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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.

Similarly, if any beam maps are taken:

November 18th, 2025, Tuesday

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

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, (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 (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). Finish one repetition and then go back to 3C454 (2251+158) to do calib_1scan (20251119s209,20251119s219), pointing, focus. Go to IRAS23151 for one repetition, Finish one repetition and then go back to 3C454 (2251+158) to do calib_1scan (20251119s229). Flux calibrations on MWC349 (20251119s231), CRL2668 (20251119s232), NGC7027 (20251119s233). We finish the shift with pointing, focus and two beam maps on Uranus, one with focus optimized for Ar1 (20251119s241) and another for Ar3 (20251119s242). for one repetition.

November 20th, 2025, Thursday

00:00-06:00 Tuan-Anh : Continue with beam map 20251119s242 from previous shift. Start at 0:54 LT, pointing, focus, calib_1scan on Uranus. Switch to BFUN (015-17), pointing on 0333-321, 1 repetition for NGC1333 with calib_1scan (20251120s15), 1 repetition for OMC-3N with calib_1scan (20251120s19). Switch to nikas-25: pointing, focus, calib_1scan on Uranus, 1 repetition for OMC-2S with calib_1scan (20251120s35), 1 repetition for NGC1333 with calib_1scan (20251120s39). Beam slightly extended 17"x18.5" @2mm.

05:00-12:00 Fengwei : Point, focus, and calib_1scan (20251120s48) on 0316+413. Then skydip. Then calib_1scans (20251120s52, 20251120s54) on ALFORI and CRL618. Change to NIKA2-TP with the special setup for project D01-25 (tuning good 9/6/12 bad kids for Ar1/2/3). Point, focus on 1226+023. Now move to project D01-25. Point on 1418+596. Start Science Scan, for three repetitions. And move to 1418+596 again, check the beam FHWM which is 16x18 arcsec, still good. Keep two repetitions. Reach two hours and move to Point, Focus on 1226+023 (in Project nikas-25). Re-focus and move back to Project D01-25. Start two repetitions.

11:00-18:00 Benedetta : After changing the setup to normal NIKA2-TP mode (good tuning with 9/5/18 bad kids in Ar1/2/3), we do pointing and focus on K3-50A and start with the observations of project 022-25. Start science scan for three repetitons. After checking the beam FHWM which was good (18.12 * 18.59) and weather stability (very good, +/- 1 Jy/beam), started the second three repetition of science scans. Scan 124 has weather stability issues (tau ~ 0.77).

17:00-23:00 Sihan: get good pointing and focus on 2251+158 and then move to project 066-25. When pointing on the nearby pointing source, sky stability +/- 3-4 Jy/beam. After two repetition2, go to 2251+158 to do pointing, focus, and skydip.Flux calibrations on CRL2668 (20251120s170), NGC7027 (20251120s172), MWC349 (20251120s174). @22:15 switch to NIKApol for project 084-25 (tuning good 8/6/18 bad kids for Ar1/2/3). Pointing, focus and calib_1scan (20251120s192) on 3C454 (2251+158), which has similar elevation with selected target (IRAS23151).

November 21st, 2025, Friday

23:00-05:00 Tuan-Anh : Continue science scan in the previous shift then calib_1scan on 2251+158. Start at 00:10 LT, switch to nikas-25, pointing, focus and calib_1scan on Uranus. Switch to B-FUN, pointing on 0333+321 then perform 1 repetition for NGC1333 with calib_1scan (20251121s3), 1 repetition for NGC2024S with calib_1scan (20251121s8). Switch to nikas-25, pointing, focus and calib_1scan (20251121s16) on Uranus. Switch to B-FUN, pointing on 0458-020 then perform 1 repetition for OMC-2S with calib_1scan (20251121s23), 1 repetition for OMC-3N with calib_1scan (20251121s28) Pointing, focus on Uranus then skydip, calib_1scan on ALFORI (20251121sxxx) and calib_1scan on CRL618 (20251121sxxx).

05:00-11:00 Fengwei :