Summary
- If you do not know who your assigned SA is, consult the
observing schedule posted in Remote Ops 2 (also available online).
Contact numbers for all SAs are posted on the partition wall. You can also access phone numbers for your SA via the internal SIAS page, which you can access via a browser (e.g. firefox) running within any instrument VNC window: here).
- You should make sure to discuss the following points with your SA:
- The goals of your observing programs and any unusual
aspects of the observering strategy..
- Plans for afternoon and night calibrations.
- Instrument issues, recent changes and latest news (e.g., recent problems)
- Any other questions, requests and needs you may have.
- Consult the online Keck II observing schedule. Find the listing for today's date (note that the dates are HST, not UT dates).
- The third column of the table will indicate the ACCOUNT you have been assigned. For example, if it reads nspec5, your account is "nspec5". Use this account name (in lowercase) when logging in to Keck computers.
Whether observing from Waimea or from a mainland observing site,
NIRSPEC 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
- Log in to the observing seat.
Log into the thin client in Remote Ops II under your
assigned numbered NIRSPEC account (e.g., nspec5; if
needed, please contact your Support Astronomer to get the
password).
- Launch primary and secondary VNC desktops. Open a terminal on the local computer, go to the bin directory, and use:
./start_all_vnc.sh nspec5
Mainland Startup Procedure
The procedure for launching VNC desktops from remote sites
varies from site to site, but generally follows this
procedure:
- Log in.
Log in to primary and (if
applicable) secondary machines using account and
password provided by the site manager.
- Get firewall access.
If necessary, follow
authentication procedure for access through Keck's
firewall.
- Launch VNC.
Execute the appropriate script
to bring up VNC desktops. At sites with a single
4-headed machine execute the command
kvncall nirspec nspecN
where N is the number of your NIRSPEC observing
account.
At sites with separate primary and secondary machines,
execute this command on the primary machine:
kvncinst nirspec nspecN
and this command on the secondary machine:
kvnctel nirspec nspecN
At-Home (aka Pajama Observing) Startup Procedure
- Run the VNC startup script from your local computer at home
cd RemoteObserver
conda activate KRO
./start_keck_viewers nspecN
- Follow the prompts. You should've gotten the relevant passwords from when you uploaded your sshkey via the observers login page here. If not, please contact your Support Astronomer to get the sshuser and VNC passwords.
- Start a browser: From the desktop menu select Firefox
- Click on the link labeled Instrument
Ready? available on the side menu on any page.
- In the upper right of SIAS check the instrument
status. If it reads NIRSPEC
READY on a green background the instrument is ready
for use. If the message is NIRSPEC
NOT READY on a red background, then NIRSPEC has not
been released for your use. If it is after the nominal
release time (2:00pm weekdays, 3:00pm weekends) contact your
SA for assistance.
Note that NIRSPEC's calibrations are
all internal, and thus do not require dome flats. Therefore, you
may proceed with taking NIRSPEC calibrations once the instrument
has been released, even if the Telescope has not been released.
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.
Paper logsheets
If you prefer physical logsheets for note-taking, now would be a
good time to prepare them. You can preview and print out copies
of logsheets from the computer.
- NIRSPEC Standard (non-AO) logsheet
- NIRSPEC Standard AO logsheet
- NIRSPEC Classic logsheet
Start up the NIRSPEC control software.
- Right click on the background to access the NIRSPEC menu.
- Select NIRSPEC Control Menu.
- Select NIRSPEC start up
The script will launch a window and ask you if you want to
continue. If the instrument has been released, then proceed (answer [y]).
Verify windows.
Check that the following windows appear:
- Control 0 Desktop (left most screen):
- Control 1 Desktop (2nd from left):
- Ginga SCAM display (SCAM)
- SCAM Xshow (detector settings)
- SCAM Detector Dialog
- Control 2 Desktop (3rd from left):
- Ginga SPEC display (SPEC)
- SPEC Xshow (detector settings)
- SPEC Detector Dialog
- Telstatus (4th from left):
- Magiq Guide Camera (optical offset guider)
- Facsum (Telescope Info)
- Met (weather status at the summit)
Verify or Modify Names set by the Program Identification GUI (PIG)
The PIG will choose default observer names which are based on
the telescope observing schedule. To change these defaults, click
in the observer name box and type the name(s) as you wish them to
appear in FITS headers of your data. Then click "set". Note the
data directory which gets assigned, and cannot be changed by the
observer.
If it is a split (i.e., shared) night, then the
first half observer directory will be named as the UTDate,
and the second half directory will be the UTDate with "_B" appended.
On split nights, clicking on one of the listed program names will
make it the active program, which toggles to the appropriate
directory where subsequent data will be saved to,
with file numbers that either start at 1 or
continue sequentially after the last file number written to that
directory.
As an alternative for setting the observer name:
Open a local NIRSPEC xterm and type: "observer YOURNAMEHERE".
The NIRSPEC Control Options Widget (COW) is no longer avaiable. The software startup defaults to having wait4center = off. This default mode allows for taking exposures efficiently without waiting for user input before starting each new exposure in a nod sequence. If you want to enable "wait4center" to allow the EFS to pause after each nod along the slit (with a small pop-up window that waits for user confirmation before continuing), then issue this command from any nirspec xterm: wait4center on. To verifiy what it is current set to, type "wait4center" without any arguments.
- from any nirspec xterm: "wait4center on" (to enable it)
- from any nirspec xterm: "wait4center off" (to disable it)
- from any nirspec xterm: "wait4center" (returns what it is currently set to)
Take test images on SPEC and SCAM to verify that they are reading
out properly.
Test SPEC
- Set to the minimum exposure time with SPEC. From a local NIRSPEC
xterm: "itime 1.5"
- Command an exposure with SPEC. From a local NIRSPEC
xterm: "goi"
- Examine the display image on Ginga SPEC. If this is right after the software has been started up, the BLANK filter will be in beam, and you should see 30-40 counts across the image.
Test SCAM
- Set to the minimum exposure time with SCAM. From a local NIRSPEC
xterm: "itime2 0.67"
- Command an exposure with SCAM. From a local NIRSPEC
xterm: "goi2"
- Examine the display image on Ginga SCAM. If this is right after the software has been started up, the BLANK filter will be in beam, and you should see <100 counts across the image.
We recommend using the NIRSPEC Echelle Format
Simulator to configure the instrument and acquire data. Once you have your desired setting specified in the EFS, verify that you are in SETUP ONLY, then click "GO" on the EFS. You'll see activity in the NIRSPEC Mechanism GUI as the instrument configures to your commanded setup.
You can easiliy acquire needed calibrations using the
Calibration Acquisition Tool (aka The CAT).
The NIRSPEC Calibrations page can help you
Verify the wavelegnth setting you have configured on the instrument. See the tools for Arc Lamp Plots or OH Skyline Plots, grouped by SPEC filter name. (e.g. N7 echelle is Kband)
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