Quick Reference

Contact your Support Astronomer (First Night)

  1. If you do not know who is your assigned SA, you can find the name on the observing schedule posted in the Remote Ops I or available online. Home and cell phone numbers are posted on the cork board behind the monitors of the instrument observing station. They should also be available from your Keck Observer Login.
  2. You should make sure to discuss the following points with your SA:

Check account

  1. Consult the on-line Keck II observing schedule. Find the listing for today's date (note that the dates are HST, not UT dates).
  2. The third column of the table will indicate the Account you have been assigned. For example, if it reads kcwi1, your account is kcwi1. Use this account name (in lowercase) when logging in to Keck computers.
  3. The sixth column of the table will indicate your Program ID under PROGID. Note this program ID for use in setting up your configurations and calibrations.

Start VNC viewers

Whether observing from Waimea, from a mainland observing site, or within the Keck Remote Observing software, KCWI observers run all instrument software within VNC desktops. Generally, VNC servers for your run should be up and running when you arrive to observe. Please follow the appropriate set of steps below to launch your VNC viewers on the primary and secondary workstations.

Waimea Startup Procedure

  1. Log in to the observing seat.
    Log into the thin client in Remote Ops II under your assigned numbered KCWI account (e.g., kcwi5; if needed, please contact your Support Astronomer to get the password).
  2. Launch primary and secondary VNC desktops. Open a terminal on the local computer, go to the bin directory, and use: 
    ./start_all_vnc.sh kcwi5

Mainland Startup Procedure

The procedure for launching VNC desktops from remote sites varies from site to site, but generally follows this procedure:
  1. Log in.
    Log in to primary and (if applicable) secondary machines using account and password provided by the site manager.
  2. Launch VNC desktops.
    Your site may have custom instructions, but you likely follow a variation of the Remote Observing Software procedure below. Check your connection and site startup procedure SEVERAL DAYS before your scheduled observing.

Remote Observing Software Startup Procedure

    Refer to Keck Remote Observing Github for installation instructions. After installation, 
     cd ~/RemoteObserving 
     conda activate KRO 
     ./start_keck_viewers kcwiN

Check instrument status

  1. Start a browser: From the desktop menu select Web Browsers -> Launch Firefox
  2. Click on the link labeled Instrument Ready? available on the side menu on any Instrument page.
  3. In the upper right of SIAS check the instrument status. If it reads KCWI READY on a green background the instrument is ready for use. If the message is KCWI NOT READY on a red background, then KCWI has not been released for your use. If it is after the nominal release time (4:00pm weekdays, 3:30pm weekends) contact your SA for assistance.
  4. Check if the Keck 2 Telescope has been released (same color scheme as for the instrument being released. If the telescope is not released, you can take internal calibrations but not dome flats.

Prepare Logs

You now have the choice of maintaining paper or electronic logs for your observing run.

Electronic logsheets

The Keck Observing Log Archive (KEOLA) maintains an on-line log of your run which you can access through the browser window to view or edit. This log is generated whether or not you choose to use it, and is only accessible from within the Keck network, not from outside, so if you are observing remotely you must launch a browser within VNC to access the electronic logs. For full instructions, please refer to the KEOLA webpage.

After your observing run, your logs can be found at the bottom of your Keck Observer page.

Start KCWI software

  1. Start up the KCWI software.
    1. Right click on the background to access the KCWI menu.
    2. Select KCWI Control Menu.
    3. Select Start All KCWI GUI (Observer).
  2. Accept the default blue and red initialization.
    The script will launch a window that will allow you to specify the observer names, output directory, starting frame number, etc. The default is the correct answer for most questions, unless you are the second half observer of KCWI/KCWI split night, in which case, make sure your SA changes the data directory and the observer name for calibrations and at switchover.
  3. Verify windows.
    Check that the following windows appear:

Test and focus the instrument

Ask your SA if they have run the afternoon focus. If yes, skip this. If no, follow the directions below.

From the background menu, run:

KCWI Utilities -> Automated Afternoon sequence

This procedure will:

  1. Take a test exposure with the blue and red camera
  2. Turn on the focal plane camera and take a test exposure
  3. If exposures look good, tell the script to continue
  4. Focus the calibration unit
  5. Center the calibration unit
  6. Focus the blue and red camera

As the focus sequence completes, it will pop up a plot of the focus data and the fit performed on the data, first blue and then red. The best focus of the blue and red cameras are the center of a wide flat-bottomed data parabola. Currently, the automatic fit is not always centered. Please check if the fitted "best focus" reported in the script window is (1) the center of the flat region and (2) is within the normal values of -1.8 mm to -1.9 mm for blue and -1.4 mm to -1.3 mm for red. If the fitted value isn't right, note the correct values and let the focus script finish. Once done, observers can set a different focus value using the blue focus script "focusb -1.85" (insert your own value) and the red focus script "focusr -1.38". Ask your SA for help if needed.

Prepare instrument configurations

  1. Open a browser and point it to: 
     http://kcwiserver:5001
    Note that this ONLY works when the KCWI software is running. The page looks like this screenshot.
  2. Click the "Select Program" button in the upper right corner and then type your TAC-assigned program ID in the box that appears (check the sixth column of the observing schedule if you don't know your program ID).
  3. Add as many configurations as needed. Make sure they have different names with NO spaces. ALWAYS click the "Default Cal Unit" and "Default Detector Config" buttons at the bottom of the Add Configuration page. If you need to change the detector configuration, you can always do it after the configuration is added.

There is NO NEED to execute your configuration.

Notes on instrument configurations:

Take internal and dome calibrations

Fully automatic mode (RECOMMENDED)

For this mode, see Calibration Checklist GUI.

For a command line access to the same functions, use: Calibration Checklist.

Manual mode

Taking the correct sequence of internal and dome calibrations is critical for the data reduction pipeline. For this reason, and unless there are compelling reasons to do otherwise, we recommend following the instructions described here and use our automatic scripts for calibrations. These scripts make use of instrument configurations and they produce calibration sequences that be run unsupervised.

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.

  1. Using the configuration manager, verify that all the necessary configurations have been created
  2. For each configuration that will be used during the night, use the "save configuration" icon to generate a state file
  3. Go to the data directory (cdata)
  4. Make sure that the state files have been created correctly
  5. For each of the state files on the data directory, run: 
     makecalib <state_file>
  6. 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)
  7. 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

 

Prepare the targetlist

Format your targetlist as specified on the Starlist File Format page. Upload your targetlist via your Keck PI page or as directed on the Starlist File Format page. Once you have your targetlist uploaded into MAGIQ (File -> Load Private Starlist), make sure that your targets and any offsets uploaded correctly.

Coordinate with the OA

Observing Assistants customarily arrive at the summit around 5:30pm in winter and 6:00pm in summer. Once they arrive, you can do one or more of the following:
  1. Greet the OA.
    Introduce yourself to the OA and alert them to any immediate needs that you will have. Tell them if you are taking calibrations and inform them about your calibration plans.
  2. Wait for the OA to get settled.
    Setting up computers and bringing up all of the telescope control systems requires some time, and things go wrong much more often than we would prefer. Be patient while the OA prepares the telescope for operation.
  3. Inform the OA about your targetlist.
    Now would be a good time to let the OA know where your targetlist is, so they can verify that they have access to it.
  4. Inform the OA of your plans for the night
    It is always good practice to inform the OA of your science plans: depending on the KCWI modes you plan to use (nod and shuffle, type of slicer...), the OA will make decisions on how and when is best to focus the telescope. The OA can also be asked about specific observing techniques you are interested into (e.g dithering, offset pointing, etc). Just before opening, your SA will also be available to help with these issues. Do not be shy and ask.

Get dinner

If you are reading this, you're probably very tired and hungry. Moreover, the real work is still ahead of you. Now it is a good idea to go get dinner and all other sources of sustainment you may need during the night.
In each Remote Ops room there is a folder labelled Restaurant Guide for you to consult. Please also note that Starbucks (across the road, in the Foodland shopping center) closes, mercilessly and irrevocably, at 9:00 pm, EXCEPT on Sunday and Monday which have cruelly early closing times of 6pm and 3pm, respectively.

Continue to Evening Startup Checklist

Evening Startup Checklist