D2DLogNika7

Day to day observation logbook

Nika 2014-01-20 sheet1	link to summary table with plots	2 hours observed / 2 hours scheduled
Nika 2014-01-21 sheet2	link to summary table with plots	~5.5 h obs / 6.5 h schedul, but mostly poor weather
Nika 2014-01-22 sheet3 see also TAPAS & Pool database	link to summary table with plots	<8h h obs / 12 h schedul, stopped due to bad weather
Nika 2014-01-23 sheet4 see also TAPAS & Pool database	link to summary table with plots	4h h obs / 9 h schedul, stopped due to bad weather
Nika 2014-01-24 sheet5, TAPAS & Pool may miss some crosses and otf; to be checked	link to summary table with plots	~8h h obs / 9 h schedul, but 2nd half very windy
Nika 2014-01-25 sheet6 the TAPAS & Pool may miss some crosses and otf; to be checked	link to summary table with plots	4h h obs / 9 h schedul, stopped due to wind, 1st half very windy
Nika 2014-01-26 sheet7 the TAPAS & Pool may miss some crosses and otf; to be checked	link to summary table with plots	9h h obs / 9 h schedul, best obs conditions of the week
Nika 2014-01-27 sheet8 the TAPAS & Pool may miss some crosses and otf; to be checked	link to summary table with plots	8h h obs / 8 h schedul, good with some wind around sunset

First light. Check detector noise. Test main scripts to be used: track, cross, pointliss, focusp, focusliss, otfgeom, skydip_up, skydip_updown.
Radio alignment by background minimization.
No antenna data for the entire session.

Investigation on the Nasmyth offsets: understand how the telescope Nasmyth reference coordinates are projected on the array.
Investigation on the alignment: RADIO ALIGNMENT BY BACKGROUND MINIMIZATION DOESN'T WORK; using the laser alignment give stronger signals; the background minimization is probably due to vignetting of the pupil by the sky next to M2 (not the background behind M1!).
Statistics on pointing corrections, pointing at a source for 1 hour. test script otf10x10.
3 beam maps (otfgeom script) on Uranus. 2 beam maps on 3C84.

Iterations on focus scans to check focus variability.
Additional tests on Nasmyth offsets.
Use bad weather condition to test acquisition procedures and data with polarizer components: 1st modulator on, no half-wave plate, then with HWP immobile, then rotating. Try optimization of polarizer angle. Test scripts otf5x5, otf5x5_pol, otf5x5_half.
Last test with Nasmyth offset, choose 'reference detector: 494 on the 2mm array (detector 5 on the 1mm array points ~2" away).
Secondary calibrator: W3OH.
1 beam map on Uranus, 1 beam maps on 3C84, 1 beam map on W3OH.

Polarized observations: Uranus (including 3 beam maps), 3C454.3, 2013+270, MWC349, 3C84, 3C111. Test scripts pointliss_pol, otfgeom_pol.
Try pointing session... stopped due to bad weather. 2 beam maps on 3C84.
~30 min on M82 (check for the supernova).
~20 min on GN20 (for noise analysis).