GetPhot 1.0

Get-Phot is a data acquisition script for photometrists.

Flow Control:

GetPhot is built to take large numbers of images of one or a few targets per night. The designated targets are observed whenever they exceed a user-settable altitude. GetPhot will automatically 'pick up' new targets rising in the east, and automatically stop observing targets that are setting in the west.

GetPhot has the following features:

• Sequences through a list of targets for the night (any number of targets supported)
• Observes the target fields as long as they are above a user-defined altitude (otherwise it skips them)
• Will pick up morning targets automatically
• Checks pointing accuracy when it makes slews
• To save time, doesn't do any slewing or closed-loop pointing exposures if it is active on only one object.
• Verifies pointing accuracy with data exposure (but never changes the data exposure itself, e.g., by writing WCS headers)
• Optionally selects guide stars from the GSC or other user-defined catalog

Limitations

WARNING: GetPhot will continue to observe right through sunrise without stopping, if you do not intervene! (Auto-park and dark will be a feature of version 2 of this script.)

Download

GetPhot is a VBScript source file. Get the script

GetPhot makes use of ScriptSupport and the Widgets server.

GetPhot also requires ACP 1.3+, MaximDL/CCD 2.1+, and PinPoint 3+.

To set up Get-Phot:

• Run AcquireConfig (part of the Support File set). Set your exposure times, telescope settling times, and guiding preferences. Some options have no effect on this script. There is a list of options that this script utilizes below - make sure they are set correctly. You can leave the other options set to their default values.
• Run TLMaker, and input the night's targets (or just make an equivalently-formatted text file for your target list). The resulting file, TargetList.txt, will be saved to the root directory of the computer you ran TLMaker on. Move this file to the c:\plan directory of the telescope control computer.
• Run the script. Pay attention to make sure it gets through one "set" properly; then you can go to bed.

User settings used from AcquireConfig:

On the Telescope Options window:

• Delay before Pointing Exposure
• Delay before Data Exposure
• Delay after Shifting Guider
• Pointing Error Tolerance
• Minimum slew-to altitude
• Guider Field of View

On the Camera Options window:

• ALL OPTIONS ARE USED!

On the Misc Options window:

• Image Directory
• Pointing Exposures (directory)
• Log files
• Target List File
• Debug pointing plate solves toggle (keep turned off)
• Star Catalog options

On the Moon Options window:

• NO OPTIONS ARE USED!

Revision History:

• 1.0 - Pads file serial numbers so they can be sorted easily.
• 0.03.2 - Fixed Type Mismatch when calculating angular separations.
• 0.03.3 - Fixed forced binning of pointing exposures.

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