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Daily Reports (2025/11/18-25, NIKA2 run 76, Cryo run 88)

Observers on-site: Tuan-Anh Duong, Fengwei Xu, Benedetta Kalemi, Sihan Jiao

Astronomer-of-Duty, Pool Manager: Ioannis Myserlis

Operators: Joaquín Santiago, Mario Cervera

Preparatory notes

Please, remember to use the focus value of Ar1 (roughly Ar2 + 0.65 mm, but use directly the focus Ar1 monitor if possible).

Please fill the Table with the Ar1,2,3 focus values as follows. At best, make one table per day.

• Focus sequences
  Scan nr	Target	Ar2	Ar1	Ar3	Polarized?	Notes

Similarly, if any beam maps are taken:

• Beam maps (99 sub-scans)
  Scan Nr	Target	Focus	Notes

November 18th, 2025, Tuesday

• Focus sequences
  Scan nr	Target	Ar2	Ar1	Ar3	Polarized?	Notes
  70 -74	MWC349	0.22	0.87	1.08	No	Custom script. Start at 1mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  75 -79	MWC349	0.10	0.72	1.00	No	Custom script. Start at 0.9mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  81 -85	2251+158	0.05	0.80	1.00	Yes	Custom script. Start at 0.75mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  97 -101	2251+158	0.41	1.20	out	Yes	Custom script. Start at 0.8mm. good fitting for ar1, and ar 2 but not ar3
  102-106	2251+158	0.35	1.07	1.28	Yes	Custom script. Start at 1.2mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  119-123	2251+158	0.36	1.01	1.24	No	Custom script. Start at 1.1mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3

15:30-18:00 Ioannis : Maintenance finished on time and start directly with NIKA2 observations. ~ 1hr of NIKA2 observations training with new observers (and the ones that want to refresh their memory). Started with NIKA2 total power to check stability. Tuning looks good (12/5/21 bad kids for Ar1/2/3) and pointing plus focus look consistent and stable. Sky looks stable (~ 1.5 - 2 Jy/beam at 2mm) and we decide to change to NIKA2-Pol (8/4/39 bad kids on Ar1/2/3). Start of project 084-25. Pointing, focus and calib_1scan (20251118s88) on 3C454 (2251+158), which has similar elevation with selected target (IRAS23151). Tried to do 1 rep on IRAS23151 but fog came fast and light snow started as well, so we stopped until weather gets better.

18:00-00:00 Sihan : @ 19:10 the weather is better, have a try. Sky is stable ( < 2 Jy/beam at 2mm). Restart of project 084-25. Pointing, focus and calib_1scan (20251118s107) on 3C454. 1 repetition on IRAS23151. After the scientific observation, calib_1scan (20251118s117) on 3C454. @ around 21:25 switch to total power for project 066-25.Sky is stable ( < 2 Jy/beam at 2mm). Pointing and focus on 3C454, calib_1scan on CRL2688 (20251118s125). Do skydip @ 23:55 (20251118s135).

November 19th, 2025, Wednesday

• Focus sequences
  Scan nr	Target	Ar2	Ar1	Ar3	Polarized?	Notes
  137-141	Uranus	0.20	0.83	1.07	Yes	Custom script. Start at 1.0mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  5-9	Uranus	0.08	0.75	1.04	Yes	Custom script. Start at 1.0mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  25-29	Uranus	0.15	0.80	1.09	Yes	Custom script. Start at 1.0mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  40-44	Uranus	0.09	0.79	1.04	Yes	Custom script. Start at 1.0mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  49-53	1226+023	0.35	1.03	1.28	No	Custom script. Start at 1.04mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  62-66	1226+023	0.40	1.08	1.37	No	Custom script. Start at 1.03mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  79-83	1226+023	0.07	0.89	1.12	No	Custom script. Start at 1.03mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  92-96	1226+023	?	0.56	0.72	No	Custom script. Start at 0.89mm. good fitting for ar1 and ar3 but not for Ar2
  97-101	1226+023	0.15	0.54	0.79	No	Custom script. Start at 0.56mm. good fitting for ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  129-133	3C286	0.22	1.52	0.76	No	Custom script. Start at 0.54mm. good fitting for ar2, ar1 and ar3
  138-142	3C286	0.16	?	?	No	Custom script. Start at -0.23mm. good fitting for ar2 but not for ar1 and ar3
  149-153	2251+158	0.06	?	?	No	Custom script. Start at -0.20mm. good fitting for ar2 but not for ar1 and ar3
  163-167	2251+158	0.27	?	?	No	Custom script. Start at -0.11mm. good fitting for ar2 but not for ar1 and ar3
  168-172	2251+158	0.30	?	?	No	Custom script. Start at 0.50mm. good fitting for ar2 but not for ar1 and ar3
  173-177	2251+158	0.30	0.92	1.2	No	Custom script. Start at 0.9mm. good fitting or ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  183-187	2251+158	0.26	0.92	1.25	Yes	Custom script. Start at 0.92mm. good fitting or ar1, ar 2 and ar3
  194-198	2251+158	0.29	0.96	1.29	Yes	Custom script. Start at 0.92mm. good fitting or ar1, ar 2 and ar3

  Beam maps (99 sub-scans)
  Scan Nr	Target	Focus	Notes
  1	Uranus	0.83	Focus optimized for Ar1. NIKA2-Pol mode (beammap1scan95sub_polar_hwp3hz_29min.pako)
  45	Uranus	1.04	Focus optimized for Ar3. NIKA2-Pol mode (beammap1scan95sub_polar_hwp3hz_29min.pako)

00:00-06:00 Tuan-Anh : Starting with NIKA2-Pol, good tuning (17/6/19 bad kids Ar1/2/3). Pointing, focus, calib_1scan (20251118s142) and beam map optimized for Ar1 focus (20251119s1). Then start with 015-17 (B-FUN) observations. Pointing, focus and calib_1scan on Uranus then pointing on 0333+321, 2 repetitions on NGC1333 with calib_1scan. Switch to nikas-25: pointing, focus, calib_1scan on Uranus. Back to 015-17, pointing on 0458-020, 1 repetition on OMC-3N then calib_1scan on Uranus. At last, do a beam map optimized for Ar3 focus (20251119s45) and a skydip (20251119s46). We have a very stable sky +/- 0.5 Jy/beam, tau ~ 0.15 during the shift.

06:00-12:00 Fengwei : After beam map in polarization is finished we move to NIKA2-TP mode (tuning good 15/7/17 bad kids for Ar1/2/3). Pointing and focus on 1226+023 and we start with observations of project 082-25. 1 repetition on PSZ2G229. And we switched to nikas-25: pointing, focus, calib_1scan (20251119s60) on 1226+023. Then we switched to 082-25. Pointing scan and then to start science scans on PSZ2G229 with 1 repetition. Pointing scan (20251119s72) on 1226+023 gives a still good focus and beam shape at both 1 and 2 mm. So we continue 1 repetition on PSZ2G229. We switch to nikas-25: pointing and focus on 1226+023 calib_1scan (20251119s78). Then we switched to 082-25 to do pointing and then 1 repetition on PSZ2G229.

12:00-18:00 Ioannis, Juan : Beam slightly extended (~18.5" at 2mm) so repeat pointing and focus on 1226+023. Indeed focus changed again and now the beam size is getting larger. Skydip (20251119s105) and flux calibration on MWC349 (20251119s108, s114), CRL2688 (20251119s111) and NGC7027 (20251119s118). We moved to project 082-25 after a focus in 3C286 and launch 1 repetition on PSZ2G229 (20251119s122-125 , notice last scan was cancelled) As PSZ2G229 was too low we switched to observing PSZ2G107 but could not focus correctly, finally focus 2251+158 on and did 1 full repetition ( 20251119s157-160 )

18:00 -24:00 Sihan: get good focus at 18:20 then do skydip. The weather is very good and stable (tau <0.15 and <1 jy/beam), and switch to NIKA2pol for project 084-25. Exceptional tuning (9/9/12 bad kids in Ar1/2/3). Pointing, focus and calib_1scan (20251119s188) on 3C454 (2251+158), which has similar elevation with selected target (IRAS23151).