Useful information for observations: List of astronomical Target, Pako scripts, Real Time Analysis, Observing strategies

List of Astronomical Target for Nika January 2014 run7

FXD: First version (8 Jan 2014)

Back to the NIKA run7 page

The nominal NIKA frequencies for this run are 260 and 150 GHz (ie 1.15 and 2.00 mm).

References and results are written in this private page

1. Planets and Asteroids

Mars, Uranus, Neptune for photometric calibration (primary calibrators) and focal plane geometry.

(Venus, Jupiter, Saturn) too hot too big

Name

Right Ascension

Declination

Diam (arcsec)

Flux @ 1.15 mm Jy

Flux @ 2.00 mm

TB K

MARS

13:17:21.2240

-05:33:50.343

8.09x8.05

478.4

161.4

198.06

URANUS

00:34:32.7042

02:59:35.055

3.44x3.33

42.06

15.98

assumes 102@260, 113@150

NEPTUNE

22:23:58.5378

-10:43:13.926

2.18x2.12

21.03

7.15

125@100GHz only

1 CERES

14:

0:

0.5

1.751

0.579

Mueller's prediction (25-Jan-2014)at 1.3 and 3 mm into NIKA bands

2 PALLAS

?

?

<1

1.850

0.612

id

4 VESTA

13:30

-1:

0.4

0.759

0.251

id

21 LUTETIA

12:35

0:

0.1

1.2

0.4

Flux TBC

Here are the ephemeris for all planets The near and far sidelobes could be measured with Jupiter and Saturn.

2. Usual bright quasars, secondary calibrators and strong galactic sources (end of the list is dedicated to polarisation)

Bright source selection

Here is IRAM old published report: Secondary Calibrators Lisenfeld report, and, more recent list updated till the end of the MAMBO pool in 2010: Secondary Calibrators MAMBO pool database.

3. Weak Galactic sources

Weak galactic sources

4. External extended galaxies

Nearby galaxies

5. High redshift sources

Distant galaxies

Here is the full detailed formatted list Full list with fluxes.

Here is the catalog for Pako has to be RENAMED to NIKA2014R7.sou on the pako computer.

Here is a list of IRAM pointing sources with fluxes at 3mm and 2mm (I miss fluxes at 1mm, SL) FluxForPointingSources


Interface with the telescope: Pako

Short manual on useful "Pako for Nika" see on Granada computers on the NIKA directory Pako_helpv17.txt

- Pako scripts are in the Pako subdirectory

- Before starting the pointing session, we may be requested to move the azimuth by 60deg to reset the inclinometer of the az axis.

- Always stay at more that 1 deg from the Sun. There are internal safeties that prevent the antenna to point to the Sun, but we may not get error messages.

- try to get sources uniformly distributed on the sky, hence give priority to high elevation sources that are usually harder to reach.

- Do one focus at the beginning. No need to do more focus than one every 2-3hours.

The antenna can point between 60 and 460 degrees in azimuth, between 20 and 80 degrees in elevation.

- If a source is available both at low and high azimuth, use command SET TOPO LOW (or SET TOPO HIGH) to stay on the source without moving.

- The minimum number of sources to observe for the pointing model is 15. 30 is good enough.

- the pointing sources should be observed on 'short' period, e.g. 3-4 hours to avoid daily pointing variations

Commissioning requirements and observations plan

Abstract

There will be about 70h hours of observations dedicated to commissioning (see Goals and schedule page. Procedures will be tested several times, which include Pointing (Cross), Focus, OTF_Geometry, Skydip, Lissajous, OTF_Map. Tests include tuning, auto-tuning, robustness of data acquisition. Photometric calibration includes planets and secondary calibrators. Skydip and Lissajous sequences need to be better tested than before. Other sequences should be straightforward. The plateau systematics will be investigated via the OTF_geometry sequences.

Detailed version (Based on Run 6 program, updated on 16/01/2014, SL FXD RZ)

Before Tuesday 21 - First light, system check, choose reference detector

Tuesday 21 - OTF_Geometry & Pointing model session:

Fill the following table (Pointing X and Pointing Y are the the values entered in set pointing):

Scan

Object

Az

El

Pointing X

Pointing Y

Do we need to transfer the Nasmyth offset into the pointing model (e.i. cut and paste the Nasmyth offset that were chosen in PaKo into some of the P parameters, so that afterward in PaKo we type Nasmyth offset = 0 0 to choose the reference detector we took for the pointing session) ? Practical question concerning observations at the telescope, not data processing => see with AS and JP.

Wednesday 22 - Polar setup:

Thursday 23 - Geom and Focus:

Friday 24 - Polar characterization:

Saturday 25 - Validate integration time:

Sunday 26 - Polar extended:

Monday 27 - Backup:

Science case demonstration

None this time since it is a commissioning run only.

Status of observations

Current status of observationsRun7

ListOfAstroTarget2014N7 (last edited 2014-01-22 19:24:33 by NikaBolometer)