Purpose
This checklist describes the procedure for aligning
targets on the KCWI slicers.
Procedure: Synopsis
This is a brief version for use by experienced KCWI observers.
Novices should read the
detailed procedure
below.
- Focus the telescope
- Focus telescope if needed
- Ask the OA to run an autofocus or a MIRA. Note that MIRA is a much slower due to the need to insert the Focal Plane Camera
- MIRA is ONLY performed on the first focus of the first night of a run to correctly set the secondary mirror tilts. Autofocus should be use on any subsequent focus sequences.
- Slew to the target and send to the appropriate Pointing Origin
- Ask the OA to slew to your target
- Identify the field and ask the OA to move your target to one of the IFU pointing origins (they are extremely close to each other)
- Take a guider image
- Center the target on the slicer
- Using the Offset GUI, offset the telescope until the target is centered
- Take guider images to verify the centering
Procedure: Detail
Focus the telescope
- Option 1: Autofocus
- After sleweing to the vicinity of the target, ask the OA to run autofocus. This only takes a few minutes.
- Option 2: Mira
- The MIRA focus sequence is done on the focal plane camera, so you need to budget about 6 additional minutes to move from your current slider to the FCP and back
- You can save some time by manually switching to the FPC while slewing to the next target, using the command: slicer fpcam
- If you do this, wait until the move is complete before initiating a MIRA sequence
Slew to the target and send to the appropriate pointing origin
- Ask the OA to slew to your target and start guiding
- KCWI uses the new TCSU control system, so the pointing is very accurate
- Once the telescope is at the right position and guiding, identify the target on the guider and tell the OA to send it to the IFU pointing origin.
- Take an image of the field with the guider with the "take guider image" button
- The image will appear on the third ds9 display, and an overlay of the three slicers will be displayed
Center the target on the slicer
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Use the offset GUI to center your target. The options are:
- Move object in guider coordinates. In this case, the object will go in the direction of the button: if you click left, the target will move left.
- Move telescope in target coordinates. With these buttons you are moving the telescope, so the object will move in the opposite direction.
- Move object across slicer. This is used to move the object a fixed number of slices (including fractions).
If you prefer to use command, you can use any of the offsetting commands described below
- gotoxy x y This commands moves the telescope by the specified amount of arcseconds in the x and y directions as displayed in the focal plane camera, relative to the base position
- gxy x y This commands moves the telescope by the specified amount of arcseconds in the x and y directions as displayed in the focal plane camera, relative to the current position
- moveGuider x1 y1 x2 y2 This command moves the object in guider coordinates from (x1,y1) to (x2,y2)
For the gotoxy and gxy commands, the direction of motion is as follows:
- +x moves the target left
- -x moves the target right
- +y moves the target down
- -y moves the target up
The spatials relations between guider, focal plane camera and slicers is shown below (large slicer is displayed):