CCDS Acquisition Camera User`s Manual
Contents
1. automatically i Found New Hardware x Recycle Bin SBIG USB Loader 28 10 27 am If this box does not open automatically go out to the dome and cycle power to the ST 9 camera CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual 6 The Found New Hardware Wizard will help you to install the new drivers FOLLOW THESE STEPS EXACTLY or you will have to reboot the computer again e You may need to be logged in as Administrator to make these changes A pop up window will ask you for the CCDS password CCDS is the name of the administrator account on this machine Type ccds in the password field Please make sure once you complete this process that you are logged in as Visitor for the rest of your observing session e The Wizard will ask you if you want Windows Update to search for software Found New Hardware Wizard Welcome to the Found New D Hardware Wizard Windows will search for current and updated software by looking on your computer on the hardware installation CD or on the Windows Update Web site with your permission Read our privacy policy Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software Yes this time only Yes now and every time connect a device No not this time Click Next to continue lt Back Cancel gt Select No not this time The Wizard will ask you what you want to do next Found New Hardware Wizard This wizard helps you inst2. strongly recommends that you stop this installation now and contact the hardware vendor for software that has passed Windows Logo testing Continue Anyway STOF Installation ack Text gt Bancel gt Select Continue Anyway e Select Finish to complete the wizard Found New Hardware Wizard Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard The wizard has finished installing the software for ad SBIG USB Loader Click Finish to close the wizard lt Back Cancel You may now re open CCDOps and establish a link to the camera as normal 14
3. CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual J Marshall 21 January 2006 Background The CCDS acquisition slitviewer camera was replaced in August 2005 This modern CCD camera is much more sensitive than the old system It should also be easier to use The new acquisition camera is a SBIG ST 9 CCD camera The system specifications are listed on the next page This camera is controlled with SBIG s control software CCDOps This software runs on a pe running Windows XP The old camera on the CCDS has been replaced along with some of its infrastructure by the much smaller ST 9 camera The old video monitor has been replaced with a new pc monitor keyboard and mouse The control pc lives in the computer room on the small red rack and is clearly marked This upgrade should be in all respects an improvement to the functionality of CCDS and should not represent much of a change of usage for the observer In particular all of the existing optics were retained in this upgrade the only hardware that was replaced was in fact the camera itself Previously it was a struggle to acquire targets as bright as 17 magnitude it is now easy to obtain targets down to 20th magnitude in 5 seconds CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual System Specifications Measured Camera model SBIG ST 9 CCD chip KAF0261E Format 512x512 20x20 _m pixels Cooling Single stage TEC Readout Time Gain Dark Current Read Noise Bias Saturation At t
4. all software for SBIG USB Loader If your hardware came with an installation CD lt gt or floppy disk insert it now What do you want the wizard to do Install the software automatically Recommended Install from a list or specific location Advanced Click Next to continue lt Back Cancel gt Select Install from a list Advanced 19 CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual e The Wizard will allow you to choose your search and install options Found New Hardware Wizard Please choose your search and installation options gt Select Don t search I will choose e The Wizard will ask you to select the device driver for this hardware Found New Hardware Wizard E SBIG USB Loader SBIG USB Loader lt Back Nen Cancel gt Highlight the first driver on the list then click Next 13 CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual e A pop up will appear warning about Windows compatibility issues Found New Hardware Wizard Please wait while the wizard installs the software Fae Hardware Installation Sy A The software you are installing for this hardware SBIG USB Loader has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with Windows xP Tell me why this testing is important Continuing your installation of this software may impair or destabilize the correct operation of your system either immediately or in the future Microsoft
5. ault is unbinned 1x1 To change the binning factor go to the Camera pull down menu and select Setup In CCDOps speak High Res means unbinned Medium Res means binned 2x2 and Low Res means binned 3x3 You will probably only need to use the unbinned mode CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual One exception to this is that on clear moonless nights it may be difficult to see the slit for short exposure times Binning 3x3 may allow you to see the slit more easily Note that the Vertical N Binning and 1xN 2xN 3xN binning options are used for spectroscopy and should not be used in this application 7 Saving an Image One obvious advantage to the new acquisition system is that you can now save an image from the CCD and use it later for alignment purposes to measure the seeing etc To save the current image open in CCDOps simply press the Save button on the toolbar This will open up a Windows Save As box Type a name in the File Name box The default data type should be FITS format although you may change it if you wish Save the image in C data and click Save you may create a subdirectory if you wish This directory is mounted on the linux workstation as data slit24 at the 2 4m and as data slit13 at the 1 3m You may then access these data from the linux workstation You may also print the image to the printer in the computer room CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual App
6. e window currently open on the desktop This is useful for aligning the same object on different nights CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual Using the Acquisition Camera 1 Startup Log on to the ccdsacqcam machine by clicking on the Visitor account on the Welcome Screen There is no password associated with this account CCDOps should open automatically when you log on to this account If not open the program by double clicking on the CCDOps desktop icon IMPORTANT DO NOT unplug the USB cable from the camera while CCDOps is running If you do this you will need to reboot the control computer and may need to reinstall the drivers If you need to unplug the USB cable for some reason first close CCDOps then proceed Once the CCDOps startup screen goes away you should see the CCDOps toolbar see Figure 1 Click on EstLink in the CCDOps toolbar this will establish a link with the camera It should take about 5 seconds if it takes longer than this or displays an error message you will need to reboot the computer See Appendix A CCDOps Toolbar x oa 2220288 Save Open EstLnk Setup SktDn Grab Focus AutG T amp A SIG SWG Figure 1 CCDOps Toolbar 2 Turn on Temperature Regulation Click the Setup button on the toolbar or go to Camera gt Setup in the pull down menu This dialog box will appear Figure 2 CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual ST 7 8 Camera Setup Cooling Temperatu
7. endix A Restarting the system from a connection failure If CCDOps fails to connect with the camera or gives an error message when you attempt to establish a link you need to reboot the computer and may need to reinstall the drivers for the camera Follow these steps to recover from a failed establish link command l Make certain that the ST 9 camera is connected to the control computer both ends of the USB cable are plugged in and that the camera is powered on There should be a green light on the camera s power supply box and you should be able to hear the fan running on the camera unless you have turned it off The ST 9 is connected to the control computer through the telescope wrap with a USB cable Since this cable is very long it is converted to CATS ethernet cable and back to USB with devices called ICRON USB to ethernet converter boxes Please note that this does not mean that the camera is connected to the internet it is not It is conceivable that these devices have become unplugged Make certain that each box one on the telescope near the camera the other at the control computer has a USB and Ethernet cable plugged into it Close CCDOps Restart the computer from the Start Menu Check to see whether this has solved the problem If not proceed to step 5 When the computer has rebooted a dialog box will pop up saying New Hardware Detected Click on this box or wait for the Found New Hardware Wizard to open
8. er to change the display parameters of the downloaded images In the Contrast pop up box that appears once an image is downloaded you may change the display contrast by typing in new numbers in the Back Range boxes or clicking the up down buttons to the right of each value You may also switch between manual and auto adjust by toggling the Auto checkbox Clicking the Apply button allows recent changes to take effect You may perform these actions while focus mode is running Changing the look up table may make very faint objects or the slit more visible CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual Exposure time guide For very bright objects V lt 8 mag minimum exposure times of 0 12 seconds are plenty long in fact the object will most likely be saturated Very faint objects V gt 19 mag are detected easily on a clear moonless night in 5 seconds in unbinned high res mode To get a sense of how long exposure times need to be with the new system see Figure 6 Measured performance with clear filter photometric night new moon 6 o 5 Z4 k o 3 g 2 s 3 2 1 3 0 o s r r 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 V magnitude Figure 6 Exposure time calculator for the CCDS acquisition camera with the clear filter Performance measured on a clear night with no moon Note that objects are detectable with a S N 10 the above exposure times are an overestimate of
9. he 2 4m Pixel Scale Field of View At the 1 3m Pixel Scale Field of View 1 second 1 8 e DN 1 DN s pixel 0 C 6 6 DN 130 DN 65 K DN 0 23 arcsec pixel 1 97 arcmin 0 41 arcsec pixel 3 54 arcmin CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual Quick Start Guide If the system is not running when you start observing open the CCDOps program on the control computer it should open up automatically when you log on as Visitor The CCDOps toolbar should be displayed on the desktop Establish link with the camera by clicking the EstLink button on the toolbar Turn on CCD cooling by clicking Setup on the toolbar and turning temperature regulation to Active The setpoint should be about 20 degrees C below the ambient dome temperature do not set it too low as this will cause the CCD to overheat Click OK to close the setup box Click Focus on the toolbar and enter an integration time Click OK to begin taking exposures The camera reads out in 1 second so exposures shorter than 1 second give roughly a 1 Hz update rate Make sure the cooling capacity gauge lower right corner of desktop reads less than 60 If not raise the system temperature setpoint To change the exposure time stop the focus sequence by clicking Focus again Click Focus to start a new sequence and enter a new exposure time To save an image click Save on the toolbar This will save th
10. ou change the temperature setpoint and after 5 minutes the cooling capacity gauge still reads gt 60 the setpoint is still too low CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual 3 Normal Acquisition Operation Once a link is established with the camera and the temperature regulation is turned on you are ready to use the system Under most circumstances you will want to use the Focus mode of the camera This mode quickly reads out the entire CCD unbinned or binned 2x2 or 3x3 and auto displays it to the screen You can choose an integration time from 0 12 to 600 seconds Note that there will generally be substantial dark current in a 600 second exposure To begin taking images click on the Focus button on the CCDOps Toolbar This will open a dialog box in which you may enter the exposure length RE Exposure Time 1 Frame size Full hal Dark Frames Update mode Automatic Exposure delay TE Turbo Mode or x Figure 4 Focus Dialog Box Normally you should leave the other settings in this dialog box as they are shown in Figure 4 Click OK and the system will begin taking images immediately Stop the focus sequence by clicking on Focus in the Toolbar or by hitting Esc To change the exposure time stop the focus sequence and begin it again each time you start a focus sequence the system will ask for an exposure length Pause focus mode with the Pause button in the Focus
11. re Regulation PIAU Setpoint o o Fan Enabled Active CCD Imaging Active CCD Imaging CCD Setup Resolution mode High ba Non ABG streak removal No 7 Vertical N binning f r Tracking CCD Setup Active Tracking CCD intemal Y Resolution mode Auto r General Reuse dark frames No Response factor 2000 00 Figure 2 Setup dialog box Make sure Temperature Regulation is set to Active and that the Setpoint is about 20 degrees below ambient IMPORTANT The system temperature setpoint should be set to about 20 degrees C below the ambient temperature in the dome If the cooling capacity gauge lower right of CCDOps screen see Figure 3 reads more than 60 the temperature setpoint is too low This will cause the CCD to overheat and may cause damage to the camera Link ST 9 JUSB Res Imaging High Temp 0 19 C 58 Filter Red Figure 3 CCDOps status bar from lower left corner of CCDOps desktop This example shows from left to right an established link normal unbinned high resolution imaging and the temperature setpoint set to 0 19 degrees C The cooling capacity gauge reads 58 capacity and there is a red filter in the beam For normal operation all other settings should also be as shown in Figure 2 Click OK for these settings to become active It generally takes a few minutes for the system to equilibrate at a new set point If y
12. the beam 5 Changing the Integration Time For very faint targets some more clever tricks may be needed to acquire your target successfully If the stars in your field are very faint the first thing to try is to turn up the integration time First stop the focus sequence by pressing the Focus button on the toolbar Start a new focus sequence by pressing the Focus button again type in a longer integration time in the window that appears Note that very long integration times e g longer than 60 seconds may require dark frame subtraction to deal with the dark current in the device If you are not worried about the update rate you may turn on dark frame subtraction by checking the Dark Frame box in the Focus pop up window This is probably undesirable however since the camera will update less than two times less frequently Alternatively you may take one dark frame and apply it to many CCD images To do this click on the Setup button on the toolbar Under General change Reuse dark frames to Yes CCDOps will take one dark frame at the beginning of a focus sequence and reuse it throughout the sequence If you change integration times it will take a new dark frame again at the beginning of the sequence Remember that this step is unnecessary for very short exposure times and will only slow down the readout rate of the CCD 6 Binning It is possible to bin the ST 9 chip in 1x1 2x2 and 3x3 modes The def
13. the exposure time for minimum detection 4 Filters If your target is very bright or very red or blue you may wish to place a filter in the beam The ST 9 comes equipped with a five position filter wheel populated with a clear red green and blue filter and one empty position The filters are dichroic filters and seem to correspond roughly with standard astronomical filter blue V green R red I For very faint objects you may wish to place the clear filter in the beam to maximize the amount of light received by the CCD It is not recommended to use the empty position as this will change the focus of the system The four filters red green blue and clear are confocal CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual To place a filter in the beam find the Filter pull down menu and simply select the filter you desire The camera will rotate the correct filter in front of the CCD If for some reason the items on the pull down menu are greyed out select Filter Wheel Setup Under Filter Wheel select CFW 8 This should display 5 filters on the left hand side of the dialog box Click OK You should now be able to select a filter from the pull down menu If you believe for some reason the filter you selected was not in fact the filter that was placed in the beam select Calibrate Initialize from the Filter pull down menu After a few seconds the filter wheel will be initialized and should no longer be confused about which filter is in
14. window that pops up this will simply pause the exposure sequence To change exposure times or to save an image you must exit out of the current focus sequence completely The Focus window also displays the location and brightness of the brightest pixel in the current image The NSEW slew buttons are not used in this application Reminder exposure lengths may vary from 0 12 seconds to 600 seconds The download time for an image is less than 1 second so for bright objects you should get an update rate of about 1 Hz CCDS Acquisition Camera User s Manual You may also use the Grab button on the toolbar This will take only one image instead of a continuous sequence of images This may be useful if you want to take an image of your object s position on the slit for reference on a future night You may then save this image to the disk see Section 7 Of course you may also save any of the focus images to the disk by stopping the focus sequence and saving the last image downloaded There is functionally no difference between a grab image and a focus image Once the system downloads the image from the camera it will auto display it to the screen Figure 5 shows a sample image Figure 5 Image taken with the CCDS acquisition camera on a photometric moonless night through the clear filter You can clearly see the slit in this 10 second exposure The star inside the circle is V 19 mag CCDOps also allows the observ
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