Daily Reports (2026/01/20-27, NIKA2 run 78, Cryo run 90)
Observers on-site: Carsten Kramer, Mairi Nonhebel, Friedrich Wyrowski, Ping Zhou
Astronomer on Duty: Stefano Berta (on-site)
Pool Manager: Angel Bongiovanni (remote)
Operators: Pedro (day), Sergio (night)
Organization of shifts:
03:00-09:00 LT: Carsten Kramer
09:00-15:00 LT: Friedrich Wyrowski
15:00-21:00 LT: Ping Zhou
21:00-03:00 LT: Mairi Nonhebel
Important
Focus offsets shall be measured on Ar1
Pointing offsets shall be measured on Ar2
Pool-Account usage: Accounting of observing times
Calibration observations like pointing, focus, and calib_1scan (the latter in case of NIKA2-Pol only, aimed at characterizing the instrumental polarization) which are conducted before and during project observations are part of the project time. Note that all proposals include such overheads in the time and sensitivity estimates. This holds for total power and polarimetry observations.
Other calibration observations which are important for all projects like beam maps, skydips, or calib_1scan for absolute flux calibration may be accounted under the pool account (nikaX-YY, where X = s,w and YY = year ; nikaw-25 in this case).
- When conditions are unstable and it is unclear whether project observations make sense at all, calibrations may be accounted to the pool account.
Focus and Beam maps accounting
Please fill the Table with the Ar1,2,3 focus values as follows. At best, make one table per day.
Focus sequences (NOTE: Ar2 is very noisy and this might influence the A2 focus value)
Scans nr.
Target
Ar2
Ar1
Ar3
Pol?
Notes
20260120s52-56
Uranus
out
0.96
1.15
yes
started at 1.3 mm; variable sky
20260121s13-17
3C279
out
0.74
1.01
no
started at ... ; Ar1 and Ar3 FWHM only; s13 with vibrations problem (?)
20260121s18-22
3C279
0.19
?
?
no
focussed on Array 2
Similarly, if any beam maps (total power or polarimetry) are taken:
Beam maps
Scan Nr
Target
Focus
TP (99 subscans) or Pol (95 subscans)
Notes
20260121s23
3C279
0.19
TP
focussed on Array 2
Tuesday, 20th January 2026
10:30-15:00 LT: Maintenance time.
11:30-13:00 LT: training of the observers "on paper" and consolidation of the shifts.
15:00-17:30 LT: Further training of the observers at the control console.
15:00-21:00 LT: POLAMI 087-21 time with a remote observer.
21:00-03:00 LT: Mairi + Stefano
- parked because of wind
- @22:00 UT we start with NIKA2-Pol. Lost KIDs 14/5/25; spiky taumeter; flying clouds; tau(225)=0.2-0.3.
- after the startup with point/focus/point, we move to 084, calib_1scan on Uranus and pointing on a nearby source. The sky is too variable. We stop for 30 minutes to see if the conditions improve.
- @23:15 UT we start again, the sky cleared up
- 084-25 ... reps on G139, using Uranus as IP calibrator
- pointing and calib1_scan on Uranus. Circular beam, no need to refocus, stable sky. Pointing on nearby source then science scans on G139 resumed.
- Wind picked up during final scans of G139. Wind alarm during final scan. Telescope parked at 1:30 UTC after repetition finished, not possible to take calib1_scan afterwards.
Wednesday, 21st January 2026
03:00-09:00 LT Carsten
- parked because of wind
- 3:30 LT Wind dropping steadily. 40km/h. Switching to Total Power to prepare for 3 Beam maps on 3C279. tau225~0.12. Lost KIDs 16/6/21.
- 3:50 LT 1226+023 Pointing, switch to nikaw-25, Focus on Ar2, 2mm stability +-2Jy, Beammap.
- scan 10 was hanging in the QL with wind error (too many records with big tracking deviations)
- scan 13: timelines with supposed vibration problem. We will check later the ladder
- resonance of the antenna (+/- 4 arcsec in Az) during the beam map at 3:15 to 3:40 UT (scan 23). No alarm rang
- the new make-imbf produces correctky the beam map imbf files
- ...
09:00-15:00 LT Friedrich
- ...
15:00-21:00 LT Ping
- ...
21:00-03:00 LT Mairi
- ...
Thursday, 22nd January 2026
03:00-09:00 LT Carsten
- ...
09:00-15:00 LT Friedrich
- ...
15:00-21:00 LT Ping
- ...
21:00-03:00 LT Mairi
- ...
Friday, 23rd January 2026
03:00-09:00 LT Carsten
- ...
09:00-15:00 LT Friedrich
- ...
15:00-21:00 LT Ping
- ...
21:00-03:00 LT Mairi
- ...
Saturday, 24th January 2026
03:00-09:00 LT Carsten
- ...
09:00-15:00 LT Friedrich
- ...
15:00-21:00 LT Ping
- ...
21:00-03:00 LT Mairi
- ...
Sunday, 25th January 2026
03:00-09:00 LT Carsten
- ...
09:00-15:00 LT Friedrich
- ...
15:00-21:00 LT Ping
- ...
21:00-03:00 LT Mairi
- ...
Monday, 26th January 2026
03:00-09:00 LT Carsten
- ...
09:00-15:00 LT Friedrich
- ...
15:00-21:00 LT Ping
- ...
21:00-03:00 LT Mairi
- ...
Tuesday, 27th January 2026
03:00-09:00 LT Carsten
- ...