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La Silla Observatory EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY Organisation Europ´eenne pour des Recherches Astronomiques dans l’H´emisph`ere Austral Europ¨aische Organisation f¨ur astronomische Forschung in der s¨udlichen Hemisph¨are LA SILLA OBSERVATORY SOFI User’s Manual Doc. No. LSO-MAN-ESO-40100-0004 Issue 2.1 05/04/2007 C. Lidman, J-G. Cuby 16/08/2000 Prepared .......................................... Name Date Signature L.Vanzi 00/00/2002 Revised .......................................... Name Date Signature M.Bill`eres 05/11/2002 Revised .......................................... Name Date Signature V. D. Ivanov 26/04/2006,01/03/2007,05/04/2007 Revised .......................................... Name Date Signature M.Sterzik 01/03/2007 Reviewed .......................................... Name Date Signature M.Sterzik 01/03/2007 Released .......................................... Name Date Signature ii SOFI User’s Manual - 2.1 LSO-MAN-ESO-40100-0004 SOFI User’s Manual - 2.1 LSO-MAN-ESO-40100-0004 iii Change Record Issue/Rev. Date Section/Parag. affected Reason/Initiation/Documents/Remarks 0.9 02/05/98 All Creation 1.0 14/08/98 All 1.1 12/11/98 All New templates 1.2 25/02/99 Some New Grism 1.3 16/08/00 Some New IRACE and New Templates 1.4 05/11/02 Some addition and corrections 2.0 26/04/06 All Merged with the template manual, major aditions to the data reduction section 2.1 01/03/07 All Added info on the new Fast Photometry mode and the new rotating templates iv SOFI User’s Manual - 2.1 LSO-MAN-ESO-40100-0004 This page was intentionally left blank Contents 1 Introduction 2 1.1 AFirstandFinalWord .............................. ..... 2 1.2 Applicabledocuments . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ....... 3 1.3 AbbreviationsandAcronyms . ........ 3 2 SOFI - Son of ISAAC 5 2.1 OpticalLayout ................................... ..... 5 2.2 Imaging ......................................... ... 5 2.3 LongSlitSpectroscopy. ........ 8 2.4 Polarimetry ..................................... ..... 10 2.5 TheDCS-DetectorControlSystem . ........ 11 2.5.1 ReadoutModes.................................. 12 2.5.2 Features on the Detector . ..... 13 2.5.3 WindowedReading............................... 14 2.6 CalibrationUnit ................................. ...... 14 2.7 Instrument Performance and the Exposure Time Calculator............... 14 2.8 InstrumentalOverheads . ........ 15 3 Observing in the IR 17 3.1 TheIRSky ........................................ 17 3.2 Imaging ......................................... 17 3.2.1 Selecting the best DIT and NDIT .......................... 18 3.2.2 Small Objects or Uncrowded Fields . ........ 19 3.2.3 LargeObjectsorCrowdedFields. ....... 19 3.2.4 MapsofLargeFields............................. 21 3.2.5 Imaging of Moderately Large Object . ........ 21 3.2.6 Faint Objects Around Bright Objects . ........ 26 3.2.7 Objects with Fast Variability . ........ 27 3.2.8 StandardStars ................................. 28 3.3 Polarimetry ..................................... ..... 29 3.4 Spectroscopy .................................... ..... 31 3.4.1 Small Objects and Uncrowded Fields . ........ 31 3.4.2 Extended Objects and Crowded Fields . ........ 32 3.4.3 Telluric Standards and Flux Calibration . ........... 32 3.5 CalibrationFrames............................... ....... 34 3.5.1 Darks(Biases) ................................. 34 3.5.2 FlatFields .................................... 35 3.5.3 Illumination Corrections . ........ 37 3.5.4 Arcs.......................................... 38 3.6 FinerPoints..................................... ..... 39 3.6.1 Choosing DIT, NDIT and NINT ............................ 39 3.6.2 Autoguiding................................... 40 v vi SOFI User’s Manual - 2.1 LSO-MAN-ESO-40100-0004 3.6.3 SOFIObservingModes .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 40 3.6.4 Template Parameters - Signatures and Keywords . ........... 41 3.6.5 FileNamingandExposureNumber . ..... 41 3.6.6 DetectorWindow................................ 41 4 Phase 2 Preparation and Observing with SOFI 43 4.1 GeneralIssues................................... ...... 43 4.2 The VLT environment: P2PP, BOB, OS, TCS, DCS, ICS . ......... 43 4.3 ArrivingattheTelescope. ......... 45 4.3.1 ImageAnalysis ................................. 46 4.3.2 Focusing...................................... 47 4.4 TheSOFIOSGUIPanel ............................... 47 4.5 RTD............................................. 47 4.6 TheDataFlowPath ................................. 49 4.6.1 Quick-Look Data Reduction Tools and Pipeline . ........... 50 4.6.2 TheArchive.................................... 50 4.6.3 TheCalibrationPlan ............................ 50 4.7 AttheEndoftheNightandattheEndofYourRun. ......... 51 5 Data Reduction 52 5.1 BasicConcepts ................................... ..... 52 5.2 Imaging ......................................... 52 5.2.1 Inter-quadrantRowCrossTalk . ....... 52 5.2.2 MaskingtheBadPixels .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 53 5.2.3 Subtracting the Dark/Bias Frame . ....... 54 5.2.4 SkySubtraction ................................ 54 5.2.5 Flat Fields and Illumination Corrections . ........... 56 5.2.6 Image Alignment and Combination . ....... 57 5.3 LongSlitSpectroscopy. ........ 58 5.3.1 Inter-quadrantRowCrossTalk . ....... 58 5.3.2 SkySubtraction ................................ 58 5.3.3 FlatFields .................................... 58 5.3.4 RemovingSlitCurvature . ..... 58 5.3.5 Arcs.......................................... 59 5.3.6 Removing of the Atmospheric Absorption Features and Flux Calibration . 59 5.3.7 Alignment and Combination . ..... 59 5.4 Polarimetry ..................................... ..... 60 A Calibration Arcs 62 B Atmospheric Absorption 69 C SOFI Templates: A Reference Guide 71 C.1 GeneralPoints ................................... ..... 71 C.2 SOFIImagingTemplates .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ...... 74 C.2.1 SOFI Imaging Acquisition Templates . ......... 74 C.2.2 SOFI Imaging Science Templates . ....... 76 C.2.3 SOFI Imaging Calibration Templates . ......... 90 C.3 SOFIPolarimetricTemplate: . ......... 93 C.3.1 SOFI Polarimetric Acquisition Template . ........... 93 C.3.2 SOFI Polarimetric Science Template . ......... 93 C.3.3 SOFI Polarimetric Calibration Template . ........... 93 SOFI User’s Manual - 2.1 LSO-MAN-ESO-40100-0004 vii C.3.4 SOFI Spectroscopic Templates . ....... 96 C.3.5 SOFI Spectroscopic Acquisition Templates . ........... 96 C.3.6 SOFI Spectroscopic Science Templates . .......... 97 C.3.7 SOFI Spectroscopic Calibration Templates . ...........104 D Frame Types 107 E Photometric Standards 108 List of Figures 2.1 OpticallayoutofSOFI............................. ....... 6 2.2 Orientation of SOFI for rotator angle 0 deg: In imaging the North is to the left and the East to the bottom of the image. The slit for the spectroscopy is oriented North- South. Nota Bene: To align the North-South axis of the field of view (or the slit in case of spectroscopy) long a certain Position Angle, one has to apply in the acquisition template a rotaton angle equal to this Position Angle. ............. 7 2.3 SOFI filters. The solid (red) lines indicate the currently available broad-band J , Js , H and Ks filters. The short-dashed (magenta) lines are the available narrow-band filters. The long-dashed (red) lines show the soon to be commissioned Js filter (top panel) and the typical broad K filter (Persson et al. 1998, AJ, 116, 2475; see their Table 10). The dotted (blue) line is the atmospheric transmission model for Mauna Kea, for Am=1.0 and water vapor column of 1mm (Lord, S.D. 1992, NASA Technical Memor. 103957; courtesy of Gemini Observatory). The data for the plot and a SuperMongo script are available from the SOFI web page. ......... 9 2.4 Quantum Efficiency of the SOFI detector at T = 78 K. The peak Q.E. is at 1.970 µm, and the long wavelength cut-off is at 2.579 µm. ...................... 12 3.1 Example of 4-point observation scheme of a “semi-extended” objects without extra overhead for observation of clear sky. Remember, than although the target is moving on the RTD, it is really the telescope that is moving! . ............ 23 3.2 Example of 6-point observation of “semi-extended” objects alternating between two target field and one of two different skies. ......... 25 3.3 Examples of Special Dome Flat images. From left to right: lamp off, lamp off with mask,lamponwithmask,lampon. 36 3.4 Stability of the Special Dome Flat images: accuracy of the photometry as a function oftheflatfield“age”. ................................. 37 4.1 OSofSOFI........................................ 48 4.2 Real Time Display, with the “Store Fixed Pattern” option enabled. Note the offset between the negative and the positive star pattern. This offset is necessary to avoid self-cancellation of the objects in the field. The green dot on the top of the image flashes every time when the RTD updates the image. The yellow arrow is a remnant from a previous acquisition – it indicates the direction and the size of the offset that wascarriedout...................................... 49 A.1 A Xenon arc spectrum taken with the blue grism. The main lines are marked. 63 A.2 A Xenon arc spectrum taken with the red grism. The main lines are marked. 64 A.3 A Xenon and Neon arc spectrum taken with the medium resolution grism at the Z atmospheric window. The main lines are marked. .......... 65 A.4 A Xenon and Neon arc spectrum taken with the medium resolution grism at the J atmospheric window. The main lines are marked. .......... 66 A.5 A Xenon and Neon arc spectrum taken with the medium resolution grism at the
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