Startup for the CCD-Camera at the 3.5m Telescope

Startup for the CCD-Camera at the 3.5m Telescope Calar Alto


1. Beginning a session


Usually you will work directly at the console of the castor workstation in the Observation Room at the 3.5m telescope. This Workstation has two screens, one left and one right screen.

Login: obs35
Password: (the current password will be given to you by the staff)

Wait for OpenWindows to start up. 2 windows will appear on the left screen (WORKSPACE, INSTRUMENT) plus an extra Xterm and the cmdtool (CONSOLE), both iconized. In the right screen you'll see the xterm QUICKLOOK. There you start the midas environment and quicklook if wished.

Choose the xterm called "WORKSPACE ".

Your home-directory is: /disk-a/obs35. In order to avoid that this area is filled up with data from different users, you have to work on your own user directory.

Please create your user directory with:

mkdir my_area

cd my_area

Your DISPLAY environment should always be castor:0.0 (left screen) and castor:0.1 (right screen). If in any case you get a message like "Can't open display", set the DISPLAY environment with the command:

in the xterm you got this error-message.
If you have problems setting the DISPLAY environment, open the cmdtool-window (Console) and insert the command: << xhost + >> and try setting the DISPLAY environment again.

If you want to work with the MOSCA Instrument, type start_mosca in the INSTRUMENT window and wait until everything is set up. Please consult the MOSCA manual for further information.

2. Starting the Camera-Control Program


The Camera-Control Program consists of several tasks and processes. Some of them appear as icons when you start the Program and are essential for your work. Please leave them untouched!

In order to configure the system for your run, enter at the WORKSPACE xterm:

ccd_config &

The config-window will pop up, containing three buttons:

[General] [CCD-Chip] [IO-Config]

Press the button General with your mouse. Enter your name (for the FITS-Header), the path where to save the images (best you press the button DirTree and choose a path under /disk-a/obs35/images and create your own image directory by adding your name an press mkdir and select) and type your Fitsfile-Prefix. The Fitsfile will have the form: prefixnnnn.fits, where n is incrementet with every exposure (i.e. nobody0003.fits).

The buttons CCD-Chip and IO-Config are only for the staff and your information about the selected CCD-Chip and the Device-Configuration. If you opened one of these Windows, you should exit with Cancel.

The Configuration is now set up for your run. (remark, you only have to do this once during your run!).
Start the Camera GUI and the Programs by typing start_ccd

Please wait until everything is loaded and the GUI is displayed. The Programm will download the CCD-Configuration to the Camera-Controller. When everything is ready, you'll see in the message line of the GUI Press START for a new exposure

The default is to readout the entire CCD-Chip. For further questions, please consult the manual of the CCD Camera System.




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