Useful information for observations: List of astronomical Target, Pako scripts, Real Time Analysis, Observing strategies
Contents
List of Astronomical Target for Nika June 2014 run9
FXD: First version (22 June 2014)
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
Venus, Mars, Uranus, Neptune for photometric calibration (primary calibrators) and sky field-of-view geometry.
- VENUS RA 12:44:01.6127 Dec -03:15:42.931 Az -174.39896 El -56.07248 Sun.D. 4.4 Vel. 1.119 DE= 1.71 DS= 0.72 Maj= 9.75 Min= 9.75 PA= 22.59 TB=350.00 S( 100.0)= 186.69 Frequency 100.0: Beam 24.0 Tmb 37.47 Flux 176.40 Size 24.7 MARS RA 17:04:19.3864 Dec -24:20:28.707 Az 84.98220 El -36.18282 Sun.D. 61.7 Vel. 8.649 DE= 1.57 DS= 1.41 Maj= 5.94 Min= 5.91 PA= 32.15 TB=215.19 S( 100.0)= 42.18 Frequency 100.0: Beam 24.0 Tmb 8.77 Flux 41.30 Size 24.2 URANUS RA 00:54:21.8373 Dec 05:03:22.784 Az 1.02146 El 57.98417 Sun.D. 178.6 Vel. 0.959 DE=19.01 DS=20.01 Maj= 3.68 Min= 3.57 PA=255.64 TB=132.00 S( 100.0)= 9.60 Frequency 100.0: Beam 24.0 Tmb 2.02 Flux 9.52 Size 24.1 NEPTUNE RA 22:29:10.7383 Dec -10:18:24.911 Az 43.69624 El 31.36126 Sun.D. 139.6 Vel. 19.539 DE=29.20 DS=29.97 Maj= 2.29 Min= 2.23 PA=329.74 TB=125.00 S( 100.0)= 3.54 Frequency 100.0: Beam 24.0 Tmb 0.75 Flux 3.53 Size 24.0
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
- for image quality, linearity checks, and pointing sessions
Bright point source source selection
3. Galactic sources for polarization Bright Galactic 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.
Here is the full detailed formatted list Full list with fluxes.
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