1. Meeting 9 Slitmask Planning Ken Nordsieck
Astronomy 920 Commissioning of the Robert Stobie Prime Focus Imaging Spectrograph
Meeting 9
Slitmask Planning
Ken Nordsieck
Nov 4, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 9

2. Today’s Pretty Picture
47 Tuc, 5 sec, 629 nm IF
Nov 4, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 9

3. Slitmask Planning Overview
Get catalogue with good astrometry
Define target priority
Get image
Optimize Field center, roll
Iterate till you like it
Generate output files
Nov 4, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 9

4. Slitmask Input Catalogue
Import (J2000) astrometry, properties (I use EXCEL)
Positions good to slitsize/5, at least
Best to use purpose astrometry from literature (usually published as catalogues in Simbad)
Define your priorities
Make prioritized ascii slitmask catalog:
ID RA(deg) Dec(deg) Pri
Nov 4, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 9

5. Planner Inputs Find an image Display in planner
DSS is good,
15’ square, fits
Display in planner
Import catalogue into planner
Select reference stars
< ~17 mag
small holes, not useful spectroscopy
1 defines LOS, 2 defines roll, 3 reliability
M104, DSS1
Nov 4, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 9

6. Slitmask Optimization/ Output
Run Optimizer, display
typical max number of spectra
place largest possible number of high priority targets on N slitmasks
grid of RA, Dec, Roll
Iterate catalogue, reference stars, priorities to get desired objects into n slitmasks
Create G-Code (laser-cutter .nc) and IRAF (.mdf) files, included with Phase II proposal
Nov 4, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 9

7. Output Files G-Code (.nc): G71 M102 M104 KN310 KN320 M3 M98 G90 X65Y60
V1=
V2=
V3=0
......
MDF: # Spectrometer Calibration Mask P000000N02
# ID slitid slittype priority slitpos_mx slitpos_my slitsize_mx slitsize_my slitsize_mr slitsize_mw slittilt_m
1 1 rectangle
2 2 rectangle
3 3 rectangle
4 4 rectangle
5 5 rectangle
Nov 4, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 9

8. Assignment for next Time
Plan a SALT MOS Project: Grating Spectroscopy of cluster of stars or Galaxies
One page writeup of why it is scientifically interesting
Use PFIS PI Tool to verify S/N and produce XML configuration definition file:
Plan a slitmask: .psm file
Next Meeting: 18 Nov (no meeting next week: SALT inauguration)
Nov 4, 2005
Ast 920 Meeting 9