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October 30, 1997

13

>

object

h[

time

[

name

]]i

Setup for object

object prepares qcdcom to take an exposure of a general target. You can specify

integration time as the first argument and an object name as the second. The object
command sets the automatic actions: # of resets: 1, shutter on, readout on.

Example:

object 300 N3031

(set integration time to 300 sec and object name

to N3031) Example:

object 0.18

(set integration time to 0.18 sec )

>

auto

hi

set automatic action

auto goes through the choices for the automatic actions, and allows you to set each.

You should not normally need to use auto directly, since you can use the

object,

dark, etc.

commands for most normal exposures. It is provided for those who need

to do fancy things. The automatic actions are:

#reset: n Number of times to reset the chip before starting the exposure. Should
usually be set to 1.

Shutter on/off Controls whether the shutter should be opened for the exposure.
Usually set to ON, otherwise no flux from sky gets to detector.

Readout on/off Controls whether the chip should be read out at the end of the
exposure. Usually ON.

Write on/off Controls whether a FITS file should be written after the chip is read
out. Usually ON to save data. This can also be set using the command

set save

.

idle on/off If on, at the end of a readout the chip is placed in a continuous reset, or
idle, mode.

double correlated read on/off Controls whether the device is read out before and
after the shutter opening, or only after. If reading before and after, the difference
between the two are taken, and this difference is written to the FITS file. Double
correlated read ON is the normal operating mode.

Number of samples

n

controls how many frames to co-add in the double correlated

read. For each exposure, the chip will be reset and read

n

times before opening the

shutter, and read

n

times after the shutter closes. Usually set to 1.

chop on/off Controls whether a beamswitched pair of integrations is performed for
each go command. If at the UH 88-inch, the beamswitch is done automatically.
Use with caution. The on and off source frames are differenced and the result is
stored in a file with the name constructed from the data file name plus “chop” added
instead of the file number. This file is overwritten every time a new chop is done.

dummy read on/off In order to get the array into a stable mode, a “dummy read" is
done immediately before the read that is saved as data. This occurs both before and
after the integration. This should be turned on for normal operation. The "dummy
read" may not be necessary for broad-band imaging. Not using a dummy read
causes the first three lines of each quadrant to be slightly unstable with respect to
the rest of the array on the level of 5-10 ADU’s. For narrow-band imaging, this
may be a significant effect. The conservative approach is to use the dummy read.
This will add 5 seconds overhead to each image.

Summary of Contents for QUick Infrared Camera

Page 1: ...Observer s Guide for QUIRC K W Hodapp J L Hora M R Metzger University of Hawaii October 30 1997...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...ith QUIRC The qcdcom program controls taking exposures and writing data in FITS format to disk operates the moving parts of the instrument such as the shutter filter wheel and pupil mask communicates...

Page 4: ...ation differences for integration times less than 1 second Therefore short exposures should be avoided particularly when exposing dome flats it is far better to dim the lights with the domelight dimme...

Page 5: ...elow assume a PSF of 0 5 arcsec FWHM Table 2 QUIRC Sensitivity UH 2 2m Telescope Filter Point SRC Mag Mag arcsec2 Jy ADU 1 sec J 18 6 17 9 1 052e 6 H 17 8 17 1 8 295e 7 K 16 2 15 5 9 622e 7 H K 18 6 1...

Page 6: ...ted image display capability A separate program should be used to display the data One option is to use the viewfits program vf This is a display program developed by Tony Denault at the IRTF that dis...

Page 7: ...ode is running The command to download the current standard DSP code is the following df quirc Occasionally the download will fail if the camera is in some undetermined state and a reset will need to...

Page 8: ...rash for any reason the parameters it reads in may be old and you may need to set them again Typically only resetting the file number is necessary 3 3 Taking exposures For each object you are observin...

Page 9: ...telescope and guide probe and turns the guider back on On the 88 this communicates with Atlas and MiniOtto over the ethernet to perform the guider movements and on CFHT commands are sent over a seria...

Page 10: ...6 H K dual 1 8 m 2 794 20 6 6 1 7 H2BP23 2 12 m 0 914 2 1 7 1 8 2260BP60 2 260 m 2 794 20 6 8 2 1 1560BP120 1 56 m 9 2 2 1710BP120 1 71 m 10 2 3 1 989BP50 1 989 m 11 2 4 1 506 60 1 506 m 12 2 6 1 107...

Page 11: ...th auto or the shutter will not open Also note that you should always do only one filter DARK followed by exactly one filter BACK always in pairs otherwise the filter wheel will get lost and require a...

Page 12: ...chop image and displayed in vf Therefore the observer can take focus frames acquire and center the object etc without saving all the images as separate data files This avoids filling the disk with use...

Page 13: ...P initialization commands In general you will need to initialize the DSP processor in the Leach electronics after power up or after a DSP reset because its cold reset state is not appropriate for runn...

Page 14: ...rform first data read of double correlation pair store image in memory 4 Turn off output amplifiers 5 Open the shutter and wait for a predetermined exposure time 6 Close the shutter 7 Turn on output a...

Page 15: ...e double correlated read on off Controls whether the device is read out before and after the shutter opening or only after If reading before and after the difference between the two are taken and this...

Page 16: ...o stay open slightly longer The exposure time recorded in the header however will reflect the true amount of time the shutter was open filter hnum commandi Set filter This command selects the filter s...

Page 17: ...fp q940811 go h num i Start exposure Go is the command to take an exposure As described above according to the param eters which are set go may reset the chip open the shutter and close it a predeterm...

Page 18: ...resulting image to a disk file set hparami n Set parameter Certain program parameters can be set or unset with this command To set a param eter for example save one issues the command set save To uns...

Page 19: ...direct access to the DSP computer hall hnloopi Read Hall sensors read the Hall effect sensors nloop times The filter wheel 1 sensor is displayed and depending on the position of the switch either the...

Page 20: ...en data is used as a seed for a random number generator and 65536 words of random data are sent per loop diag l3 hcnt fr cg data i Timing board loopback test Loopback test with timing board in place M...

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