SHARCII Scan Patterns

Darren Dowell -- (626)395-6675 (office), 796-8806 (FAX)
Last modified Thursday, 15-Jan-2004 11:51 PDT
cdd@submm.caltech.edu

Lissajous (SWEEP)

Sorry, no documentation available yet.


Billiards Scan (BOX_SCAN)

Follow this link.

Chopped Scans

The observing mode described below is useful for observing compact sources, such as faint point sources, which are small compared to the array and chopper throw.

To begin chopping the secondary mirror, type "XSEC 39 1.388888888 4 4 /CRUNCHER" at the UIP prompt.  (Wait a minute or two for the auto-tuning to complete before observing.)  The throw, specified as 39 arcsec = 8 pixels X 4.85 arcsec/pixel, can be enlarged for moderately extended sources.  The frequency 1.388888888 Hz corresponds to a period of  720 msec, which is 20 times the detector sampling period of 36 msec.  To stop the secondary mirror at the end of chopped observing, execute "UIP> XSEC /STOP".

A scan pattern is still needed with chopped observing, and it should be slow enough that the motion in one chopper period is less than ~3 arcsec.  A suitable scan pattern for compact sources is "UIP> SWEEP 30 70.7 /YAMP=20 /YPER=50 /ALT".

The quick-look reduction software for analyzing pointing scans is called "sharcchop" and is currently available on champinux.  Run "champinux% sharcchop #####" to analyze scan #####.  "sharcchop" currently assumes that the chop throw is 39 arseconds.

Collecting analyzable chopped data requires that a cable be connected from the chopper monitor to the SHARC II electronics.


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