This is a brief summary and checklist of the procedures you need to follow when observing at MRO. Please be aware that changes to the Telescope Control System in June, 2006, will be rendering much of this document obsolete. Observers should contact the MRO Administrator prior to use of the telescope for the very latest information on the status of the control system upgrade. If you are reading a printed copy, please check the revision date at the top against the latest version at

Initial Comments

FILTER SLIDE ISSUES AND FIXES

Because of recent damage to the clinometer in the filter slide, the "Z" command normally used to set the telescope's zenith will not function. This also means that the filter temperatures recorded in the image headers will be wrong.

The limit switch at the number 6 position on the filter slide is still acting up. Because of this it is still not a good idea to use this filter position. If you really need all 6 filters, talk to the observatory engineer on advice on how to use filter position 6.

Finally, the filter slide has been intermittently blowing the fuse labelled "F1", located on the power box attached to the south side of the telescope (in park position). If it happens during your observations, the filter slide will cease to respond to commands, and the green "power on" light will no longer be lit, although the power switch is set to on. This has also been known to occur during the boot process at the beginning of the night. If it happens at that time, the green "power on" light will not come on, and you will not receive the "Welcome to the MRO Filter Slide" message on the TCC.

Should it appear that you have blown the F1 fuse, you can find replacements on the wooden desk on the observing floor. They are small, two-prong, 125V 5A fuses; one is pictured here. Turn off the power to the TCC, the Filter Slide, and the Telescope Drive Motors. Use the ladder to access the power box on the south side of the telescope, unscrew the F1 fuse cover, and replace the burnt out fuse. You should be able to now restart the telescope, the TCC, and the Filter Slide in the normal manner.

A WORD ABOUT THE OBSERVING FLOOR

In general, you shouldn't be using the observing floor unless there is some sort of emergency. There is a light on the TCC control panel which indicates when the observing floor is all the way down. If this light is not on, then the telescope software is programed to disallow movements of the telescope. When the floor is all the way down, its not possible to run the telescope into it.

1. ____Turn on the Dell monitor in the observing control room, and turn on Popeye (pictured here). Launching Internet Explorer will bring up the MRO Homepage, from which you can access the latest version of this checklist, along with the many helpful images imbedded in this document. Additionally, you will find a printed version of this document, complete with printouts of all images, in a notebook on the table immediately across from Popeye. On the upper left of the Popeye display you will also see a folder labeled "MRO Observing". Double-click here to open this folder and find shortcuts to start the Spyder (Andor Camera), DS9, IDL, SSH, and Cygwin command windows.

    

2. ____Check the level of the water tank. The water tank is located down the stairs heading toward the bedrooms, in the utility room on the right. The light to this room is (most inconveniently!) located on the left side of the doorway. The water level is checked by looking at the glass tubes to the left side of the water tank. Refill this tank if it is below 1/4 full. Please record the date and the amount present in the tank before your fill on the sheet taped to the water tank.

    

3. ____Turn on the circuit breakers (pictured here and here) for the air conditioner (if not already turned on) and the water pump. Do not turn on the water heater unless necessary. The air conditioner needs to be turned on only if the daytime outside temperature is above about 70 degrees.

    

4. ____(WILL NEED REVISION) Turn on the telescope control computer (TCC) monitor and then the TCC. The power switch for the TCC is at the bottom of the electronics rack. You should see displayed on the monitor RA, DEC, and UT, among other numbers (type 'h' for a list of commands). Wait until you see this display before proceeding.

    

5. ____(WILL NEED REVISON) Turn on the telescope power with the key on the RA skirt. In the circular hole at the base of the telescope pier three LED lights should come on. If it is very cold, they may not all be lit. If that is the case, heat the electronics with a blow-dryer (located on the table to the south of the telescope pier) for a few minutes. If all systems are working properly, these three LED lights will be green. If one or more of the LEDs are red, turn off the telescope power, and reboot the TCC (see previous step). Do not proceed to the next step (turning on the filter slide power) until all three LED lights in the telescope pier are green.

    

6. ____Turn the filter slide power on using the toggle switch located on the north side of the telescope (pictured here and here). Check the LED located on the west side of the filter slide housing. If this LED is green, everything is fine; you will also see a welcome statement on the TCC monitor indicating that the filter slide has powered up. If the LED is not lit at this point, double check that the power switch is on, and if necessary see the instructions at the beginning of this checklist to replace the F1 fuse.

    

7. ____(WILL NEED REVISION) Set the UT time on the TCC. Type "h" on the TCC keyboard to see a list of available commands for the TCC. Use the TCC "U" command to correct the UT time displayed on the TCC monitor by setting it to match that shown on the GPS display near the top of the electronics rack. This is most easily done by setting the time to several seconds ahead of the GPS display, then hitting the "enter" key on the TCC keyboard. You will be asked to confirm the UT change by typing "y" and then hitting "enter" once again. Wait to strike this second "enter" key until the time on the GPS display is also showing the time which you typed into the TCC as the correct UT time. Deviations between the TCC and GPS time should be no more than +/- 2 seconds. Please note that proper syntax should be used in entering the time (i.e., type "04:26:33" instead of "4 26 33"), or the TCC software may not properly interpret your entry.

    

8. ____(Optional) Turn on the Dome Tracking Control power. The Dome Tracking Control power switch is located at the very top of the electronics rack. When this switch is turned on you will see one of the 10 red LEDs on the dome encoder panel come on. Each of these 10 LEDs denotes the rough position of the dome. The left-most red LED and the lower yellow LED should both be on when the dome is at the "parked" or "zero" position, i.e. the position required to plug in the shutter motors and open and close the telescope slit. If both the left-most red LED and the lower yellow LED are not lit, despite the fact that the dome is obviously in the "parked" position, then you will need to reset the dome origin (see next step).

    

9. ____(Optional) Reset the dome encoder origin. Below the line of 10 red LEDs which display the rough dome position is a yellow LED which is on only when the dome tracking control encoder is at the origin. If this LED is not lit you will need to reset the dome encoder origin manually in order to use automatic dome tracking during the night. It is easiest to reset the dome origin with the help of a partner. One person should stay in the control room looking at the dome encoder LEDs while the other goes out on the ladder and turns the dome encoder wheel by hand. As the wheel turns, the position of the lit red LED light will change; recall that when in the home position, the leftmost red LED will be lit. When the yellow LED is on and the dome is at the parked position, then the dome origin is properly set.

    

10. ____(Optional) Turn on the printer, located in the northwest corner of the control room (pictured here. Clearly, there is no need to do this if you don't want to print anything!

     

11. ____(WILL NEED REVISION) Change the filter slide to position 1 with the TCC "W" command. After typing "W" on the TCC keyboard (don't include the quotes!) it will ask you for a filter slide command. Type "m1" to send the filter slide to position 1. It is now safe to remove the filter holder baffle in preparation for installation of your filters.

     

12. ____Install your filters in the filter holder. Filter holders and boxes containing the individual filters are located in the upper cabinets in the Darkroom, across the hall from the control room. Please take extreme care when handling the filters, as they are precision made scientific equipment worth many thousands of dollars! Screws to secure the filters to the filter holder are located in the same cabinets as the filters themselves. After securing the filters to the filter holder, run your fingers along the underside of the holder (without touching the filters!) to make sure the screws do not poke through the its back side. If there is some dust on the filters, carefully blow it off with the air spray canister found in the Darkroom; do not "tip" the canister down, as this may cause liquid to squirt out. Use only short bursts (< 0.5 sec), aimed at roughly a 45 degree angle to the filter surface from a distance of a few inches. Finally, make note of the numerical position of each filter (labelled on the filter holder, adjacent to each filter opening) so that you may accurately select and record the appropriate filter for each image you wish to take during the night. Recall from the introduction of this document that it is best to avoid using filter position 6 since the filter slide still has problems with this position under some circumstances. If you must use this position you will need to talk to the observatory engineer beforehand.

     

13. ____(WILL NEED REVISION) Reset the filter slide origin of the filter slide motor if you have moved the filter slide while installing the filters. Again, using the TCC keyboard "W" command, send the command "o" to the filter slide. This will re-home the filter slide if it has been moved during the filter installation. If you were careful during the filter installation you should not need to do this.

     

14. ____Install the filter holder into the filter slide housing. Carefully insert the filter holder into the slot on the south side of the filter slide housing. The filter holder should slide in without resistance until the last several millimeters. Do not force the filter holder into the slide housing!. If the filter holder offers any resistance before the last few millimeters are reached, you may need to reset the filter slide origin (see previous step). Once the filter holder is properly in place, gently ease the filter holder in over the last few millimeters and secure the filter holder to the filter slide housing using the two large, black retaining screws. Once the filter holder is firmly in place, reattach the filter holder baffle.

     

15. ____Open the dome at about sunset. From the power unit in the northeast corner of the dome, take the multi-pronged cable (held by caribiners to the motor on the dome itself) which controls the upper shutter and plug it into the appropriate socket located below the dome motor. Once it is connected, toggle the upper shutter control switch to 'open.' Once the upper shutter has moved a few inches, you can open the lower shutter by plugging in its standard 3-prong power cord and pushing on the lower shutter power switch located on the righthand side of the dome motor until the lower shutter is fully deployed. Unplug the 3-prong power cord when the lower half is fully deployed. When the upper shutter has completely cleared the zenith toggle the upper shutter control switch to its middle (off) position and unplug the upper shutter multi-pronged power cord. Restow the cables using the carabiners attached to each power cord. The carabiners should both snap onto the U bracket which is mounted above the dome shutter motor- make sure the plugs don't hang down, otherwise they might get caught as the dome rotates (note, the dome encoder box and the arc calibration shelf are the most likely impediments).

     

16. ____Remove the telescope covers. To remove the main mirror cover you must slew the telescope South until you can reach the cover handle while standing on the telescope stairs. You must also remove the cover to the 6" finder at this time. Store both covers on the floor near the east window.  Make sure the data cables from the Spyder camera are free to move before moving the telescope. ALWAYS watch the lines when moving the telescope!!!

     

17. ____Start Up the Andor Software and Cool down Spyder. The camera's temperature is controlled via the Set Temperature command in the Hardware/Cooler menu of the Andor software. The camera should be set to -60 degrees; it should take approximately 10 minutes for the camera to reach this temperature.

     

18. ____Check the time on Popeye by looking at the date/time indicator on the lower righthand side of the Windows taskbar. Check the time displayed with the GPS clock on the electronics rack. Note that the TCC UT time can become significantly out of sync with the GPS clock on the rack.

     

19. ____Set up the data acquisition parameters in the Andor software to fit your observing program. For most users, this will mean setting the camera to "Single Image" acquisition mode. At this time you should also set up a data directory within the "My Documents" folder to contain your images.

     

20. ____Take a test bias exposure. A "bias" or "zero" exposure at this time will verify that the camera has cooled down and is functioning properly. Mean counts should be in the low 700s for a bias image taken at -60 degrees.

     

21. ____(WILL NEED REVISION) Set the telescope to the zenith. Using the handpaddle and the bubble level located on the telescope just above the filter slide as a guide, move the telescope close to the zenith. After you set the telescope to the zenith using the bubble, use the TCC "C" command to set the telescope RA and DEC coordinates to the latitude of MRO for the DEC, i.e. 46:57:04.2, and the current sidereal time for the RA. The TCC monitor itself will tell you what the current sidereal time is. If you have done this perfectly, the displays for the RA and sidereal times will be the same after the C command is done. It is sufficient if you set them to within 5 seconds of each other.

     

22. ____ Take twilight flats. Move the telescope approximately 1 hour east of the zenith. Leave the telescope tracking off and take several flats in each of your filters. Taking a few "zero" or "bias" images at this time is also a good idea.

     

23. ____(WILL NEED REVISION) Turn on the telescope tracking with the TCC 't' command. You can also turn on the dome tracking with the TCC 'd' command. Note that a hardware bug once in awhile causes the dome to run out of control. For this reason its not a good idea to leave the dome tracking on for long periods at a time, but it is still quite useful for positioning the dome right after a move and for resetting the dome position. After the telescope has moved, turn the dome tracking on, let it complete its move and then turn it off. When you want to manually update the dome position, just repeat this process.

     

24. ____(WILL NEED REVISION) Reset the telescope coordinates on a bright star such as Vega or Arcturus using the TCC "C" command. This will set up an accurate coordinate system for the telescope. The coordinates you set up by setting the zenith RA and DEC were only crude approximations allowing you to find your initial stars in the finder. You can find the coordinates of bright stars in the Astronomical Almanac; coordinates for Vega and Arcturus are also posted on the TCC monitor itself. Use the TCC "M" command to move the telescope to the coordinates of your chosen star. Using the 6" finder telescope on the east side of the telescope, center the star so that you can image it with Spyder. Set the Data Acquisition Parameters in the Andor software to "Real-Time Imaging", and begin taking 0.1 second exposures of your bright star. Use the telescope control paddles to center the star in the middle of Spyder's FOV and then use the TCC "C" command to reset the telescope coordinates to the PRECESSED STAR COORDINATES (not to the coordinates given in the Almanac!). The "p" command is useful here if you didn't bother to note what the precessed coordinates were when the computer moved the telescope to your star. It is a good idea to double check yourself here by using the TCC "M" command to move the telescope to a second bright star. If the second star falls easily into Spyder's FOV then you have verifed that your new coordinates are accurate.

     

25. ____Focus the telescope on a faint star, something dimmer than 5th magnitude allows you to have focus exposures of at least 10 seconds. Eighth or 9th magnitude stars are visible in the finder telescope. Use the "focus" script in the Andor software to take a series of focus images at a variety of focus positions (changing the focus position using the "F" command on the TCC; see the Users Manual for more details). Once you have found a focus position that minimizes the apparent size of your stars, set the telescopes focus to that position. Note that as the temperature changes over the coures of the night, the best focus position will also change, which may necessitate a refocusing of the instrument. See the MRO manual for details on focusing procedures.

     

26. ____Reset the Acquisition Parameters for your science program and take your science images. Use the TCC "M" command to move the telescope, and the "W" command to change filter positions. Careful logging of your images is recommended, particularly to keep track of the object name and filter position appropriate for each image.

 

27. ____(WILL NEED REVISION) At the end of the night, stop the telescope from tracking with a "t" command on the TCC. Then, put the telescope covers on, close the dome, and move the telescope to a declination of about 36º on the meridian. Turn off the telescope drive motors on the telescope skirt, and turn off the filter slide power as well as any telescope fans you may have used. Turn off the TCC and the TCC monitor.

 

28. ____Turn off Spyder using the Andor software, and write your data to CD or DVD if needed. When you are finished, close down any running programs and turn off Popeye's monitor.

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Leaving the Observatory

 

When you get ready to leave the observatory there are several things that you need to make sure that you do. The first list shows the things you need to do to keep the telescope safe. The second list shows things that you need to do to keep the observatory engineer happy. Note that this is NOT a lower priority list. If you do not keep the observatory engineer happy you will not be welcome back to MRO.

Telescope Safety Items:

1. Turn off the Spyder camera and Popeye.
2. Turn off the telescope power (on the RA skirt)
3. Turn off the TCC computer and monitor
4. Turn the printer off
5. Turn the filter slide off and return the filters to their individual boxes in the darkroom

Observatory Housekeeping Items:

1. Turn off Wimpy, and any other electronics in the dayroom. Carefully put away all LPs!
2. Collect the garbage and take it back with you. You may deposit your trash in the Physics/ Astronomy building dumpster. Remember that there are trash cans in the restrooms which need to be emptied!
3. Turn off the water pump and water heater circuit breakers. Leave the air conditioner turned on if the weather remains hot.
4. Take the empty water containers back with you. Leave them with the observatory engineer.
5. Clean the restrooms and dayroom. This isn't an option! Toilets and sinks need to be cleaned before you leave. Floors need to be swept. Try to leave the observatory cleaner than it was when you arrived!

Problem reports and calls for help should be addressed to the following people:

• Chris Laws -(206) 383-1341 (cell/voicemail). Note that you can also call him at home if the situation warrents it. His home number is listed near the observatory phone. This is the guy that you had better keep happy. Email: laws@astro.washington.edu

   

• Andrew West - (206) 543-9039. Email: west@astro.washington.edu

   

• Ricardo Covarrubias - (206) 543-8989. Email: ricardo@astro.washington.edu

   

• Kevin Covey - (206) 543-6276. Email: covey@astro.washington.edu

If you need to contact someone at MRO or have them call you, the phone number there is (509) 925-6367. Please be sensible in your use of long distance calls from MRO. The MRO budget is very limited.

If you plan to leave the observatory early, for whatever reason, then you must contact one of the people above and let them know! This is very important! If we call MRO expecting you to be there and you do not answer, this constitutes an emergency situation. We have to assume that you are in some sort of trouble and someone will be required to make an immediate trip up to MRO to investigate. Leaving voice mail with one of the people above who you are sure is in town is the minimum requirement, but it is much better if you can actually talk with someone before leaving.