The following routine is recommended to start the night.

Summary

Start guider eavesdropping

Guider eavesdropping allows you to monitor the image from the guide camera in real time. To start eavesdropping:

On the right-hand monitor, select the TCSU Telescope GUIs > Magic Guider UI option from the OpenWindows menu. It will look like this screenshot.

Start FACSUM

The “Facilities Summary” or FACSUM window is a real-time display of the telescope status. To run FACSUM:
  1. On the middle kealoha screen, select the TCSU Telescope GUIs > FACSUM option from the OpenWindows menu.
  2. Resize the window as desired.

Start Weather Met

Keck 2 Met is a meteorological display showing current summit temperature/dewpoint data. It looks like this screenshot. To run it:
  1. On the middle kealoha screen, select the TCSU Telescope GUIs > Weather option from the OpenWindows menu.
  2. Adjust the size of this window as desired.

Ask your Observing Assistant to load the starlist in the guider

Only the Observing Assistant can load your starlist. Let them know if you uploaded it manually in the /kroot/starlist directory, or if you used the Keck PI web interface. Once they have loaded it, map the starlist in MAGIQ by selecting File > Map OA starlist.

Enable DCS Rotator Control

The telescope drive and control system must be connected to the instrument rotator. To do so:

KCWI Control Menu> Enable KCWI Rotator

Note that this initializes the rotator if needed. The rotator initialization procedure is rather complicated and can take a few minutes. The progress of the procedure can be followed in the terminal that will appear when you issue the command.

Run the Start of Night script

From the background menu:

KCWI Control Menu > Start Night Script

This script performs a number of operations.

  1. Insert the focal plane camera (in preparation for MIRA) if not starting with twilight flats
  2. Turn off any remaining calibration lamps
  3. Remove the calibration mirror
  4. Open the instrument hatch

 

Select first target

In the starlist shown on MAGIQ, click the middle mouse button on the target you wish to begin observing; this will highlight the line in yellow on your MAGIQ GUI and also on the Observing Assistant's MAGIQ GUI. You can also highlight your target by right-clicking and selecting the "Highlight this target" option. Providing this information to the OA before opening the dome may allow him or her to save time by pre-positioning the telescope. If you have other needs (e.g., twilight flats), this is a good time to advise the OA.

Wait for dome to open

The Observing Assistant (OA) is not permitted to open the dome until after sunset. Please be patient while the shutter opens and the OA checks the initial telescope pointing.

Set the rotator angle

Ask the OA to send KCWI to any position; for example, the position angle to be used for your first target or use the "skypa" command in a terminal or the skypa button on the Exposure GUI.

Once the dome is open, take twilight flats (optional)

Most KCWI users take twilight flats because they are very bright in the blue and properly through the telescope at infinity (vs internal continuum flats). Tell the OA that you want to start with Twilight Flats and they will slew the telescope to the west once the dome is open. The OA may ask if you want to track a field or not; most observers do not track a field.

 

Start taking exposures immediately. Aim for 20-30k counts above the bias level. With 2x2 binning, one's next exposure times are generally 1.5x-2x one's current time. With 1x1 binning, one's next exposure times are generally 3x-4x one's current time. Red twilight flats are less useful since the sky gets faint rapidly; cap exposure times at 300s.

Slew to vicinity of first target

When ready to move the telescope, the OA will ask you for your first target and load the coordinates from your starlist file. They will select a bright star near your target and will attempt to acquire that in the guider, then will double-check the accuracy of pointing by acquiring one or two additional stars from the SAO or GSC catalogs.

Focus telescope

Ask the OA to focus the telescope using the appropriate the MIRA script on the Focal Plane Camera. The MIRA script will turn on the Focal Plane Camera and move it into beam, and then it will run the MIRA. The MIRA script will finish by turning the Focal Plane Camera off.

 

Since the Focal Plane Camera has been moved into beam, the observer must resend their configuration to put their Slicer back into the beam. This is the most forgotten step, and the reason many observers lose their first exposure. Don't forget!

 

Once you are on your standard or science target, you have the option to continue setting your object name as normal via the "Set Object" button on the Blue Exposure Control GUI, or you may use the "Automatically set object from Telescope Pointing Information" checkbox down at the bottom of the GUI, which will as advertised set the OBJECT keyword automatically. Checking the box will not change what is shown in the text box at the top of the GUI, but every time the object name is set to a new value, a message to that effect will show up in the white log box.

 

Please do read the Detector Information page about recommended blue/red exposure times, detector parameters, and how the red detector's impressive detection of cosmic rays limits the suggested red exposure time.

 

Finally, the estimated overheads of grating changes, detector readout times, etc., are listed on the Estimated Overheads page. Once you know the readout times for your desired operational mode, we encourage optimizing your time by slewing to your next target as the exposures read out! It is also possible to change configurations as the exposures read out, however, we DO NOT suggest doing so because changing configurations (moving the detectors) can cause additional read noise.

 

Best wishes for the night!