CASPIR Introduction

Before you start reading Getting Going Quickly , this basic introduction to the different controls of the 2.3m, in relation to CASPIR, could be useful.

When using CASPIR there are 3 computers and 4 screens of interest, as well as the large console.

CONSOLE
For trouble shooting, please also check the webpages for the double-beam spectrograph (DBS) at the 2.3m.

Starting up procedures.

At this stage one can either proceed to open the building and uncover the primary mirror (in that order, make sure the mirror cover is fully covered whenever the building shutter is in motion !) by pushing the respective buttons on the plant control panel, or first start up telescope control on Maia .

Shutting down the telescope at the end of the night if largely automated. After typing ( halt ) park and shutdown at the telescope control terminal of Maia , all you need to do is press CONSOLE OFF and restore the building lights to normal with FLUOROS ON .

It is possible to control some mechanical structures from Maia, instead of from the console, with the switch (section 7 of the 2.3m observer's manual). The other way around, it is also possible to program some buttons (bottom centre of console) to correspond to frequently used software control commands (section 6.6 of the 2.3m OM).

At the very bottom of the central console are the focus and telescope drive control buttons. Make sure the ``coordinate selection'' and ``control mode'' are at the proper position (probably ``ra/dec'' and ``offset'', respectively) for the sort of driving you want to use (for pointing calibration etc.).

MAIA
The VAX controling the telescope, called Maia, has its screen and keyboard on the large console, beneath the shutter control buttons, the CD player etc. Get a prompt by pushing the break key and login as TELESCOPE , password known to you if you are an honest observer. You will typically not have your own directory here, enter VISITOR when prompted for a identification. You then type startup to set the defaults for the telescope systems. These are set (obviously) in the file startup.com , living in a directory called mso_user:[visitor.observe] . If the defaults are not what you need, you can change the settings with a range configure commands (see section 7 in the 2.3m Observer's Manual in the control room). After the startup has been completed, you need to open communications with CASPIR by typing enlist ir and with TIPTILT by enlist tt . Your tracking coordinate files (extension .coord ) will also need to be in the startup directory. From Maia, ftp the necessary files over from a unix machine. To select your file for the telescope control to read coordinates from, type tra/file=myfile (for myfile.coord). For more on the track command, see the Getting Going Quickly . Sections 6 and 7 of the 2.3m Observer's Manual provide useful reading on a lot of the telescope control commands. The screen to the right of the main Maia screen is controled from Maia, with the display commands, and can display a number of useful monitoring pages. Some mechanical structures, such as the windscreens and focus, can be controled - to a certain extent - with the configure commands. (The default settings of these are in the startup.com file.) The flatfield lamps are controled with the switch command.

MOPRA
The VAX controling the instrument CASPIR, called Mopra, has its screen and keyboard immediately left of the large console. Login to this computer as INFRARED . On this computers, you will need to create a directory on datadisk:[infrared] , eg. datadisk:[infrared.maartje] . In this directory, you keep your observe files (extension .do ). You should set the variable IR_DO to this directory; see Getting Going Quickly . Observe file caspobs.do is started by typing do caspobs ; the currently active file is stopped by typing casp/abort . The data will be written to eg. datadisk:[infrared.21jan00] ; upon typing startnewnight in the CASPIR control program, a new directory with the current date will be created.

MISTY
The tiptilt correction program runs on the UNIX machine Misty. Easiest is to login to the workstation to the left of Mopra, which is called Moist, as yourself. (Misty itself is the workstation next to the tapedrives, against the wall on the far left when standing facing the console.) Archiving is also done from Misty. The data directory on Mopra (see above) is directly accessible as eg. /data/mopra/21jan00.dir , so you can write tapes directly from there. See the tapedrives next to Misty for device names.