Suprime-Cam observations for your nights will be operated remotely from the Hilo base. Telescope/Instrument operators at the summit will provide you with observational supports. Support scientists will attend only at the beginning of the night to start up the observing system and will be on standby remotely for the rest of the night.
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We would like to ask you the following things so that your observations are to be performed smoothly.
1) Please send SS your ope file and observing plan at least by a day
before the observation.
Then SS will check if your ope file is ok. The
observing plan should include calibration frames (bias, dark, standard
stars and flats).
A rough timetable will be very helpful for you to let operators know
your plan. A template time table can be found at
http://www.naoj.org/staff/furusawa/suprime/observing/ObsPlan.xls
If you would fill the file (or any other format you like) and send it
to SS, then it will be forwarded to the night operators responsible
for your night. If it is difficult to make a timetable before the
observation, it would be ok just to let us know your first target for
the night in advance.
2) During the observations in the remote observing room, please
communicate with operators at the summit using a Polycom Video
conference system and ask them to execute the commands in your ope
file.
To let operators know your intent easily, it is a good idea to
add comment lines in the ope file (starting from '#').
3) Operators take care of health of the telescope and the instrument
and keep observing sequences running smoothly. So observers are asked
to take care of the data from a viewpoint of the data usability for
your science.
When you find that the image quality to be becoming
worse, please ask operators to execute FOCUSOBE command and adjust the
focus value.
A manual to display and check the data frames is located at
http://www.naoj.org/staff/furusawa/suprime/observing/ana2
SS will help you to learn how to use the software at the beginning of
the night.
4) If you need to modify your observation plan during the
observations, please edit and upload the ope file to the observation
control system by yourselves,
then ask the operators to reload or
open a new ope file you edited (You may ask operators to edit the
command lines on IntegGUI for a small change).
A manual of how to edit/upload ope file is located at
http://www.naoj.org/staff/furusawa/suprime/observing/how_to_ope_remote
We setup your ProposalID account information in advance: which is all you require for observation, data reduction while at Subaru, and to receive your data during observation. In addition, we setup STARS User account information in advance for the PI to receive data after observation from STARS and MASTARS. This information will be transferred to you in your welcome packet when you come for observation.
5) For practical or technical issues on observations, please ask operators. Should you have scientific concerns rather than technical issues, please contact SS prior to the observing night as much as possible.
6) We would very much appreciate it if you would keep logsheets of your
observation and leave copies for SA.
Operators keep engineering information only. So, your logsheets are
very helpful to know data qualities and observing conditions in your
night.
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Information on Suprime-Cam observations is summarized at
http://www.naoj.org/staff/furusawa/suprime/index.html
Please refer to this page when you meet difficulty in preparation.
If you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to contact SS.
Thank you very much,
Hisanori Furusawa, Support Astronomer