User's Guide to the Gemini Twin-Arrays Infrared Camera

Table of Contents

Introduction
Quick Reference
What is Gemini?
Summary Table
Quick start - for the expert
Not so quick start - set-up
Graphical User Interface
More About Gemini
Signal-to-Noise Estimates
Filters
Sampling Modes
Writing Scripts
Observing Recipes
Computer Setup
Testing the Arrays
Instrument Maintenance and Trouble-Shooting
Logsheet
Mt. Hamilton Homepage

Quick Reference

  1. Check Temperatures

    Channel 1) ~58K - 61K
    2) ~78K - 80.5K Varies with telescope position, if > 87K then out of LN2
    3) Broken
    4) Broken
    5) ~75K
    Controller Temperatures1) ~11K
    2) ~30K

  2. Fill Liquid Nitrogen. This is typically done by observatory staff.

    *** Warning ***


    1. Don't get too close to the instrument with the forklift.
    2. Wait for plastic fill tube to become soft again before taking it out of the camera.

  3. Turn on motor drivers in the back of the camera (top left switch).

  4. Testing system:

    1. Go to "Engineering Menu" and click on READ SWITCHES.
    2. If all primary Switches are on, then OK; press ESC.
    3. If not, something is out of position (may have to reinitialize motors).
    4. Press F4 to take an exposure on both channels with default setup.
    5. Ensure that both chips display their Bias Frames (check manual for more detail).

  5. Check cables:

    1. Check during a large slew.
    2. Check frequently (every 15 minutes) when telescope more than 3 hours in Hour Angle.

  6. Exiting Windows and starting Gemini

    1. Click Start button.
    2. Click Shutdown....
    3. Click Restart in MS-DOS mode.
    4. Do not be alarmed if you see the message
      "Cannot find WIN.COM, unable to continue loading Windows".
    5. At C:\ prompt type gemini /licktcs.
    6. Do Not initialize motors when asked. Type N (or press Enter).
    7. Check or correct the "General Setup" and press ESC.

  7. To FTP data you need to exit the Gemini program and start Windows. NOTE: you must put data in /data/gemini/ on gorgon for it to be archived properly in the RAID.

    1. Exit Gemini program.
    2. At C:\ type wi.
    3. Double click on FTP to Gorgon shortcut.
    4. Enter username and password (username is user, password can be gotten from the telescope technician or support astronomer on duty).
    5. Type bin to convert to binary mode.
    6. Type prompt to disable interactive mode.
    7. Type cd /data to change to gorgon's /data directory.
    8. Type mkdir gemini to make directory to put Gemini data in. Please do not use a different directory. For data to be saved in the archive it must be in /data/gemini/ on gorgon.
    9. Type cd gemini to change to the proper directory.
    10. Type mput ddmm*.fts, where ddmm is the day and month abbreviation used for the data files, e.g. mput 31ja*.fts.

  8. Coffee Cup FTP program. This is not recommended because it is Very slow and currently puts data on shane (which is an old computer soon to be removed from service, and data put here will not get into our RAID archive system).

    1. Start windows (see above).
    2. Double click on Coffee Cup FTP icon.
    3. Click on Connect icon or click on Servers menu.
    4. Select shane. (This should be set up with the proper login, password, source and destination directories. If not, contact Elinor Gates or Kostas Chloros to fix it.)
    5. Click on the Bin button to make sure data transfer is in binary mode.
    6. Click on file you wish to transfer (or use Shift-UpArrow or Shift-DownArrow to select a block of files).
    7. Click and drag file (or group of files) from source directory to destination directory.
    8. When done click on the Disconnect icon or click on Servers menu and select Disconnect from server.

  9. At the end of each night

    1. Fill camera with LN2, usually done by observatory staff.
    2. Turn off motor drivers.
    3. FTP your data to gorgon's /data/gemini directory.

  10. Emergency Contacts:
    Please contact Elinor Gates first in case of difficulties.

    Ian McLeanUCLA: (310) 206-7535
    Email: mclean@astro.ucla.edu
    George BrimsUCLA: (310) 206-7536
    Email: brims@astro.ucla.edu
    Elinor GatesLICK: (831) 459-5910
    Cell: (408) 202-1691
    Email: egates@ucolick.org

Last modified: Fri Jun 29 10:01:55 PDT 2007 by Elinor Gates