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 14-SEP-2016

Here is the full detailed formatted list Full list with some fluxes. Rename it to NIKA2R5.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

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

Rough fluxes from Gildas (as for the 10th of October), FXD 14/9/2016

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

Accurate fluxes

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

• For Uranus and Neptune:

  • Download the ESA2 templates of the model of Moreno 2010 ("Neptune and Uranus planetary brightness temperature tabulation. Technical report, ESA Herschel Science Center).

  • Download the ESA4 templates of the models of Moreno and Orton described by Bendo et al. 2013 (Flux calibration of the Herschel-SPIRE photometer, MNRAS 433, 3062, 2013).

• For Mars:

  • Visit the web page of Emmanuel Lelloche. It will ask for the HPBW at 300 GHz which is ~8" at the 30m.

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 Has been replaced by much simpler procedures listed on the control computers screen wallpaper: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

• enter 0 as the central focus z value
• proceed to the RTA
• reduce the scans with :

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

• read the optimal z focus

• if dz > 0.3 ou dz < -0.3 redo @focusOTF with the actual optimal z focus

focus away from the centre (18 points)

• P1 a P7 : 1st diagonal ( \ )
• Q1 a Q6 : 2nd diagonal ( / )
• C1 a C4 : circle