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Daily Reports

Nov 5th, Tuesday

Rémi, Léo, Simon, Ste B., Léa, Ioannis and maaaaaany others arrived at the observatory.

We start the week in the best possible way...

15:30 - 17:00; Ioannis: System check.

17:00 - 21:00; Rémi, Léo, Simon, Stefano, Lea & Ioannis: NIKA2 training + observations. Note that scans 20241105s57 to 20241105s69 that we did during the training were done with the polarization .ini file, where the DAQ frequency is 46.12 Hz but the HWP was stopped. Starting from scan 20241105s70, the HWP is also in use properly. After training we did polarimetry observations: one repetition of project 043-24, source G75.78.

21:00 - 03:00. Léa & Stefano. We take over and continue with polarimetry:
- one repetition of source G75.78 for project 043-24.
- pointing, focus, pointing, beammap (95 sub-scans, 20241105s111), calib_1scan (20241105s112) on Uranus.
Then we switch to total power and we proceed with:
- calib_1scan (20241105s114) and beammap (99 sub-scans, 20241105s115, we use option "a" even if the elevation is high, thanks to the new servo system) on Uranus in total power
- skydip (20241105s116)
- 011-24, orion-b-4 (w/ homology problems); orion-b-5; orion-b-6 (w/ other problems); one repetition each.

Nov 6th, Wednesday

03:00 - 09:00; Rémi: NIKA2 observations continue in total power with good weather conditions, tau225 ~ 0.2-0.3.
- pointing, focus and calib_1scan (20241106s18) on Uranus.
- 1.5 repetitions of source A520 for project 089-24.
- pointing and calib_1scan (20241106s31) on Mars.
- skydip (20241106s33)
- very good beam size on bright pointing targets (17.5x17.5" for Ar2)
- 3 repetitions of source PSZG201 for project 091-24.
- 1 repetition of source PSZG186 for project 090-24.

09:00 - 13:45; Léo: NIKA2 observations continue in total power with good weather conditions, tau225 ~ 0.3.
From 9:00 to 10:00 (local time), I observed PSZ2G186 for Project 090-24 (7 out of 11). Then pointing, focus and calib_1scan on Mars (20241106s62). Then I did another scan (8 out of 11) of PSZ2G186 waiting for the target NGC4449 to get below 75deg. From 11:30 to 11:45, I did another pointing focus. Then I observed NGC4449 for project 074-24. We encountered issues during scan 79, and scans 80 to 83 were canceled. I did another pointing on the source 1226+023, no focus needed. I observed NGC4449 for project 074-24. And I did a skydip (scan 20241106s89). During all observations the atmosphere was stable (from +/- 1Jy/beam to +/- 2Jy/beam) but after scan 75 it started to be a little bit cloudy and tau225 was above 0.33 and reached 0.44 during the scan 87 .

13:45 - 20:00; Ioannis: Change to EMIR with the aim to do WSw tests after OHB intervention to solve the blanking signal phases problem. In the end this took a long time due to bad weather (tau225 up to 0.6, couldn't point even using EMIR 3mm band) and several technical problems, mainly related with the holography stops and spindle errors. In the end we managed to recover the system and do a few WSw scans, which are currently analyzed/checked. Results looked normal in the online reduction screens with any backend used (FTS, WILMA, BBC).

20:00 - 21:00; Ioannis: Observations EMIR backup project 058-24, one repetition of NOTF13V and half repetition of NOTF14H completed.

21:00 - 00:30; Joaquín: EMIR efficiency observations on Uranus in the elevation range 40 to 70 degrees.

Nov 7th, Thursday

Know your Planets:

00:40 - 3:00 Lea & Stefano. We take over after switching back to NIKA2 (total power):
- [IM] When changing back to NIKA2, communication with crate 2 was lost and needed a power cycle. Worked fine after that. - the "new" make-imbf has stopped. We try to restart it, following JT's instructions, but we don't have the necessary permissions to read/write some files. Therefore we are now using the "old" make-imbf (slower).
- calibrations on Uranus: calib_1scan (20241107s2) and beammap (20241107s3, total power, 99 sub-scans, we use option "a" even if the elevation is high, thanks to the new servo system)
- Jean re-started the "new" make-imbf (from a bar at the far end of the world! cit.). Thank you!
- skydip (20241107s4)
- 091-24, 1 repetitions of source PSZ2G172

03:00 - 09:00; Rémi: NIKA2 observations continue in total power with good weather conditions, tau225 ~ 0.2-0.3.
- pointing and focus on Uranus.
- 2 repetitions of source A520 for project 089-24.
- pointing and calib_1scan (20241107s31) on Uranus.
- calib_1scan on CRL618 (20241107s33) and ALFORI (20241107s35).
- pointing, focus and calib_1scan (20241107s42) on Mars.
- 2 repetitions of source PSZ2G201 for project 091-24.
- pointing on Mars.
- skydip (20241107s54)
- we change to project 074-24 and Léo takes over.

09:00 - 15:00; Léo: NIKA2 observations continue in total power with good weather conditions, tau225 ~ 0.2.

A nice way to wake up and open the blinds... Good morning!

21:00-03:00 Lea & Stefano: we take over in polarimetry mode:
- awesome beam (see Tapas) and awesome stability
- two repetition on G75.78 for project 043-24
- it's getting cloudy outside and tau(225) seems to slightly start climbing above 0.2
- Uranus calib_1scan (20241107s190) and beammap-95 (20241107s191)
- brief pointing session while the sky is evolving fast
- CRL618 and Uranus calib_1scan (20241108s7 and 20241108s14)
- the NIKA2 tradition is kept and renewed
At 00:50 UT tau(225)>0.4. We stop and we switch to EMIR:
- project 009-24

A better view of yesterday's planet:

Nov 8th, Friday

21:00-03:00 Lea & Stefano: we take over at 21:00. EMIR is on and Simon has started observing only 5 minutes ago, after a long day waiting for the weather to get better. Simon stays with us for roughly the first hour. tau(225)=0.45. We observe project 017-24 with EMIR: XX repetitions of source B5_HSEdge (7 repetitions).

At 22:40 UT, tau(225)=0.18, the falling trend is flattening. We wake up and switch to NIKA2 (total power). The Telescope Observing Chill playlist keeps us company. We proceed with:
- Uranus, pointing, focus, pointing, calib_1scan (20241108s198), beam map (20241108s199), skydip, pointing
- 091-24, 2 repetitions on PSZ2G172 - tau(225) reached 0.09! - 087-24, 1 repetition on ID321 (now completed!)

Nov 9th, Saturday