RETROCAM User`s Guide
Contents
1. RETROCAM User s Guide 6 If you are using the Seitzer Guider also known as TVGUIDER or the DTI Guider also known as PCGUIDER in the direct mode select a guide star and commence guiding 7 If you are using the DTI Guider PCGUIDER in the downward looking mode such as during use with the MODSPEC or Mark III spectrographs a On the Guider PC press the p key to enter the parameter settings b Set the Flip E W parameter to 0 c Set the Guider Angle parameter to 90 TCS Rotator Angle d Exit the parameter settings select a guide star and commence guiding 8 Select the desired filter by clicking on its button 9 Click GO in the RETROCAM GUI 10 Once CCD readout is complete the image will be displayed in the open ds9 window 11 To resume observing with the primary instrument after using RETROCAM a Using xmis move RETROCAM to the Out position b Restore the telescope focus to its original setting using xtcs c If using the DTI Guider in downward looking mode Move the guide probe to the slit position Set the Flip E W parameter to 1 Set the Guider Angle parameter to 270 TCS Rotator Angle d Restore the guider focus to its initial setting RETROCAM Control Panel See the GUI screenshot on the following page Warning The ABORT button is currently malfunctioning Use of the abort button will cause RETROCAM t2. bright illumination such as during sky flat or dome flat exposures you will encounter non negligible internal reflected light problems These problems are severe enough to ruin your sky or dome flat We plan to eliminate this problem during future upgrades 6 Suggested uses for RETROCAM An imager for targets of opportunity SNe GRBs microlensing monitoring projects etc Spectroscopy and photometry of the same target Finder Camera for the MDM 2 4m Morgan et al 2005 RETROCAM A Versatile Optical Imager for Synoptic Studies AJ in press preprints available at astro ph 0502274 RETROCAM User s Guide RETROCAM Startup 1 Login to retrocam the dedicated linux machine which runs RETROCAM as visitor On chichon retrocam can be accessed from the desktop menu by selecting Data Acquisition then RETROCAM On agung select RETROCAM on the desktop menu Password is set to the current visitor password 2 Verify that the RETROCAM GUI is not running on any other console Note The simplest way to do this is to enter the command ps x ina retrocam xterm Look for retrocam and or ds9 in the process id table 3 Start the RETROCAM control GUI by typing retrocam Multiple windows will open during system startup System startup is complete when the ds9 window RETROCAM control panel and a diagnostic xterm are the only open windows The diagnostic xterm may be icon
3. EDs Object NGC 5676 RA 12 34 56 0 Dec 01 23 01 2 ExpTime sec fi images iz Image Type Object bl Filename 050401 4 4d SeqNo fi Observer s Pogge amp Morgan Data Directory home retrocam data W Overwrite Files W Auto Display Filter Gag i E open RETROCAM TCS MIS Status ccD Temp ON TelFocus Rotator PA Finder Guilder xii Ve oe Remote Command Filenames 1 RETROCAM uses a C like filename convention that is demonstrated in the RETROCAM GUI screenshot above The 4 4d suffix implies that filenames will be appended with a four digit number equal to the sequence number that is displayed For example in the case shown above the first filename would be 1040917 0001 fits The SeqNo will automatically index with each exposure so the next exposure would be r040917 0002 fits Changing the filename suffix to 3 3d would reduce the number of digits in the filename to three RETROCAM User s Guide 2 The SeqNo is automatically reset to 1 when the filename is changed but it can then be manually set to any number RETROCAM Shutdown 1 Under the Session menu in the RETROCAM control panel select Exit Troubleshooting Guide 1 The CCD temperature is too high The TEC ON OFF indication is located on the CCD Temp line in the lower right hand corner of the GUI Verify that ON is displayed If not turn o
4. RETROCAM User s Guide RETROCAM User s Guide April 2005 RETROCAM Specifications and Operational Guidance 1 RETROCAM is a science quality optical CCD camera installed on the 2 4m telescope Multiple Instrument System MIS It is available for use with all of the observatory s primary instruments except the 8K direct imager A detailed description of RETROCAM can be found in the Astronomical Journal Citations for observational work done with RETROCAM should refer to this paper 2 Specifications CCD E2V CCD 55 20 1152 x 770 22 5um pixels Dark Current 2 5 e sec pixel at 20 C Gain 3 0 Pixel Scale 0 259 arcsec pixel Readout noise 13 4 e pixel Readout time 6 sec Cooling 3 stage thermoelectric 20 1 C Field of View 4 97 x 3 32 arcmin Filters SDSS g r iand z One open position 3 RETROCAM uses the MIS finder mirror now renamed RETROCAM which obscures the science field of the primary instrument So while RETROCAM can be used within minutes of most primary instruments the two cannot be used simultaneously The finder mirror has been resized such that a 100 arcmin horseshoe shaped guide field is available around the perimeter of the MIS aperture 4 RETROCAM is parfocal with the CCDS Operation with the Mark III Modspec or TIFKAM spectrographs or any of the direct imaging cameras requires a small telescope focus offset see table in the To Observe with RETROCAM section 5 Under conditions of
5. gs properly 6 RETROCAM is completely locked up I can t operate the GUI at all Close the RETROCAM and ds9 windows Open the diagnostic xterm a prompt should be available Restart RETROCAM
6. ified To Observe with RETROCAM 1 Using the xmis control panel on chichon move RETROCAM to the In position 2 Select the focus offset appropriate for the primary instrument in use Instrument Telescope Focus Offset Secondary Mirror Encoder Units CCDS 0 TIFKAM 50 MODSPEC 128 Mark III 171 Direct Imagers Templeton Echelle 15 This value was measured using the RETROCAM r filter and the Johnson Cousins R filter with Echelle Focus offsets with other filters have not yet been measured and are likely to be different Set the telescope focus to the RETROCAM position using the xtcs control Example If Mark III is in use and the current focus is 3174 31744 171 3345 Set telescope focus to 3345 using the xtcs control 3 Fill in the Object RA Dec Image Type Filename Observer and Rotator PA Instrument Rotator Angle fields in the RETROCAM GUL Verify settings in the Data Directory field 4 Set the desired ExpTime and Images in the GUI 5 Move the guide probe away from the center of the field until guide stars come into view Note that the guider may need to be focused if a telescope focus offset was inserted in step 2 Note When using RETROCAM for C Morgan and C Kochanek s lensed QSO monitoring project pre selected guide probe positions are available using the retrocam_gs program on chichon See the Lensed QSO Observing Procedure for details
7. n the TEC by selecting Cooler ON in the Temperature menu 2 No stars appear in the image following CCD readout Verify that RETROCAM is in the In position on the xmis control panel 3 Images are out of focus Ensure that you have entered the appropriate focus offset for the primary instrument in use See section 2 of To Observe with RETROCAM for details 4 Iraf is reporting some inscrutable errors when I am attempting to display images in a ds9 or ximtool window The RETROCAM ds9 window will cause conflicts with Iraf ds9 or ximtool windows Discontinue using Iraf on retrocam and perform data analysis using another computer A restart of the RETROCAM software may be necessary 5 Ican t find any guide stars The RETROCAM mirror occults the central region of the guide field Approximately 100 arcmin of unvignetted guide field is available in an annular region around the center The guide probe may be in the shadow of the finder mirror Attempt to focus the guider Inserting a telescope focus offset will put the guider out of focus and refocusing may be necessary to resolve guide stars on the TV screen If you are using the DTI Guider the combination of integration time gain and the settings of the White and Black knobs may be preventing you from seeing the star on the screen Follow the steps in the DTI Guider section of the 2 4m Telescope User s Manual to adjust these settin
8. o lock up requiring system restart 1 The following parameters are set using the RETROCAM GUI Exposure Time Number of Images to acquire in a sequence Image Type Object Dark etc Filename see additional guidance under Filename below File sequence number automatically resets to 1 with each new filename Data directory usually home retrocam data 2 Filters are selected by clicking on the appropriate filter button using the mouse The button will appear yellow during filter wheel motion and will appear green when the selected filter is in place 3 The following FITS header information can be updated in the GUI Object Name RETROCAM User s Guide Object RA and Dec Note This feature is informational and does not change telescope RA amp Dec Future versions of this program will retrieve this information from xtcs automatically Observer Name s Instrument Rotator Position Angle PA 4 The lower right corner of the GUI displays the following information CCD Temperature Telescope Focus not yet implemented Instrument rotator position angle PA Finder Mirror Position not yet implemented Guide Probe Position not yet implemented 5 The thermoelectric cooler TEC controls can be found in the Temperature menu The TEC is automatically set to maintain 20 1 C upon startup Additional adjustments should not be necessary Session Configure Observe Temperature L
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