Quick Reference

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
  2. States that are modified after taking calibrations might 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 and verify that the states have been created correctly

Create a master calibration script

Use the command:

 generate_cal_script.py

to create a master calibration script for your states on your screen.

This script will create four new scripts in your home directory:

Script Function 
generate_cal_files.csh
 Generate the lists of required calibration for each of your states 
all_calibrations.csh
 Execute a complete calibration sequence, including internal and dome cals 
nodome_calibrations.csh
 Execute only the internal calibrations 
dome_calibrations.csh
 Execute only the dome calibrations, if they have been skipped earlier

To proceeed, run csh generate_cal_files.csh and inspect the .cal files to make sure they meet your requirements. In general the only values you might want to change are the number of flats/arcs, or add darks. Then, run one of the calibrations scripts, depending on the current conditions. If the telescope is released, you can run csh all_calibrations.csh, otherwise you might want to run the nodome version first.

Each script is made of two parts:

  1. A sequences of calls to makecalib which produce a calibration file for each of the state files
  2. An optimized sequence of calls to restore_state + calib which configure KCWI and take the actual calibrations

Note that these scripts are highly optimized for speed and to minize the instrument configuration changes. They also minimize the number of binning changes, because the current version of the DSP code introduces a low level of residual charge when the binning is modified

Execution time depends on the number of calibrations and on the exposure times needed. For each state, the execution time can vary from 10 to 40 minutes.

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 have to be taken separately. See your Support Astronomer to do that.