CHELLE Observer's Cheat Sheet

1.    Login to lewis as chelle.  Have the robot operator login to clark and hudson as well.  In an xterm on lewis , type go.go 
2.    When the spice window is up,  select the startup tab, and press Start Pulizzis (wait until the button turns blue).
   
3.     then Start Rack (wait).
   
4.     then Start Bench (wait),
5.     then Home Bench (wait),
6.      then Start CCD, and finally
7.      Start DomeCal.
8.      Now go to the Configure tab,  enter the observers' names,  select  the correct telname (mmt_f5_adc), the correct  instrument ( "hectochelle"), and  the correct detector ("chelles").
9.  Insure the binning and grating are correct.
10.  At the start of the run, or if a new order has been selected, press ConfigBench, and wait about 10 seconds.
11. Insure that the CCD temperatures are within 0.1 degree of -120. If not call an expert.
12. Go to the StandardOps tab.  Select bias for the exposure type, and take ~10 frames. Inspect these on ds9, and insure there is no pattern noise.  The first image or two may be saturated - ignore these.
13. Take a 300s dark exposure, 2 or three if there is time.  Use iraf implot to inspect these for excess counts. A line plot where several hundred lines have been averaged is the best way (e.g., implot filesname.fits[im2], then
    :l 4000 4200,  that's letter l, not number 1).  The pixels beyond 1075 are overscan. The dark level should not be more than about 0.6 counts above the overscan in 300seconds.  If it is, call an expert.
14.  Have the robot operator configure the fibers to the calibration setup. Have the telescope operator open the mirror covers.
15. Bring up the schedule, by typing cd ; schedule chelle 2008c , for instance, but use the current trimester name ("a"=Jan-Apr, "b"=May-Jul; "c"=Sep-Dec". Select the current calendar day (not UT day) tab, and click on print.   Review the program information from the proposals (these are kept in /home/spec/*.pdf , use gv to view). In particular note which orders are to be used for that night.
    
16. Focus the spectrograph in the RV31 order, using 1x1 binning. To do this, in Spice, select the Standards Ops tab, and find "focus" in the pull down menu.   Between 4 and 10 exposures will be needed, using a step size of 0.04. . Now follow the instructions in instructions
    
17. take domeflats in each  order planned for the night, using 1x1 binning. For OB21 & Ca19 you should take spec box flats (these use the boxes mounted on the walls in the chamber, not the lights at the secondary mirror)
    
18. Now turn off the continuum lamps, and select comps. Take comps in each order planned for the night in 1x1 binning.
    
19. 10 - 15 minutes before sunset, start taking skyflats, in the RV31 order.
20. It is always a good idea to configure for the first field early, and even move the telescope to the position, even if you have to wait a while to begin observing.  Starting early will allow problems to be caught early.
    
21. After the robot operator configures for a new field, SPICE will know about the exposure info and title. So most of the time you simply have to click "GO" to take the exposure. If the order has been changed, you'll need to "ConfigBench" in the Config tab before exposing (a warning will remind you of this).
22. Once you have acquired a new field, offset the telescope a small amount, and take a comp and a flat, using the requested order and binning. After all the exposures are finished for that field, take an additional comp (another flat is not needed).
    
23. During the night, monitor the time and try to keep to the schedule. Enter comments in to the logs about the conditions (seeing and clouds) and problems.  qchelle is run automatically on the data; check these spectra to insure good data quality. The spectra are only approximately wavelength calibrated, and are not sky-subtracted. The extractions  should be sufficient to assess data quality.