Background

Guider finder charts are optional since the Slitmask Alignment Tool (SAT) is used to align DEIMOS slitmasks. Dan Magee of UCO/Lick donated his excellent Python-based utility for creating DEIMOS guider finder charts from DSS images. The software requires only the DSIMULATOR output files as input, and generates not only a set of guider finder charts, but also a starlist file which you can simply copy into your directory in /kroot/starlists.

Procedure

You can generate finder charts for the guider images and also generate the target list using the DEIMOS guider DSS tool, which you can run on your own Linux or Mac computer. Please, click on the Keck Observatory Github repository and follow the installation instructions shown on the Git page. Once you have installed the sofware:

  1. Create a directory in your local machine with your .out files from dsimulator (e.g. masks.)
  2. Run the software as follows:
    	cd masks
    	python [path_to_DeimosGuider]/deimos_guider_dss *.out
          
  3. Wait a few minutes for the software to create the finder charts and the target list. When completed, the software will respond with:
    	Point your browser to → file:///[path_to_your_dsim_out_files]/guider_images.html
          
  4. Use your browser to open this URL, which serves as an index to your finder charts and to the starlist file.
  5. Important sanity check: Verify that the finder chart shows stars in the locations of the markers where guide stars are expected. If not, then the mask may have an astrometry problem!
  6. Copy the starlist file into your directory in /kroot/starlists if you have not done it yet.

Troubleshooting

See Also