Daily Reports
Observers on-site: Alice Nucara, Antoine Zakardjian, Juan Macias, Tuan-Anh Duong, Wonju Kim, and Ste B. (AoD)
Operators: Frederic and Sergio
Jan 7th, 2025, Tuesday
Alice, Antoine, Juan, Tuan Anh, Wonju, Ste B. and maaaany others arrived at the telescope.
NIKA2 work fine, the HWP correct rotation has been checked. The new AoD, Stefano, is trained by Angel and Frederic with explanations about AoD specific tasks and safety measures. After maintenance and the AoD training, we start the operations at ~16:20 local time.
16:00-22:00 LT: Wonju + Alice, Stefano. We start with some training of the new NIKA2 observers, explaining in what a typical NIKA2 session consists and clarifying some specific features for NIKA2-pol. Then we proceed with the following observations:
- we start with polarimetry
- calib_1scan on MWC349, NGC7027, CRL2688
- 135-24: one repetition on IRAS21078
- when observing polarimetry, we monitor the instrumental polarization by taking roughly every hour one calib_1scan of either an unpolarized point-like source (Uranus) or a known QSO, depending on availability.
- skydip in between (scan 20250107s25)
- one gummy seal of one lower petal falls off at ~18:30 LT (not our fault, we swear, we're not trying to break the telescope ;)
- 166-24: four repetitions of CasA
22:00-04:00 LT: Antoine & Tuan-Anh. We switch to total power and observe:
- 188-24: two repetitions of A0520
- total power beammap on Uranus, 99 sub-scans (scan 20250107s76)
- 191-24: one repetition on MS1054
Jan 8th, 2025, Wednesday
04:00-10:00 LT: Juan. Low tau (between 0.2 and 0.3) but unstable weather (+-5 to +-20 Jy)
- 191-24: two repetitions on MS1054
- 189-24: one repetition on CTRS27
- we switch to polarimetry ~1h before the end of the shift
10:00-16:00 LT: Alice + Juan, Stefano. The sky is unstable (+/- 5 Jy/b peak to peak @2mm, evaluated on Az sub-scans of pointing scans). The wind is rising (~15 m/s gusts @10:30 LT). Uhm. Evolution of the shift:
- we start in polarimetry mode. Trying to point and focus on 3C273 and 3C286, in preparation of a possible polarized beam map. Hopeless. In the direction of 3C286 the wind influences the tracking less than in that of 3C273, but still too bad. We take a short break.
- we move to the direction of W43 (132-24) and 104316 (134-24) to test the wind, pointing/focus.
- at 10:00 UT we have to stop and park the telescope, because the wind reaches and surpasses 18 m/s three times in a row. Sigh
- at 10:47 UT we start again, but the wind is still important and does not allow us to proceed with science
- we wait a bit, because switching to EMIR at the moment is not yet an option: we don't have EMIR bkp projects for this LST right now (Brisa asked the PIs but only 143-24 has responded so far and it's not covering the morning). Beeeeeeep (wind alarm forever).
- @13:30 LT, taken by desperation, we test the external calibrator: we perform scans in Az, with 1 subscan only: 116 and 117 (w/ HWP, w/o ext. cal.); 118 and 119 (w/ HWP, w/ ext. cal.); 120 and 121 (w/o HWP, w/ ext. cal.); 122 and 123 (w/o HWP; w/o ext. cal.).
- we keep testing the reaction of the telescope to the wind and the tracking deviations until the end of the shift, without success.
16:00-22:00 LT: Wonju + Alice. The sky and wind conditions are calming down and we are able to start again the proper NIKA2 observations at roughly 17:00 LT:
- calib_1scan on MWC349, NGC7027, CRL2688
- 135-24: ... repetitions on source IRAS21078
Jan 9th, 2025, Thursday
Jan 10th, 2025, Friday
Jan 11th, 2025, Saturday
Jan 12th, 2025, Sunday
Jan 13th, 2025, Monday