User Manual
Doc. Number: ESO-323064
Doc. Version: 2
Released on:
Page:
55 of 82
Document Classification: Public
The execution time of a science OB is typically no longer than 1 hour. OBs longer than 1
hour need a waiver that may or may not be granted (especially if the OB belongs to B- and
C-ranked observing programs).
Scheduling containers, for example, concatenations, time-links and groups, can be used to
implement a certain observing strategy. For science-telluric OB pairs, it is mandatory to use
a concatenation which ensures the execution of OBs back-to-back. In the case of
concatenations, a waiver is needed if the total execution time of all the OBs in the
concatenation is longer than 1.5 hour.
In case of an OB or a concatenation with a total execution time longer than 1 hour, the
Observatory only guarantees the weather conditions during the first hour during execution.
6.2 Visitor mode observations
Observers in visitor mode are encouraged to carefully check their target positions with
respect to the Moon at the time of their scheduled observations. Backup targets are
recommended whenever possible, and users are encouraged to contact ESO in case of
severe conflict, i.e., when the distance to the Moon is closer than 30
. Visitors can use either
the ‘Target
-
Visibility’ tab within p2, or the tools available at
http://www.eso.org/sci/observing/tools/calendar/airmass.html
Visitors should bear in mind that in case of strong wind and subsequent telescope pointing
restrictions, is might not be able to observe their main targets. For this reason, it is strongly
recommended to prepare backup targets with declinations smaller and larger than
–
24.6.
Such backup targets need to be approved before the observations. Please read the
instructions provided on the following webpage:
https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/sciops/vm_backup.html
6.3 OB preparation
In the following sections we provide a detailed description of how to define CRIRES
observations through the preparation of OBs. In particular, we describe all the parameters
that users are requested to provide in the templates. Every science OB consists of a target
acquisition template which is followed by one or more science templates.
When referring to the name of any given parameter as it appears in p2 we use bold
typewriter font (i.e.,
Right Ascension
), while regular typewriter font (i.e.,
TEL.TARG.ALPHA
) is used for the corresponding keyword in the template signature file
(TSF).
6.3.1 Target acquisition template
The first template to be included in the OB is the acquisition, which takes care of: i) pre-
setting the telescope to the target position; ii) setting up the instrument; iii) acquiring the
NGS and SVGS; and iv) centring the target on the slit.
