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software:spec_plan

This wiki is not maintained! Do not use this when setting up AuScope experiments!

Planning pointing observations with spec_plan

Currently, this is working on ops4.

Example input files are currently in the home directory:

  1. x_band_12m_cals.txt : example source catalogue
  2. boresol_ke.txt : example boresight (pointing) solutions list

Example usage:

/usr2/st/bin/spec_plan2.pl -c x_band_12m_cals.txt -b boresol_ke.txt -a Ho

where -c refers to the source catalogue, -b is the list of pointing solutions and -a is the antenna/site you're observing from.

A PGPLOT window will start up showing how the sky looks at the moment. Green triangles indictae calibration sources (the bigger the triangle the brighter the source). Moving the cursor close to a source of interest and pressing c will tell you the name and coordinates of the source. Press h to get a full list of options. The grey + symbols show where pointing solutions have been found recently.

File formats

Calibrator sources

For each new source, the first line should be the RA, Dec (J2000) and Source name. Subsequent lines should be the (same) source name followed by the flux density in mJy. e.g:

13:46:49.0432  -60:24:29.354 1343-60
1343-60   6000
21:57:05.9805  -69:41:23.685  2153-69
2153-69   6000
22:53:57.7     +16:08:54   3C454.3
3C454.3   10000
09:45:07.8     +07:39:09   3C227
3C227     2000 
12:28:17.6     +12:40:02   Virgo
Virgo     48000

pointing solutions

Two possible file formats can be used and the script will automatically determine which one it is. Format 1 is:

Day_number  Source_name  Az_during_observation El_during_observation El_pointing_offset cross-El_poinitng_offset

Format 2 is:

Day_number  Source_name  Az_at_start_of_observation El_at_start_of_observation Az_at_end_of_observation El_at_end_of_observation El_pointing_offset cross-El_poinitng_offset

Here's an example of a Format 1 file:

158 taurusA 6.9   53.7   0.02 -0.035
158 0537-441 -183.6   60.6   0.06 -0.02
158 hydraA 94    28   0.03 -0.1
158 hydraA 92    46   0.03 -0.07
158 0537-441  211  53  -0.04  0.06
158 hydraA    88    65  0.04   0
158 taurusA   -42   42  0.02   -0.0625
/home/www/auscope/opswiki/data/pages/software/spec_plan.txt · Last modified: 2011/10/26 06:37 (external edit)