Nightly startup & morning shutdown procedure: By Josh Schroeder (Columbia) November 2008
Updated 2009 November 16 [Barr/MDM]
Fill the dewar and note the date and time on the white board.
Open the doors to the dome. If it's very warm, turn on the fans. This aids in the telescope seeing.
Turn off the air conditioner by moving the thermostat control to its hottest setting.
Turn the red Emergency Stop clockwise until it releases, red light will go off.
Toggle the dome open/close switch to open.
Open the main shutter by pressing its button once.
After the main shutter is open then open the drop-out by pressing and holding down its button until the drop-out has completely opened.
Open the MIS dark hatch and (if applicable) the instrument dark slide.
Turn on all monitors. Make sure that the software is functioning properly. If it is not, follow the Computer startup procedure.
Click “Refresh” on the TCS interface.
Note the HA indicated in the TCS GUI. It should say that HA is 00:00:00. If it is considerably off, you may wish to follow the Home telescope procedure.
Note the tilt sensors. If the tilt sensors are off significantly from zero, you may wish to follow the Home telescope procedure.
Assuming the telescope is properly homed, RA read the same as LST, and DEC should be 31:57:12. If either of these are considerably different, type 'zero ra=SI:DE:RE dec=31:57:12' in the Command box where SI:DE:RE is the sidereal time approximately 30 seconds in the future. Once LST matches SI:DE:RE press enter.
Open the mirror covers by clicking the Mirror button. Wait for the indicator light to turn green.
Turn on the tracking by clicking the Tracking button. Make sure the Tracking Rates... are selected as sidereal rate. You can also indicate “Auto Adjust” for a more accurate tracking system. When tracking has begun, the indicator will turn green.
Switch on the power to the guider camera by pressing the red power button guide on the camera control box.
If using CCDOPS, click the Setup icon on the Toolbar and switch the Temperature regulation from Off to Active with a temperature of approximately 2 degrees C.
Choose a bright star from the Astronomical Almanac. Enter the RA and Dec of the star in the appropriate boxes, making sure to indicate the sign of the declination and the correct equinox, and click Point.
Click Dome... and make sure Center Dome and Auto Center are selected. Click Apply. Alternatively, you can click the Center Dome button but be aware that unless Auto Center has been selected the dome will not track the telescope.
In the Preset menu of the XMIS control box, move the Guider Box to center and adjust the position of the telescope so the selected bright star is positioned in the white ellipse. Alternatively, if using CCDOPS, keep the Guider Box off-center and adjust the telescope so the star is in the proper position in the acquisition window. With bright stars, it's best to keep a fast exposure time (0.12 seconds).
In the Command box of the TCS control panel, type: 'zero ra=XX:XX:XX dec=+/-XX:XX:XX' and hit enter. This will set the pointing of the telescope.
Focus the telescope.. To change the focus, type the new target value in the box labeled 'New Focus' and click Set. The focus settings accepted by the interface are millimeters.
Congratulations, you have finished setting up the telescope.
Computer startup procedure (this only needs to be done if you have logged out of the account)
Turn on McGraw. Use the login and password indicated on the whiteboard.
Start XMIS from the menu from the left mouse button under Telescope Control.
Open a terminal (next to the red hat on the bottom taskbar) and complete the next steps in the terminal window:
Type 'telescope help' , info is self explained.
Type 'telescope start' .
Run MDM 1.3m TCS from the menu from the left mouse button under Telescope Control.
Run the appropriate data acquision from the menu from the left mouse button under Data Acquisition (whether it be CCDs, TIFKAM, or 4K)
Run ISIS from the menu from the left mouse button under Data Acquisition.
Run MDMTCS Agent from the menu from the left mouse button under Data Acquisition.
Run Caliban from the menu from the left mouse button under Data Acquisition.
Run Prospero from the menu from the left mouse button under Data Acquisition.
In the open Prospero window type 'startup'.
Indicate you settings for Prospero (see the Prospero Commands for more information)
Initialize XMIS by pressing initialize.
Initialize TCS control by pressing initialize in the Control Panel window.
If the Guider computer was reinitialized, type 'tvguider' at the command line.
If the TIFKAM/CCDS computer was reinitialized, login as a visitor. CCDOPS should start automatically.
Click on 'Establish Link' in the CCDOps Toolbar.
Once link is established, click 'Setup' to change settings.
Click 'Focus' to start acquisition.
Congratulations, you've successfully set-up the computer system.
Home telescope procedure.
When just bringing the telescope to the zenith (home) position and not having to correct for pointing
just use numbers 1. and 2. (End of evening stowing of
telescope)
Turn off the telescope tracking by clicking on the Tracking button or by selecting Tracking off from the Tracking rates... menu. The indicator light should now be gray.
In the Command box of
the TCS
control panel type 'point ha=0 dec=31:57:12 nodome' and hit enter. This
would be just to bring the telescope to zenith at the end of the night.
###################################################
This and below would be used for zeroing out the encoders. Check the value of the tilt sensors in the computer room. The value of tilt sensors is in decimal degrees with format +X.XX. In the Command box type 'tx offest ha=-X.XX' where the leftmost (East/West) tilt sensor lists value +X.XX. The HA tilt sensor should now read zero. If not repeat the offest command with the new value of the tilt sensor.
In the Command box type 'tx offset dec=-X.XX' where the rightmost (North/South) tilt sensor lists value +X.XX. The DEC tilt sensor should now read zero. If not repeat the offset command with the new value of the tilt sensor.
In the command box, type 'zero ra=SI:DE:RE dec=31:57:12' where SI:DE:RE is the sidereal time approximately 30 seconds in the future. Once LST matches SI:DE:RE press enter. This will tell the telescope that it is pointing at zenith.
Morning Shut-Down Procedure
Bring the telescope to zenith using steps 1. and 2. in the procedure above, in Home Telescope procedure.
Click the Mirror button to close the mirror cover. The indicator should go from green to red.
Home the dome by either clicking the Home... button and selecting the Dome option (being careful not to select any of the other option) or by clicking the Dome... button and selecting Home Dome. Click Apply. This will send the dome to its starting position. While the dome is slewing, you may proceed to the next step.
If using CCDOPS, click the Setup icon on the Toolbar and switch the Temperature regulation from Active to Off.
Switch off power to the guide camera by pressing the red power button.
Fill the dewar and note the date and time on the white board.
Close the MIS dark hatch and (if applicable) the instrument dark slide.
Once the dome has finished slewing to the dome home position, depress the Emergency Stop interlock (red light will come on) and toggle the dome open/close switch to close.
Close the drop-out by pressing and holding down its button until the drop-out has completely closed.
After the drop-out is closed, close the main shutter by pressing its button once.
Turn off the fan, if used, and close all the doors to the dome.
Turn on the air conditioner by moving the thermostat control to 70 degree setting.
File a nightly observer's report and trouble report, if applicable.
Turn off the monitors, lights, and climate control in the control room. This saves the observatory, and ultimately the member institutions, the cost of operating these devices during the day.
Congratulations, you have finished shutting-down the telescope.