NEWFIRM Manual

Here we describe the NEWFIRM observing GUI and discuss other information relevant for observing.

• Open VNC viewers (NEWFIRM Obs and NEWFIRM IRAF)
• Start NEWFIRM GUI in Obs VNC viewer
• Press "Start of Night"
  • Turns on Detector power
  • Opens environmental cover
  • Places dark slide in
• Initialize system
  • open filter tool
  • press init
  • move filter from dark to JX by hand
• Take flats
  • Ask telescope operator to point telescope to white spot
  • open flats tool on NEWFIRM GUI
  • default flat script will take flats for JHKs and 1644, 2124, and 2168
• Take darks
  • Default script will take dark frames with exposure times corresponding to flat field exposure times
  • Add darks with appropriate exposure times, coadds, and fowlers as your expected science exposures
• Start of night
  • Telescope pointing
    • use J filter
    • Go to a recognizable field (e.g., a standard star).
    • Identify the object on the detectors.  The pointing is generally good so the object may be located in the detector gap
    • Perform offsets until you can see the object on a detector.
    • Determine the pixel coordinates of the object in the detector and calculate the offsets to place the object in the corner nearest the cross in the detector gap.  The detector gap is 35 arcsec.  Perform other 17.5 arcsec (NS) and 17.5 arcsec (EW) to place the close to the center of the detector gap.
    • Ask telescope operators to perform the zero-point.
  • Telescope focus
    • Use J filter
    • Select telescope focus script
    • for the argument use expected telescope focus  (telescope operators have a tool to predict best focus value depending on temperature)
    • execute the focus sequence
    • use IRAF nffocus tool to determine best focus
    • table of focus offsets from JX to others is available in table located at (focus offset table page)
    • edit /tmp/focuslist to look at one detector
  • Observing
    • Individual exposures
      • Set exposure time, coadds, and fowler
      • Select obstype
      • Choose basename
      • Title
      • Expose
    • Dithered exposures
      • All of above
      • Select grid pattern
      • Select number of grid steps in x and y
      • Select step size in x and y
      • Click OK
      • Click Start
    • Scripted exposures
      • Scripts can be text or JSON (examples of each)
      • Select Load
      • Click start
      • Sequences
        • Run multiple scripts