Old Observer Cookbook - McDonald 2.7m

This is a short summary of normal IGRINS startup sequence for observers.

Instrument and Telescope Startup

1. Wake up ICC on the left (a big iMac) and close all the inactive windows (HKP, DTP, SCP, QLP).
2. Open a terminal and type "cd ~/ingrins_admin" then "python mtini.py". Select "0" to initialize all the motors. Select "2" first, "3" second, then "1", and if it hangs, type "ctrl C".
3. Type "sudo bash icsrun". HKP, SCP and DTP windows automatically open.
4. On the HKP window, click the "Periodic Monitoring" button. 
5. Open another terminal or a new tab and run the Quicklook Packages (QLP) for the H and K detectors.
6. Take short exposures on SCP and DTP to test readout. If you see noise pattern or low-resolution image, contact observing support. 
7. The QLP should have updated when the test exposures are done.
8. Now you are ready to use DTP. 
9. Take calibrations by editing the number and exposure times (Taking Calibrations) and clicking "Run Calibration Mode" on DTP.
   
   

1. On the TCS computer login to your observer account.
2. Start the TCS GUI from the startup toolbar and click 'activate.' Enable dome tracking.
3. Startup weather station GUI on other terminal, wx_gui in terminal.
4. You should now be ready to use TCS.
   
5. To startup the telescope follow the dome opening procedure.
   
   

Start of Night

1. Check the telescope pointing and focus.
2. Night logs should be completed on far right computers 
   1. open a terminal and type > dr
      
      

Note: Unless absolutely required for your science, please disable the autosave feature on the slit camera viewer. This will save 30GB of space each night.

Note: When keeping logs, track the A or B location of your frames. Your data reduction will be better in cases where you manually change the nod location or have bad frames.

Note: The RA and DEC boxes in the DTP must be populated in order for the frames to be saved. If they are missing you will waste a full exposure time.

Note: You need at least one 300s sky frame each night for the PLP to work correctly. If you will not get one of these for your science, then get one to help with reductions.

Note: The A and B box positions need to be verified each night because the slit moves in its holder up to 5 pixels between observing runs.

Glossary

ICC: Instrument Control Computer

HKP: House Keeping Package

DTP: Data Taking Package

SCP: Slitview Camera Package

QLP: Quick Look Package

DCC: Detector Control Computer