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Daily Reports

Observers on-site: Tuan-Anh Duong, Quang Nguyen Luong, Federico de Luca, Antoine Zakardjian, Ste B., and Stergios Amarantidis (AoD).

Operators: Enrique (day) and Pedro (night)

Wish from Nicola Ponthieu in Grenoble: if we take any other polarimetry beammaps, please switch on the external calibrator too.

Nov 26th, Tuesday

15:30-21:00 (Stergios): The weather is still not good for NIKA so we start with EMIR observations. Starting with project 028-24 but we stopped at 16:08 UTC due to high instabilities and possible rain to come. The science source L694 seem to have no bright pointing sources around a ~40 deg radius, however checking at the SMA calibrator catalogue we get the source 1924+156 that is strong enough to be detected and its at ~5deg distance from our target. High wind and opacity continued until the end of the shift. [No observations]

21:00-03:00 (Stefano): I take over; the weather is still bad and windy (although within the 18 m/s limit). While waiting, enjoy a Summary of the past weeks. Evolution of this shift:
- At 22:30 UT we give it a try with EMIR, because tau225~0.7, but with no success. We stop again after 20 minutes.
- we try again at 23:50 UT (tau225~0.55), with the same result as earlier. Still very variable and windy (~14 m/s max).
- again at 1 a.m. UT. Finally success!!! The sky has stabilized and tau is good ~ 0.5-0.35 (except taumeter spikes). I start observing 017-24, three repetitions on B5_HSEdge (their only target).

Nov 27th, Wednesday

03:00-9:00 (Tuan-Anh & Quang): Weather isn't good for NIKA, tau225 drops to 2.6 but doesn't stay for long time. So, we switch to project 009-24 after several scans for project 017-24.

09:00-15:00 (Federico): Starting the shift with Nika! problems with DAQ, corrupted file generation. We restarted it twice, and finally works. Bad kids 32,5,34 (array 1,2,3 respectively), run 81. Doing pointing and focus on Mars, a calib_1scan (scan 20241127s94). Possible bug (???, never noticed before): subscan duration on Antenna data stream monitor continue to count seconds even after the end of the (sub-)scans. Good weather, tau~0.25 and decreasing, so launched 2 reps to finish target PSZ2G284 of project 091-24, even if the source would exceed the elevation requirement during the observation (i.e would go below 40deg, with avg tau_225 ~0.22) to avoid empty slots later. Condition become more unstable from the 3rd otf map of the 2nd repetition (p2p +-10 Jy/b, tau_225 goes from 0.21 to 0.30). Check quality of data! Moved to Proj 090-24. Problem in loading pointing script. We moved to nikas-24 for some test (~ at 12 local time). Operator had to reboot one of the system. Focus done 3h ago, repeated on source 1226+023. Homology problems during a skydip (scan s120), interrupted by operator, postponed, done poitning on 1418+546 and done 1.5 Reps on target PSZ2G107 (proj 090-24). In particular, done one full observation plus the missing rotations not done on 22/11/24, at 45 and 135. Tau_225 ~0.25 for all the observation and el >45deg. However, peak 2 peak variations during scientific scans are ~10-15 Jy/b, but good during previous (+-5 Jy/b) and subsequent (again, +-5 Jy/b) pointings. Moved to Nikas-24 account and done calibration session. Impossible to complete Skydip due to homology problem when the telescope moves above 50deg in elevation (tried 3 times, all ended with this error). Pointing and focus on NGC7027, then passed to Antoine.

15:00-21:00 (Antoine): Done @calib_1scan on NGC7027 (scan s146), MWC349 (s147), CRL2688 (s148). Good pointing and focus on 2251+158. Launched first repetition of source A2390 for project 089-24. Lost connection to NIKA crate 2 during scan 159 (3/6 scan of script) at 15h20 UTC. Operator had to reset connection. Tuning of the kids, bad kids 30 - 3 - 34. Followed by problem with imbfits not writing: had to kill and relaunched. Back to normal at 16h05 UTC. Otherwise very stable at;osphere and focus. Finished 1st repetition of A2390. Then pointing and focus good (FWHM 17 * 18.5). Launched second repetition of A2390. Sun set after 3/6 scan of repetition. Did focus + pointing. Excellent focus. Finished 2nd repetition at 18h48 UTC. Switching to polarimetry. Tuan-Anh Duong and Quang Nguyen Luong take over.

21:00-03:00 (Tuan-Anh + Quang + Stefano). Today a very crowded shift. The 015-17 team takes over, taking advantage of the wonderful sky (tau~0.2, very stable) for a loooong night of NIKA2-Pol. Stefano assists. Operations of this first half of the night:
- NIKA2-Pol is active around 19 UT
- prepataion on Uranus, including calib_1scan
- 015-17 two repetitions of NGC1333
- calibrations on Uranus (incl. beammap, 95 subscans, 20241127s217). we checked t22 but we did not find the beammap scripts that split it in two chunks. We did not find the instruction to activate the external calibrator, either. Therefore we took a standard 99-subscans beammap. Sorry.
- 015-17 two repetitions of OMC2
- always Uranus for instrumental polarization monitoring after each repetition
- 015-17 three repetitions of NGC 2024

Nov 28th, Thursday

03:00-08:20 (Quang + Tuan-Anh [+ Stefano until 4 a.m.]) continuing the NIKA-Pol night:
- 015-17 completing the third repetitions of NGC2024 started earlier
- 015-17 two repetitions of NGC 2264
- in the last part of the night, the monitoring the instrumental polarization was performed on Mars.

08:20-15:00 (Federico): Started at 8:20 Nika2 observations in total power. Bad Kids 30/3/35 (Ar1/2/3), run 81. Pointing and focus on Mars, then calib 1 (s59) and observation of Proj. 149-23, target MS1054. Done 1.5 Repetitions. After that, test on skydip script to see if the homology problem persist. It does, and appears when the telescope has to cover a larger track (above 45-50deg in el). Resumed scientific observations with project 090-24, target PSZ2G107. 1 Rep done (8th rep on this source, and sent another observation. However, a strange behavior in the ql appear during scan 20241128s97 for the Array 2 detector map, (we have a cut near the top right corner of the figure), and a spike in the light curve (see attached figure). A similar spike appear also in the previous repetition, during the same scan orientation (s93). Moreover, the weather is much more unstable now (p2p >10 Jy/b!). Check if rep 9th scans can be useful. Continued observation of PSZ2G107. Done the last two missing repetitions, source completed.

15:00-21:00 (Antoine): Started at ~14h20 UTC. Poiting + focus on 1633+382. calib_1scan on CRL2688, MWC349, NGC7027. Then moved to project 089-24, quick pointing on 2136+141 and launched 3rd repetition of A2390. After 5 minutes, alarm stuck scan 125. Science scans 125 and 126 are not usable. Quick fix by operator and relaunched 3rd repetition repetition, only lost 10 minutes. Finished 3rd repetition. Pointing and focus ok. Launched and finished repetition 4. Now sun has set and telescope has relaxed. Excellent focus and atmospheric stability, although tau ~0.28 - 0.3. Switching to project 091-24 and source PSZ2G113, launched 6/11 repetition. Finished 6/11 repetition. Launched 7/11 repetition.

21:00-03:00 (Stefano): I take over at 21:00 LT. Night evolution:
- The taumeter tau(225) is 0.34 at 21:00 LT. I let the last scan of PSZ2G113 (091-24) end. The PIIC monitor shows a very stable atmosphere, very low noise in the FOV plot and tau(LOS0=0.264). The SZ signature of the cluster can be seen in the single scans. Hence I decide to keep observing this source, after a pointing/focus check.
- 091-24 three repetitions of PSZ2G113
- 011-24 four maps of Orion-B

Black line: current tau predictions. Red line: Berta et al. (2003)

Nov 29th, Friday

03:00-09:00 (Quang & Tuan-Anh): Tau is pretty stable around 0.35-0.4. continue make orionb-1, orionb-2, orionb-3, orionb-5 tau peaks to 1 but peak to peak is +- 2Jy/beam

We switch to 149-23 project, target MS1054. Done 3 repetitions.

09:00-16:00 (Federico): Taking the shift at around 9am. Cancelled the ongoing observation because the last 1.5 Rep was done under bad tau condition (i.e. tau_225~0.4), but with alaways good stability (p2p ~ 5Jy/b). Check the quality of data. Switched to EMIR, proj. 042-24. After poitning and focus, done a @~/042-24/check_setup and after @~/042-24/go_one MAP0. The subsequent point on the faint nearby source was horrible, we switched to test account and test other nearby (all faint) sources. Unfortunately, cloud now cover the region of interest, so we stopped observation of proj. 042-24. Try to change project, but all the active ones are or close to the sun or very low in elevation at 12:30-1pm (i.e. el <25deg, see figure below) Waiting for better condition. At 14:10, no good pointing (se figure below). Waiting. Tried with another project, another direction in the sky, proj. 071-24. Big clouds in that direction, no good focus and pointings towards the bright point source (1757-240) near the target Chimney (see scans s105, 104 in project test).

16:00-21:00 (Antoine): Good pointing anf focus. Switching to project 042-24. Finished horizontal map 1 & 2 with pointing in between. During last 15 minutes of the scan Tau going up to 0.8-0.9 but pwv = 3.6 along the line of sight, lucky target in a relatively clear sky patch. At 17:50 UTC, tried to get good focus before switching to project 017-24 but weather is deteriorating quickly. Observations paused at 18:10 because of the weather.

21:00-03:00 (Stefano). I take over at 21:00 LT as usual. EMIR weather:
- @21:30 LT We try to point/focus/point with EMIR, tuning for 017-24, but the sky is too unstable.
- @22:45 LT second attempt, same result: wait
- @23:40 LT third attempt: fine on Uranus, but on a fainter pointing source (close to the science target) it's a no go again. Wait.
- @00:45 LT fourth attempt: finally OK!
- 017-24 nine repetitions of B5_HSEdge

15:00-21:00 (Antoine): Very cloudy, can't get good pointing and focus. Weather is deteriorating. Snow at 14h48 UTC, parking the antenna, observations stopped. Even more snow at 15h30 UTC.

Nov 30th, Saturday

03:00-09:00 (Quang & Tuan-Anh) Tau value always goes over 0.45, we switch to 009-24 with 7 tiles. At 6:00 LT we switch to 042-24. Good pointing and focus on Mars. Pointing on source near Polaris MC and @~/042-24/go_one MAP10.

09:00-15:00 (Federico): Taking over at 9am. Continuing with Project 042-24 with the last observation to complete the project, MAP1, after doing pointing and focus on Mars. After that, moved to project 085-24, target W1253+2547. Done 8 ONOFF WSW (4 times the /W1253/085_WSW_onoff.pako), ~0.9hrs. We tried to do the same with W1254, but we had problem with calibration. E1 receivers show always high tsys temperature.

15:00-21:00 (Antoine):14:15 UTC switching back to NIKA2. Good pointing and focus. Observing project 089-24. 5/11 repetition of A2390 (70 min). Pointing, focus still good. 6/11 repetition of A2390 (70 min). Pointing, focus still good. Tau stable at 0.4 on taumeter and 0.35 on line of sight. Stable atmosphere. Sun has set, telescope relaxed, pointing + focus on 2230+114. FWHM = 17.3 * 18.3. Launched repetition 7/11 of A2390 (70 min).

We restart boxes L and T and then all is fine. Lost KIDs: 31/6/39 after this L,T reset and after rebooting the DAQ.

@13:40 UT the taumeter died the second time (first time before lunch). Kike restarts it again. Thank you!

21:00-03:00 (Stefano): I take over and continue the NIKA2 observations:
- 091-24 observations of PSZ2G113 have just started, El~ 77 deg; very good stability along the l.o.s. (+/- 2 Jy/beam at 2mm in the Az subscans of pointings), despite the mediocre taumeter tau(225) values. One repetition (the last one) of PSZ2G113.
- 091-24 two repetitions of PSZ2G172
- Uranus calib_1scan (20241201s4)
- 011-24 four maps of Orion-B
- IMPORTANT WARNING: with the new make-imbf, at the change of the month, we have to change the imbfitsDir symbolic link to the data directory of the new month (because the new make-imbf does not write the files to the "current/" dir. but in the (for example) "11/" or "12" dir.).

Dec 1st, Sunday

03:00-09:00 (Quang & Tuan-Anh)

- continue with previous observation of 011-24: three maps of Orion-B.

- switch to 149-23: pointing and focus on Mars and then pointing 1055+018. Launch 12/30 repetition of MS1054 (We have the spindle alarm at the end of this map).

- Launch 13~14/30 repetition of MS1054.

09:00-15:00 (Federico): Taking over at 9am as usual. Bad weather with big clouds arriving, changing to EMIR. Under project test, we tried to resume the observation of W1254+1011, proj. 085-24, but again the calibration for E1 shows always strange high temperature. We decided to continue with the other source of the project, W1253+2547, with a missing hour and previously problem with data creation to complete the hours given to the project. Pointing and focus under test account on source 1226+023 due to weather instabilities (I needed 4 focus attempt to finally have a good one). After that, starting observation, with 3 ONOFF scripts done (in total, 6 ONOFF SWS scan done). Changed proj. to 033-24, target B68 with setup 1. Difficult to have good pointings (and focus) near the source. In the meantime the weather worsen, we have to stop for better conditions (~13:10h). Checked condition at 14:10, still no good pointings. keep waiting.

21:00-03:00 (Stefano + Stergios, Federico, Antoine, Quang, Tuan-Anh, Pedro): after a long snowy afternoon, it's now EMIR time:
- 13 repetitions of 017-24 (only one source), until the completion of the scheduled time.
- Then we switch to 009-24 and perform three repetitions on the only source.
- Meanwhile we engage, all together, in an epic Risk challenge,
- and we renew the NIKA2 Saturday night tradition, one day later than usual, with as many as 7 participants. We've never been so many, I think. Thanks guys!

Dec 2nd, Monday

03:00-09:00 (Quang & Tuan-Anh):
- continue 009-24 with 6 repetitions
- switch to 042-24 at 07:00 LT, pointing and focus on Mars, pointing again on 1803+784. Perform MAP11b of the source.

09:00-15:00 (Federico): Taking over at 9am, continuing with Emir projects. Done pointing and focus on mars (not so stable results at the beginning) under test account. Then, calibration for project 028-24. Thick clouds in the direction of target sources, (also for other projects, they are all close). Waiting. Resumed at ~12, pointing on 1923+210 and two tracks on L694. then moved to 1730-130 for a pointing before observe L429, but thick clouds arrive just in time to prevent good pointings (~12:45). waiting again, other sources are below in elevation, so even more in the clouds. Resumed at 13.15, Observed 3 times L492, then moved to project 071-24. not stable weather at the beginning, pointing and focus done on test account on Venus. Then, line calibrator observation and done submap 8, beta and lambda directions.

15:40-21:00 (Antoine): Switching to project 028-24. Trying pointing on Venus, but large clouds are in the way. Clouds away at 16:30. Good pointing and focus on Venus. Starting to observe L429 at 17:00. 4 repetitions for a total of 52 minutes. Source finished (setup1, still need to check rms). Pointing. Then observed L694, 5 repetitions for a total of 65 minutes, source finished (setup1, still need to check rms). Going to Uranus for pointing and focus now that the sun has set. Good pointing and focus. Did 3 repetitions (40 minutes) on source L1524F, now finished (setup1, still need to check rms). Launched 4 repetitions (52 minutes) on source L1517B, now finished (setup1, still need to check rms).

21:00-03:00 (Stefano). I take over and let the 028-24 setup-1 last repetition finish. Then:
- @21:30 LT. 028-24, switch to setup-2 and start observing. Pointing/focus show that the sky quality has degraded and has become too variable. I stop and wait for it to get better.
- @22:30 LT I try again. Good. I proceed with 028-24, setup-2, 11 reps of L1517B. The scheduled time of 028-24 is now completed.
- the page pools.iram.es does not update with the 2024/12/04 scans! We guarantee that 028-24 is now at 100% even if pools.iram.es does not show so. For verification, compare the log-sheets in pools.iram.es and Tapas.
- 3.5 repetitions of 009-24 (source G222)

Dec 3rd, Tuesday

03:00-09:00 (Quang & Tuan-Anh):
- we start at 3:20 LT with 009-24, source G222 (it started snowing around 02:50 LT), pointing and focus on Mars, done with 4 repetitions.
- switch to 042-24 07:15 LT, pointing and focus on Mars then 1803+784. Perform MAP12 of the source.

09:00-10:30 (Federico): Taking over at 9:10am untill we return to Granada. Changing project to 085-24, source W1254 after pointing and focus on 1226+023. Problem with a scan stacked, but after that done 3 @~/085-24/W1254/085_WSW_onoff.pako (in total, 6 WSW onoff) and we reached the end of the Pool weeks. Cheers!