION BE c tes he Ee ee et eee et S A 1 2 Contact MICO o c ee si og aa eR Ee eR BO ee Bele e LS Pernod of validity of this manual o e sa se saca ca eee EE EH LA Ackagwledgments cae eK REE RARE OS A KG EE Ow Ho T e eo e eee Ee Ge eee eee ee Bee Eee Ea He A 16 leegen for PIG ce ok koag ek ek ee A Be SEE Be BEE be OFF ee th e 2 AMBER TEMPLATES sl CSR e modes e A o sa RD ERR EERE EEE ERE MERE ES 22 TG OSI tomplate sf 2e sori dee Sew dada edu E eR eS 22 Proper mooi co os e e Gee Ie e Ra i 222 onde gudmne with the VIS e seic se serta gpr ta aire di 22 0 STRAP pwding With the ATI er raca REM 224 Source K and H magnitudes s s a scn eee Ee eee Ee RES 2 2 5 Source K and H Visibilities 2254 82545 2 a a 239 The observation template e be ese Goe eee eee ee CG eee a al integration TING s e roe ee eee PERS We Dee ede E 8 23 Using IRIS for Lab guiding EN Se sra i RE A EE Lee EN 2 3 3 Selecting the spectral band 2d cn Pew daa dena E 24444 2 3 4 Additional spectral bands when FINITO is not used ut RO OE 20 Dei ELL a ee a 23 1 Migh SNR spero cain 238 EGET HME A spe g RAS EE E RE ERE a Oe Lernia E SUES A E eS ee ee 11 241 AMBER Satir het o sco rataa eR LA 11 24 2 AMBER 3Tstd obs leow SE e sac ce ORR AAAS EERE HO 13 O O oO OO a a gt A G G oO FP A WwW ww WwW AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 1 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1 Scope This document
5. NODE either the science object SCI ENCE a guide star SETUP FILE or no Coud guiding NONE See section 2 2 2 Polarizing element Below follows a more detailed description of the keywords in the acquisition template AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 12 e SEQ SOURCE HMAG and SEQ SOURCE KMAG are the uncorrelated H and K band magnitudes of the target the light of which is sent to the AMBER fibers When using medium resolution H band please enter the actual Kmag since it will be used for the IRIS lab guiding see VLTI user manual e SEQ SOURCE HVIS and SEQ SOURCE KVIS keywords should be used to specify the mini mum visibility on the two shortest baselines for the science target in the OA requested LST range It is critical that these numbers are correct as possible since they are used to configure FINITO and in particular too optimistic numbers can impeded proper FINITO operation It is safer to be underestimating the Visibility as the FINITO op eration can adapt to higher Visibilities than expected although with possible reduced performance When using medium resolution H band please enter KVIS 0 7 which is the default value e TEL DEL FTSENSOR By changing this from the default NONE to FINITO the user will use FINITO as an external fringe tracker allowing stabilized fringes and thus longer DITs The choice of the value AMBER is not valid it is reserved for possible future changes to incorporat
6. SEQ SOURCE HMAG 5 30 0 Source uncorrelated H magni tude SEQ SOURCE HVIS 0 1 0 7 Source minimum H Visibility for the requested LST range SEQ SOURCE KVIS 0 1 0 7 Source minimum K Visibility for the requested LST range SEQ SOURCE KMAG 5 30 0 Source uncorrelated K magni tude DET1 DIT 0 025 0 050 0 025 Frame integration time DIT in s TEL OFFS ALPHA 999 999 0 Telescope sky offset in RA arc sec TEL OFFS DELTA 999 999 30 Telescope sky offset in DEC arc sec OCS DET ROWO WLENMAX 0 0 9999 0 NODEFAULT Row 1 max wavelength in um OCS DET ROWO WLENMIN 0 0 9999 0 NODEFAULT Row 1 min wavelength in um A detailed explanation of the keywords in the observing template follows e DET1 DIT Frame integration time in seconds e TEL OFFS ALPHA DELTA Telescope sky offset in RA DEC arcsec these offsets are used for taking the sky exposure These offsets will move the telescopes in the given directions e OCS DET ROWO WLENMAX Upper limit of the desired wavelength range in um For ranges see section 2 3 3 If the number 9999 is used then the upper limit will be set to the maximum value for the desired spectral configuration e OCS DET ROWO WLENMIN Lower limit of the desired wavelength range in um For ranges see section 2 3 3 If the number 0 is used then the lower limit will be set to the minimum value for the desired spectral configuration AMBER Template Manual VLT
7. are used to select the location of the off target exposure These offsets will move the telescopes in the directions given 2 3 1 Integration time If the object is too faint resolved high Airmass for FINITO operation the integration times with AMBER will have to be short to minimize atmospheric turbulence It is foreseen to use a DIT of 0 025s 0 05 and 0 1s available on the ATs for all observations The exception to this rule is the use of differential phase observations and High Resolution K observations In these cases it is possible to use a DIT twice the standard DIT Ze 0 05 9 on the UTs and 0 1 9 on the ATs Note The DIT of the Science and Calibrator targets must be identical to avoid biasing the data Note As a consequence the magnitude of the Calibrator is strongly suggested to be within 0 5 1 uncorrelated magnitude of the science target Both the issues above are to avoid the biasing that is caused by having different detector read out levels on the Science and Calibrator 2 3 2 Using IRIS for Lab guiding IRIS is always used for lab guiding This ensures that the slow tunnel tip tilt effects are corrected The H flux is sent undiminished to AMBER while 30 of the K band flux is used for the IRIS guiding This magnitude loss is included in the given magnitude limits 2 3 3 Selecting the spectral band There are 18 available spectral configurations available for AMBER The low resolution LR covers the full spectral band of
8. be fainter than V 1 e It is requested that the faintest if variable V magnitude of the Coud guide star is given in the keyword TEL COU MAG e There are a few additional weather condition constraints for proper MACAO perfor mance which are also important even though the SCIENCE object is used for the Coud guiding Seeing should be better than 1 5 arc sec To gt 1 5 ms Airmass lt 2 These constraints do not affect Service observations as OBs are only classified as A or B if MACAO has been performing within the tolerances The constraints are given here for Visitor mode observations to give the user the conditions under which MACAO will perform as expected Thus during non ideal weather conditions outside the MACAO AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 5 performance ranges the user could ameliorate the effects to some degree by only using bright guide stars and only observing at a high elevation Note The magnitude limits are identical for Coud guiding on the SCIENCE target and are different from the limiting magnitudes for the AMBER instrument Note A plot of the expected Strehl as function of guide star magnitude distance and weather conditions is shown in Figure 1 Note To inject light into AMBER a Coud guide star must be used It is not possible under any weather conditions to perform AMBER observations not using MACAO on the UTs 2 2 3 STRAP guiding with the ATs Note To inject light int
9. describes the templates for AMBER the Astronomical Multi BEam Recombiner of the VLT Interferometer Like for all the VLT instruments observations with AMBER are carried out with observation blocks OBs The OBs must be written by the user during Phase 2 preparation with the P2PP tool An OB consists of a set of information and sev eral templates that describe the target acquisition and the observation sequence For some templates the user has to indicate the values of keywords parameters This manual requires the user to already have an insight in the AMBER operation as described in the AMBER User Manual that can be downloaded from http www eso org instruments amber doc For the installation of the P2PP tool see http www eso org observing p2pp Note the AMBER specific templates will be downloaded by the P2PP tool For service mode observations it is important to read the AMBER specific service mode instructions given on the web page http www eso org observing p2pp AMBER AMBER P2PP html This page gives suggestions for OB edition with P2PP name constraint set as well as the requirements for the readme file and for the finding charts There is also an AMBER P2PP specific web page with a step by step tutorial at http www eso org observing p2pp tutorials tut_amber html 1 2 Contact information In case of questions or suggestions related to Phase 2 preparation please contact the ESO User Support Depa
10. EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY E S Organisation Europ ene pour des Recherches Astronomiques dans l H misph re Austral O Europ ische Organisation ftir astronomische Forschung in der s dlichen Hemisph re ESO European Southern Observatory Karl Schwarzschild Str 2 D 85748 Garching bei Miinchen Very Large Telescope Paranal Science Operations AMBER Template Manual Doc No VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 Issue 96 Date 18 08 2014 W J de Wit 18 08 2014 Prepared sois srede cada ERAS ARE A OG HER ae N OSS Date Signature C Dumas Approved TTT PORT TETTO OTT ret es Date Signature A Kaufer Released Li iii ii Date Signature AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 This page was intentionally left blank AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 Change Record Issue Rev Date Section Parag affected Remarks 96 18 08 15 no changes 94 26 05 14 2 4 1 Polarization control 93 13 11 13 Tab 2 Recommended DITS 92 1 27 05 13 Tab 2 Update lim mags 92 27 02 13 no changes 90 no changes 89 no changes 88 no changes 86 no changes 85 no changes 84 2 3 3 Tab 2 Medium Resolution in H band 83 FINITO use 82 22 2 Coude information 82 22 08 STRAP information 82 Se FINITO information 82 2 3 8 Execution time information AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 This page was intentionally left blank AMBER Template Manual VLT
11. al fringes during post processing Currently FINITO operations are feasible under the following conditions e Seeing below 1 2 arcseconds on the ATs and below or equal to 0 8 arcseconds on the UTs e The transparency should be CLR or better e 70 above 2 5ms e Airmass less than 1 5 AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 9 e The limiting correlated magnitude for FINITO is H 5 on the ATs and H 8 on the UTs in LR or MR In HR the limits are H 5 on the ATs and H 7 on the UTs see here for limiting magnitudes in various set conditions e The minimum visibility in the H band is 15 on the ATs and 10 on the UTs e The limiting V magnitude for the Coude guide star is severely reduced when using FINITO It is V 11 on the ATs and V 13 on the UTs e The distance to the Coude guide star if different from the Science object is severely limited when using FINITO For both the UTs and the ATs the maximum distance is 15 arcseconds These numbers were determined with a seeing less than 1 2 arcseconds and 7 above 2 5ms The usage of FINITO is set by the TEL DEL FTSENSOR keyword in the ACQ template To use it the keyword value should be changed from the default NONE to FINITO FINITO should always be used in HR and MR since the limiting factor is then AMBER Moreover using FINITO thus allows AMBER to e Read out the full spectral range in Medium and High Resolution The user should thus specify the full spectral range using
12. ate after the last observation template Note This is only possible if the same spectral configuration is kept and is limited to two additional observation templates ie a total of three observing templates in the same OB It should also be stressed that the same observing configuration should be used for the calibrator 2 3 5 FINITO FINITO is offered on the Auxiliary Telescopes ATs and on the Unit Telescopes UTs FINITO scans the center of the fringe packet in H band with high speed and sends a co phasing signal to the VLTI Delay Lines via a dedicated high speed link Due to the short individual exposure times between 0 5ms and 2ms and the need to measure the fringe in every individual scan the sensitivity of FINITO is somewhat worse than for AMBER in Low Resolution mode that slowly records the fringe and can reject some data FINITO operates on two channels i e tracks three baselines Note that if FINITO is used then it takes either 70 or 100 of the H band flux This will only affect the LR JHK and MR H modes as in MR K or HR K the 100 dichroic is used and for LR JHK the 70 one is used thus loosing 1 3 magnitudes in the H band The observer should take this loss into account when setting the DIT in the template The full potential of FINITO comes with AMBER using higher spectral resolution Ze Medium and High Resolution Since the fringes are frozen in OPD space AMBER can integrate longer and or one can stack the individu
13. e self coherencing at the template level e TEL TARG ADDVELALPHA DELTA These keywords should be used for object moving on the sky with a large differential motion as e g asteroids or comets For the objects with normal proper motion a few arcseconds year should fill in the field proper motion RA DEC units are in arcsec year in the bottom right of the P2PP window e TEL COU ALPHA DELTA Coordinates of the Coud guide star These keywords should only be specified if the keyword TEL COU GSSOURCE is set to SETUPFILE Otherwise they should be 0 0 as the Coud Guiding will use the science target to guide on e TEL COU GSSOURCE This keyword is used to tell the system if Coud guiding or STRAP guiding is to be used Note that without Coud STRAP guiding and thus without MACAO STRAP AMBER cannot be operated The keyword can have the following values NONE No Coud guiding and thus NO MACAO AMBER requires a working MACAO to perform within specifications SCIENCE Coud guiding on the science object The coordinates are those given in the RA DEC fields in P2PP SETUPFILE Coud guiding on a guide star The coordinates are those given in the TEL COU ALPHA DELTA fields in P2PP Please note the constraints for MACAO guide star in section 2 2 2 and that these constraints are also pertinent if Coud guiding are attempted on the SCIENCE object e TEL COU MAG Coud guide star Visual magnitude This should always be speci
14. fied In the case of a variable star the maximum magnitude should be given e DPR CATG This keyword is used to specify whether this is a Science OB SCIENCE or Calibrator OB CALIB This should conform with the labeling of the OB see AMBER Specific P2PP info on the ESO P2PP pages e OCS OBS SPECCONF This keyword sets the desired spectral configuration It can be AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 13 Low_JHK Low resolution observations covering bands J H and K Medium H_1 1 65 Medium resolution observations in H with the central wavelength 1 65 um Medium_K_1_2 1 Medium resolution observations in K with the central wavelength 2 1 um Medium_K_1_2 3 Medium resolution observations in K with the central wavelength 2 3 um High K_1_X XXX High resolution observations in K with the central wavelength taken from the table 1 e INS OPTI2 NAME This keyword sets the use of either the Niobate plates value NONE default or the Wollaston prism LB gt 1M With the niobate plates all light is used whereas with the Wollaston only 1 polarization is used As explained in Sect 2 6 3 of the AMBER user manual the highest sensitivity is reached with the niobate plates in the beam The usage of the niobate plates is recommended for faint targets but not recommended for studies of bright targets at very low contrast lt 10 2 4 2 AMBER 3Tstd_obs_lrow tsf Parameter Range Default Label
15. fulfilled for FINITO fringe tracking FINITO is standard for MR and HR modes OBs in MR or HR without the use of FINITO should be submitted with an approved waiver Hence the number of templates for P96 is minimal one template for the preset acquisition and fringe search and one template for fringe observation Moreover because of the policy adopted by ESO for observations with AMBER in service mode one calibrated visibility point every 60 minutes the number of keywords to be set by the user is very limited 2 2 The acquisition template According to P2PP rules the first template in an OB must be an acquisition template In the case of AMBER the name of this template is AMBER_3Tstd_acq The sequence of this template starts by a preset the target coordinates a 6 are sent to the telescopes and the delay lines so they can slew to the position corresponding to the target AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 4 coordinate at preset time Once the telescopes are tracking and Coud guiding the target should be seen on the Image Alignment Sensor currently IRIS To ensure that the beams are injected properly to AMBER the Image Alignment Sensor is used to align the object to the VLTI reference points image optimization To ensure that maximum flux is injected an injection adjustment is done This is done by sending offsets to the telescopes to maximize the flux injected into the AMBER fibers 2 2 1 Proper
16. in the AMBER web pages found at http www eso org instruments amber inst index html the following setups of AMBER will be offered for P96 e 18 spectral modes available Low Resolution JHK using IRIS where 30 of K is always sent to IRIS Medium Resolution K band center wavelength 2 1m Medium Resolution K band center wavelength 2 3um Medium Resolution H band center wavelength 1 65um High Resolution K band with 14 central wavelengths see Table 1 OF ge Ge a e Table2 gives a summary of the possible DITs that can be used depending on telescopes FINITO and or differential mode The user can also check the latest on line information at http www eso org instruments amber inst as this information supersedes any numbers presented in this manual e Coud guiding on the science target or a guide star It should be noted that without MACAO the flux will be severely time dependent and will not reach the magnitude limits given in this document or in the CfP For proper AMBER observations Coud guiding must be used For proper MACAO operation the SCIENCE target or the guide star must be suitable for guiding see section 2 2 2 Similar constraints for the STRAP are given in section 2 2 3 e Only baselines with three UTs or three ATs 3T template e Only one read out mode 1 row on the detector e External fringe tracker FINITO is available both on the ATs and the UTs See sec tion 2 3 5 for the constraints that must be
17. ity CAL SCI CAL If for example the user has two spectral bands the total time for one SCI CAL is 70 minutes See also the ESO webpages for overheads 2 4 User keywords In the following tables we give for each template the keywords that have to be set by the user with the P2PP tool 2 4 1 AMBER 3Tstd_acq tsf INS OPTI2 NAME Parameter Range Default Label SEQ SOURCE HMAG 5 30 0 Source uncorrelated H magni SEQ SOURCE HVIS 0 1 0 7 NE minimum H Visibility for the requested LST range SEQ SOURCE KMAG 5 30 0 Source uncorrelated K magni SEQ SOURCE KVIS 0 1 0 7 dre minimum K Visibility for the requested LST range TEL DEL FTSENSOR NONE FINITO AMBER Using FINITO as external fringe NONE tracker or not TEL TARG ADDVELALPHA 15 15 0 Differential RA tracking in arc sec sec TEL TARG ADDVELDELTA 15 15 0 Differential DEC tracking in arc sec sec TEL COU ALPHA RA 0 RA of a guide star TEL COU DELTA DEC 0 DEC of a guide star TEL COU GSSOURCE SETUPFILE SCIENCE SCI Coud guide star this can be ENCE TEL COU MAG 0 25 0 Guide star magnitude in V This must be supplied and in the case of a variable star the maximum magnitude should be given DPR CATG SCIENCE CALIB SCIENCE Science or calibrator OB OCS OBS SPECCONF Low_JHK Medium_K_1_2 1 Spectral configuration Medium_K_1_2 3 Medium_H_1_1 65 FAULT NONE LB gt 1M NONE
18. ium_K_1_2 3 2 126 2 474 wm 0 04 um Medium_H_1_1 65 1 540 1 822 um 0 032 um High_K_1_1 979 1 955 2 003 um 0 008 um High_K_1_2 018 1 994 2 042 um 0 008 um High_K_1_2 056 2 032 2 079 um 0 008 um High_K_1_2 095 2 071 2 118 um 0 008 um High K1 2 133 2 110 2 156 um 0 008 um High K1 2 172 2 149 2 195 um 0 008 um High_K_1_2 211 2 187 2 235 um 0 008 um High_K_1_2 249 2 226 2 272 um 0 008 um High_K_1_2 288 2 265 2 311 um 0 008 um High_K_1_2 326 2 303 2 348 um 0 008 um High _K_1 2 365 2 342 2 387 um 0 008 um High _K_1 2 403 2 381 2 425 um 0 008 um High _K_1 2 442 2 420 2 464 um 0 008 um High _K_1_2 481 2 459 2 503 um 0 008 um AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 8 An example of the proper setting of the keywords for a template observing with Medium_K_1_2 1 centered around A2 16um without FINITO would be e DET1 DIT 0 025 e OCS DET ROW0 WLENMAX 2 18 e OCS DET ROW0 WLENMIN 2 14 Note Using FINITO in MR or HR the full spectral range can be used in all cases and the values for the above keywords should be 9999 and 0 2 3 4 Additional spectral bands when FINITO is not used When FINITO is not used and only parts of the spectral setting can be read out it is still possible to obtain visibility measurements at several spectral positions inside the range allowed by each configuration This will allow to obtain calibrated visibilities on a line and the surrounding continuum In this case the user adds one AMBER_3Tstd_obs_lrow templ
19. miting K and H visibilities Ky and Hy limiting Airmass AM DITs and maximum AA Note that the DIT for the calibrator must be the same as for the science object Thus to avoid systematic errors a calibrator should ideally be within 0 5 magnitudes of the science object Performances are seeing dependent the maximum seeing constraint for observing a given target magnitude can be found on the AMBER webpage Please consult the AMBER web page for updated numbers for degraded seeing conditions Mode Tel FINITO K He Kyis Hvis AMI AA DIT pan is LR UT no K lt 9 0 H lt 9 0 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 2 0 Full 0 025 LR UT yes K lt 7 5 He lt 7 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 0 05 LR UT yes 7 5 lt K lt 8 5 He lt 8 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 0 1 MRH UT yes NA H lt 5 5 NA gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 0 2 MRH UT yes NA 5 5 lt H lt 6 5 NA gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 0 5 MRK UT yes K lt 7 5 H lt 7 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 0 2 MRK UT yes 7 5 lt K lt 8 5 He lt 8 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 0 5 HRK UT yes K lt 3 5 He lt 6 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 0 2 HRK UT yes 3 5 lt K lt 4 5 He lt 6 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 0 5 HRK UT yes 4 5 lt K lt 5 5 He lt 6 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 1 0 HRK UT yes 5 5 lt K lt 6 5 He lt 6 gt 0 1 gt 0 1 lt 1 5 Full 3 0 HRK UT yes 6 5 lt K lt 7 5 He
20. motion In particular in Low resolution mode it is critical to have the information on the observed proper motion of the object as a proper motion larger than 50 mas year can slow down or impede the fringe search For an effective use of the allocated time we strongly suggest that the known proper motions are incorporated into the OBs 2 2 2 Coud guiding with the UTs It is possible to have an object different from the science target as a guide star at the Coud focus The requirements are e The guide star must be brighter than V 17 MACAO is used for Coud guiding Note that the Strehl drops significantly in K with a Coud guide star fainter than the 13 14th magnitude approximately 1 magnitude and that by magnitude 16th the magnitude limits for the science object drops by more than 2 magnitudes e The guide star must be within a radius of 57 5 arcsec from the science target Note that the Strehl drops with distance from the science target so it is recommended that the user chooses a Coud guide star as close as possible If at distances larger than a few tens of arcseconds from the science target more than 1 magnitude can be lost A rule of thumb is that the magnitude limits drops by 1 magnitude for every 15 arcseconds from the science object Note that when using FINITO the allowed distance is severely restricted see section 2 3 5 Note that the magnitude limit is changed when using FINITO see section 2 3 5 e The guide star must
21. o AMBER a guide star must be used with STRAP It is not possible under any weather conditions to perform AMBER observations not using STRAP on the ATs The requirements for successful STRAP guiding are e The guide star must be brighter than V 13 Note that the tip tilt correction drops significantly in K with a STRAP guide star fainter than the 11th magnitude and that by magnitude 13th the magnitude limits for the science object drops by more than 1 magnitude e The guide star must be within a radius of lt 60 arcseconds from the science target Note that the effective tip tilt correction drops with distance from the science target so it is recommended that the user chooses a guide star as close as possible If at distances larger than a few tens of arcseconds from the science target more than 1 magnitude can be lost A rule of thumb is that the magnitude limits drops by 1 magnitude for every 15 arcseconds from the science object Note that with FINITO operation the distance is severely limited see section 2 3 5 e It is requested that the faintest if variable V magnitude of the guide star is given in the keyword TEL COU MAG This is true for all cases when STRAP is used 2 2 4 Source K and H magnitudes The SEQ SOURCE HMAG and SEQ SOURCE KMAG keywords should be used to specify the uncor related H and K band fluxes of the science target 2 2 5 Source K and H Visibilities The SEQ SOURCE HVIS and SEQ SOURCE KVIS keywords should be used t
22. o specify the min imum visibility on the two shortest baselines for the science target in the requested LST range It is critical that these numbers are correct as possible since they are used to configure FINITO and in particular too optimistic numbers can impede proper FINITO operation It is safer to underestimate the Visibility as the FINITO operation can adapt to higher Visibilities than expected although with possible reduced performance The final step in the Acquisition template is to search for fringes fringe search If FINITO is used then the fringe search will be performed by FINITO and if not selected then it is done by AMBER by doing a saw tooth search around the nominal fringe position Note that there are no user keywords available for this step AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 6 2 3 The observation template This template is the second and the last one although see section 2 3 4 and section 2 3 7 in any AMBER OB description for P96 It is used to record the photometric beams and the dispersed fringes There is currently only one template 1 3T exposures using 1 readout row on the detector AMBER_3Tstd_obs_lrow Each exposure consists of one dispersed photometric spectrum for each telescope and one dispersed fringe spectrum The standard observation template takes 7 exposures one dark DARK five on source exposures OBJECT and one off source exposure SKY The TEL OFFS ALPHA and TEL OFFS DELTA
23. rtment usd help eso org 1 3 Period of validity of this manual This manual only applies for observations with AMBER in ESO Period 96 starting April 1st 2014 and ending October 1st 2014 1 4 Acknowledgments The Editor would like to thank Stan Stefl and Markus Wittkowski for comments and sugges tions of improvements to the manual 1 5 Glossary e Constrain Set CS Listq of requirements for the conditions of the observation that is given inside an OB OBs are only executed under this set of minimum conditions AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 2 e Observation Block OB An Observation Block is the smallest schedulable entity for the VLT It consists of a sequence of Templates Usually one Observation Block include one target acquisition and up to three exposure templates e Observation Description OD A sequence of templates used to specify the observing sequences within one or more OBs e Observation Toolkit OT Tool used to create queues of OBs for later scheduling and possible execution service mode e Proposal Preparation and Submission Phase I The Phase I begins right after the CfP Call for Proposals and ends at the deadline for CfP During this period the potential users are invited to prepare and submit scientific proposals For more information see http www eso org observing proposals index html e Phase 2 Proposal Preparation P2PP Once proposals have been approved by the ESO Obser
24. the instrument with R 35 while the medium resolution grating MR with R 1500 can currently be configured for two wavelength ranges in the K band and one in H band and the high resolution grating HR with R 12000 can currently be config ured for 14 wavelength ranges The user should select the proper spectrograph configuration depending on the desired observing wavelength see table 2 3 3 When FINITO is used the full covered wavelength range is read out In case FINITO is NOT used an upper and lower limits of the spectral range needs to specified Due to the fixed DIT of 0 025 s or 0 05s for dif ferential phase observations see AMBER User Manual the total spectral range is 0 04 um in MRK and 0 008 wm in HR and twice that for DIT 0 05s These are set by the keywords OCS DET ROWO WLENMAX and OCS DET ROWO WLENMIN in the AMBER_3Tstd_obs_1row tsf tem plate AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 Table 1 Allowed spectral configurations and spectral ranges The maximum A should be used to determine the WLENMIN MAX for the observing template The numbers are all given for DIT 0 025s and should be scaled accordingly if DIT is increased i e DIT 0 05s allows twice the AA so that in MR would be 0 08 um Spectral Configuration Covered wavelength range Maximum AA um um Low JHK 1 027 2 54 um Full range Medium K1 2 1 1 926 2 275 um 0 04 um Med
25. vation Program Committee OPC users are notified and the Phase 2 begins In this phase users are requested to prepare their accepted proposals in the form of OBs and to submit them by Internet in case of service mode The software tool used to build OBs is called the P2PP tool It is distributed by ESO and can be installed on the personal computer of the user See http www eso org observing p2pp e Service Mode SM In service mode opposite of the Visitor Mode the observations are carried out by the ESO Paranal Science Operation staff PSO alone Observations can be done at any time during the period depending on the CS given by the user OBs are put into a queue schedule in OT which later sends OBs to the instrument e Template A template is a sequence of operations to be executed by the instrument The observa tion software of an instrument dispatches commands written in templates not only to instrument modules that control its motors and the detector but also to the telescopes and VLTI sub systems e Template signature file TSF File which contains template input parameters e Visitor Mode VM The classic observation mode The user is on site to supervise his her program execution 1 6 Modifications for P96 There are additional modifications to table2 regarding the recommended DIT for various settings AMBER Template Manual VLT MAN ESO 15830 3523 3 2 AMBER TEMPLATES 2 1 Observing modes As indicated
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