Useful information for observations

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List of Astronomical Targets for NIKA2 (from NIKA2R1.sou)

last edited by CK 1-Mar-2016, FXD 24-FEB-2016

Here is the full detailed formatted list Full list with some fluxes. Rename it to NIKA2R1.sou to use it in Pako.

LST coverage (created with nika2.astro for 10-Mar-2016)

  1. Planets planets

  2. Strong Galactic sources Strong Gal. Sources

  3. Strong pointing sources Strong Pointing Sources

  4. Radio sources from IRAM catalog nika2-radio.pdf.

  5. Planets, Asteroids, and Secondary Calibrators (from Lisenfeld+2000) nika2-secondaries.pdf

  6. Strong Galactic sources nika2-galactic.pdf

  7. Weak Galactic sources nika2-weak-galactic.pdf

  8. Nearby galaxies nika2-nearby-galaxies.pdf

  9. Distant galaxies or faint quasars nika2-distant.pdf

Details on planets and asteroids

Mars and Uranus are well known primary calibrators for photometric calibration and for beam maps. Jupiter, Saturn can be used for the errorbeams or to map the satellites.

Rough fluxes from Gildas, FXD

The following table gives only rough numbers for the fluxes. Note that some are strongly varying in R.A./Dec, distance, flux and brightness temperature.

Name

Right Ascension

Declination

Diam (arcsec)

Flux @ 1.15 mm Jy

Flux @ 2.00 mm

TB K

MERCURY

22:43:41.7350

-10:25:12.251

5.01x5.01

426.495

142.793

450

VENUS

22:00:13.0011

-13:17:06.886

10.88x10.88

2011.39

673.424

350

MARS

15:58:45.0861

-19:15:55.671

9.49x9.45

721.117

242.987

216.19

JUPITER

11:18:21.4499

06:04:59.105

44.39x41.51

170

SATURN

17:00:53.1914

-21:00:24.540

16.71x14.91

150

URANUS

01:10:09.4773

06:47:44.651

3.36x3.26

36.4466

15.2768

93 @1mm, 113 @2mm

NEPTUNE

22:46:56.5421

-08:35:35.276

2.17x2.11

15.2350

6.38585

93 @1mm, 113 @2mm (yes, same as Uranus)

Accurate fluxes

For accurate fluxes, use the following predictions from recent planetary models:

For asteroids, please check the information compiled here on the Pointing sources and calibrators wiki page by IH.


Interface with the telescope: Pako

Short manual on useful "Pako for Nika" see on Granada computers on the NIKA directory Pako_helpv??.txt ==> Obsolete. Has been replaced by much simpler procedures listed on the control computers screen wallpaper:

NIKA2_Wallpaper.PNG

- 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.

- 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

see the private wiki

Focus session

See L. Perotto J.F Lestrade for more information

Preparation

  1. Source = Uranus (QSO of a few Janskies OK)
  2. Do a pointing
  3. Check proper Z,X,Y focus at the center of the array

Session Focus z across the FoV

first focus at the centre of the array

offset -24.5 3.4 /sys nasmyth

@focusOTF

nk_rta, '20160312s1', /nas, /xyguess, /largemap, rmax_keep=30, radius=35, /nopng

When the 5 scans are done :

nk_focus_liss_old, '20160312s'+strtrim([1,2,3,4,5], 2), /nas, /xyguess, rmax_keep=30, get_focus_error=1, imzoom=1

focus away from the centre (18 points)

P1

 offset 81.2 -104.6 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P2

 offset 43.8 -69.2 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P0

 offset -24.5 3.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P3

 offset 25.9 -39.1 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P4

 offset -53.3 41.5 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P0

 offset -24.5 3.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P5

 offset -89.7 68.1 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P6

 offset -118.5 106.7 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P0

 offset -24.5 3.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P7

 offset -143.6 125.8 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

Q1

 offset -120.2 -89.8 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P0

 offset -24.5 3.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

Q2

 offset -79.6 -55.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

Q3

 offset -54.0 -39.0 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P0

 offset -24.5 3.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

Q4

 offset 25.2 49.7 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

Q5

 offset 57.9 81.7 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P0

 offset -24.5 3.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

Q6

 offset 82.3 106.5 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

C1

 offset -123.7 3.8 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P0

 offset -24.5 3.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

C2

 offset 63.4 14.1 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

C3

 offset -22.3 -84.7 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

C4

 offset -28.6 107.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

P0

 offset -24.5 3.4 /sys nasmyth 

 @focusOTF 

ListOfAstroTargetNika2Run4 (last edited 2016-03-12 09:21:02 by NikaBolometer)