TCP USER MANUAL
Contents
1. f Baiolti eee Tae Figure 25 Selection of frame number gt Check that the selected filter is the one requested 18 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 gt Start observations by clicking the START button area 1 in Figure 10 The first image will begin in the closest multiple to the selected sequence time For example if the sampling time is 20 s and the START button is pressed at 21 30 04 the exposure time of the first image will start at 21 30 20 This process simplifies the collection and analysis of complete light curves coming from different observing nights data gt To stop the sequence press ABORT button placed where the START button was before 4 5 Observing in multicolour mode The TCP offers the possibility of observation sequences using a single filter default or multicolour mode For this reason there is a button on the left side of the user interface that activates or deactivates the multicolour mode multifilter There are two different procedures to access this option as the user could want to use the Same exposure time for all the filters or to assign a different exposure time for each of them In general the steps to observe in multicolour mode are gt Bias and flats are taken as explained in Section 4 2 Of course as many flats series as filters to be used must be taken The process for taking full frame images is also performed as described in Section 4 1 4 5 1 Multicolour mod2. Seguente Times Frames fo i 4 fo Filter b p hu eGo aur m Transfer mode Figure 28 Button enabling the multicolour mode 4 5 2 Multicolour mode different exposure times for each filter This observation mode is more versatile but the procedure involves additional steps The following describes how to proceed gt Select the windows object reference stars and sky and save the selection as explained in Section 4 4 NOTE DO NOT MAKE ESTIMATE EXPOSURE gt To activate this multicolour mode you must perform the following additional steps 1 Press the button to activate the filter selection see Figure 26 2 This action opens an information box see Figure 27 Select sorted the sequence of filters used and the exposure time for each see image 27 To do this click on each of the selected filters and use the arrows on the fields located to the right of the filter selection buttons to set the exposure time The sequence will be displayed on the upper field of the window The example of image 27 shows the following sequence 5 s image in B filter 8 s image in V filter and 4 s image in R Filter 20 ah P aa A NETL ra TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 3 The observing way in this multicolour mode is a hybrid between single shot and windowed modes To complete the procedure the sequence time has to be calculated manually This requires taking a test sequence to compute the time
3. an appropriate exposure time for the magnitude of the given object the maximum amount of counts of the star used to focus should not exceed 23 000 counts gt Image analysis will be done from asteroid using IRAF 1 enter as obstcs1 2 type iraf in a terminal this will run iraf in an xgterm and run dsQ 3 access to the images directory on TCP The disc is automatically mounted in asteroide Access to the disc by typing gt cd net tcp home observer 4 Review the focus of the standard way using mexam and making the star contours as circular as possible 6 39 If the image in QTCP15 in IRAF you have to reverse y axis appears gt decrease focus O gt increase focus gt Once the best focus is selected please annotate in the logbook the values of the telescope and FOVIA II foci and the temperature of the mirrors 14 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 S A Pa ye 4 4 Windowed mode observations fast photometry The main feature of the TCP electronics is the possibility of using the Windowed readout mode which significantly reduces the CCD readout time The observer selects a number of regions on the chip windows which are the only areas of the chip to be read out The remaining pixels are discarded from the readout process The following scheme summarizes the modus operandi of the TCP electronics CCD full frame Windowing New frame Light Curves E N PE E AARE PEA A EA E N y D
4. control start Exposure SEC nsec o p 4 tf Single shot C Sequence m Sequence Time s Frames b a fasag Filter h fe W Multicolour Transfer mode Full frame fe Windows Exposure mode i Object C Dark Blas C Flat field J Figure 28 Parameter selection for multicolour mode observations different exposure times 4 5 3 Sorting images by filter separator Resulting images in multicolour mode are stored as in the previous case i e as consecutive images following a sequence in the data directory For example in the case of a sequence with three filters w00000 fits will be associated with the first filter in the sequence w00001 fits with the second w00002 fits with the third w00003 fits again with the first and so on To generate the light curves for the various filters is necessary to regroup the images To do this the separator program _is used This program creates directories for the different filters copies the images associated with a particular filter and renames the files so that they have consecutive number for the same filter required if you want to use the online reduction package RTP The separator program is part of the collection of RTP reduction programs that complements the data acquisition program described in this manual It is installed on the TCP computer NOTE This program is external to the data acquisition interface
5. detector must be cooled by the peltier about 35 degrees below room temperature The temperature appears at the bottom information line of the graphical interface see Figure 29 If the detector temperature is considerably higher maybe the peltier is not working properly In this case contact the support astronomer Figure 29 Detector Temperature Info e Darks Normal fast photometry programs do not need to take darks because in windowed mode and with short exposure times less than a minute the readout noise dominates However other observations such as imaging the entire chip for routine programs will need to take darks if the exposure times exceed the minute in winter or 40 seconds in summer 26 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 APPENDIX Il Common problems 1 WORKING WITHOUT NETWORK If there are communication problems between asteroide and tcp the observations can be directly made from the tcp computer In this case the remote used is limited to the use of a switch to control the mouse and the keyboard from the control room In this case the first steps of the procedure are slightly different gt In the dome check that the TCP electronic racks are turned on gt Set the switches in an appropriate way to pass the keyboard and mouse control to the control room Normally this step is performed by the support astronomer gt Start TCP computer session username is observer Support ast
6. for the Object Name Field 2 for the Right Ascension and field 3 for Declination al Tromso CCD photometer 2 J File Camera Tools wiew Help joc Rae cso MEHN gt Tad E Camera control Figure 9 Information Fields of the object gt Once the information has been written it is useful to add it to the objects list or File Add to list gt Select an object from the list The object information will appear in the fields 1 2 and 3 Click on the f window will be opened with the objects included in the file see Figure 10 To proceed with the selection double click in the object you want to observe TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 Target select CiCOLach22 39 16 39 03 01 Wil 2lac 22 41 29 4013 32 CHN 2And 23 02 36 42 45 28 VAT BLac 22 41 2940 1332 AMCVh 12 34 54 37 37 0 Bald 23 15 21 3295 1 PG2303 243 236 17 7 24328 RXJ2117 21 1783341227 PGOO4 1165547432 Figure 10 Selection of the object The user interface will also show the air mass and the hour angle of the object 4 Tromso CCD photometer A E File Camera Tools View Help OON o E rf RE E fvici2iac 22 41 29 00 40 13 32 00 4 Camera rantreal a Figure 11 Information about the selected object Field 4 shows the air mass and Field 5 the sidereal time These data will be saved in the image headers TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 4 GETTING THE IMAGES 4 1 Full
7. frame To do fast photometry the first step is to obtain images from the entire chip full frame These images flats bias are taken to help in the data reduction process which can be done in real time and in the selection of regions of the chip for the Windowed mode The full frame images will be saved in the subdirectories tcp for objects darks flats or bias depending on the selected image type The steps to be carried out are listed below gt Check that single shot option in area 1 Exposure is selected gt Select the exposure time by writing it directly or using the arrows gt Select the filter in area 2 Filter gt Check that the Full frame option is selected in area 3 Transfer mode gt In this area select the type of image to be taken Flat field Dark Bias or Object The images will be saved in the subdirectories flats dark bias o tcp depending on this selection gt Take the image by pressing START button in area 1 Image 12 Full frame image sequence If the program does not respond when you try to change the filter contact the support astronomer Appendix Il Problem 3 After each exposure some image information is displayed by pressing the left mouse button over the image relative position of the cursor number of counts and distance to 10 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 af NT of AL so the centre of the field in arc seconds This in
8. the corresponding area Sequence in the left side of the user interface 17 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 if Sequence m Seguente Tires 4 Figure 23 Selecting the sequence time gt Put the mouse pointer again over a window press the right Mouse button and select Estimate exposure Add Delete Delete All Save List Estimate exposure Figure 24 With the Estimate exposure option the system optimizes the exposure time as a function of the readout time With this option the program automatically takes a test image computes the readout time needed and optimizes the exposure time for the selected sequence time The process takes a few seconds After that time the optimized exposure time will appear in the corresponding area area 1 in Figure 10 VERY IMPORTANT Exposure time should be diminished by about 200 300 ms due to static electricity problems that introduce a slight time delay in the communications NOTE Sequence time exposure time readout time delay time due to filters and or shutter movements gt The program will automatically switch to Windowed mode section transfer mode on the left side of the user interface and sequence mode section Exposure It will be ready to start with fast photometry gt Write 9999 in the Frames field of the Sequence area Thus the program will take data continuously until the sequence is aborted Sequence
9. the data in the same way that when preparing data for rtp gt In s data data Run the command gt rtcnv X S l n xxx where xxx is the number of images total amount of images in the data directory w0O0xxx fits e The final images are view0Oxxx fits e These images HAVE NOT HEADER It is very important not to delete the original data wOOxxx fits e f you are observing in multicolour mode you will have to create as many subdirectories as filters you have this is as many subdirectories as separator has created in the data directory An example of the command line sequence would be the following BVR sequence gt mkdir images2D gt cd images2D gt mkdir B gt cdB gt In s data 1 data 24 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 gt cp redB Flats fits gt rtcnv X S lI n xxx The same for V and R filters It has been assumed that rto reduction for B filter images has been done in the directory redB 23 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 APPENDIX I Additional notes e Field of View TCP s field of view at IAC80 is 9 2 x 9 2 arc minutes e Detector Linearity The most energetic pixels should not exceed 30 000 counts If the object is a very bright star and photometric accuracy is required the procedure is to defocus the telescope until the maximum number of counts is into the linear regime and then increase the size of the windows e Detector Temperature The
10. Qtcp15 and runs from the command line in any xterm opened in the TCP computer It is recommended to run the program at the end of each night of observation to have TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 22 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 the data organized before the backup The program has to be run from the data directory gt home observer bin separator i wO0000 fits NOTE Due to the initial test run in the multicolour mode the first file wOOOOX fits WILL NOT BE w00000 fits Remember to START the program with the first image in the directory For example gt home observer bin separator i w00006 fits The following describes how to proceed for the proper working of the separator program 1 Make the reduction directory where images will be stored gt mkdir red gt cd red 2 Once in the reduction subdirectory make the filter subdirectories B V R 1 gt mkdir B gt cdB 3 IMPORTANT Copy the phot dat f files rom the data directory to each directory created with separator 4 Make virtual links for each filter directory This is done from each filter directory gt In s data 1 data Where the number correspond to the filter 1 U 2 B etc 5 Once all the virtual links have been created every time you run separator everything is refreshed including RTP graphics 4 6 Conversion of Windowed mode images from 1D to 2D Images created in windowed mode that is files wOOxxx fits have only 1 di
11. TCP USER MANUAL TROMS CCD PHOTOMETER Last modified 2011 09 20 This version Jorge Garcia Januaryl 2011 Original version by Jose M Gonzalez June 2007 Send comments and suggestions to Jorge Garcia jogarcia AT iac es Or to the Support Astronomer Group ttnn _a AT iac es TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 INDEX Be EIN ONC ON oases stares asians neat ene san wonmssea dante asa ot E E 3 Ze Pts WING Pe ON A E E ace 4 3 INFORMATION ABOUT THE OBJECT oo cssssscsssssssscsssssssscccecceeeceeeeeeees 8 4 GETTING THE IMAGES rsassiccdaceearsrceapina seca saecasensenasutcnenebeaadensautedeseaeanseacnsdeceneaeacdeacse 10 Al F WAN E E E E 10 All cls Ideal display MOOC a ncce ste wo siaateseioyecsentasnses seagate a Ea eaa 11 4 1 2 Example 1 flat in B filter exposure time of 5 seconds cccceeeeeeeeeeeees 12 Adea E alea OLAS e a E E haste Wienetaeiset atsaiea oie Sbeclltasen tance eteee 13 4 1 4 Example 3 Astronomical ODJeCtS ccccccccccccccesssseseeceeeeeeeaeeeseeeeeeeeeaeeeeees 13 4 2 Taking BIAS and FLA DSen a nE TS 14 ae T NS EAEE AEE T E E A E TEN 14 4 4 Windowed mode observations fast photometry sssssssssoeeessssssssseersssss 15 4 5 Obsefvime in multicolout Mod er nrinn Ea aeaa 19 4 5 1 Multicolour mode common exposure time sesssseeeeessssssseseeersssssseeeeeres 19 4 5 2 Multicolour mode different exposure times for each filter 0 20 4 5 3 Sorting im
12. ages by filter separator cccccccccccccceseeseceeeceeeeaeeeseeeeeeeeeeeaas 22 4 6 Conversion of Windowed mode images from 1D to 2D eessssseessssssssseersssese 23 APPENDIX L Additonal NOES enee E 26 APPENDIX TF Common proble MS seeen EnS EEES 21 APPENDIX III Pixel size and detector orientation cccccccccsssseseseeeeeeeeeaaeeeseeeeeees 29 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 1 INTRODUCTION The Troms CCD Photometer TCP is a portable instrument optimized for fast reading photometry Windowed system based on CCD technology The TCP incorporates the possibility of an on line data reduction i e the real time production of light curves and the calculation of the Fourier transforms of the data obtained so far This instrument was built by the Physics Department at the University of Troms Norway see Roy Ostensen s PhD thesis at http whitedwarf org theses ostensen pdf in collaboration with CUO Copenhagen University Observatory The TCP installed on the IAC80 telescope since 2002 is one of its common user instruments This document is intended as a detailed guide for using the graphical interface for TCP data acquisition Figure 1 TCP The TCP electronics driver was developed by CUO The current version of TCP uses the CCD chip Site Tektronik 1024 x 1024 which operates at a temperature of 40 C The pixel size is 24 x 24 microns The chip covers an area of 2 56 by 2 56 cm which is a sq
13. ata Disk Storage j Image Disk Storage Figure 19 Example of Windowed mode observations Thus the readout of the chip can be reduced to a 1 of the time spent in a full frame readout The readout time in the Windowed mode will depend on the number and size of the selected windows In the case of TCP present chip Tektronic the full frame readout time is 23 s However using the Windowed mode and say 3 windows main star and two sky regions and a window size of 16 x 16 pixels the readout time would be 0 70 s The following table shows the readout times in seconds in this mode for three different configurations size and number of windows Channels 16x16 sexs 4x43 64x64 Other advantages of the Windowed mode with respect to other systems that optimize the readout speed are the following Available field This mode allows the selection of the windows on the full area of the chip This helps in areas where there are not many reference stars File size The Windowed system DOES NOT save the whole image but a column of the selected windows so that the size of each fits file is much smaller This significantly reduces the amount of data saved especially in fast photometric variability campaigns where more than 1 000 frames per night can be taken The process to observe using this mode is described below 15 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 gt Obtain a full frame image of the field aroun
14. between two consecutive images with the same filter Set the following values in the selection bar left side in the user interface see Figure 28 IV Set Exposure to 0 and select the single shot option Set Sequence time to 0 and Frames to number of filters x 3 e g for a 3 filter sequence Frames has to be set to 9 Select the first filter in the sequence and enable the Multicolour option Set Windows in the transfer mode field Start the sequence by pressing the START button Once the sequence has finished open a Terminal go to the data directory where there should be number of filters x 3 images and calculate the time between two consecutive images related to the same filter For example for a BVR sequence we should take a look to the starting times of wO0003 fits and w00000 fits images or w00001 fits and w00004 fits The header file image w00000 fits appears with gt more w00000 fits Find the time in the DATE OBS field By looking to the time from an image to the next from w00000 fits to w00003 fits in this case we find our Sequence Time 4 Delete the w0000X fits files Set the computed value for the Sequence Time in the corresponding field and set the number of frames to 9999 see Figure 28 5 Press the START button to start taking images 6 Take into account for further analysis that the first window file will not start at 0O 21 Camera
15. d the object as explained in previous sections IMPORTANT NOTE check that the autoguiding FOVIA II is on before taking this image gt On this image select windows for the object a reference star and the sky Put the cursor over the main object and double click A small 64x64 pixels window will appear around the object Repeat the action for the reference star Finally repeat the action with the sky windows without any star near the object IMPORTANT NOTE The order in the selection is very important and should be the following first the object being studied then the reference star and finally the sky selection one or more if desired fhome observer Data Jose NGC246 Ag03 27_28 mh27 data mh270003 fits File Camera Tools View Help joc WM BB ho 2 fa o slam snI oes el Gad ad BY i Camera control Start Exposure sec msec fo 4 Single shot Sequence m Sequence Time s Frames fo o fo E Filter i bs le J uticao m Transfer mode Full frame C Windows r Exposure mode Obiect c c c e rs59 23 1 33 25 TC mo C a paa e nee eee EE y Figure 20 Example of Windows selection At all times you can move and delete these windows To move them you have to place the cursor on the window and drag it by holding the left mouse button To view other available options put the cursor over the wi
16. e Sequence Time s Frames Fiter r Transfer mode ful treme C Werdows Exposure mode Ceyect Dak C Bm C Mi 00 00 aa B Go 3300 2332 ao I 20 24 271 0 p0 00 Image 4 Graphical interface of the TCP data acquisition program TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 In Figure 4 we can see that only a part of the area of the chip is displayed There are vertical and horizontal scrollbars to move through the chip On the other hand the overall size of the user interface can be changed by pressing the left mouse button in the lower right corner and drag it by holding the left mouse button When Qtcp15 program starts it automatically creates a directory in home observer whose name is the combination of the starting date and time of the program e g 2103042005 21 March 2004 at 20 05 Within this directory Qitco15 creates several sub directories where the program automatically save the different image types taken bias flats darks tcp for full chip images and data for images in windowed mode gt Check that the system is receiving data from the GPS To do this press the satellite button in the top right corner of the user interface see Figure 5 Er Tromso CCD photometer 4 _ File Camera Tools View Help pii K a a A a E ee Bee 9 36 04 50 02 7 aa mY kA gt a r Camera control Figure 5 GPS Information It is imperative that the system receive
17. e common exposure time This is the simplest procedure Proceed similarly to how was described in Section 4 4 observations in windowed mode but after computing exposure time and before starting the sequence the following steps must be added gt Press the button that activates the filter selection see Figure 26 gt This opens an information box see Figure 27 Select the filter sequence to use sorted To do this click on each selected filters green arrow NOTE In this mode SET THE EXPOSURE TIME TO ZERO FOR ALL FILTERS boxes to the left of each button gt Enable the multicolour mode see Figure 28 gt In the filter option set the first filter of the cycle e g select B number 2 for a BVI sequence gt Write 9999 in the Frames field of the Sequence area gt Start the sequence by pressing the START button P Tromso CCD photometer Bion Be Camera Tools w Help A l F Ce OL ae TES l 22 41 29 00 40 13 32 00 l 3 73 01344 v 5 l ee 4 I di J de amara rantreal A Figure 26 Setup button of the multicolour mode 19 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 Figure 27 Filter and exposure time selection The sequence is set by pressing in order the filter buttons green arrow The exposure time for each filter is set in the right field red mark using the arrows The sequence is indicated in the upper field
18. e the E Image 30 Image orientation a DS9 b TCP display IMPORTANT NOTE By September 2011 the FoV has been rotated 180 degrees 29
19. formation appears in the bottom part of the user interface see Figure 13 Figure 13 Information obtained by clicking the left mouse button over the image location number of counts and position in arc seconds In the following pages we show the different display options and some image examples flat fields bias and object 4 1 1 Ideal display mode The default image display option is min max but it might be inadequate To change the display mode press the ail button in the utilities menu bar Then the following panel is shown 16384 24576 32768 40960 49152 57344 65536 Sealing Data Min 2346 Data Max 11063 C Fixed Co Min Max Histogram Equalization Preview OK Cancel Figure 14 Display mode selection panel It is recommended to select Histogram Equalization which increases the relative contrast in all the regions of the chip Once this type of image display is chosen it will be set as default Important note This display mode greatly increases the display contrast and set the grey scale zero level very close to the average bias value with the idea of showing any pixel with some energy over this value The images shown in this way may give the impression of a defective chip or that the optics is dirty but it is in part due to the visualization algorithm We recommend the use of this mode to be sure that there are not energy losses in the windows defined i
20. ght If the light blinks then the signal is arriving fine to the electronics but not to the computer Check the connections of the serie cables from the gps yellow box to the computer the cable is labelled as pc at the gps side and clock at the pc side If still does not work reset the system problem 3 If the light does not blink then the electronics is not receiving signal In this case o Log off of the graphical interface and turn off the electronic racks Turn them on again wait a few seconds and then see if the red light flashes o If the light still does not blink check the connections serie cable from the electronics to the yellow box labelled as int and from this box to the gps labelled as gps 28 Some TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 z fs Ive a T APPENDIX Ill Pixel size and detector orientation From an equatorial field with more than 150 stars the astrometry of the field has been measured This gives the scale of the detector and its orientation on the sky Scale 0 537 0 002 arcsec pix Orientation North axis 50 85 0 03 0 up 90 right East axis 140 85 0 03 0 up 90 right The figure below shows graphically the orientation in which the images are saved right as you would see in DS9 left as you would see in the TCP display In the graphical interface display the images are rotated 90 degrees clockwise and flipped in the E W axis i e where E is the N and N wher
21. mension The header can be displayed in standard form but not the image The image appears in display programs such as DS9 as a long horizontal streak The online reduction program rtp waits for the data in this unusual way However it is possible that many users want to use other reduction packages so first we have to convert these images to conventional 2D images The conversion is carried out in a very simple way using the program rtcnv This program has to be ALWAYS run at the end of the night so the astronomer would leave the telescope with both 1D and 2D data 23 Below process the data with the BIAS subtraction using the overscan l Notes TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 it is shown how to proceed to do the conversion This conversion will only Make a new directory at the level of data tcp directories 2D images will be stored in this directory For example gt mkdir images2D gt cd images2D It is convenient to copy the superflat Flat fits created by rtp to this directory If you are in this directory the resulting 2D images will be flat fielded The flat reduction is better in this way as subsequent flat field reduction is very complicated Keep in mind that the flats are full frame images so you should draw exactly the region covered by the windows and create a mosaic as rtenv generates gt cp red Flats fits assuming that the online rtp reduction directory is red Make a virtual link to
22. n the windowed mode when the stars are selected 11 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 4 1 2 Example 1 flat field in B filter 5 seconds exposure time E fhome observeriData JoseiNGC246_Ago3i24_25 mhzaMats mh240003 fits fart CSR RRR hs Pal oeo co sof onn MGS Ld ie gt fase a O aa a Figure 15 Example of full frame image filter B flat field with 5 seconds of exposure time The display mode is min max O o oo aaa i oer or j L Figure 16 Same image than Figure 15 but using the Histogram Equalization display mode 12 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 4 1 3 Example 2 bias Troe CCD p Camera Jools Yew Ee LL eo eo ET o Came corel Fo nsa 0033226 4D a D aN im paasi 2 F a1 T E SES n Ej r Figure 17 Example of full frame image bias 4 1 4 Example 3 Astronomical objects File Camera Tools View Help Camera control Start Exposure sec msec fo Ah Single shot i 2 4 fe P muticaour MDD ee ol 20 ai Figure 18 Central star of the planetary nebula NGC246 using B filter and 30 s of exposure time Image show objects below 12 magnitude The image looks somewhat dirty due to the use of the Histogram Equalization display mode 13 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 4 2 Taking BIAS and FLATS gt BIAS it i
23. ndow you want to modify and press the right mouse button This opens an information box with several options to choose from gt Saving the selection When the selection process is over put the mouse pointer over one of the Windows press the right mouse button and select Save 16 BOF C TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 na F SNES IE Thamebserven ate Jos MGC Agian Falmhe i idatalm he Mes fits HF gu Dei jes Hee oc BERR me eiee ee om ooo N gt ge ETETE ooneral uly H Povaa pas RA I j i E Pal frome C Unis Exposure Eie E mi i pi C ia T Pai feta fe maana o 8 imp a OO O oo oa m Figure 21 Saving the windows selection This action sends information about the selected window to the camera electronics and creates the files photwins dat and photwccd dat in the subdirectory data These files are needed for the data acquisition program and for properly working of subsequent reduction The borders of the windows will then go from red to blue and larger windows will cover several windows This happens when they are very close and occupy the same reading direction Thus Qtcp15 further optimizes the reading process Se ee anaes see ganeriwsteneremam tos BSB fomo 2f afao of f Pr Sy f 9 03 53 aA D o a am mi m ao Figure 22 Optimization of the readout windows developed by QTCP15 gt Select the Sequence time in
24. ok If 21 TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 an error message such as shutter calibration error appears please contact the support astronomer or the night assistant who has to proceed as follows Log off and log on from the program gt Qtcp15 If the problem stands the system has to be reset Resetting the system 1 exit from the graphical interface killing the process if necessary 2 go to the dome and turn off the electronic racks see Figure 2 3 turn back on the electronic racks 4 run gt download gpsold hex 5 run back the graphical interface Resetting the system solves the problems in 90 of cases However if the problems remain the camera has to be shutdown the telescope parked to the zenith and the telescope system reset this has to be done by the support astronomer or the night assistant Very rarely the problem still persists In this case the serial cable that connects the TCP computer with the camera electronics can be wrong or receiving too much noise Check the cable connections and warn MI Instrumental Maintenance to review the status of the cable 4 NO SATELLITES DETECTED If the information box indicates that the GPS does not receive a satellite signal you must contact support astronomer or night assistant who must proceed as follows Go to the dome and check that the led located over the gosh mark in the electronic rack where the optical fibers are connected is blinking red li
25. red and asteroide computer blue TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 gt Start a session in asteroide connect as obstcs password ask the support astronomer or the night assistant gt Open a terminal in asteroide and type gt ssh l observer tcp ll iac es password ask the support astronomer or night assistant gt Once in tcp open a new terminal gt xterm amp gt In the new terminal type gt download gpsold hex This command will initialise the camera When executing the camera will start the process with download code to the camera If there are camera connexion errors please contact the support astronomer Appendix Il problem 2 gt Running the data acquisition software gt Qtcp15 gt The display will show the graphical interface of the data acquisition program see Fig 4 The user must check the messages appearing at the bottom left line marked in red during initialisation Shutter initialisation and FASU initialisation If all goes well after 2 or 3 seconds the message working or idle should be displayed In case of shutter and or FASU initialising problems a message notification will be displayed In that case you will need to contact the Support Astronomer to restart the system Appendix Il Problem 3 Tromso CD photometer CSCS Fie Camera Toots Yew Help Oe OOOO e BAARNE Camera comtred Stat Expoture sec een b fo Sl G Senge shot C Sequenc
26. ronomer will give you the password gt Run command gt startx gt In a terminal run command gt download gpsold hex From this point proceed as described in page 5 NOTE The image displayed on the TCP monitor is only a part of the overall image there is a little zoom effect The real limits are reached by moving the mouse pointer to any side of the image 2 FAILURE TO DOWNLOAD THE CODE TO THE CAMERA This problem occurs when the next command is used gt download gpsold hex This command will initialize the camera When run the camera will indicate the process code to download the camera The information is sent and received using an optical fiber If you receive an error message related to the camera connection it might be because there is a bad fiber connection The support astronomer or the night assistant never the astronomer should proceed disconnecting and reconnecting the fibers with special care both in the computer electronics dome and in the tcp computer and or restarting the tcp electronics see Figure 2 Be careful with the colours of the fibers as they should not be crossed red to red and black to black 3 FILTER WHEEL AND SHUTTER PROBLEMS It is possible that when initializing the graphical interface or even during the night the system does not properly initialize or refresh the filter wheel and or the shutter If you have the working or idle message in the bottom info line everything is
27. s information from the GPS to work properly If everything is ok the following information box is showed Date osmams Time UT m Longitude 16d 30 38 W Latitude 25d 17 58 N Elevation 2422 Om Satellites Status Figure 6 GPS Information box In this case the GPS is receiving data from 4 satellites If the information box indicates that the GPS does not receive a satellite signal you must contact the support astronomer Appendix Il problem 4 gt Set location Thus the information about the observatory telescope and instrument will be saved in the image headers TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 Sr tis TAT i mi a Press File in the main menu and select localisation see Figure 7 left In this option a box with the available observatories and telescopes will be shown see Figure 7 right b Select the telescope IAC80 1 In the Observatory dialog box select Teide observatory at the end of the list 2 In the Telescope dialog box select AC80 Observatory longitude latitude elevation and time zone and also the telescope focal relation will be shown 3 Press apply Observatory Tromso Norway gt O New Ctrl N Latitude 6941 ON Directories gt 7 Longitude 1895 0E Ca Open Ctri 0 Elevation 1 Oo Time zone DST M3 5 0 M10 5 0 m Telescope Skibotn 50 gt Focal ratio 1 2 Instrumen
28. s recommended to take 5 10 BIAS The number of counts should be less than 2 300 counts pix If this is not the case probably the cooler peltier is not properly working In that case please call the support astronomer gt FLATS the average number of counts should be between 18 000 and 21 000 counts pix to be sure that they are in the linearity range of the detector If photometric accuracy is required it is recommended to take enough number of flats so that the total sum of counts exceeds 100 000 about 5 if the average is 20 000 in each image Combining about 100 000 counts would roughly give s n ratio 100 which would become the photometric limit If you take dome flats there is a table in the control room showing the exposure times and the lights used to get images with an adequate level of counts with different filters 4 3 Focusing gt Important The TCP focus position is different to the CAMELOT one In the first night some time should be spent in finding the TCP focus As a starting point read in the logbook the last TCP focus used The FOVIA II focus position is also different Some values used in March 2010 are Telescope focus 21 760 Filter R FOVIA II focus 12 T1 7 3 In general the TCP focus is 2 000 units larger than the CAMELOT focus gt To focus the TCP not very bright objects V lt 9 must be taken Select object in the Exposure mode area 4 of the selection window see Figure 12 V filter and
29. t Observer name OD Trgets REl Addtolist Ctri A Get fromlist Ctri G Ctrl P Ctri Q tcp Filters u F6 B F7 FS F9 F10 Figure 7 Selection of the information telescope observatory instrument that will be saved in the image headers TCP User Manual 20 09 2011 3 INFORMATION ABOUT THE OBJECT To enter the information about the object you want to observe there are several steps to follow gt Press the option File Targets in the main menu and select the file Targets st or similar in the main directory Mew Ctri M Directories C Open Ctri O erika i ae z 0403051730 C mail 1509042200 nii4 1509042203 A nsrail Observer name i Re Add to list i cide E 1509042208 C xcove4 Get from list Ctrl G Em 1609042035 E STABLE VERSIONS ALP LJ AMC h_Marcho4_iaced filsep a C Data _Fys120 E gperrors Print Ctrl P C Data_Jose E gplot log Exit Ctri i C Data od gpsim hex a Estra Lj gpsold hex EJ Fyvs120_Marcho4 J nyim srec E HELP files C Raguel _Mar 05 File name jtargets ist File type All Files 4 Cancel L A Figure 8 Selection of the file for reading and or saving information about the objects to observe If the object is not in the list it can be added by typing the information in the corresponding dialog boxes of the interface utilities bar Field 1
30. uare field of about 9 2 arc minutes side in the IAC80 It is a back illuminated chip with a high sensitivity in both the red and blue ranges thanks to its special coating The TCP includes its own filter wheel and shutter FASU The FASU was designed with an unidirectional shutter to increase the accuracy of the exposures and a filter wheel that allows installation of up to 6 filters of 50 mm diameter Currently available are the Johnson Bessell filters U B V R and an open position white light Switching between filters takes about 0 5 s allowing the implementation of multiband photometry programs almost simultaneously ENG TCP User Manual of 20 09 2011 j im sy 2 STARTING A SESSION The following paragraphs describe the follow up sequence to properly booting and checking out of the system gt In the dome check that the TCP Electronic Racks are turned on see Figure 2 Figure 2 Location of the switches of the TCP Electronic Racks gt The TCP computer is located above the FOVIA II monitor see Figure 3 It is normally turned on If not turn it on The computer must be connected to the network If there are problems with the network consult the start up procedure of the TCP computer in Appendix II Problem 1 The TCP computer is not used directly but through asteroide PC When you finish the computer booting process you will have to wait a few minutes to connect from asteroide Figure 3 TCP computer
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search