Taking the correct sequence of internal and dome calibrations is critical for the data reduction pipeline. The Manual scripts described here were used when KCWI was first delivered. While they work, they are outdated. For this reason, and unless there are compelling reasons to do otherwise, we Strongly Recommend to instead use the instructions for the Calibration GUI or the newer automatic Calibration scripts.

It is highly preferrable to take both internal and dome calibrations at the same time. Unfortunately, this means that you need to wait until the telescope is released and the dome is dark. If you feel that there might not be enough time to complete your calibrations after the telescope is released, there are ways to take only the internal calibrations and catch up later on the dome calibrations. See your support astronomer if you need to proceed this way.

Quick Reference

• Verify instrument states in the KCWI configuration manager
• Save the states to disk
• Create a master calibration script
• Run the master calibration script

Verify instrument states in KCWI configuration manager

1. After creating multiple states for KCWI, take some time to verify that they look correct, including the detector configuration sub-menu (camera icon).
2. Make sure that none of the State Names contain spaces; dashes and underscores are fine.
3. States that are modified after taking calibrations WILL require a new set of calibrations.

Save the states to disk

1. One at a time, go through the states that you wish to calibration, skipping the states that you will not use during the night.
2. For each state, click on the "disk" icon to produce an actual "state_file" on the current output directory.
3. Go to the output directory (cdata) and verify that the states have been created correctly.

Create a master calibration script

1. For each of the state files on the data directory, run:

    makecalib <state_file>

2. Inspect the .cal files generated and make changes if needed (for example, you might want to add darks if you feel that they are needed, or increase the number of flats, or disable dome flats if the telescope is not released)
3. For each of the .cal and .state files, run:

   restore_state -nomask <state_file>

   followed by

   calib <cal_file> %(OLD VERSION, csh based) 

   or:

   kcas_calib -f <cal_file>    (NEW VERSION, Python based)

   See your SA for the difference between the two versions. This will automatically configure KCWI and take all the necessary calibrations. It is easy to collect these commands in a single file containing a sequence of restore_state + calib calls, if you prefer to run all your calibration unattended rather than just one at a time

If the telescope is not released (we are not pointing at the flat screen, elevation is not 45), the calibration script will automatically skip dome flats. They will need to be taken separately once the telescope is released for dome flats. Ask you Support Astronomer to help you with that.