Shane AO  

Welcome/Index | Architecture | Procedures | Problems | Features | Documents | Resources | Chronology  



Procedure: Seeing, Freid (r0) parameter and Transmission estimates

Introduction
Data Acquisition
Telemetry Analysis
Seeing Analysis
Record Parameters
DIMM (Deprecated September 2021)
Notes
Modification Record

Introduction

The following data acquisition and analysis procedures are expected to be routinely conducted when commencing on-sky activities (typically during evening twilight) in an effort to characterize prevailing conditions (e.g. seeing; Freid parameter, r0; Transmission).

Data Acquisition, seeing-logging; data()

  1. V=6.5-7.5: Acquire V=6.5-7.5 magnitudeNote 1, isolated star near zenith. Must not saturate ShARCS or guide camera. Typically, useful isolated sources have HD or BD identifiers.

    SIMBAD basic query

  2. Guide camera: Focus star; Estimate prevailing seeing.
  3. Isolated, point source verfication (ShaneAO - tt peeko GUI).
  4. COG: Set center-of-gravity (COG) centroiding. (WFS centroider: GOG; Refcents file: corresponding to COG).
    Alternatively: cent('cog')
  5. WFS camera dark; TT camera dark: Acquire backgrounds (Offset telescope, WFS camera dark, TT camera dark, Back to target).
  6. Close WFS loop (ShaneAO loop control GUI). Verify functionality/stability/offloading.
  7. -0.5 < foc < + 3.0 (ShaneAO - peeko GUI).
  8. Open loops (in ShaneAO loop control GUI).
  9. Update boresight indicator, if necessary.
  10. seeing-loggingNote 2: Execute the following command, responding to prompts where appropriate:

    user@shimmy.ucolick.org:/u/user/observers/lgs/saocon_setups/seeing-logging.sh

  11. Telemetry data: Acquire at least one (Open loops) data set:
    • Actions... Save telemetry data (ShaneAO loop control GUI).
      Alternatively: data()
    • File produced should be of the form:

      /data/telemetry/YYYY-MM-DD/Data_XXXX.fits

      (e.g: /data/telemetry/20XX-XX-XX/Data_0003.fits)


Telemetry Analysis, ta

Function:

Analyze and plot Adaptive Optics telemetry data. Estimate Freid parameter, r0 and transmission, T from telemetry data.

Prerequisites:

At least one (open loop) telemetry data file.

Execution:

  1. Connect to appropriate host machine:

    ssh -l user -X karnak.ucolick.org

  2. Activate Python environment:

    conda activate shaneao

  3. Execute telemetry analysis (ta) command, e.g:

    ta -n 2,3 -p -s 'HD 172243' -d 2021-09-22

    where,

    -n 2,3 specifies the identity(ies) of the (open loop) telemetry file(s) to be analysed.

    -p specifies that a plot should be displayed.

    -s 'HD XXXXXX' (explicit single quotation marks) specifies the source corresponding to the data (as identified in SIMBAD database). This information is used for calculating transmisson estimates, T.

    -d YYYY-MM-DD specifies the acquisition date of the files to be analysed.

  4. To exit, select close from plot window frame pull-down menu.

Characteristics:

Image

Example Output:

 
    
   Data_0002 16x 250.0 Hz COG open 
   r0 = 10.1 cm 
   v = 10.76 m / s 
   f0 = 5.192 Hz 
   Sn = 157.5 nm2 / Hz 
   p = 2.5 
   q = 0.4327 
   star = HD 172243 
   T = 15.9 % 
    
   Data_0003 16x 250.0 Hz COG open 
   r0 = 11.33 cm 
   v = 10.71 m / s 
   f0 = 5.364 Hz 
   Sn = 132.0 nm2 / Hz 
   p = 2.5 
   q = 0.4738 
   star = HD 172243 
   T = 16.4 % 
   
  • Preliminary (2021-09-XX) Freid paramater thresholds: NGS > 6 cm; LGS > 9 cm.
  • Preliminary (2021-09-XX) transmission values: 10 - 12 %.
  • Expect small peak at circa 200 Hz (due operating frequency of mirror).
  • For more information, execute following command: ta -h

Seeing Analysis, sa

Function:

Read and analyze Tip-Tilt data files to evaluate seeing (excluding semi-static component). Determine FWHM and Freid parameter, r0 (at 550nm).

Prerequisites:

At least one (open loop) telemetry data file.

Execution:

  1. Connect to appropriate host machine:

    ssh -l user -X karnak.ucolick.org

  2. Activate Python environment:

    conda activate shaneao

  3. Execute seeing analysis (sa) command, e.g.:

    sa -p -d 2021-09-22

    where,

    -p specifies that a plot should be displayed.

    -d YYYY-MM-DD specifies the acquisition date of the files to be analysed.

  4. To exit, select close from plot window frame pull-down menu.

Characteristics:

Image

Example Output:

 
   -------- Seeing 2021-09-22 -------- 
   average FWHM: 1.21 arcsec 
   average r0: 8.72 cm 
   --------------------------------- 
   
  • Excludes semi-static components (therefore a more faithful representation of Freid parameter, r0.)
  • Reports average values.
  • For more information, execute following command: sa -h


Record Parameters

















 
 
   Seeing (Guider), arcsec ........... 
   NGS Focus ......................... 
   Source ............................ HD 7019 (45 And) 
    
   Telemetry Analysis (ta -n 3,4 -p -s ‘HD7019’ -d 20XX-XX-XX) 
   R0 ............................. 
   T, % ........................... 
    
   Seeing analysis (sa -p -d 20XX-XX-XX) 
   AOSTFWHM ....................... 
   R0 ............................. 
    
   genSkyRefcents/genSkyRefcentAll ... 
    
   Optimal Gains 
   16x GOG ........................ 
   16x BINQUAD .................... 
   8x COG ........................ 
   8x COG ........................ 
   


DIMM (Deprecated September 2021)

Function:

Hartmann Sensor Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) analysis.

Prerequisites:

At least one (open loop) telemetry data file.

Execution:

  • Open terminal window and connect to real as gavel:

    ssh -l gavel -X real.ucolick.org

  • At prompt, execute the following command:

    dimm N

    where N is the integer number of the file produced previously by saving telemetry data. (The dimm dimm /data/telemetry/YYYY-MM-DD/Data_XXXX.fits, filling in the appropriate date and Data file number).

  • dimm takes a while to run, but when done, example output is:
     
       mean seeing (l) is 0.65 arcsec 
       mean seeing (t) is 0.77 arcsec 
       

Characteristics:

 
   gavel@real > dimm -h 
    
   dimm [-h --help | -d date ] filenum 
    
   Use DIMM analysis to produce a histogram of possible seeing FWHM 
   given an open-loop data telemetry file (result from a ShaneAO 'data()' command) 
    
   Arguments: 
   -h, --help: print help 
   -d date: set the date of the desired file directory using the format 
   YYYY-MM-DD. Default is today's date 
   filenum: an integer. Data files are named Data_xxxx.fits where xxxx is 
   the file number. You don't need the leading 0s. 
    
   Examples: 
   dimm 2                <- evaluate file Data_0002.fits in the present night's directory 
   dimm 0002             <- leading zeros are ok 
   dimm -d 2015-06-29 2  <- evaluate file Data_0002.fits in June 29, 2015 directory 
   dimm -d 6-29 2        <- present year is implied 
   dimm -d 29 2          <- present year and month is implied 
   dimm /local/data/telemetry/2015-06-30/Data_0002.fits <- evaluate a specific file 
    
   Outputs: 
   "l" (longitudinal) and "t" (transverse) are two different ways of measuring the 
   Hartmann dot differential image motion. On-sky, we find they usually give slightly 
   different answers for seeing estimate. 
   

Recording:

Record the following information corresponding to seeing measurements:
  • Date
  • Prevailing seeing estimate
  • Frame identifiers of guider images
  • ShaneAO telemetry data files.
  • Frame identifiers, Exposure times and Filter of ShARCS images.
Example
 
   2015 Jan 29: 
   seeing ~1.5” 
   Guider: seeing_2015-01-29_ 100 to 114 
   2015-01-29/Data_0000.fits 
   TT_Data 0 to 29 
   sharcs #232 3s BrG 
   TT_Data 30 to 59 
   sharcs #233 3s BrG 
   


Notes:

Note 1:
Originally, the recommended magnitude was circa V=8.5. However, 2016 discussions with D. Gavel yielded recommendation for brighter stars.
Note 2:
The seeing-logging script has pauses to accommodate configuration and progress checks. Respond to prompts where appropriate. The script writes a log file and copies the appropriate files to a single directory. The data are copied to:

shimmy:/data/lgs_tmp/

and into a date-stamped sub-directory, of the form:

20XX-XX-XX.


Modification Record:

2022-08-14:
Updated.
2021-09-21:
Updated (dimm deprecated; ta, sa introduced).
2017-06-12:
Updated (shimmy replaced shred).
2016-12-15:
Updated (re-order).
2016-09-15:
Updated (shred replaces shard).
2015-01-31:
Updated.
2014-10-01:
First version.


This document last updated (UTC): Tuesday 04 March 2025