‘Observer Up’ Overview

To run up the observer software you will select ‘observer up’ button from the ‘jcmtObs’ window. This window can be brought up by clicking the icon on your desktop or launched from a terminal with:
% jcmtObs

jcmtObs Gui

(Command line: “jcmtObs”)

‘Observer up’ launches the observing software. From this gui you should then go ahead and run ‘observer up’ from the observer station. ‘Observer up’ can also be launched from a terminal with:
% observer_up

If there is more than one observer at the telescope, only one of them should run observer_up.

jcmtObs GuiAt the end of the night the software should be run down with the ‘observer down’ button and by clicking the ‘exit’ button.

JCMT Observation Console

Two of these windows will appear – one each for SCUBA-2 and ACSIS. These display the progress and summary of the observation currently being executed.

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Queue Monitor

The queue monitor shows what has been sent to the queue. This lists the observations in the order they have been sent and reports their duration.

observer-up2

OMP Obslog

(Command line: “ompobslog”)

You will be prompted for you OMP User ID. This should be pre-registered with the JAC. If you do not have one, contact your support astronomer.

observer-up3

The Obslog screen will then appear. This is a summary of all the observations for a given night. Observations appear in the this list once they have been processed by the summit pipeline; for large maps this can sometimes lead to a delay between the end of observation and its appearance in this list.

observer-up4

You can attach a comment to a particular observation by double clicking on it. The following screen will appear. This should be used to highlight anything of note for that observation (e.g. dramatic weather change, fault, look strange in the summit reduction). Never select the ‘bad’, ‘junk’ or ‘rejected’ options, these are used by JAC staff retroactively.

observer-up5

Telescope Status

This window gives a summary of the parameters associated with the telescope. You can see the times and coordinates continually changing as the telescope tracks a source.

observer-up6

Note: PAZ and PEL are the difference between the demanded and the actual azimuth and elevation. the telescope has trouble following the SCUBA-2 scan patterns at high elevations so you may see intermittent large values. If the telescope is stuck it will display ongoing high values.

 

If this window for some reason does not come up please inform the TSS and you can restart by running tcsmon in any terminal (not in sc2dr5)

% tcsmon

JCMT Enviromon

(Command line: “enviromon”)

This small window gives a summary of the current environmental conditions. It reports both the CSO opacity and the JCMT WVM (Water Vapour Monitor radiometer) opacity. These are usually in good agreement but occasional problems with one or the other will lead to a discrepancy. Your TSS will know which number is more reliable on a given night. Historically, the CSO tau is used to define the weather bands at the JCMT.

observer-up7

JCMT Query Tool

(Command line: “jcmtqt -scenario”)

The query tool is used to control flexible observing. the opacity and time are automatically updated; you then enter your country, instrument(s) and semester then run a search. This will return all active projects that are available now that match the current constraints. Available projects will be listed in order of priority. The far-left column shows the project priority as set by the TAG, while internal priorities within a given project may have been set in the MSBs. Otherwise it will list them in order of source availability.

Any of the fields can be altered (or input) and the search refreshed. This is includes the time and opacity which can be changed to anticipate changing sky conditions later in the night. To return to the default values click the grey ‘Set Default’ box – this will however retain the country, instrument and semester selections.

Note: if you hover your mouse pointer over the tau value it will tell you the source of the measurement (WVM or CSO).

Menu options allow the user to edit the columns that are displayed at the bottom of the window. Under the ‘View’ menu you can select ‘Columns’ and deselect any that you do not wish to appear.

The example below illustrates editing the ‘Constraints’ options. This should be used for reference only, your TSS will know when it is suitable to remove any of these constraints.

Note that the search button will flash amber as a warning if some (but not all) constraints are disabled. It will flash red if all constraints are disabled.

You can view details of an MSB with the ‘Fetch MSB’ button.
1. Highlight the MSB you want to display.
2. Click the ‘Fetch MSB’ button.
3. The MSB information will open in a new tab.

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