Introduction
The autoguiding camera systems for the Shane 3-m, Nickel 1-m, and CAT telescopes are all very similar. Each system consists of a camera containing a thermoelectrically cooled LBL high-resistivity CCD, a camera power supply, a linux-based computer, control software, and a GUI.
Hardware is nearly identical across installations, but software varies, depending on telescope, focus, and instrument. Software is started according to the table below:
| Configuration | Host Computer | Start command |
|---|---|---|
| 3-m Coude | coudeye | guider_coude_start |
| 3-m Cass | bigeye | guider_cass_start |
| 3-m Cass w/ Gemini | bigeye | guider_gemini_start |
| 3-m Prime | bigeye | guider_prime_start |
| CAT | redeye2 | guider_cat_start |
| 1-meter | nickeye | guider_nickel_start command also works on noir (nickelvnc) |
For 3-m observing, the guider is started from--and the GUI displayed on--the telescope operator's console, roma. For CAT and 1-meter operation, the software displays on catpc and noir, respectively.
If the terminal you use for guiding is running the Gnome window manager, you may start the guide software and GUI by clicking on the guider icon at the bottom of the screen. (Roma displays several guide icons for 3-meter guiding. Select the one appropriate to the focus and instrument.) If your window manager is fvwm, start the guide software and GUI from the root pulldown menu or the x-terminal command line, using the appropriate command listed in the table above.
Starting the guide software will cause the several elements of the GUI to be displayed. This may take many seconds.
The completed screen will look something like the one illustrated below. The parts of the GUI are divided according to function: camera control, guider control and monitoring, image display and control, and the log window. Only one copy of the guider GUI can be run for any given guide camera, but near-simultaneous copies of the image display and image control windows can be run from any computer on which the Guider Copy program has been installed, allowing, for example, a 3-meter observer to monitor acquisition and guiding being performed by the telescope operator.